Trading Game (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V SI)

"Answer me! Kaito!" The black and purple haired teen shouted once more, his voice filling the empty road where they all stood on.

Well, most of them were standing. The pair of brothers were still doing their best trying to stand back up, while Yuto himself seems to be on his last legs, with him breathing harshly while his legs wobbled as he forced himself to keep standing.

"..." Yet the blonde boy that he was talking to kept silent. Deinging to answer the question with silence as he met Yuto's glare with his own.

The Phantom Knights duelist grit his teeth as he received the response that he had expected. He balled his fist as it shook in anger, slowly raising his left hand, where his duel disk was attached. "Then I'll-"

And that was her cue to intervene. She made sure to make her steps as loud as possible as she walked closer towards them from her vantage point. "Now, now, I'm sure that there's no need for another duel at this point, yes?"

All four boys turned to look towards her, with Kaito turning his glare to send it her way while Yuto, III and V looked at her with confusion. She kept a smile on her face as she fixed her hat to make sure that it covered as much of her features as possible as she spoke.

"After all, it's already almost midnight. And I'm sure that we all are still participants of the World Duel Carnival." She stated aloud, knowing full well that all of them were indeed participants of the tournament. "And though this duel might not matter in that particular tournament, I would like to think that we'd all want to be well rested for the second half tomorrow."

She was quite sure that Kaito wished that looks could kill right now with the death glare that she was sending towards her. And she'd understand why, she was basically giving everyone an out to leave, himself included. 

And she knew well enough that with his current mental state, that this kind of 'pity' would not sit well with him. No doubt he probably thought that this was part of some nefarious plan of her's.

Which, while it was partly true, it wasn't all bad. 

"And, if I may add, Numbers Hunter-kun." She said as she waved her hand towards the black coat wearing teen. "I don't think that there's any need to hide it from your friend over there." She said as she pointed towards Yuto.

"Huh?" The teen in question let out a confused noise as he blinked twice, not having thought that she would be willing to help him.

"After all, I don't doubt that your heart to heart with these two already dropped way too many hints for him to put it all together anyway." She said as she angled her head towards the two fallen duelists. 

"..." And both siblings kept silent. III sent a glance towards his older brother while the tall silver haired young man sent an inquiring gaze towards her.

"You're basically dangling the answer right in front of him anyway, he's already helped you with the duel didn't he? Why not throw him a bone for this one?" She said with a tilt of her head, extending a hand as she gestured towards the blonde.

"Are you saying that I would have lost?" The Galaxy Eyes duelist narrowed his eyes and challenged her, daring for her to say those words out loud.

Oh he most certainly would have. Kaito most certainly was not in a good mind space when he was dueling against III and V, and though there were certainly moments where he would have won the game, the same could be said for times where he had made some misplays that would have made him lose.

"Now, now, I'm not saying that." Out loud that is, such were the words that she spoke out while holding out both of her hands in front of her. "I'm just pointing out that he certainly helped, did he not? I doubt that even you would have had a rough time on a two on one against both of them."

Not that they would have done so, 'antagonists' though they may be, the Arclight brothers most likely wouldn't resort to ganging up on a single duelist and over powering them with numbers. They still have some level of decency and honour in this world where card games were king.

The same could not be said for the real 'antagonist' of this world, but they weren't talking about That Man were they?

"And you were also tired, everyone was undoubtedly." She said with a hand on her hips. "Heck, even I was! We've all been dueling for the whole day because of Mr. Heartland rushing the schedule forwards with the World Duel Carnival."

She tilted her head back as she allowed her eyes to show under the rim of her hat. Making sure that she makes eye contact as the next few words left her. "Why was that, I wonder?"

Kaito kept silent, his eyes kept narrowed as he seemed to consider her words. Before he then huffed, walking past them as he then walked past them, even as their eyes kept going after him, and towards the siblings that both he and Yuto had defeated.

"If you want to tell him, then do it yourself." The teen said with an even tone without a single hint of emotion in his voice. 

"Hah?" She let out, and the blond haired teen then extended his hand towards the pair of brothers in front of him.

"Give me your cards." He said simply towards both III and V, before then narrowing his eyes. "Or I will take them myself."

"Kaito-!" The black and purple haired duelist shouted as he tried to intervene in his friend's actions, yet she stopped him by placing a hand in front of him. Yuto snapped his head towards her, and she only shook her head.

"You shouldn't." She whispered out. "For something like this, for specifically this, you have to let it go."

"But-!" Yuto kept pushing however, because he knew that taking someone's card as forcefully as this looked like, was extremely frowned upon by any and all duelists.

She couldn't help but sigh, because she too felt the same for this honestly. But she might as well drop hints again while she's at it. "Believe me, this was the plan all along. There wouldn't have been a reason as to why he would have accepted the duel in the first place."

She paused for a beat. "Well, mostly." She added on as Yuto no doubt remembered the connection that both Kaito and V. "But that was the whole reason as to why this whole tournament advanced its schedule as it did."

And that brought Yuto to a halt as his eyes went wide, no doubt shocked at the 'revelation' that she had given him. "What?" He said breathlessly as his eyes went wide, his head slowly turning towards where Kaito and the Arclight brothers were.

"...alright." And after a short period of silence, the blonde received an answer from the elder brother. V nodded his head while his brother snapped his head his way.

"Nii-sama!"

"It's only fair III. We had come to take his Numbers away, and we lost." The older brother said solemnly, the shocked and horrified expression of his little brother disregarded as he reached into his duel disk, and took out a card from its extra deck slot.

"So I will give you mine." He said as he stood up, standing taller than Kaito as they faced each other, and he handed the card towards the blonde duelist. 

And he snatched it, taking the Numbers Monster away from its rightful owner. "Hpmh." He huffed, turning away from V as he then faced against the still kneeling pink haired teen and began making his way towards him.

"But I will only give you mine, and only mine." Only for the silver haired teen to add, stopping Kaito in his tracks.

"What!?" He shouted as he snapped and turned towards the silver haired Arclight, only for the two of them to begin emitting light from their bodies. "This is-!" Kaito shouted as he took a step back in surprise.

"I will warn you, Kaito." V began talking as his body glowed in light, and III standing up as the same happened to him. "As you are now, you will never be able to defeat him, and you will never be able to accomplish your goal."

"What!? What are you talking about V!" The blonde hissed out. "Tell me! What do you mean!?"

"Our fat-Tron is filled with anger and rage towards Dr. Faker. And there's nothing that I-that any of us could do against it. We couldn't stop him from becoming who he is now." The silver haired young man solemnly spoke out.

"Nii-sama…" And III could only look towards his older brother sadly.

"Tron? He's-!" And the Galaxy-Eyes duelists muttered as realization struck. "He's one of the contestants that Dr. Faker was wary of-are you telling me that-!"

"I see… so you haven't even encountered him yet then." The tall young man spoke with a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Then there is no doubt that his plan has gone unnoticed this far. And you would have to face him sooner than you might think."

"..." Kaito stayed silent as he listened to every word that V spoke, before a giant galactic portal appeared behind the siblings.

"Goodbye, Kaito. I truly hope that you will be able to save Haruto." And with those as his parting words, the two siblings began to disappear as they turned into motes of light that entered the portal.

"Wait!" The blonde attempted to stop them, a hand outstretched to reach out towards the one who was once his mentor, only for him to already disappear. Leaving all three of them in silence once again.

The blonde haired teen retracted his outstretched hand, looking at it for the briefest of moments before balling it into a fist. 

"Kaito…" Yuto called out his name, even as Kaito still refused to meet him in the eye, still only giving him his back. "What that guy-what V said, did something happen to Haruto? What happened to him?"

"It's nothing that concerns you." His friend responded back coldly, and that answer was certainly not the one that he had wanted to hear.

"Of course it concerns me! How could it not!" Yuto shouted back as he pushed past her and took a step closer to Kaito, a hand placed on top of his chest. "You're my friend Kaito! And if something happened to Haruto that made you like this-then as your friend, how could it not concern me!?"

"Because it doesn't matter to you. And it never will," The blonde spat back as he turned his head slightly to the side, enough to send a glare back towards the black haired duelist. "I can deal with this on my own. I don't need anyone's help."

The words seemed to hurt Yuto as it seemed as if he was struck back, only for him to send a glance towards her before speaking out once again. "But it seems that you'll accept their help." He said, obviously referring to her.

"They're just an ally of convenience. Nothing more, nothing less." Was the simple and concise answer that Kaito gave to him, still remaining to stand in his spot.

"Then was that what I was too?" The black and purple haired teen spoke out in a low tone, almost in a whisper, but one that was loud enough for them all to hear in the silent empty street. "An 'ally of convenience'?"

"..." Kaito deigned not to answer the question, remaining silent as the words were spoken out. Yet that in itself, was enough of an answer for Yuto.

With a small smile, the black clad duelist said. "I see." He spoke aloud, and an awkward silence befell them once again.

"Then if you're done, I'm leaving." The black coat wearing Galaxy-Eyes duelist said as he began to walk away, who was once again stopped as Yuto spoke out and called out to him yet again.

"Wait Kaito! I still have more-!"

"And as I said, you can just point any question to them." And with those words said, the teen disappeared into the night. Going off faster than Yuto could follow. Leaving only the two of them to be the ones left on the empty street.

"Hah, he really just left me with something annoying didn't he?" She sighed loudly as she rubbed the back of her head to get Yuto's attention, and the black and purple haired boy turned towards her just like she wanted him to. "Jeez, how annoying. And here I thought that I was slowly growing up on him."

And once again, in a fashion that was growing more and more familiar by the day, she let out another sigh before shaking her head, and she placed a hand on her side as she regarded Yuto. "So I guess I'm now obligated to be your plot introduction, not that you haven't been introduced to it yet, so I guess I'm relegated to a plot device huh."

Which made her groan out in annoyance as she placed her face into her hand. "Darn it Kaito."She let out a whisper, before raising a hand and pointing behind her with her thumb. "Alright then, this is going to take a bit. Might as well grab a drink while we're at it."

The statement made Yuto stop, blinking twice before his eyes widened and mouth hanging open. "Y-you're actually going to talk?"

"Well at this point you kind of deserve answers. You did help Kaito after all. Think of it as a prize." She really does feel bad for him, and he deserves something for all the work that he's done. And if her 'prize' was more than just information? 

-

New Quest!

[Phantom Raiders]

Sell 3 cards to Yuto

Rewards: Reputation (Yuto) Up, Phantom Raiders Pack Unlocked, Raider's Knight x1

Failure: Reputation (Yuto) Down

-

Well then that was Kaito's fault for throwing this problem her way.

-

"You're good with this one yeah?" She said as she approached the boy that was sitting in front of the convenience store, with the black and purple haired teen looking up to her as she held the canned drink in her hand.

"Ah, thank you." The teen said as he nodded his head in thanks, taking the drink off of her hands. Using the heated canned drink to warm himself on this cold night. She herself had also bought one of course, though unlike his sweet drink she had chosen a more bitter option.

That and she was most certainly in need of a hit of caffeine if she was about to explain what was essentially the entire plot of the first season of ZEXAL. She would have preferred freshly brewed tea, but this would do.

Well that, and she was also underage. The robot that manned the convenience store 24/7 needed an ID card for her to even buy any alcohol, and God knows that she didn't have one of those. She'd never thought that she would ever have the taste of being an illegal dimensional immigrant, but sure enough she knows how it feels now.

She guessed in comparison the old man that ran her current apartment complex was more lax than normal. Or maybe that was because she paid a month's worth of rent in full?

"So, you sure that you're fine with doing it here?" She started to say as she pulled the ring tab of her drink open, the hissing sound filling the chilly night air as she took a small sip as she gave the teenager a glance while she leaned back on a pillar right beside him. "We could do this sometime tomorrow, you know? Don't you have a curfew or something?"

At the mention of curfew, the gunmetal eyed teen winced as he looked away from her, bands curling as he held his drink closer to his chest. "The matron is definitely going to scold me." He muttered.

She snorted into her drink, looking away as she hid the smirk that she had after hearing that. She could feel the teen's glare at her. "I get that. Guess you'll just have to deal with that when it comes"

If his matron was anything like Sister Claire then she could only pity him. She'd sneak out a handful of times to sell cards until it was dark and she had to sweep an entire hallway by herself. The orphanage wasn't large by any means, but it was still time consuming to do it by herself.

He huffed and spoke out. "I guess I will." The black and purple haired teen then shook his head as he continued. "But in any case, no. I want to hear this as soon as possible." 

She glanced back towards him, seeing his hands curl and digging into the canned drink. "If I put this on hold, then I won't be able to stop thinking about it. Even more than I already have." He said with a small huff of amusement.

"And I've already been wanting answers ever since we first met. I hope you don't mind that I ask questions about you too." Yuto said as his grey eyes turned from the drink in his hand and towards her.

She couldn't help but smirk at his boldness, and shrugged while she held her drink right in front of her. "Sure I don't mind.'" She answered nonchalantly, holding out her drink in a gesture towards the teen. "Go ahead and ask, though I'll warn you that my answers might not be the same as Kaito's though."

The statement brought a small frown from the black and purple haired teen. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean it's exactly that. I don't know everything, I only know what I know. And though that might be more than others, it's also less than those people that are actually deep in the works with this whole debacle." She said, waving the can in her hand while she explained before taking another sip. Giving the teen time to digest what she had just said.

Yuto's eyes narrowed as he asked her once more. "And you're saying that you're not one of those people that are 'deep in the works'?" 

"Oh no, not at all." She said with a bright smile as she shook her head much to his surprise. "If anything I'm more of an outsider than you are! At least you have some connection with someone that's in this whole thing, I just happened to be in the right place in the right time."

A beat, and she added. "Or the wrong place at the wrong time. Depends I guess." She said with a shrug, taking another small sip of her drink as she finished laying the groundwork for her background, she could be as vague as she wants!

Because she also doesn't know most of what was happening. Only conjectures from previous knowledge of ZEXAL, and this situation was most definitely different from the show's story.

She was sure that the show about extradimensional space aliens playing card games didn't have anything about interdimensional terrorism and war crimes.

Yuto stayed still as he looked at her with wide eyes, mouth hanging open for a handful of seconds before his consciousness seemed to return into his body with a start. "I-I see… So you… don't know much about all of this too?"

"As I said, I only know what I know." She said, quoting the words of a cat-like girl. "So, still want me to answer your questions instead of Kaito's?" She said with a small smirk, only for him to shake his head.

"No. I don't want to be in the dark anymore." He answered back with a determined look, and she nodded her head in understanding.

"Well alright then, ask away." She told him, and he immediately asked one of the biggest questions that was no doubt on his mind.

"Why is Kaito in all of this?" Yuto asked her. "How is he connected to all of this… Numbers debacle. Why would he go and be this… Numbers Hunter that you'd like to call him."

She raised an eyebrow at the question. "Hm, that's a relatively easy one." She said as she hung her drink at the edge of her fingers while her arm dangled at her side. But for that of all things to be his first question… 

She couldn't hold the small genuine smile that wormed its way onto her face. "Well aren't you a nice guy, asking about your friend first." She teased, and his cheeks reddened a little as she continued with her answer. "But I'm sure that you also already know more or less why he is doing this don't you? After all, you listened to what C said to Kaito at the end earlier."

"... I did." He said solemnly as his head hung down, staring down at his hands. "Haruto… something happened to him. Is it something that has to do with the Numbers? Is that why Kaito is doing all of this?"

She hummed in thought, thinking of an appropriate answer that would satisfy him but also wasn't wouldn't show that she knew 'too much'. "On that front, I only know as much as you." Was her non-answer. 

"But you can infer from what happened earlier yourself, whatever happened to him forced that friend of yours to start hunting the Numbers. Ergo taking the name Numbers Hunter." She sent a glance back towards Yuto and asked, "I'm guessing that he didn't act the way he did before all of this started?"

"No. Not at all." Yuto confirmed as he shook his head. "I would have thought that you would have known that, since you're working together."

"Well if you haven't noticed, that friend of yours isn't really in the mood to talk about himself." She said jokingly with a small smile, shaking her head before continuing. "But before you ask, I am helping him since those Number cards cause problems if you haven't noticed."

"I have." The black and purple haired teen grimly nodded. "I haven't had much experience with them, but rumours have it that people that have them cause problems more often than not."

"That's more or less correct." She sighed. "I don't think I'll have to give you the whole speech about 'supernatural' things existing, we just saw people disappear into a portal, the Number cards just makes people more violent than normal. They're tame in comparison honestly."

"That's… I guess it really is tame in comparison." Yuto said with a chuckle, perhaps it's only dawning on him that they had just watched two people getting sucked into a portal that transported them somewhere else.

Before his eyes then narrowed, frowning as he continued. "But these Numbers Cards, they're spread out all over the city aren't they?"

"That's right." She nodded.

"And Kaito… he's 'gathering' all of these cards so that he could help his brother right?" The teen spoke out once again, and to that she shrugged.

"Again, on that front, I only know as much as you do." She reiterated once again.

"Then what do you know then?" He asked, starting to seem frustrated as he held on the can in his hand tightly, almost crushing it and making its contents spill out in his hold.

"Well for one, Dr. Faker is most likely the reason as to why he's doing the Numbers hunt in the first place." She said as she waved her hand. "From the sounds of it, he's the one that can 'cure' Haruto's condition. But whether he can only do it if he has all of the Numbers Cards or when he has all of them is a different story."

"Dr. Faker… that's Kaito's…" Yuto trailed off before shaking his head. "No, that's not important-"

"No, no, it is. He's your friend's father, correct?" She said, confirming something that both of them already knew. "Well I don't know about you, but I've never met him personally, or at all really, but I do know of his reputation at least."

With a wave of her almost emptied can, she continued. "For one, the man has deep connections with the city's founding. And its possibly thanks to those very connections that he made it so that the World Duel Carnival started earlier than it was planned."

"Right. You said something along those lines earlier." Yuto nodded his head, sending a glance back and forth towards her and the drink that was in his hand. "About how this whole tournament. The World Duel Carnival… Does it have a deeper connection to this Numbers Hunt?"

"Oh most certainly." She answered in a heartbeat. "If you haven't noticed, the tournament's policy requires the duelist to actually submit their deck's content to participate. " Which she would not comment at all, even if the statement was completely insane with her knowledge of how the game was run in her previous life.

"Yes. It was a big change from how they usually run tournaments." He nodded. "But I guess it's one of the largest tournaments in the world, so I guess they have to put on all of the stops for it right?"

She snorted at the absurdity of that statement. "Yeah, and they apparently didn't even do it on the last World Duel Carnival too. But guess what's different this time around." She said, nudging him to figure it out on his own. He already has all of the pieces, and she's given him plenty of hints already, he should be able to put two and two together.

"This time around… Ah!" And his gunmetal eyes widened, while she smiled.

"Yep. it's a big ol' conspiracy." She said with a huff. "Dr. Faker has connections with the city, and thus with Mr. Heartland who is running as the face of the World Duel Carnival. So he has the staff working on the background at his pocket as well."

"That's how he can get his… 'targets'." The black and purple haired teen said with a frown. "They know which people have these Number cards, and who to go for. And with the tournament's format where duel disks' locations are known-"

"They most likely have Heartland's security cameras on hand too, so either way they would always know the location of people with Number cards either way." She nodded, adding on to his conclusion. "But regardless of how it's blatantly cheating since he'd know the contents of everyone's deck, the whole tournament is basically a sham. It's still a tournament of course, but the spirit behind it is totally different." 

And she ended her short explanation as she finished her drink, all while Yuto seemed to come to terms with all this deluge of information. "So it's all just a conspiracy to gather all of these Numbers cards?"

She couldn't help but answer with a cynical smile as she held her empty can towards him, a finger pointing as she said. "Always has been."

A short period of silence befell them, and she allowed it to continue as she stared up towards the starry night sky of Heartland City. Giving her companion time to come to terms with what she had just told him.

"Then how come you're helping then?" He asked.

"Hm?"

"Helping Kaito, I mean." He reiterated his question, "How did you get involved in… all of this." He said as he gestured towards the entirety of Heartland City, but she could understand what he meant.

"Would you believe me if I said I was a concerned citizen?" Was her joking answer, one that he certainly doesn't buy from the looks of it. "I'm joking. I told you I was just at the right place at the right time. I met that friend of yours when I first got into the city and sold him some cards. Then I picked up one of those Number cards and we fought." Was her concise response.

"You duelled Kaito?" Yuto said with a frown, eyeing her as he seemed to be in thought. "Did you… win?"

Ah right, he did lose against him during that match at that little school festival of theirs didn't he? If she said yes would it hurt his pride? But she also did win against him so… "Who's to say." In the end she decided to be vague, shrugging her shoulder up as she answered. "In your opinion, who would have won against me and him?" And she threw the question back at him.

"..." The black and purple haired Phantom Knights duelist took a second to contemplate his answer. "You're both strong, I can attest to that. I don't know how really strong you are, and Kaito… Kaito's changed his deck and how he plays that I couldn't really get a good read of him."

She nodded in understanding. He did know him before she basically handed the blonde his new deck, in a return to form from Cipher of all things to Galaxy Photon. And though the two decks basically play the same way as Rank 8 turbos, one of them certainly has a higher ceiling compared to the other. And it's not the one that Yuto was familiar with.

"Though I'm sure you've got more insight into his new deck now don't you? I mean, you've dueled with him side by side now, you've seen what the deck can do." She said, "Pair it up with that other friend of yours that actually dueled against him, and your own knowledge about how he used to play, you've probably got a good framework about him now."

"I guess I would have to ask Shun about that." Yuto said with a nod, taking a moment to actually drink his drink as he thought of more questions to ask. "How many of these Number cards is Kaito supposed to gather?"

"There's 99 of them, I believe." She said, answering the question. "But from the looks of things, every one of them would be gathered at the end of the tournament. The closer we get to the finals, the more people would possibly have Number cards in their possession."

"So they'll be more concentrated the longer the tournament goes on then huh. Is that also a part of the whole 'plan' for the tournament?" The black and purple haired teen asked again, to which she shrugged.

"I'd like to say yes, but I'm kept in the dark about a lot of things too. It's mostly speculation, but it's also the most likely thing that's happening from the looks of it."

"I see." He said as a look of determination flashed on his face. "If I help gather the Numbers cards then…"

"He probably won't thank you even if you do that you know." She said as she raised an eyebrow at what he said.

"That's fine. I wasn't looking for him to thank me." Yuto replied back as he shook his head. "I want to help him any way I can. And if it means also helping people from these… possessed cards then I would gladly do so."

"He'll probably take them to you by force, you know. Like how he accepted that duel against III and V."

And to that, he instead smiled. "That's fine by me." He simply answered. "But I'm not planning to just let him take them without a fight. I'll have him know how worried he made me for just suddenly doing all of this without even thinking of asking for help."

She took a few seconds to stare at the teen as the declaration ran through her mind, before she snorted. "My, my, vindictive aren't we?" She said with a teasing smile, one that he returned.

"I'm just venting on my friend's stupidity is all." He said with a chuckle.

"That's certainly true. Some people do dumb things when they're pushed to it after all." And apparently Kaito was certainly one of them. This one has a far more well rounded support network than his ZEXAL counterpart, as far as she knows, and he'd apparently disregarded that in place of working to hunt all of the Numbers alone.

Well, of course with the backing of Dr. Faker and Mr. Heartland, but he didn't even have a trusty robot sidekick this time around! And no plucky happy go lucky protagonist to drag him out of his edgy shell.

Although… she sent a glance towards the teen that was sitting beside her, and nodded her head. "Guess that settles it then." she said as she threw her empty can up in the air, having it land precisely onto a nearby trashcan.

"Hm?" Yuto regarded her as she turned fully towards him, a hand reaching out extended towards him.

"Guess I'll do my part and help you then."

"Huh?" He said aloud in surprise, staring at her with a confused look on his face. Soon enough though he regained a semblance of composure as he narrowed his eyes and asked, "And how are you going to help me?"

"Well I am quite sure that I mentioned being a card trader the first time we met, no?" She said with a smirk, tilting her head slightly as she said so.

"I don't think we're supposed to change the cards in our deck for the tournament." He commented, to which I waved my hand in a 'so-so' gesture.

"They're letting that Numbers hunting friend of your gather cards and play them in his Extra Deck, and undoubtedly everyone in the know is also doing the same thing too. Slight changes like a handful of cards would mostly be fine for the most part, but changing your whole deck would probably not be recommended."

It's like siding, only doing it before the duel starts. Which is, again, cheating.

But if people are already cheating with supernatural abilities and what not, then she might as well fight back by giving her friends and allies the strongest cards that they could possibly use.

"Don't worry, I've triple checked the rules for the tournament. There's a fine print about it being an 'exception' and not the rules. And needing to submit your deck recipe is only to enter anyway to find who has which Number cards. Adding on a few cards to your deck is technically not violating the rules." 

"But they're certainly skirting them huh." Yuto said as he let out a sigh. "If you're always acting like this then I can understand why Kaito acts the way he does around you."

"Hey. I resent that." She huffed, which earned a chuckle out of him as he took her offered hand. She pulled him up, helping him stand as he then fixed his clothes.

"I guess we never properly introduced ourselves huh." He spoke as he stared right into her eyes. "I'm Yuto. Just Yuto."

"I'm usually called Red Hat, that's the moniker that I go by." She responded, a hand on the rim of her cap as she raised it just enough for him to look at her straight in the eyes. Purple meeting grey.

"But you can call me Yuuna. Now have you heard of a card called Leviair the Sea Dragon?"

-

The second day of the World Duel Carnival qualifiers started off with as much fanfare as the first one did, with a whole appearance by Mr. Heartland for an opening statement once again. It brought excitement for any and all participants who were determined to make a name for themselves and carve their way to the finals.

But for one Ruri Kurosaki, all that she could feel was worry and anxiousness.

Her brother and herself received a call from the matron of Yuto's orphanage that he hadn't returned home last night and had asked if he had decided to stay at their home. A common occurrence every now and again was when her brother and his best friend lost track of time as they dueled against one another or just spent time together, but this was not one of those times.

So she couldn't help but worry. With how the whole tournament was going, and the warning that Yuto himself gave to them about the Numbers and the things that are happening in parallel to the tournament, how could she not worry about him?

But she also knew that Yuto could handle himself. And that if he knew what she was going for, he would tell her to focus on what she wanted to achieve instead of worrying about him. That was the kind of person he was after all.

So she heeded her brother's own advice, who also told her not to worry about Yuto despite knowing full well that he was also going to search for him while also juggling the World Duel Carnival. And here she was, out and dueling other participants to get as much of points as possible to potentially qualify for the finals, as much of a pipe dream as it was.

But she would still do her best regardless. And as she defeated another opponent, she let out a sigh of relief as she saw her score going up, with her opponent leaving dejectedly while his friend comforted him.

She took a moment to catch her breath. That particular duel has been a bit hard, she hadn't expected that her opponent would block several of her attacks with Trap cards and slowed the game enough that her Assembled Nightingale almost used up all of her materials. Though thankfully she managed to finish the game before he could have done so.

Having regained her calm, she opened her duel disk. Using the tournament supported application to find another opponent. She saw the handful of participants that were around her, small colorful dots that showed on her screen and a big red one that was blinking every few seconds.

She hesitated, the tournament had put large target marks behind duelists who had amassed a large amount of points, but she hadn't pit herself against any of them. Instead she's been playing it safe and dueling other normal participants.

But if she doesn't take a risk like this… "then I probably won't be able to catch up." She said determinedly as she nodded her head, building up the courage as she made her way to her next duel. Hoping that she was going to win against this strong duelist, whoever it was.

So she followed the map that her duel disk provided, waving through other participants who were dueling one another, or groups who were dueling other groups. Keeping to herself as she attempted to make her way to her destination without needing any detours.

Soon enough, she had reached the destination where her next opponent was supposed to be. And found herself with a shocking sight.

"Ha! That's what you get! Loser! LOSER!" The black spiky haired boy said as he grinned maliciously, kicking the downed teen as he laughed. And she could only stare in shock and horror as she watched all this happen right before her.

 She quickly snapped out of it, and ran as fast as she could towards the pair. "What are you doing!?" She shouted as loud as she could, getting the black haired teen's attention as he looked up from his victim.

"Ha? What does it look like to you?" The teen clad in all black asked casually, as if he was simply discussing the weather. "I'm just teaching this trash on an important lesson. Where he belongs." He said with a grin as he stepped on the boy that was still laid out on the ground, letting out a cough as his boot met his stomach.

"Stop it! Can't you see that you're hurting him!" She shouted in horror, getting the black clad boy to stop as he glared at her. 

"Yeah? And so what?" He asked, a hint of irritation making its way onto his voice at being interrupted. "It's only fair that I get to do this you know? I beat him fair and square. So now I get free reign on what to do with him." And he smiled, a wicked one that reached the corners of his face.

"And as punishment for his insolence against my grand self, I get to beat him up and vent all of my anger." He said, wicked smile on his face as his eyes glanced down towards the boy beneath him. His feet digging into his stomach and making him groan in pain.

"What? No! That's not how it works! What you're doing is wrong!" She shouted again, her feet moving closer and closer, yet as if there was an invisible wall before her, she couldn't get close enough to physically move him off from where he was standing.

She grunted as she tried to push herself closer. Confusion clear on her look as she furrowed her brows. "What is-"

"Well what are you going to do about it then girlie." He mocked, gesturing with his left hand where his duel disk was connected to towards her. "Going to stop me? Like you can even do something like that." He scoffed, laughing as the boy beneath him kept groaning.

"I-" She grit her teeth, eyes moving back and forth from the unconscious teen below and the one who was standing above him, and made her decision.

"I'll stop you! I won't let you hurt him anymore than you already have!" She shouted as loud as she could, the invisible restraints that was around her seemingly vanishing as she swiped her hand out, duel blade extending from her duel disk.

"Oh?" He said as he stopped, his eyes moving from the boy beneath her and giving her his full attention. She did her best not to flinch as his foot stepped off of the unconscious boy's stomach, a black aura seemingly clinging to the black jacket wearing teen.

"Ha!" He laughed as he flicked his left hand, red duel blade manifesting from his black duel disk, darkness erupting from his body as the world around them seemed to dim in colour. "Go ahead and try!"

""DUEL!!""

Yusha: 4000LP

Kurosaki Ruri: 4000LP

"I'll start first! I always go first!" The dark haired boy screeched as loudly as he could,arching his head back as his arms were swept aside. "I will start with this! Behold my monster! I will special summon Evil HERO Infernal Prodigy!"

The dark haired teen slammed the card from his hand onto his glowing duel blade, and from the depths of darkness a ferocious monster appeared before him, a wicked grin on its face as its sharp claws clinked against one another while its tail swished from side to side.

Evil HERO Infernal Prodigy - Dark/Fiend/Level 2/Effect: 300/600

"Evil… HERO?" The raven haired girl muttered as she watched the summoned monster. Noting the eerie feeling that the monster seemed to emit as it cackled on while it floated on the field.

"This grand monster of mine can be special summoned from my hand if I control no monsters!" The dishevelled duelist declared. "But that won't be the end! Here comes the next one!"

Following the shout, the dark coat wearing duelist revealed another card from his hand. "Now behold my grand monster! I will activate the effect of Malicevorous Fork in my hand!" He declared.

"I can send one other Fiend-Type monster from my hand to the graveyard, to special summon this card from my hand!" The dark haired duelist shouted, as he showed yet another card in his possession. "I will discard Damage Eater from my hand, and special summon Malicevorous Fork!"

Abiding his call yet another monster appeared. A dark fiendish gremlin crawled up from the depths of the earth, carrying in its hand a giant golden fork that shone under the light of the sun. The monster took position beside its summoner's other monster, holding its weapon of choice in hand.

Malicevorous Fork - Dark/Fiend/Level 2/Effect: 400/400

"Two Level 2 monsters!" Ruri noted aloud as she watched her opponent summon two of the same levelled monsters onto the field with barely any inconvenience. "So a Rank 2 monster is coming-!"

"And now, as I control a Dark monster, I will special summon Caligo Claw Crow from my hand!" And proceeded to summon yet another monster, the small crow with giant blades on its claws appeared as it let out a caw, flapping its small wings to keep itself afloat.

Caligo Claw Crow - Dark/Winged Beast/Level2/Effect: 900/600

"A third monster!?" She gasped, and she watched as her opponent held a wicked grin like his own monster, and raised his right hand as high as he could.

"Now behold! As I take the Level 2 Evil HERO Infernal Prodigy. The Level 2 Malicevorous Fork, and the Level 2 Caligo Claw Crow, and overlay all three of them at once!" He shouted as his head arched back, all while his three monsters cackled and cawed as they turned into giant pillars of darkness.

"With all these monsters, behold as I construct an overlay network!" All three of which gathered and converged upon a single point, a giant galactical vortex that appeared right before him.

And he threw his head back as he declared with a manic grin. "XYZ Summon!" He shouted, as the vortex exploded, bathing the field with unworldly light. "Show yourself! Number 96!" Before him, a giant blob of darkness appeared.

"The messenger from pitch black darkness! Dark Mist!" Which then convulsed, limbs erupting and forming from the pitch black orb, before soon taking the form of a ferocious monster with large sharp claws and gnarly teeth. A fiery pair of crimson orbs watching its opponent as three dark purple orbs orbited the XYZ Monster.

Such was the monster that she now faced, a terrifying monster that was completely unknown and different from any monsters that she's ever seen before. A Number monster.

Number 96: Dark Mist - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 2/Effect: 100/1000 OV: 3

"That's-!" She gasped, unconsciously taking a step back as she saw the monster, a Numbers, a monster that Yuto had told her to be wary of. She never thought that she'd find it against this person of all things!?

She shook her head as she raised her guard. If Yuto had told everyone to be wary of them, then these cards must certainly be strong. She doesn't know what they could do, but it is best if she remained wary of them.

Watching his opponent, the dark haired boy giggled. Seeing her reaction of shock that turned to worry instead made her opponent laugh and cackle maniacally. "Hahahah! Yes! Cower in fear of my power! My strength!" 

He laughed gleefully, smile crooked and wide as his eyes narrowed and curved in satisfaction at seeing her reaction. "Oh but I'm not done yet, I'll show you, I'll show them all!" He continued, his hand hovering over the pair of cards that he still had in his hand.

And took out one of them for her to see. "Because I will activate the Continuous Spell! Number Karma!" He shouted aloud, slamming the card onto his duel blade, and having its holographic projection shine brightly before him.

"During each End Phase, if a player does not control a 'Number' monster, Number Karma would make them take 500 damage!" He explained with a grin, bloodshot eyes firmly planted onto her and nothing else.

"What?!" She gasped again, eyes wide as she saw the card remain behind his opponent's monster, and spun around as she saw a wall of fire began to appear all around them, surrounding them and boxing them in.

"But that's! I-" She doesn't have any Number Monster of the sort! Doesn't that mean that she would always take 500 damage at the end of the turn!?

"Yes! Yes! With this strategy, I am unbeatable! Unbeatable!" The dark haired teen giggled, cackled as he curled into himself. Watching his trembling hands with a large smile. "With this I can win against her! I can win against anyone! No one can stop me! I'll end my turn!"

Then proceeded to end his turn, with a board of an XYZ Monster along with a Continuous Spell behind it, while a singular card remained in his hand.

"And at the End Phase…" He began, chuckling as his eyes were shadowed by his bangs. Before he then raised his head and cackled, eyes wide accompanied with a gleeful smile as he pointed towards her. "Since you don't have a Number monster, you lose 500 Life Points!" 

His declaration was followed by wisps of flames appearing right under her feet much to her surprise. Growing larger and stronger each passing second as the searing heat licked her hand. "Kya!" She winced as her duel disk let out its chime, flames slowly receding as her Life Points were taken, yet the circle of flames burned brighter all around them.

Kurosaki Ruri: 3500LP

"Yes, yes! The ultimate strategy! My Dark Mist is unbeatable! Indestructible! Nothing can beat it by battle! NOTHING!" The black haired teen yelled madly. "No matter what monster you summon, it can easily defeat it! And my Continuous Spell guarantees me victory! This game is already over!"

"I-it hurts…" She winced, holding the hand that had brushed against the holographic projection of the Continuous Spell's effect. Wincing at the stinging pain that it had left and the heat that the encirclement of fire gave off. "W-what? B-but how could this-"

"AAAAH! Yes! That's what I wanted to see!" Yusha said with glee, smile quivering as it physically could not grow larger upon seeing her reaction, seemingly unaffected by the holographic projection that was far too realistic. "That reaction! That despair! That's what I wanted to see from her!"

And cackled madly as he twiddled with his fingers, shoulders shaking as he kept eyeing her, watching the panic set in her features. "This is the power of my Number monster! MY POWER!"

"T-this is… a-a Number's monster power…?" She trailed off in horror as her opponent's words sunk in, her entire body trembling as she held her arms close as beads of sweat fell from her head. "That's-! E-even at its worst a damage to the Life Points should only know someone down or sting just a little!"

"But that's not the case is it?" Her opponent chuckled at her reaction, drinking in her panicked face and taking great enjoyment from it. "Oh nonononono, if it was just that then there wouldn't be any fun! And that's what my Number monster gave me! Power!" 

He shouted so as he spread his arms wide, all while his XYZ Monster growled and writhed in front of him. "Ah, right. How silly of me, I must have been so distracted." He chuckled as he shook his head. 

Before setting his eyes down to her once more. "Well, it is now your turn. Struggle all you can, and give me a good show!" He laughed maniacally, and the realization that it was now her turn fully dawned on her.

That she had unwillingly fallen into some sort of sadistic game against a maniac. 

"I-it's my turn!" She said, hurriedly moving her arm onto her duel disk, wincing at the sting that ran through her body in doing so. "I-I draw!" And drew for turn, beginning with six cards in her hand to begin her counter attack.

Or anything, if possible. Because her mind was still reeling from the revelation of what was exactly happening before her. She'd knew that the Numbers cards were real, she would never doubt nii-san and Yuto, but seeing the card for herself and being told of it is a different experience.

The monster that stood before her, it was…. ominous is perhaps the best way that she could describe it. Deep inside her, she could somehow feel that the monster that her opponent had was wrong somehow.

Or perhaps that was simply the effect that her opponent was having on her with his general behavior.

She shook her head. No matter how unsettling the monster made her, she couldn't afford to lose. This wasn't just a duel against someone in possession of a Number monster, it was still a duel under the umbrella of the World Duel Carnival.

And she made a promise. She couldn't afford to lose this. She couldn't afford to lose at all.

So she took a deep breath as she played her first card of the duel. "I will start by normal summoning Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow!" She declared, placing her monster card onto her glowing duel blade, and her monster appeared flourishing her wings onto the field.

Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 0/100

"Hm? A weak monster like that is your choice for a normal summon?" The black haired teen sneered, huffing as he looked down at her monster. "Do you truly think that something like that could stand against my Dark Mist? How foolish!"

"Uh, i-it won't just be my Cobalt Sparrow!" Though she was caught off guard by her opponent's sudden comment, she responded nonetheless. "Because I will activate the effect of Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow in my hand!" And continued by taking out another card from her hand. 

"If I control a Winged Beast monster, I can special summon this card and another Level 1 Winged Beast monster from my hand!" She said, explaining the monster card's effect. "Come! Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow! And a second Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow!"

And with a wave of her hand, a pair of monsters appeared on her side of the field. A pair of anthrophomorphised birds descended onto the field with a flap of their wings. Both the Sapphire Swallow and the second Cobalt Sparrow dancing in the face of their shadowy opponent.

Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/0

Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 0/100

"Hmph. Another pair of useless monsters." He said with a scoff as he saw her summoned her monsters, making three Level 1 monsters appear onto her side of the field. "None could stand against the might of my Dark Mist!"

"They might not, but they won't have to! I will activate the effect of my Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow!" She declared. "If this card is special summoned, I can add one Level 1 Winged Beast monster from my deck to my hand!"

The newly summoned brown-winged winged beast flapped her wings as she then added a monster card from her deck to her hand. "I will add Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler from my deck to my hand!" 

And she does, adding the monster card from her deck to her hand before shuffling her now four card hand. "Now I will take the two Level 1 Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrows and the Level 1 Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow, and overlay them!" 

she shouted as the three monsters twirled on the field, glowing and turning into glowing green lights, all three of which proceeded to enter the shining galactical vortex that appeared in front of her.

"With these three monsters, I will construct an overlay network!" She declared aloud, and the vortex exploded with light. "Oh birds with beautiful wings! Descend and nobly shine on the battlefield! XYZ Summon!" And so she completed her summoning chant, calling out towards her own Ace Monster.

"Dance! Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale!" And her monster then descended, flapping its beautiful wings as it descended onto the field, spreading its wings wide as two glowing green orbs orbited around her very own signature XYZ Monster. Two shining green orbs orbiting the summoned XYZ Monster.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 3

"Assembled Nightingale gains 200 attack for each material that's attached to her, meaning that she currently has 600 attack points!" She said, explaining the monster's continuous effect as a green glow enveloped the winged XYZ Monster.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 600/0 OV: 3

"600 attack? You think something like that could stand up to my Dark Mist?" The teen dressed in all black scoffed, his composure unmoved even as he watched her perform an XYZ Summon. Somehow uncaring of the fact that his own XYZ Monster had a lower attack points compared to her own.

Should a normal duelist find themselves in this situation, they would normally attack the lower attack monster to destroy it.

But she already knows that a Number Monster can't be destroyed in battle except against another Number Monster. So there truly wasn't a use for her to do something like that, and with a monster that needed at the very least three materials, having 100 attack points certainly meant that it had either a strong effect or a Battle Phase related one.

Either way, she wasn't willing to find out in her turn. "Battle!" She declared as she moved onto her Battle Phase. "I will attack you directly with Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale!" She declared with a wave of her hand, and her XYZ Monster flapped her wings as she soared to the sky.

"What!? What do you mean attack directly!?" And for the first time of the duel, the black haired duelist raised his voice in shock as his eyes went wide. "You-you would just ignore my Dark Mist like that and attack directly!? Impossible!"

"It isn't! My Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale can attack directly! And so I will do just that!" She shouted. "Go! Assembled Nightingale!" The beautiful feathered monster dived straight towards her opponent, swerving through the dark tendrils of Dark Mist and delivering a direct blow towards him.

"Gagh! No! This can't be!" The black haired boy shouted as he recoiled from the attack. Shouting and glaring at her in anger as his duel disk let out a chime as his Life Points lowered from the attack.

Yusha: 3400LP

"But I'm not yet finished! While she has material, Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale can attack a number of times each Battle Phase, up to the number of materials attached to it!" She said, and waved her hand again as she did so. "With three materials, my Assembled Nightingale can attack up to three times! Go! Assembled Nightingale!"

"What?! It can attack again!?" The darkly dressed duelist shouted with wide eyes, and was struck for the second time by her XYZ Monster. His Life Points decrease again from the direct attack. "Guagh! You! You-!"

Yusha: 2800LP

"Once more! Assembled Nightingale!" And she shouted once again, and her XYZ Monster once more dealt direct battle damage against her opponent.

"YOU-!" And as his Life Points depleted even further from the attack, so too did whatever composure that he had. His face twisted in fury as he gnarled his teeth towards her, duel disk chiming for the third time this turn.

Yusha: 2200LP

"And I will set two cards face-down, and end my turn." So she said as she passed her turn. Passing as she ended with her XYZ Monster and two set cards behind it, two cards remained in her hand with one of them being the Turquoise Warbler which she had added.

"You-! You dare ignore my monster!" The black haired teen snarled as he drew his card for turn with ferocity. "At the End Phase, the effect of Number Karma activates! And it will deal another 500 damage to you!" He shouted as he pointed a finger towards her, and flames once more came into being around her.

"Kyah!" She winced again as the heat rose around her, flames licked her hand as her Life Points was once again burned by the Continuous Spell's effect as the circle of flames encircling her grew closer and closer.

Kurosaki Ruri: 3000LP

"Ha! Take that you annoyance! My turn! I draw!" Beginning with two cards in his hand, he immediately roared. "Battle!" He swiped his hand out as he gave an order to his monster.

 "I will attack your annoying monster with Dark Mist! Black Mirage Whip!" And with his command the shadowy monster let out a roar as its claws extended into dark whips.

"You're attacking with your Number Monster? So it does have an effect during the Battle Phase!" She muttered under her breath as she saw the two monsters begin to clash, she'd already had an inkling of it being the case with how weak the monster seemingly was, but this confirmed it.

And as she had expected, the black haired teen continued by using the monster's ability. "Now behold Dark Mist's effect!" He shouted with a manic grin. "Once per battle, when an attack is declared involving this card and an opponent's monster, as a Quick Effect I can detach one material from this card to halve the attack of the opponent's monster, and have Dark Mist gain that same amount of attack!"

"An effect to drain attack points?!" Her eyes went wide as she saw the giant monster of darkness opened the maw in its chest, and absorbed one of its XYZ Material. Its orange eyes burned brightly as it hissed a roar.

Number 96: Dark Mist - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 2/Effect: 100/1000 OV: 2

"Shadow Gain!" The teen shouted as dark tendrils erupted from the monster's chest, intending to bind her own XYZ Monster with it to weaken it.

"Then I will chain the effect of my Assembled Nightingale!" She declared, throwing a hand out as she declared the activation her own XYZ Monster's effect. "Once per turn, as a Quick Effect, I can detach one material from Assembled Nightingale, to make it so that until the end of this turn, 'Lyrilusc' monsters that I control cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects, and I take no battle damage! Feather Sanctuary!"

"What!? It has even more effects!?" And as her opponent's eyes went wide, bright feathers filled the field as Assembled Nightingale flapped her wings as it absorbed one of its three xyz Material. Allowing it to form a translucent barrier around itself that would protect it, and in turn her, from the oncoming attack.

And while doing so also lowering its own attack. Lowering the attack points that her opponent's monster would absorb also.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 600/0 OV: 2

The chain of effects resolve, the dark tendrils that Dark Mist manifested from its maw piercing through Assembled Nightingale's barrier as it drained her XYZ Monster's attack. Assembled Nightingale letting out a cry as its stats was lowered and absorbed by the dark fiend that it was facing.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 300/0 OV: 2

Number 96: Dark Mist - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 2/Effect: 400/1000 OV: 2

And the attack then continued, Dark Mist's silver claws slicing towards her winged beast, only for it to be unable to pierce through the barrier that it had manifested with its effect. Protecting both itself from battle destruction and herself from the miniscule battle damage that she would have taken from it.

"You! YOOOOOU! This was supposed to be easy! An easy win to establish myself again!" Her opponent gnashed his teeth, eyes twitching as he snarled towards her. "I will enjoy making you suffer! I will normal summon Malicevorous Knife!"

Yusha then moved onto his second Main Phase, where he performed his normal summon for the turn. And beside his shadowy monster a snarling fiend appeared, in its hand was a gleaming crimson blade that was pointed towards her monster.

Malicevorous Knife - Dark/Fiend/Level 2/Effect: 600/100

"When Malicevorous Knife is normal summoned, I can target one 'Malicevorous' monster in my graveyard except 'Malicevorous Knife', and special summon that target!" He shouted out the monster's on summon effect as he then took out a card from his graveyard.

"Return to me! Malicevorous Fork!" The small fiendish creature opened its maw and let out a monstrous cry, swinging its oversized blood crimson knife as it summoned forth its fallen compatriot. The giant golden fork wielding fiend summoned forth once more as he placed the card onto his duel blade.

Malicevorous Fork - Dark/Fiend/Level 2/Effect: 400/400

"Two Level 2 Monsters again? Another XYZ Monster?" She muttered as she saw her opponent managing to summon another pair of monsters, reviving the monster that he had detached from his own XYZ Monster to do so. 

"Then behold! I'll show you your doom with this! I will take the Level 2 Malicevorous Knife and Malicevorous Fork, and overlay the both of them together!"

The two fiendly figures then let out their respective screeches before their forms distorted, morphing into dark purple blobs of energy which then crossed one another, entering into the galactical vortex that appeared between them. "With these two monsters, I will construct an overlay network! XYZ Summon!"

An explosion of light soon engulfed the field, and from it came the monster that her opponent had summoned. "Appear! Number 65!" Which took the form of a blade-like thing, which soon unfolded itself into a more humanoid form, with two large blades for hands, with dark purple and black colors coloring its body, while the blades that it had for hands shone blood red. 

"The cursed executioner of judgment, the Shredding Devil, Djinn Buster!" The monster then took post, swung both of its bladed arms as its singular wings made of dark silver blades unfurled behind its left shoulder, standing firm in front of its deranged summoner, standing in attack position regardless of its arguably pitiful attack points. 

The archaic number 65 shone on the rightmost part of its chest. Two purple orbs orbited the newly summoned XYZ Monster.

Number 65: Djinn Buster - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 2/Effect: 1300/0 OV: 2

"Another Number Monster!" She hissed as she saw her opponent summon a second Number Monster, the bladed fiend standing right beside its summoner's other XYZ Monster. Both fiends stood menacingly as they faced her and her monster.

"I'll set a card face down!" He shouted as he slammed a card onto his duel disk, a face-down card manifesting right beside where his Continuous Spell remained on his field. "And as I'll end my turn, the effect of Numbers Karma strikes again! Take 500 damage!" He shouted in glee.

And she winced for the third time in the duel as flames manifested all around her, their heat feeling far realer and hotter than before. "This again!" She hissed in pain as her Life Points was reduced once again by the burn card's effect, biting her lip to not scream at the absurdity of the duel that she was in as the flames raged on.

Kurosaki Ruri: 2500LP

"Ha! Soon enough I'll get rid of your monster, and with how low your Life Point is, I can beat you easily! This duel is as good as won!" The black haired teen laughed maniacally. "But oh do continue to struggle little birdie, I'll enjoy seeing you squirm under my boot!"

"You're absolutely insane!" She hissed back in disgust. A shaking hand placing itself onto her duel disk as she began her turn. "My turn! I draw!" And she began her second turn of the duel with three cards in her hand.

But deep down she knew that he wasn't quite wrong. Her situation was grave, more so than she wanted to admit. If Dark Mist effect hadn't been what it was and weakened her Assembled Nightingale, then she could have possibly finished the duel in this very turn with the cards that she had. But with it being the case, and with yet another Number XYZ Monster on his field…

She only has a limited number of turns on her hand before she would lose the duel, and with her Life Points being as low as it was, the Where Arf Thou in her hand was unusable unless she played it correctly.

With Turquoise Warbler being the other card in her hand barring the one that she had just drawn, there truly was only one way that she could play this turn.

"Battle!" And that was to start by going into the Battle Phase.

"Ho? So you're just going to attack me with your pitiful monster? Go ahead then! Your turns are numbered little birdie!" Her opponent remarked with a self assured grin. Opening both his arms wide as he gestured for her to attack.

She resisted the urge to squirm from his words as she instead waved her hand forwards and attacked with her monster. "Go! Assembled Nightingale!" And her winged XYZ Monster shot forth, once again attacking her opponent directly.

Unlike before, Yusha took the attack with a smug grin. Reassured in knowing that the attack would essentially amount to nothing in the grand scheme of his plans. Even giggling in delight as his Life Points were lowered from the damage that he took.

Yusha: 2000LP

"Again! Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale attacks you directly!" And attacked yet again, as her XYZ Monster still possessed two overlay units to attack twice, dealing yet another chip of damage that her opponent deemed unimportant.

Yusha: 1800LP

"Hmph. So now you're done, yes? I'll-"

"And I'll activate the Quick-Play Spell, Lyrilusc - Bird Song!" She shouted out as she placed the Quick-Play Spell card on her duel blade, cutting whatever it was that her opponent was about to say short as the card's holographic projection appeared right beside her.

"What?!" And the sudden use of cards had his eyes wide, composure broken once more.

"When a 'Lyrilusc' monster that I control inflicts battle damage to my opponent, Lyrilusc - Bird Song allows me to special summon one Level 1 monster from my hand in defence position!" She shouted, explaining the Quick-Play Spell's effect as she revealed the target in her hand.

"I will special summon Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler from my hand in defence position!" And summoned forth the monster that she had added to her hand in her previous turn. The light green feathered Lyrilusc appeared on her field in a flash of light, both wings crossed in front of her defensively as she was summoned.

Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/100

"And I will activate her effect!" She declared as she held her hand close to her chest, trying to ease her rapidly beating heart. "If Turquoise Warbler is special summoned from the hand, I can special summon one 'Lyrilusc' monster from my hand or graveyard!"

Though she doesn't have any in her hand as of now, she had detached a Cobalt Sparrow from her Assembled Nightingale. And with its effect to add another Level 1 Winged Beast if its special summoned she can-

"NO! Not on my watch! You're not allowed to do that!" The black haired teen raged out as he waved his hand wildly. "I'll use Djinn Buster's effect! When you activate a monster effect, I can detach two materials from this card, to negate the activation, and if I do, inflict 500 damage to you!"

"What!?" And this time it was her turn to shout in surprise. Not expecting the newly summoned XYZ Monster to have that kind of effect at all.

The pair of glowing purple orbs that orbited the fiendish blade armed XYZ Monster then were taken as the blade handed monster swung both of its hands, letting out a screech as it used both of its xyz materials to activate its effect.

Number 65: Djinn Buster - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 2/Effect: 1300/0 OV: 0

The chain of effects then resolved backwards as it does, the blade winged monster screeching once again as it spread both of its arms wide, leaping and spinning as it threw blades of feathers at her way.

"Kya!" She screamed as she held both of her hands in front of her, wincing as the blades cut her skin, small scrapes appearing all around her body, making her stumble and almost fall. All while also negating the effect of her monster. 

Kurosaki Ruri: 2000LP

"Ugh." She winced in pain as she swayed in place, but managed to keep her footing. She sent a glare at her opponent, who managed to regain their composure upon negating her monster's effect.

But while this does slow her down, she could still play the cards in her hand.

"Then I… will move onto my Main Phase 2." She said as she took a second to steady her breath, taking out the last remaining card in her hand and playing it. "I will activate the Spell, Where Arf Thou?"

And as she placed the card on her duel blade, its shining holographic projection appeared right before her. "If I control a Level 1 monster, this card allows me to add one Level 1 monster from my deck to my hand. But during the End Phase of this turn, I take 2000 damage if I did not normal summon the added monster, or a card with the same name, after activating this card."

"Ha! Do you want to lose that much?" Her opponent scoffed. "A card that would deal half of your starting Life Points as damage, what kind of idiot would play something like that!"

She deigned to ignore her opponent's words as she chose to take the second copy of a card that she had already used in her first turn. "I will add to my hand the second copy of Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow, and normal summon her!"

And she immediately used her normal summon for the turn on the card that she added, and a second copy of the sapphire winged Lyrilusc monster made it onto the field as she waved her deep blue wings.

Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow - Wind/Winged Beast/Level 1/Effect: 100/0

"Now I will take the Level 1 Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler and the Level 1 Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow, and overlay them!" She shouted aloud a she extended her right hand in front of her, and both winged beast shone as they let out a cry, turning into shining beacons of light

And a black and gold galactical vortex appeared before her, which both of those pillars of light proceeded to enter. "With these two monsters, I will construct an overlay network!" She declared aloud as she raised her hand, and the vortex exploded with light. 

"Oh birds with beautiful wings! Descend and perform your song on the battlefield!" And she proceeded to finish the chant as she swung her hand down. "XYZ Summon!"

"Sing! Lyrilusc - Recital Starling!" And her new monster then descended, reciting her beautiful tunes as feathers as black as the night itself fluttered all around her. The black winged XYZ Monster settled right next to her lightly coloured counterpart as she arrived onto the field with two green glowing orbs hovering around her.

Lyrilusc - Recital Starling - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 2

"Hmph. another small XYZ Monster. What do you think you can do with something as weak as that?" Yusha scoffed at the appearance of the new XYZ Monster, opting to once again look down on his opponent.

"It even has zero attack! And you're putting it in attack position? Are you stupid or something?" He snickered, cackling at what he thought was an amateurish mistake from his opponent.

"And I will activate her effect!" All while she immediately activated the monster's effect as she was summoned, ignoring the biting comment as it instead proved her opponents level of intelligence to her. "If Recital Starling is XYZ Summoned, I can target one face-up monster on the field, and have it gain 300 attack and defence for each material that is attached to this card!"

She then pointed towards the first XYZ Monster that she had summoned for the duel, her eyes sharp and focused as she ignored the rising heat around them. "I will target Assembled Nightingale for the effect!" She said, as the black feathered XYZ Monster flapped her wings as she continued to sing her beautiful melody.

"Hmph, so just a 600 attack boost?" The black haired duelist scoffed. "No matter, I will just take it all with Dark Mist anyway." He said with a smirk as the shadowy monster in question snarled while its long limbs slithered in anticipation.

But she continued as she waved her hand towards the XYZ Monster again. "And the effect of Sapphire Swallow activates as well! If a Wind XYZ Monster was summoned using Sapphire Swallow as material, it gains an additional effect!"

"Huh? An effect if a monster is used as an XYZ Material?" Her opponent voiced his confusion as she read out the card's last line of text, not even yet finishing to explain what it does. 

Yet, he shook his head as he remained self assured. "No, it won't be anything important anyway. There's no way that I could ever lose to something like this." He said confidently as she then continued to read the card's effect aloud.

"That effect being, if it is XYZ Summoned, I can target one 'Lyrilusc' monster in my graveyard, and attach it to this card as material!" She said, as she chose the card that she had first intended to summon back earlier. 

"I will target the Lyrilusc- Cobalt Sparrow in my graveyard, and attach it to Recital Starling as material!" She declared, and the chain of effects then began to resolve. All starting with the transparent figure of Cobalt Sparrow appearing briefly onto the field, before turning into a small glowing orb that then orbited around Recital Starling.

Lyrilusc - Recital Starling - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 3

"And now since she has three materials, Assembled Nightingale's attack is raised by 900 points!" She shouted, as Recital Starling placed a wing on her chest while she sung empowering Assembled Nightingale as a green aura enveloped her.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 1200/0 OV: 2

"What?! That's-you made it so that she had more overlay materials when the effect goes off?!" The boy shouted in surprise as his black eyes temporarily went wide. Only for them to return to normal as he squinted and scoffed yet again while shaking his head.

"Ha! I guess I should thank you then. Because this way, my Dark Mist would get even stringer when we eventually battle!" He said with a grin, and yet again the monster slithered in anticipation, craving the upcoming violence.

But she knew that she would be fine. After all, with her plans now in motion, she would hopefully win on her next turn, even if it will be closer than she would want it to be. "I will activate the effect of Recital Starling!" She declared, beads of sweat falling as she waved her hand outwards.

"Once per turn, I can detach one material from this card, to add one Level 1 Winged Beast monster from my deck to my hand!" She shouted as she waved her hand out towards the winged beast with feathers as dark as the night sky. "Bird Song!"

And the monster once more flapped her wings in preparation, absorbing one of the three overlay units that she possessed into herself to activate her effect.

Lyrilusc - Recital Starling - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 2

Then proceeded to sing, a brave and encouraging tune that filled the entire battlefield. "I will add the last Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow from my deck to my hand!" And she revealed the third and final copy of the card to her opponent, adding it as the only card that she possessed in her hand.

"And I will then end my turn." And with no further plays, she proceeded to end her turn. Finishing with another XYZ Monster on her field, and her first one now stronger than ever. Two set cards still remained on her backrow while the one card in her hand was the one that she had just added onto her hand.

"Ha! And on the End Phase, the effect of Numbers Karma activates!" Yusha said with a cruel grin, the Continuous Spell that he possessed shining before him as the flames around them grew in ferocity. 

"Ah!" She gasped as she fell to her knees as the fire around her burned even hotter than before, her breaths becoming harder and hasher as beads of sweat kept dripping from her body. The heat that the Continuous Spell seemingly grew harsher and harsher as the turn goes on, while her opponent remained unaffected by them.

Kurosaki Ruri: 1500LP

"Ugh… Kuh!" SHe grunted as she did her best to stand up, occasionally tripping and almost falling from the pain that her body felt. The sheer heat that the fires of Numbers Karma continued to take a toll on its body, with beads of sweat raining off of her body, and her throat felt drier than it had ever been before.

"Finally, guess you really didn't manage to do anything worthwhile did you? It's my turn! I draw!" Her opponent said with a confident grin as he began his turn once again, drawing for turn and starting off with that very card as the only card in his hand.

"And now we battle!" And immediately going into the Battle Phase, just as she had done so on her own turn. "I will attack that weak new monster of yours with Djinn Buster! Go my monster!" 

The bladed fiend XYZ Monster spread both its arms wide, both blades glistening and shining as they reflected the fires that burned around them as the monster leapt. Its attack aimed to massacre her newly summoned XYZ Monster.

But she had already expected that he would do that! "Then I will activate the effect of Assembled Nightingale! Feather Sanctuary!" She shouted as she waved her hand forward, and the white feathered Lyrilusc flapped her wings as shining barriers enveloped both herself and Recital Starling, protecting them from destruction and preventing any battle damage to be taken by her, yet also lowering her own attack as she had detached another overlay material.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 1000/0 OV: 1

The bladed monster;s attack then clashed against the shining barrier, standing firm against the relentless attack of blades. The bladed fiend disengaged, leaping back as its assault against the black feathered Lyrilusc failed.

Yet that wasn't the end of the battle, Recital Starling flapped her wings as she shot a barrage of feathers towards her opponent in retaliation. Dealing damage to the unexpecting duelist. "Gack!" He shouted, recoiling in pain as he was hit by the attack. "W-what!? How?! Why is my Life Points decreasing!?" He roared out as his duel disk chimed with the damage that he received.

Yusha: 500LP

"HOWHOWHOWHOW!? How is it that I took damage from that battle!?" He raged, throwing his hands around and slamming his foot onto the ground repeatedly. His face as red as it physically could be as he fumed at the result of his very own attack.

"You… really did attack an XYZ Monster with 0 attack that was blatantly summoned on attack position." She said in amazement with eyes wide open and mouth slightly agape. "Even after knowing that Assembled Nightingale would protect both from damage and destruction…"

The fact that he would fall for something that was incredibly obvious even with the Number Cards that he had clearly spoke of his dueling skills. Or rather, his dueling comprehension and experience.

"It's Lyrilusc - Recital Starling's effect." She spoke out. "All battle damage that I would take from battles involving this XYZ Summoned card is also inflicted to you!" She shouted as she waved her hand out, and the monster in question also flapped her wings with a smug grin.

"What?!" He hissed out. "But how!? If you're not taking any battle damage then-!?"

"I won't take battle damage with Assembled Nightingale, but that doesn't mean that you won't!" She pointed out towards her opponent, who gritted his teeth in anger. 

"YOU! YOOOOOOOU! How dare you do this to my monsters! How dare you!" He hissed as his hands shook, clawing the air in front of him in anger. "Kuh! WHYWHYWHYWHY is this happening to me! I'll attack that white feathered bird with Dark Mist! And activate his effect on attack declaration!" 

That was the order that he roared as he waved his hand forward towards the shadowy XYZ Monster, and the creature of shadows let out a fiendish roar in response as it leapt forward. 

"Even though I wouldn't take any damage!?" And she spoke aloud with eyes wide once again as she saw her opponent send out his monster to attack once again.

"Shut up shut up shut up! I will detach another of its material, to reduce the attack of that XYZ Monster of yours! Shadow Gain!" He angrily waved his hand out, sending his command to the shadowy XYZ Monster.

Said monster roared once again as it consumed one of the two overlay units that it still possessed with its giant maw. Roaring once more as it emitted a dark aura that enveloped both itself and the target of its attack.

Number 96: Dark Mist - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 2/Effect: 400/1000 OV: 1

The energy soon enveloped both itself and the light feathered XYZ Monster, reducing the winged beast's raised attack points while the shadowy monster absorbed it for its own.

Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale - Wind/XYZ/Winged Beast /Rank 1/Effect: 500/0 OV: 1

Number 96: Dark Mist - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 2/Effect: 900/1000 OV: 1

The newly empowered XYZ Monster then attacked, even though it had already done what it was intended to by lowering her monster;s attack, the attack itself still resumed. The dark fiendish XYZ Monster barings its claws and fangs towards Assembled Nightingale.

And a thought struck her. She had thought that she would have to finish the duel with it being quite close by attacking directly with Assembled Nightingale once more, or several times more, she certainly hadn't expected that he would crash himself into Recital Starling like he did.

But with this, she could end the duel right here and now! "Then I will activate my Trap Card!" She shouted as loud as she could while her right hand extended forward. And one of the two set cards that she had set in what felt like a lifetime ago was flipped face-up.

"Lyrilusc - Phantom Feathers!" And as she shouted its name, the card shone right before her. "This card allows me to target one 'Lyrilusc' monster that I control, and make the attack of all monsters that you currently control become that monster's current attack, and their Levels and Ranks become 1!"

"WHAT!?" Yusha shouted as his rage faded into the wind, his face that was once red with anger turning as white as a sheet as realization dawned on him. He shook his head repeatedly back and forth as he kept shouting. "W-WHAT!? NONONONONONONONONONON IT CAN'T BE! THAT CAN'T WORK! IT CAN'T!"

Yet the Trap Card's effect soon resolved, both Assembled Nightingale and Recital Starling turning to one another before nodding their heads, flapping both of their wings and raining rainbow-like feathers, all of which attached themselves onto her opponent's XYZ Monsters.

And in doing so, sealed Yusha's fate as they lowered his monster's attack.

Number 96: Dark Mist - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 1/Effect: 0/1000 OV: 1

Number 65: Djinn Buster - Dark/Fiend/XYZ/Rank 1/Effect: 0/0 OV: 0

"NO! NO STOP! DON'T ATTACK!" Yet the attack continued, regardless of its owner's wishes, Dark Mist's claws struck the shining barrier that protected Assembled Nightingale, which easily halted the attack.

But with its attack points now higher, the wind winged beast beat their wings as she reflected the attack back, sending Dark Mist skidding back next to its master. Before then swinging its wings one last time, sending a handful of feathers flying towards her opponent.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" And the retaliatory attack landed, striking the black clad duelist right in his chest as he screamed as loud as he could, and his duel disk announced his defeat as his Life Points reached zero.

Yusha: 0LP

"Aaaa…aaaaa…" The black haired boy's head arched up, staring up towards the sky while his mouth hung open. The cards that were in his hand and duel blade falling as his duel disk deactivated itself upon his defeat, left scattered on the ground below.

Then he fell to his knees, his head hanging while his eyes stared into the distance, lifeless, and he simply remained there even as his cards lay scattered all around him.

"I…I won…".And it was only then that she realized that she had, indeed won. The circle of fire that had surrounded them had gone and disappeared upon her victory, along with all the other holographic projections that their duel disks manifested.

The adrenaline left her body, along with all of the energy that was in her body. And like him, she too fell to her knees, yet she still kept her consciousness. A long, long sigh left her mouth as all the tension disappeared. 

And all that was left was her, and her now unconscious opponent. The unconscious boy that he had defeated earlier, and the empty open space without anyone else anywhere near them. "I… should probably… do something about… that…"

Yet as the words left her lips, her vision began to slowly blur. Her head and body felt heavy, and the ground was closer than she remember-

The last thing that she saw was a flash of red as someone caught her before she could fall straight into the ground. 

-

"... I honestly didn't think that I'd find something like this really." She grumbled as she held the unconscious girl in her hand, making sure that she was holding her carefully. Checking to make sure that the girl wasn't heavily injured from the result of the shadow game.

"This is really getting out of hand." She sighed as she looked up towards the sky, watching the giant blimp fly into the sky. "Of course this is the first thing I find in the morning. I haven't even gotten breakfast yet."