It was a quiet night on Academia Island. Perhaps… a little too quiet. Then again, the curfew for students was already up. The D.E.C. was doing their usual nightly patrol around the dorms, the school, and even the woods to ensure there was no one wandering around at night. Two members of the D.E.C. were walking through the woods, flashlights shining their beams at whatever was in front of them.
"These night patrols have better be worth double my PTO." The first D.E.C member grumbled.
"Let's hope we don't run into whoever's been able to get in without fail." The second D.E.C member gulped, "Have you heard the rumors about ghosts roaming around this school?"
"I mean yeah, we got a whole festival after them." The first D.E.C member shrugged off.
"Not those kinds of ghosts, the other kind." The second D.E.C member pointed out.
"Oh, those kinds…" the first D.E.C member muttered, before shrugging. "Meh, don't believe in them."
"What?"
"Come on. You seriously think that they actually exist? You said it yourself, Duel Spirits exist. So why not actual ghosts?"
"I just got a real bad feeling about this…"
"Oh lighten up, what kind of baseless rumor of actual ghosts, got you peeing in your pants?"
"That there's a spirit of malice that roams the island."
"Spirit of malice?"
"Yeah, if you say a certain word three or five times, then the fog sets in and a spirit of malice swallows you up."
The first D.E.C member rolled his eyes, "Ugh, probably another rumor caused by those Osiris kids."
"But it might be true!" The second D.E.C member argued.
"Come on, what kind of word is it anyway? Voldemort or something?"
"Pain."
The first D.E.C member looked at him with a dry look. "Really? That's it?" He then cockily said, "Aight then. Pain, Pain, Pain, Pain, Pain, Pain."
"What are you doing?! Are you nuts?!"
"I said it six times for good measure. Meaning it ain't happening. Watch."
…
…
…
…
"See? Nothing happened."
"Uh…" The second D.E.C member got out.
"Seriously, you're worrying over nothing." The first D.E.C member groaned with a deadpan before walking ahead. "Come on, let's go. We still have more ground to cover before we change guard."
"W-Wait for me!" The second D.E.C member cried out, running after his co-worker. Unbeknownst to the two, a pair of ominous golden eyes gleamed in the darkness. They were watching these guards with intent. They had found their next prey.
With their target in sight, the fog started rolling behind the two guards. Slowly but surely, the misty fog crept and stalked them from behind. The second D.E.C suddenly felt his hair stand on end.
"Brrrrrr… it's freezing… so cold all of a sudden…" he then looked around and saw that his co-worker was missing. "H-Hey, where are you? Where did you go?!" He asked, but there was no answer. "Come on, this isn't funny!"
That's when he felt something was looking at him, something ominous.
He didn't want to turn around. If he did, it was over for him. So he did the only thing he could do.
Run.
The second D.E.C. member, sprinted away from the ominous figure as fast as possible. He didn't care if his legs were on fire. He needed to get away from this feeling of dread and anxiety before it catches up to him. Sadly for him, he quickly felt something grab his leg and cause him to fall.
"GAH!" The second D.E.C member cried out before he felt himself being dragged. "No! No! Somebody help!" He called out, but no one was there to come to his rescue. The misty fog soon darkened, revealing it to be an eerie darkness. One that seemed very familiar from days of yore. A darkness that once blanketed a certain kingdom from another island.
Brought into despair and horror, he screamed his last words.
"I DON'T WANT TO DIIIIIIIIIIE!"
*DING DONG DING DONG! DING DONG DING DONG!*
Another day of school was done. All the students were finished with their lessons for the day, and all of them were making their way out of their classroom. We find our heroes walking amongst the sea of students, particularly Judai, Sho, Rex, Kuromu, Asuka and Rika. They were on their way out of the campus to walk back home to their respected dorms.
"Ugh, what a day." Kuromu said.
"Well what did you expect dude? Power's back on and the sun isn't turning us into barbecue, it's pretty much business as usual." The mutt pointed out.
"Yeah I guess." Kuromu sighed, before turning his attention to Minerva, who was silently walking alongside them. "How are you holding up, Minerva-chan?" He asked.
"I… I will be fine. Hopefully." She said, softly.
"Still worried about Reggie?" Judai asked, to which Minerva silently nodded. "It'll be okay! We'll find and get Reggie and her brother back soon! Count on it!" He grinned at her.
"We should avoid playing her in a Duel though. I remember Woz said that the more we Synchro Summon, the more destabilized the timeline will be." Rika recalled.
"Let's hope that one time that I Dueled her was the only time." Asuka hoped.
"But… what if there's a different type of Summoning Method out there?" Sho pointed out.
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it. If this Synchro Summon is only the first step to evolving Duel Monsters, who's to say that other methods are in the works?"
"I mean, a card game has to add new things if you want it to stay relevant. There's only so much traffic a new archetype can bring in without a new mechanic to shake up the meta." Rex said.
"Still, it's something we need to prepare for." Kuromu said. "No matter what they throw us, we can't let our guard down for even a second."
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"You just had to say it." Rex groaned before they rushed to where the scream came from. The source of the scream came from the entrance of the school where the students were gathered near the entrance. When they arrived, the students all had shock and horror plastered on their faces.
"Make way everyone! Move it!" Kuromu shouted, as the students parted ways for their group.
When they got to the front, their expressions of shock and horror mirrored the other students. What they saw in front of them was a sight no one should ever see. On the ground were the two D.E.C. members that were on patrol the other night. However, their faces were shriveled, their eyes completely blank and soulless, and their jaws were hyper extended due to what could possibly be outright death from extreme fear.
Rex nearly threw up due to the sight while Judai covered Sho's eyes before he could see it, though like everyone else, the Roid Duelist could still smell the decay.
"Oh my god…" Rika whimpered as her body shook heavily in terror, covering her mouth.
"Shit…!" Kuromu gritted his teeth badly, before calming down somewhat and turned to the student body. "Alright, I need everyone to back away! This area's now a crime scene! And someone go get Principal Samejima and the Head of D.E.C! NOW!"
"I'm on it!" The mutt shouted before he dashed out of sight.
Kuromu meanwhile equipped his Duel Disk, activating it and drew out two cards to put on the tray. "Shotaro, Philip, Shinnosuke-san."
The two-in-one detective Rider and police officer Rider were immediately summoned, and upon appearing, even they were disgusted at the sight.
"Aw geez, what the heck!" Shotaro cried out.
"Interesting, it seems the skin was completely deprived of any kind of moisture, alongside certain signs of heart failure." Phillip mused, the right lens flashing.
"Belt-san…" Shinnosuke muttered, looking down at the Drive Driver as Krim displayed an angry emoji on his face.
"This… this is horrifying…" was all the mechanical belt could say upon looking at this sight.
"Judai, Sho, Asuka, Rika, we all need to do crowd control. Guide everyone back to campus." Kuromu instructed.
"On it!" Judai said, "Okay, nothing to see here! Please disperse! Nothing to see here!"
Meanwhile, Kuromu looked back at the crime scene as Shotaro and Philip used their Memory Gadgets while Shinnosuke had his Shift Cars help him. The Rider Duelist could only sigh, running a hand through his hair. "What did we just get ourselves into?"
As soon as Rex had rushed to the Principal's office and told him what had happened, Samejima and the Head of the D.E.C went over to the crime scene. Their reaction of shock and horror made themselves well known.
The Head of the D.E.C had called on the rest of her unit to take their former co-worker's bodies and placed them in makeshift body bags to send over to the docks. These bags were to be brought back to the mainland for a proper examination with the coroner, then a proper burial after being given back to their families.
"This doesn't add up." She muttered while a couple of the D.E.C members informed the families of the deceased of what had happened, "From what those kids told us about Oogumo, he wouldn't kill them like this."
"No, he wouldn't." Samejima shook his head. "Most likely, a third party was involved in their deaths. And I have a strong hunch as to who that is."
"Could it be…?" The head of the D.E.C asked, to which the principal nodded.
"Yes… I'll need to talk with my people about this." Samejima said. "Effective immediately, all classes are suspended and students are to immediately return to the dorm forthwith. Curfew will be active as soon as they return. They are not to leave their dorm rooms for any reason. And in the case they do, they must be escorted by the D.E.C.. No exceptions."
The D.E.C head nodded and left before the principal turned towards the Spirit Key Holders waiting for him at his office, who were very uneasy about the situation. He then motioned for them to follow him to his office, to which they complied. Once they were inside, the doors to the Principal's office were locked by him.
"So, who killed those guys?" Rex asked bluntly. "Because that was some Raider of the Lost Ark shit back there."
"Most likely, it's another Seven Star member." Samejima frowned heavily, "They're not trying to be subtle about making their presence known anymore."
"Makes sense." Jun agreed. "Given how we're 3-0 in this war, they're done playing nice."
"But… who could just kill people with pure fear?" Rika asked.
"Your guess is as good as ours." Misawa soured.
"The fact remains that they're not above killing others to get what they want." Ryotaro said. "So it's going to make things harder for us to fight the Seven Stars without any casualties."
"What do we do then?!" Judai asked, frustrated, "We can't sit around and do nothing!"
"No one's suggesting that, kid." Tsukasa chimed in. "Like Ryotaro said, it's going to make our fights with the Seven Stars much harder."
"Anyone's a fair target at this point." Kyoshiro replied.
"The real question is the target themselves." Ryo said, "After all, so far each of the Seven Stars we've faced have had a past with one of us."
"Like Nii-san." Asuka recalled. "Since Nii-san and I have known him the longest, other than Rika and Koji."
"Or David knowing of Chronos's scandal." Koji added.
Rex remained silent but his mind still thought back to his former friend also being one of the seven.
"So where does this leave us, Principal Samejima?" Chronos asked.
"Hmm, well, there is that rumor…"
"What rumor?" Kuromu asked.
"The Pain and Panic killer?" Rex asked, "That's just a dumb urban legend… right?"
"Remember, for every fable there exists a grain of truth-nya." Daitokuji reminded the mutt.
"What exactly is this rumor, Principal?" Kuromu inquired.
"If you go out into the woods at night and speak the word Pain three to five times, then you are judged. If nothing happens, your soul is free of sin. But the moment you hear a voice call out 'and panic', then you're a damned soul waiting for death to arrive in the coming fog."
"A fog? Now why does that sound familiar?" Judai muttered.
"That was just a one-time thing with Oogumo when we first met." Kuromu pointed out, "There has to be someone else."
"Whatever it is, we won't get any answers until we get the autopsy reports from the coroner at the mainland." Tsukasa said. "So in the meantime, we'll have to stay on our toes. No one goes anywhere on the island alone, got it?"
"Yes sir," They all nodded.
Later that night…
The attention is now drawn towards the Obelisk Blue Boys Dorm where Ryo, Fubuki, and surprisingly Chronos were in the Obelisk Blue Dining Hall having their dinner. Given the nature of the current situation, the Antique Gear Duelist made it a point to Principal Samejima that he stay with Ryo during this pseudo-lockdown of the entire island. Sure, he was technically still an aide to Daitokuji, but given the circumstances, Samejima made the exception.
Granted, Ryo was capable of taking care of himself, but one cannot be too careful. After all, they have seen how the Seven Stars were able to take down powerful Duelists like Chronos or wildcard Duelists like Tsukasa.
"What do you think of all this, Signore Marufuji?" Chronos inquired of the Kaiser.
"I will admit. This has me both intrigued and worried at the same time." The Kaiser admitted. "One thing for certain is that they were sending a message."
"That we all have our sins?" The professor correctly guessed, to which the Kaiser nodded.
"As if Reggie's scales didn't prove that." Ryo recalled.
"It's possible that it's the work of a Shadow Charm." Fubuki hypothesized. "In what shape or form of its appearance, I'm not sure. And as for its power, we already know that it could melt and dry their victims."
"But who would want to kill people like this?" Ryo asked, "Surely you at least have some idea of the other Seven Star Duelists?"
"Someone so sadistic and immoral that nothing is off-limits to them." Fubuki answered with a frown.
"But that doesn't make sense. I mean, no one's that heartless… right?" Rika asked Asuka as the two came to a similar conclusion to the Kaiser and the professor at their own dorm.
It just so happens that Junko and Momoe were also with them. Given that those two were part of a Game of Darkness, and given the incident earlier this afternoon, they didn't want to take any chances and moved in to stay with the Foodon Duelist and Obelisk Queen for the time being.
"Well, it's not like we haven't heard of worse people." The Obelisk Queen commented, recalling how cruel the spider-masked man was, "But I'm still worried about that rumor. What if whoever's doing this is… well… one of them?"
"You mean… one of those guys like Fubuki?" Momoe asked worriedly.
"Nii-san isn't one of them anymore, remember?" Asuka reminded the girl.
"But he used to be." Junko pointed out.
"Not of his own choice."
"Asuka-chan, do you think your brother has an idea of who this Seven Star member might be?" Rika asked.
"I'm not sure to be honest." She admitted. "But what I am sure of is that since these Seven Stars were formed recently, they wouldn't care to get to know each other."
"In other words, we have nothing…" Rika sighed.
Meanwhile at the Ra Yellow Dorm…
"Well that's a bummer." Kuromu groaned after hearing Koji tell him of what Fubuki knew of the Seven Stars.
There wasn't much to go on, considering Fubuki's involvement with the Seven Stars. For the elder Tenjoin sibling, he could only vaguely remember bits and pieces of his time in the Seven Stars. He was after all still possessed by Darkness at the time, so there was only so much he could remember.
"Hey, that's how the cookie crumbles, Daddy-O." Koji shrugged.
"What do we have on the deceased?" Misawa asked Kuromu.
"From what I heard from Shotaro-san, Philip-san, and Shinnosuke-san, there was a trace of dark energy emanating from those bodies."
"Likely the work of a Shadow Charm." Koji deduced "And like hound dog said, what happened to those D.E.C. guards, that was some Raiders of the Lost Ark kind of shtick and you and I know none of us have the Ark of the Covenant."
"And given that their deaths matched up with the urban legend, there's a chance that our Seven Star is trying to bring the legend to life." Misawa added.
"That has to be creepy." Kuromu shivered. "Still we need more information. Speaking of…" He then cleared his throat, then equipped his Duel Disk before taking out Zi-O's card. "Sougo, we need to talk."
Slapping the card onto the tray, the clock-themed Rider appeared, before taking off his Ridewatch to cancel his transformation, and revert back to civilian form. "You want to know about… him." Sougo looked away with a slight shiver.
"Yes. I need Woz in on this too."
"You called for me, Kururugi-kun?"
"HOLY-" Kuromu yelped after turning around to find the chronicler behind him, "Don't scare us like that!"
"Apologies, Kururugi-kun." Woz bowed.
"How did you-" Misawa said, baffled.
"DON'T ASK!" Both Kuromu and Sougo shouted.
"Yeesh, take a chill pill, ya two." Koji winced, massaging his ear with a pinky.
Kuromu sighed, before clearing his throat. "Alright, now that I've finished having a heart attack. Sougo, I need to ask. Was what MacKenzie-san said about Oma Zi-O true?"
Sougo nodded, "It's a long story. A really, really long story."
"We got all night." Koji said, placing his hands behind his head.
"Well, to start…" Woz soon took out his book and opened it, "According to this book, young high school student Tokiwa Sougo is destined to become the Demon King of Time, Oma Zi-O. He does so by obtaining the powers of the previous 19 Heisei Riders before him wherein he ascends on what would be known as Oma Day; when the star Regulus shines its brightest in the sky."
"Heisei Riders. There's 20 of them…" Kuromu noticed. "We're… currently in the Heisei Era. This is the year 2004."
"Around the time of Kamen Rider Blade, if I recall correctly." Woz mused.
"Wait, so you mean the others after Blade… are from the future?!" Misawa gasped.
"You did not notice my overlord's belt showcase the year 2018 any time he transforms?" Woz asked, "Oya oya, someone needs glasses."
"I have perfect 20/20 vision, thank you very much…" Misawa said dryly.
"Well I have too many questions to ask." Kuromu added, "Like, so does that explain why you would know about Synchro Summoning? Because it's gonna show up in like 50-60 years from now? Maybe 4 if we're unlucky?"
"I would tell you, but then you would go insane from the revelation." Woz chuckled. "It seems we're getting ahead of ourselves. You wish to know more about Oma Zi-O, correct?"
Kuromu caught himself, before clearing his throat. "Right, sorry. Getting off topic. So what exactly is the deal with Oma Zi-O? What happened to Sougo to have him portrayed as this… tyrannical entity, if MacKenzie-san's description was accurate?"
"It is due to his heart becoming as black as the Thief King." Woz explained, "The initial reason was lost to time, but the current one was the loss of his friends' lives at the hands of a great foe."
"Who was that exactly?" Koji asked.
"A man named Swartz." Sougo answered. "He hailed from a clan of humans that governs time and space. He wanted the latent power I had so that he could become king in his own timeline. He even…" the young man shook his head, "Regardless of that, he pushed me past the point of no return and thus, I became that monster. But, did you know what my future self told me? He said that he was saving the planet; that he was fulfilling my wish of becoming the greatest, kindest demon king."
"Rather contradicting, wouldn't you say?" Misawa mused. "A kind demon king?"
"I was told that once. And despite that, I want to become a demon king. Look, I know what that normally entails. But for me, I want to reclaim the word "demon king", and show that even those who could be considered evil can still fight for the light." Sougo recalled.
"Sougo… you…" Kuromu trailed off with wide eyes.
"Heh, right on, brother." Koji chuckled.
"I have another question." Misawa spoke up, and turned to Woz. "How do you know Rex?"
"Waga Maou? May I?" The chronicler asked.
"It's up to you." Sougo answered.
"Very well. Let us say that this Rex isn't the only one he and I have met." Woz said, "Because you see, Rex in most timelines, this one included, is often a variant… of my Overlord."
…
…
…
"Excuse me…?" Kuromu blinked. "I'm sorry, you're saying Rex is the Demon King in this timeline?"
"In a sense. However, for this Rex, it seems the role of demon king is not his path to walk." Woz clarified, "That destiny belongs to another."
"Okay, but why tho?" Koji asked, confused.
"I'd tell more, but I think I've said too much." Woz said.
Kuromu on the other hand, still remembered what happened after Reggie performed a Synchro Summon. Sougo and Rex's eyes… glowed. Perhaps that is the power of the demon king? Even if he isn't going to be Oma Zi-O if what Woz said is true, then who is destined to be him?
Kuromu sighed and shook his head. "Alright, I think it's time we get back on track with finding more info on our mysterious Seven Star." He drew out W's card to summon the Rider. "Philip-san."
The bookworm half of the Rider appeared before them.
"I see that you have an idea of what to look for like Shotaro?" The bookworm mused.
"Yeah. But… is there a way for us to see the Gaia Library ourselves?"
"Yes. In fact, I believe your father has a card specifically for that."
"Eh? Tou-chan made it?" Kuromu asked, before going over to his desk that had the upgrades for his deck and searched it, before finally pulling out a card that depicted an endless void of library book shelves.
"Huh, a searcher card." Kuromu noted, "Gaia Library. It's a Continuous Spell at that, too. Once per turn, during your Main Phase 1, you can discard one card from your hand, and add one Equip Spell that mentions 'Kamen Rider' in its text from your Deck to your hand. You must have a monster with 'Kamen Rider W' in its name to activate this effect."
"That's quite useful." Misawa commented.
"Yeah." Kuromu nodded before walking to and standing in the middle of the room. As did Koji and Misawa. "Alright, here goes nothing." He said, before activating the card.
Just like that, all three Ra Yellow Duelists were transported to the endless void of bookshelves, with Phillip standing there as their guide.
"Woah, so this is the Planet's Bookshelf?" The Rider Duelist gasped in awe.
"Incredible…" Misawa marveled. "Our world's entire wealth of knowledge is all here."
Koji however, was surprisingly a lot more focused than his fellow Ra Yellows. "Alright, let's get to brass tax." he said, "You said that normally this place runs on Keywords, right? Well I got three for ya; Fog, Urban Legend, Pain and Panic Killer."
To Kuromu and Misawa's amazement, the bookshelves immediately dispersed and rearranged themselves with each key word spoken.
"Egads! It's like this place is a living search engine!" the genius realized.
"That's because Philip-san literally is. A walking search engine." Kuromu stated.
"Hmm… there seems to still be some things missing." Phillip observed as there were still quite a few books left, "Shinamori-san, any other keywords?"
"Hmmm… try Fear."
That seemed to do the trick as there was only one book remaining, and that book read…
"Duelist Kingdom. How fascinating…"
"Duelist Kingdom?" Kuromu said surprised, as did Koji and Misawa.
"What does Pegasus's island have to do with-" Koji got out, before his thoughts stopped in his tracks, as if coming to a revelation. "Wait a minute… naw~, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, that can't be right!"
"Koji, what's wrong?" Misawa asked.
"Boys, we gotta run to the men in red now or else they're dead men!"
The moment Kuromu noticed Koji's lack of disco talk made him realize that, whatever has got him spooked was very serious.
Finally, at the Osiris Red Dorm…
"So from what I can gather, the time that you need to say the words is around the bewitching hour." Rex recalled, "So that would mean that they died at around 3 in the morning."
"T-The bewitching hour?" Sho gulped. "What's that?"
"It's an old folk tale where it's said there's a certain time of day where witches, demons, and ghosts are most active and at their strongest." the mutt recalled, "Something that my gramps used to tell me."
"D-Don't tell me we're actually gonna do that, are we?" Sho gulped.
"It's our best chance at getting this Seven Star out." Jun argued.
"B-But that's-" Sho shivered in terror.
"Relax, bud. They're not targeting you. They're trying to get to us, the Spirit Key Holders." Judai said.
"If anything, we're putting our necks on the line to protect everyone else." the mutt agreed.
"But those guards…" Sho said. "I don't think this Seven Star cares who he targets!"
"Then we better be on guard then." the ace snarled before all three got their Duel Disks on.
*RATTLE! RATTLE! RATTLE!*
"Ahhhhhhhh! He's here!" Sho panicked.
Rex, Judai, and Jun instantly drew their respective ace cards, ready to summon their ace monsters at a moment's notice. However, when the door opened, it was revealed to be Daitokuji and Pharaoh. The three Spirit Key Duelists let out a sigh and lower their Duel Disks.
"What's the matter with you all-nya?" Daitokuji asked, confused, with a tilt of his head.
"Meow~" Pharaoh mewed out.
"Daitokuji-sensei, don't scare us like that." Judai sighed wearily. "We thought a Seven Star was coming right through the door."
"Yeah, we could have killed you." Rex added.
"Oh dear, it seems today still has all of you rattled-nya." Daitokuji guessed.
"No kidding…" Jun sighed.
"Well, in that case," Daitokuji said, as he closed the door behind them, locking it before sitting down on the floor. "How about we pass the time by telling a story?"
"N-Not a scary one, I hope?" Sho gulped.
"What story could we tell though?" the mutt asked.
"Well, let's see-nya." Daitokuji said, thinking about a story to tell, "You've heard of the tale of the Pharaoh Atem and the games his people used to play, am I right-nya?"
"Yeah, in Dueling History class." Rex answered. "What about it?"
"What about how the Millennium Items were created-nya?" Daitokuji prompted, to which they shook their heads. "3,000 years ago, Egypt was under siege by the West and the East. In order to protect his kingdom, the pharaoh Akhenamkhanen laid down a command for seven mystical items to be forged, created based on a spell found within the Millennium Tome-nya."
"Millennium Tome?" Judai wondered. "First time, I've heard of it. Is it like… a secret 8th Millennium Item?"
"Not quite-nya." Daitokuji answered. "But it did indeed give rise to their creation. You see the Millennium Tome is an ancient Egyptian book dating back to even before Akhenamkhanen's time. The previous Pharaohs, despite being in possession of this spellbook for many generations, had never been able to translate its meaning. It was said that "Whomever deciphers the book's ancient texts would be able to control a power known only by the Egyptian Gods themselves"."
"A language of the gods, eh?" Jun mused. "Sounds pretty dangerous."
"It is-nya. In fact, this very book is the main reason for Egypt's war against its neighboring countries. Its pages contain lists of spells dealing with "Shadow Alchemy" and could provide the enemy with the ultimate power to create invincible armies. For this reason, Akhenaden, the Pharaoh's brother, suggests that they should attempt to decipher the texts themselves as a countermeasure-nya."
"Did that Pharaoh use it?" Sho asked.
"At first, no-nya. Akhenamkhanen refused to use it, on the grounds of wanting peace. But eventually, the invading armies grew too close to the palace to be repelled, so Akhenamkhanen had his brother translate it. It took some time, but they were able to translate one of the book's spells-nya."
"The Millennium Items." Judai realized.
"Exactly-nya." Daitokuji said. "Akhenaden, told his brother the Pharaoh that if they were to forge these items, they could repel Egypt's invaders. But…"
"Lemme guess. He left out something important." Rex surmised.
The Osiris Red professor nodded, "It required a sacrifice-nya. 99 sacrifices to be exact-nya."
"Sacrifices?" Sho gulped.
"Indeed-nya. After all, the Millennium Tome contained spells of Shadow Alchemy, meaning there were dark implications involved in their creation-nya."
"So… how exactly were these items made?" Jun asked.
"Without telling his brother, Akhenaden and his soldiers traveled to the village of Kul Elna, a village of thieves and criminals-nya."
It was then that Rex heard a distant roar bellow in his mind, but he ignored it for now. He just hoped it wasn't who he thought it was… he hoped.
"The village of Kul Elna became the victim of the Pharaoh's unwitting decree, as Akhenaden had them slaughtered, their blood, bone and flesh melted in with the gold that was cast in the mystic rite that formed the items-nya." Daitokuji continued. "It took seven days for these items to be completed. After that… well, I'm sure you four already know the rest-nya."
"The Thief King Bakura went on a rampage to get revenge for his people." Judai finished.
"Yes. But… what many people don't know is that there was another survivor of Kul Elna."
"Another one?" Rex raised an eyebrow, "Who else would have survived other than Bakura?"
"He went by the name of Tragoedia-nya." Daitokuji answered.
"Wait… like the card?" Rex said wide-eyed, quickly digging through his Duel Pilot's database before bringing up the card.
"Yes, that card-nya. He was once a citizen of Kul Elna."
"Where was he during all of that?" Judai asked.
"He gained an upper position in the Pharaoh's entourage as a court astronomer-nya. But his position was a façade for the sole purpose of finding the burial gifts of previous Pharaohs, and then relay the information to Kul Elna. However, he received no contact from Kul Elna for a year before learning from word of mouth about the massacre that decimated his village-nya."
"Bet he wasn't happy about that." Jun scoffed.
"Of course, he wasn't-nya." Daitokuji said. "Upon learning this, his hatred and anger led to the creation of an extremely corrupted and powerful Ka, that being the card that Rex showed me-nya. After being judged by the previous holders of the Millennium Rod and Scale, as well as Akhenaden and an unknown ba, Tragoedia declared his intentions to destroy Egypt to avenge his people before he attempted to kill the priests."
"W-What happened next?" Sho gulped.
"That… I do not know-nya." he admitted, "All that is known is that Tragoedia and the two ka he summoned were sealed away-nya."
"Wow, that sounds pretty dark." Judai commented.
"Yeah, but boy am I glad we don't have to deal with another possessed card like Darkness again, right? …right?" Rex was slightly hoping that he wasn't jinxing himself.
"As far as we know, there hasn't been any instances of possession since the days of the Duel King." Sho also hoped.
"And frankly, Spirit Bond doesn't count in our case since it's just the bonds between Duelists and Boss Monsters syncing their minds and not one taking over the other." The ace pointed out.
*TAP TAP TAP!*
"Hey, open up!" The group heard Koji call out.
"Koji?" Judai blinked.
"What's gotten him riled up?" Jun wondered.
Rex shrugged as he opened the door to find Koji looking like he'd been through hell.
"Guys, we have a problem! We know who this next Seven Star is!"
"Oh sweet, who is it?" Judai asked before Koji looked at him.
"Judai, you're the biggest Yugi fan we know of. Can you name all of Yugi's opponents when he fought in that tournament?" the disco fan quizzed.
"Which one? Battle City or-"
"Just name ALL of them!"
"Alright, alright, jeez," Judai said. "Let's see… uh… Insector Haga, Kajiki Ryota, Imitator of Death, Mei, Kyuu, uh, Bandit Keith, Seeker, Pantomimer, Mask of Light and Darkness, PaniK-"
"Wait, say that again." Rex immediately caught onto that last name.
"What, PaniK?"
"That's our guy!" Koji exclaimed.
"PaniK, as in the Player Killer of Darkness?!" Rex gawked, "That psycho's with the Seven Stars?!" He soon groaned, 'Wally, just what the hell did you get yourself into?'
"The Player Killer of Darkness?!" Sho panicked.
"Oh dear-nya." Daitokuji murmured.
"The rumor has his name in it and we didn't notice!" Koji snarled, "Dammit, I should have seen this from a mile away, and yet nothing!"
"But why did you run all the way here to tell us this?" Judai asked.
"Ain't it obvious! He's targeting all you reds! We need to run now!" he shouted… before the fog set in.
"Uhh, I think that's a little too late for that." the mutt said as everyone took out their respective Duel Disks and decks.
"H-Hold on! We didn't even do that pain chant! It's not even 3AM!" Sho pointed out.
"He probably knows we're onto him." Rex snarled, "And likely want us gone before we can rat him out."
"Tsk, another Yankee Doodle brat; just like him…" a voice snarled. Before long, the fog suddenly turned dark, ready to consume them.
"Everyone!" Kuromu shouted as he, Misawa, along with Asuka, Rika, Ryo, Kyoshiro, and Tsukasa ran towards the Red Dorm. However, just as they were about to reach them, the dark fog consumed the Osiris Red students, Daitokuji, and Koji and the fog flew off elsewhere on the island.
"Where are they going?!" Rika gawked.
Tsukasa quickly took out a walkie-talkie, "Get the D.E.C here stat! We have five missing students and one missing faculty member! Search the island, stat!"
"That fog was heading towards the forest," Ryo said, keeping a close eye on the fog, before it landed in a certain part of the island. "Near the Abandoned Dorm!"
"Let's go!" Kuromu urged before their group headed towards the Abandoned Dorm.
Meanwhile, the fog lifted, the group soon found themselves behind the Abandoned Dorm.
"Wait, why here of all places?" Rex asked.
"Forget that! Where's my Duel Disk?!" Judai panicked as to their shock, all of their Duel Disks were gone. Surprisingly, they still have their Decks on hand.
"Does it look like I know?" Jun snarled.
"This can't be good." Sho whimpered.
"I never liked those things. They felt too impersonal." the voice snarled.
"Everyone, keep your guard up-nya!" Daitokuji called out as the group quickly got into a circle formation.
"W-Where is he?" Sho stuttered.
"I'm here…"
It's then they all noticed someone emerge from the darkness. Approaching them was at least 7 feet tall. He was a Caucasian, dark-haired man wearing a dark hat and coat with the letters 'P' on the left side, and 'K' on the right side. He also wore a silver armor-like shirt with dark green pants and black boots. The most distinguishable thing about him were the scars over his eyes and burn marks on his hands. It was also clear that the years have not been kind to this man as his hair was slightly graying, and the obvious burn marks.
"No way… it really is him." Judai realized.
"The last anyone has heard from him was that he died in that towering inferno." Jun recalled.
"Whoever's backing these guys has either got some deep pockets, or there's some dark magic at play." Rex replied.
"H-How is he still alive?" Sho asked.
"Hmhmhmhmhm, to answer your question, little Duelist, that little upstart Yugi interfered with me! As you already know, I worked for Pegasus as one of his eliminators in the Duelist Kingdom Tournament years ago. As I finished off my latest victim, Kujaku Mai, he came along and demanded a match to save that girl from being eliminated from the island!"
"And the burns aren't for show, aren't they?" the mutt snarled.
"I used pyrotechnics to instill fear in my opponents during the match…" The Player Killer explained. "Many of my opponents were begging to surrender, but not Yugi; he beat me and in retaliation I tried to burn him asunder! But somehow that pyramid he wore around his neck protected him and tried to burn me alive!"
"Oh don't get your panties twisted up in a bunch!" Rex snapped. "It's obvious that those burns were all your doing! The Duel King would never intentionally hurt anyone!"
"Call it what you will." PaniK spat. "In a last ditch move, I removed my coat, jumped out of the flames and left the island. Ever since then, I've been honing my skills in underground duels, inflicting the same pain and fear I once dealt all the years. And now, I intend to bring him despair by slaying his chosen successor."
"Well it ain't any of us that's for sure!" Judai pointed out.
"I intend to kill each of you one-by-one until I can feel the same energy I felt while dueling him." PaniK declared as he put something on.
It looked like an ancient gauntlet that was mostly gold with some silver on the sides and parts of the knuckles. If he were to open his hand, one would see the eye.
"W-What?! No!" Sho panicked.
"You will not harm any of my students-nya!" Daitokuji said, getting in front of them.
"Daitokuji-sensei!" Judai gasped.
"Are you crazy?! He's going to kill you!" Koji protested.
With a smirk, PaniK let the fog seep in before lifting to reveal a surprisingly large machine with two sides, one red and one blue. Both sides had what looked to be a high-tech game mat on them alongside monitors.
"That's a Duel Arena!" Judai realized.
"Wow, talk about ancient," Jun observed.
"Do not worry, I've had the pleasure of updating this thing to those… Master Duel rules that you all use now." PaniK reassured them as he took his place on the red side. "Now then, which one of you should I Duel? So many weaklings to choose from, yet so little time." He then examined each of the five Duelists before him.
He snarled at Koji as he felt too flashy, he looked away from Rex as he could tell he had the same attitude as the lone American at Duelist Kingdom, but then he saw Judai instinctively protecting Sho… and soon found his target.
"You…" PaniK said, pointing at… Sho?!
"Hold it! He's not a Spirit Key Holder!" Jun shouted. "If you wanna Duel someone, Duel me instead!"
"I would, but I can see that he was trying to play hero and hide your strongest Duelist. Of course, I could be wrong, or I could be right. Who knows?" he chuckled while staring Judai dead in the eye.
"Leave him out of this!" Judai demanded.
"Sorry, but I don't take orders from you." PaniK said, before snapping his fingers. Soon the dark fog emitted from the gauntlet, and shot straight towards Sho, grabbing him and being pulled away.
"ANIKI!" Sho shouted in dismay.
"SHO!" Judai shouted as he pulled the Roid Duelist's arm, but it was all for naught as PaniK pulled Sho away and was forced to stand on the other podium.
"There you are… Duel Prince." the sadist chuckled as the four realized what the sadist just did. He made the challenge as a test of character, and Judai passed it.
"You jive-ass bastard…!" Koji growled.
"Now then, watch as I tear apart your closet companion, and then the mutt, and then the would-be challenger, and finally the harlot, before I finish with you." PaniK promised as he then turned towards Sho and stared him down. The moment stood up, PaniK pressed a button on his end and cuffs were attached to Sho's leg with no way to escape.
"No!" Sho panicked.
"Damn you, PaniK! Let him go!" Rex shouted. "Sho's got nothing to do with this!"
"Exactly." PaniK grinned wider, much to Rex's shock. "Which makes him the perfect opponent for this battle."
"There they are!" A familiar voice shouted as they looked to see Kuromu and his entourage arriving at the scene.
"No way, is that-" Asuka gasped in surprise.
"It's PaniK! The Player Killer of Darkness!" Rika cried out.
"Egads… to think he was still alive after all these years." Misawa muttered.
"Guys, bad news! He's got Sho!" Judai cried out as the fog was actively preventing anyone from approaching the Duel Arena.
"Nii-san!" Sho cried out.
"Oh, what do we have here? More guests to witness the slaughter?" PaniK mused.
"He's not a Spirit Key Holder!" Kyoshiro pointed out.
"Yes, that's exactly why I want to Duel him." PaniK said.
"Leave my little brother out of this!" Ryo said, rushing over to the Duel Arena, but the black fog got in his way. "Grr…"
"Now then, let us begin." PaniK said as he had drawn his starting hand.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Rika asked Tsukasa.
"We need to try and break through the black fog." Tsukasa observed, "But with the way his Shadow Charm works, it's gonna take a miracle to get through."
"What's wrong, little man? Too scared to Duel?" PaniK chuckled seeing the Roid Duelist trembling in fear.
"You can do this, Sho!" Ryo called out, much to his brother's surprise.
"Nii-san?" Sho gasped.
"Ryo-senpai, are you crazy?! This isn't a normal Duel!" Kuromu shouted, "This is a battle of life or death!"
"I know that!" Ryo said. "But if there's any chance of him winning, he needs all the support he could get, especially from me! I'm his older brother! It's my duty to support him!"
"Nii-san…" Sho murmured.
"Sho, I know you can do it. I can see it in your eyes. Your eyes brim with the same power that us Marufujis share." the Kaiser affirmed, "Now, show him the power of your machines!"
"Nii-san…" Sho looked at his older brother, for seemed like an eternity, before nodding. "R-Right, I can handle it!" Sho said as he quickly shuffled his deck and drew his opening hand, "I won't lose to you!"
"Hahahaha! That, thinking you could win against me, was your first mistake!" PaniK laughed, before the Dueling Arena came to life.
"DUEL!"
Sho: 8000
PaniK: 8000
"I'll let you have the first turn, since you'll need all the help you could get. Not that it matters anyway." PaniK chuckled darkly.
"You got this, Sho! Just relax! He's only trying to psych you out!" Rex called out.
"R-Right!" He called out, "B-Boku no ta-n… draw!" He then drew his sixth card and looked at it. "I summon Navyroid in ATK position!" Suddenly, a large blue cartoon aircraft carrier with chains for arms and blue eyes on the bow of the ship appeared on the Duel Arena (4/ATK: 1000/DEF: 800).
"Next, I set one card face-down. Ta-n endo."
"O-re no ba-n da! Draw!" PaniK declared, drawing his sixth card before chuckling. "Let's start off with this, the spell card Dark World Dealings! We each draw and discard a card!"
Both of them drew and discarded, keeping their hands at the same number of cards. However that was when the killer smirked, "Now then, I activate the Graveyard effect of the card I just discarded. I Special Summon Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World in ATK mode!"
As the masochist placed the card onto the field, a large humanoid monster with light purple skin, bone armor on his chest, knee pads, as well as a strange bone-like spear emerged from it's spot on the Duel Arena and snarled at the Roid Duelist and the carrier machine (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1300).
"Shit! Of all the archetypes, he runs Dark World?!" Rex gritted.
"What about it?" Judai asked.
"This archetype focuses on using Graveyard effects, meaning that Sho must not, and should not allow him to discard any cards." the mutt relayed.
"Next I summon forth Brron, Mad King of Dark World!" the masochist declared as he summoned forth another monster with chains around his arms, sharp teeth, large bone-like hair, and wore a dark green jacket that had gold trimmings (4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 400).
"Battle!" PaniK declared, "Brron, Mad King of Dark World attacks Navyroid!"
"I-I activate my trap!" Sho declared, flipping the card over. "Drain Shield! This negates your attack and I gain Life Points equal to the ATK of the attacking monster!"
When the skeleton king attacked the cartoon carrier, a large energy barrier emerged around the latter, syphoning the former's power away from him.
Sho: 9800
PaniK: 8000
"Nice counter play!" Judai cheered.
"But it won't save him, I still have Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World on my field!" he declared, "So now I attack your little machine!"
Soon, the skeleton king quickly ducked and allowed the soldier to come in and stab Navyroid, popping it like a balloon as it exploded.
Sho: 9200
PaniK: 8000
Just then, several volts of electricity erupted from the chains holding Sho, making him scream in agony from the pain he was feeling.
"SHO!" Judai and Kuromu shouted.
"Hahahahaha! How does it feel, boy?!" PaniK laughed.
"You monster!" Ryo snarled as he tried to reach his brother but the black fog prevented him.
"Sorry, but you're in no position to save him! The only one that can save him is himself!" PaniK chuckled darkly.
"You're a sick man!" Rika snapped. "How could you do this to Sho?! He's innocent!"
"It's BECAUSE he's innocent, that I can do this!" PaniK countered. "I'm going to savor every bit of his anguish and the rest that will follow until I'm satisfied! And nothing you can do will stop me!"
"You bastard, just Duel me already!" Judai declared, "It's me you want, after all! So leave my friend alone!"
"Too late, boy! You didn't offer yourself to Duel me in the first place! So now you must suffer the consequences of watching your friend die!"
Judai, as well as Ryo, was left in pain as the two looked at the Roid Duelist currently hunched over.
"I'm… okay." Sho got out, slowly straightening up. "I won't… let this do me in…"
"Sho…" Kuromu breathed.
"My turn is over, now it's time for you to mount your counterattack." PaniK chuckled.
"Sho, you don't have to do this!" Rika said. "We can get you out of there!"
"I don't exactly… have a choice…" he said. "I'll figure out a way. I'll find it. Boku no ta-n… Draw!" Sho drew his next card, increasing his hand to five. "I play Pot of Greed to draw two extra cards!" He drew, increasing hand to six. "And next, I'm going to activate Power Bond!"
"WHAT?!" Everyone but PaniK shouted.
"Has he gone mad?!" Misawa cried out.
"Dude!" Rex called out.
"It's okay! I told you I won't lose to this!" Sho assured them. "So now I will fuse the two Cycroids in my hand!"
Soon, both cartoon bikes leaped into the air and formed a dust cloud.
"Cycroids! Link up and double up!"
When the dust cloud settled, it revealed a cartoon bike with a red frame, now having a proper set of cartoon eyes instead of one eye, two biker seats and two sets of pedals, as well as two fists. (5/ATK: 1600-3200/DEF: 1200)
"Fusion Summon! Complete, Pair Cycroid!"
"Psh, do you think your silly cartoons can scare me?" PaniK questioned him.
"I'm not done yet! Next I activate this spell card, Limiter Removal, which doubles my Pair Cycroid's ATK even more! And the best part is his effect of attacking you directly!"
Pair Cycroid (ATK: 3200-6400)
"What?!"
"Battle, Pair Cycroid attacks you directly! Munen Crash!"
After ringing its bell, the cartoon bike sped up and quickly weaved past PaniK's monsters to tackle him as hard as it could. The moment the bike made contact, the sadistic former Player eliminator received a large shock of electricity coursing through his body who roared and writhed with pain and agony.
Sho: 9800
PaniK: 1600
"Good golly, Miss Molly! Now that's a lot of damage!" Koji called out.
"That's the way, buddy!" Judai shouted excitedly.
"Yeah! You got 'em, Sho!" Rika cheered.
"Keep it up, you got this!" Kuromu cheered as well.
Sho looked on with amazement. He had just pulled off a pretty impressive play with his Vehicroids, just like what the Kaiser could do with his Cyber Dragons. But he knew what was going to come next. So he has to prepare.
"Before I end my turn, I activate Treasure Cards from the Heavens! We each draw until we have six cards!" Sho drew until he had six. "And since I haven't Normal Summoned this turn, I summon Jetroid in DEF mode!" Soon, a red cartoon jet with two wheel arms and two wheel legs flew in and landed on its spot on the Duel Arena, retracting its arms and legs into itself in the process (4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1800).
"Ta-n endo." Sho said, before Pair Cycroid exploded and electricity coursed through Sho. "Errrrrrrrrrrgh!"
Sho: 8200
PaniK: 1600
"Ah, so that's why he chose to use Pair Cycroid. The backfire from Power Bond would have been much greater if he went for a stronger Fusion Monster." Misawa observed.
"And given its own effect paired with the Limiter Removal adding to that, he was able to maximize its ATK as much as possible." Asuka added.
"Haaaaaaa… Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa… Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…" PaniK groaned and wheezed, reeling from the pain. "You… YOU INSOLENT CUR!"
"Uh oh, he's pissed…" Rex muttered in horror as his instincts told him to run like hell.
"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FEAR MEEEEEEEEE!" PaniK roared before pressing a button on the console. And soon, on the corners of Sho's side of the Dueling Arena, flamethrowers appeared and aimed at Sho before releasing its flames, causing the boy to duck for cover or dodge the flames.
"SHO!" Judai and Kuromu shouted.
"I've lost my patience! O-re no ba-n da! Draw!" Upon drawing his cards from Treasure Cards from the Heavens and drawing his additional card, seeing what he needed, PaniK laughed, "Now I activate Fusion to merge my Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World and Brron, Mad King of Dark World into one!"
Suddenly, the dark dragon's soul entered Brron, the monster fell to his knees as he began to transform.
"O Mighty dragon of shadows, merge with your vassal and awaken your true might!"
"What now?" Rika said fearfully.
Brron let out a horrible scream as his flesh and body undulated erratically, his limbs bulging and modifying as his face transformed into something very horrible. He quickly grew two wings on his back, his lower half became that of a draconic centaur, his skin became black and scale-like, and finally his head became like that of a dragon with two large skull-like protrusions on the side with two wing-like ears.
"Fusion Summon! Rise from the depths of Hell, Grapha, Dragon God King of Dark World (10/ATK: 3200/DEF: 2300)!"
The group could feel the power emanating from this monster, but also they could see PaniK's eyes were glowing in the same way as his newly summoned boss monster.
"KE~KEKEKE! Tell me, are you still confident that you can fight me without your cartoon machines?" the Seven Star Duelist laughed as his voice seemed to also match that of… Brron?
"Great, Spirit Bond on the first Duel… lovely." Rex muttered in fear.
"A S-Spirit Bond?" Sho whimpered.
"Basically, if you get too heated, you and whatever boss monster you have link minds and all of a sudden; you end up as the worst version of yourself." Judai explained.
"But in this case, it's the best version of myself!" PaniK cackled. "Now you will experience TRUE fear! But first, before you do, I'll activate this Equip Spell, Demon's Kiss! Which will raise Beiige's ATK by 700!"
Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World (ATK: 1600-2300)
"Battle! Go, my Monsters! Tear that brat apart!"
"Hold it right there!" Sho shouted. "I activate Jetroid's ability! When he's targeted for Battle, I can activate a Trap Card from my hand!"
"About that, I counter with Grapha, Dragon God King of Dark World's Trigger Effect!" PaniK countered, "Since you activated a monster effect while I still have cards in my hand, I can change that effect to you discarding a card instead! And had you activated that Trap Card, I would have changed its effect too!"
"What?" Sho gasped.
"So go ahead and discard a card, it won't matter which one as you'll still be torn to shreds." PaniK grinned. Sho gritted his teeth, looking at his hand, before discarding one, his hand now at four.
Soon, Beiige jumped in and slashed at Jetroid, destroying it while Grapha tossed a ball of dark energy at Sho while the shocks received from his monster's destruction were still surging through him. The two-pronged attack left him screaming in complete agony.
Sho: 5000
PaniK: 1600
"SHO!" Ryo shouted.
"Bastard! That's enough!" Kyoshiro roared at him.
"Oh, but what was that you people prattle on about? The only Life Point that matters is the last one?" PaniK callously quoted with a sadistic grin.
"You little shit! I'll tear you apart!" Rex roared at the Seven Star Duelist, the memories of seeing his mentor and his co-workers' deaths flashing before his eyes. Koji quickly noticed how furious Rex was, and it wasn't the normal kind of fury the mutt typically displays either.
"Hey, hound dog, easy now." Koji said. "We can't have you goin' freaky deaky."
"And you're just going to sit back and do nothing?!" Rex roared back, "I'm pretty sure even the Kaiser's pissed about this! And that's his kid brother in that Duel Arena!"
"We know!" Judai snapped. "But we can't have you flying off the handle!"
While Koji and the others were confused, Kuromu and Judai knew Rex was basically reliving a nightmare.
"I'll place one card face-down. That ends my turn," PaniK concluded. "Get up, boy! Get up so I can knock you back down!"
Sho staggered back to his feet, trying his best to stave off the damage he just took.
"I won't… give up!" Sho said determined. "I'm not… going to give up as long as I breathe! I may be scared of many things, but it's because I'm scared that I need to be brave! And as long as my friends and my brother support me, I won't lose!"
"Why you little!" PaniK roared.
"Boku no ta-n! Draw!" Sho declared, drawing his next card, increasing it to five. "I play Fusion! This allows me to fuse Steamroid, Drilloid, and Submarineroid in my hand!"
Suddenly, a large set of tracks appeared as the cartoon submarine and steam train arrived alongside a blue upright cartoon drill with drill arms on the track coverings (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1600).
"Steamroid, Drilloid, Submarineroid! Link up and reach the heavens with your drill!"
As Drilloid drove onto the central track, Steamroid and Submarineroid transformed into added pieces that quickly bulked up the cartoon drill. As the central track spun more and more, the resulting machine began to glow various colors before it stopped and shot out the result in a streak of orange light that dissipated to reveal a larger cartoon drill on two large caterpillar tracks, two arms, a submarine-like top, and finally a huge drill on the front.
"Fusion Summon! Complete, Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill (8/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2000)!"
"Hah! That drill of yours may be strong, but it's still no match against my Grapha!" PaniK pointed out.
"But I got something to even the odds!" Sho declared as he revealed his last card, "I play the Equip Spell Machine Conversion Factory! With this, I can equip a Machine-Type monster and boost its ATK and DEF by 300!"
Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill (ATK: 3000-3300/DEF: 2000-2300)
"Awesome! That's enough to at least beat Grapha!" Judai cheered.
"Kick his ass!" Rex yelled.
"Do it, Sho!" Kuromu shouted.
"Battle! Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill attacks Grapha, Dragon God King of Dark World! Gigant Terra-Spear!"
The large cartoon jumbo drill revved its main weapon up and moved towards the Dark World dragon. However, as it did, PaniK began to chuckle, even gradually growing into laughter.
"Heheheheheheheehehe… Hahahahahahahaahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FOOL! YOU'VE LOST!"
"What?!" Sho gasped.
"I activate my face-down card, Spell Textbook! By discarding all cards in my hand, I can shuffle my deck to draw a card. If the card I reveal is a Spell Card, I immediately activate it!" PaniK laughed as he did just as the card text instructed. Then, to everyone's shock, the gauntlet's eye soon zapped a card into his hand.
"Ahh… perfect," he chuckled.
That's when Rex's eyes began to flicker a glow. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER! YOU CHEATED A DESTINY DRAW!" he roared.
"I call it being smart with your chosen tools!" PaniK laughed, "I play the spell card Darkness Generator! I select one face-up DARK attribute monster I control and triple its original ATK!"
Grapha, Dragon God King of Dark World: (ATK: 3200-9600)
"NO!" Kuromu shouted. "SHO, YOU NEED TO STOP THE ATTACK!"
"IT'S TOO LATE!" PaniK laughed maniacally, arms spread out with joy. "YOU CAN'T STOP IT! NOTHING WILL! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
True to his word, Grapha easily grabbed Jumbo Drill's main weapon and tore the drill off him. Afterwards, it tossed the panicking cartoon drill right at its controller, exploding on the Roid Duelist before the Solid System shut down.
"SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Everyone yelled.
Sho: 0
PaniK: 1600
As Sho fell to the ground in a bad way, everyone was left horrified by the resulting battle. PaniK then chuckled as he looked at Judai, who was stunned silent.
"Now do you see what happens when you put your trust in others?" he motioned to the Elemental HERO Duelist, currently left stunned silent by this turn of events.
"SHO!" Ryo shouted as he rushed towards his fallen brother, as did Kuromu, Koji, Rika, and Asuka. "Sho! Can you hear me?! SHO!" But there was no response.
"No… don't tell me he's…" Asuka said in horror, covering her mouth. Koji placed two fingers on Sho's neck, and sighed in relief when there was still a pulse.
"No, he's still alive." Koji said, "But he's… he's in bad shape."
Rex then ratcheted his head towards PaniK, his eyes flickering between normal and glowing that same furious pink, and he wasn't alone as Kuromu spotted Ryo gnashing his teeth.
"Kill you… I'LL KILL YOU!" Rex roared as he sped straight for PaniK, ready to take him out, only for the Seven Star Duelist to place Grapha's card back on the Duel Arena, allowing the Dark World dragon to backhand the mutt away and straight through several trees. The others could hear him scream in pain while being flung away.
"Rex, no!" Kuromu cried out as the mutt spat out blood as he hit the tree that stopped his fall and slumped to the ground; unconscious with various bruises and splinters on his prone body. Rika was left screaming in terror as now two of the Osiris quartet had been taken out quite easily.
"Aw, it seems that I have broken two of your friends now." PaniK laughed at Judai, "Now then, will you give me what I want? Or will I have to go through more of your friends to do so?"
"That is quite enough, PaniK!" a dark distorted voice snarled, which came from the gauntlet suddenly began to grow hotter and hotter, burning him, "You should not have Dueled that boy! He is not our target!"
"What in-" Kuromu got out, when he heard the voice through the gauntlet; likely due to the pendant around his neck.
"Grk, it was just to-"
"But nothing!" The voice snarled, "You must only face those who hold the Spirit Keys, and no one else! Do you wish to have your revenge on the Duel King, or do you want me to send you back to where I had found you?"
"Grrrrrrrrrr…!" PaniK growled.
"Who is that?" Jun narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"I… I don't know." Kuromu got out.
"Return to base immediately, PaniK! I will punish you accordingly when you do." The dark distorted voice ordered.
"Y-Yes sir…" he said before the fog set in, "You survive this day, Duel Prince. But just so you know, whoever Duels me next won't be so lucky…"
And with this, he was enveloped in the black fog and flew away. Judai fell to his knees and cried out in anguish, the images of his two closest friends close to death haunted his mind. Ryo on the other hand shook his fists in anger.
"He'll pay for this…" He snarled, "This I promise as Kaiser."