Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: Solid Experience, chapter 20

Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V: Solid Experience
Chapter 20
By Yurix

Tierra looked at the two that stood before her, duel disk ready. “If you are so intent on dueling, what are you waiting for?”

The black-haired woman looked at the Duel Spirit with a concerned look in her eyes. “I was expecting Tacey to be the one to face me.” She said, before looking at the still-quiet Dante. “There is something important she should know before this duel begins.”

“Why not say it now?” the spirit replied. “Or is it something you would rather not tell me?”

Miss K took a deep breath before looking at her. “If you wish to know, then very well.” The woman began. “The ‘Solid Experience’ project her mother and I worked on was part of a special operation to create the perfect duelist, one that would master every single known method of duel. However, there have been multiple attempts to create such, and all of them failed. In most cases, the subjects were placed in mental institutes due to developing multiple personality disorder… and in some rare cases, physical disorders that reduced the subject’s life span drastically.”

“What does any of this have to do with us?” Tierra snapped back, using ‘us’ in reference to both her and Tacey.

The woman looked back at Dante. “He is the first of them.” She explained. “Dante was created through science as part of the project, but sadly, his implementation into human society was unsuccessful due to his multiple personality disorder. One of his personae is Dan, the boy who befriended Tacey. However, there is also Dante, the one who tried to destroy her, and Xelnos, the Ascent that you two seek.”

Tierra cocks an eyebrow. “How can that be? How can Xelnos be both human and Duel Spirit?”

“Because he is not.” Miss K continued, her tone still overly formal. “The Ascent cards, like you Tierra, are artificially-created. You were made as defense parameters in case the subject’s mind begins to degrade. In this case, you awoke when Tacey was under an excessive amount of stress from dueling. However, while she may be the most flawed of the subjects, she is also the nearest to perfection. Her duelist skills are above expectation, but her physical capabilities…”

“Wait…” the spirit figured. “Are you saying that… that I’m just a part of her? What about my duel form?”

Miss K shook her head and pressed a hand against her face. “The story she reads…” she spoke in a struggling voice. “…the Ascent cards… they are a code that unlocks her full potential. Without the full code… she won’t live much longer…”

Tacey was beginning to panic in Tierra’s mind. Hearing that she was a dueling experiment would have made her angry, but what was shocking her more was how Miss K was reacting. Her moment of struggle felt as though she was fighting something in her own mind, and the way she spoke – which seemed almost mechanical – made it feel as though whatever she was dealing with was not human.

“You wish to duel me to keep Tacey from dying… but it sounds like you are the one who needs to be saved.” Tierra spoke. “What’s happening to you?”

“The Qliphort cards… the Tierra code…” Miss K struggled as she reached for her cellphone. “Initiate Duel Program… Booting ‘Autonomy Mode’.”

Dan’s eyes shot open. Looking around, she noticed Tierra before her. “Hmph. It seems her deck is taking control of her.” The boy spoke, though in a voice that Tacey recognized – not that of the boy, but an older, darker voice.

“Xelnos…” Tacey whispered in Tierra’s mind.

“What is happening to her?” Tierra exclaimed before pointing at Miss K.

“Simple: your dear friend is just like you and me.” The dark Ascent cryptically worded. “She is not just one who experimented on duelists, but one who was experimented on. Her mind is filled with so much information and so many facts that she is losing herself in information that was never hers. You see… the moment she understood that it was me who was pulling Dante’s strings, she tried to stop me. Sadly, while she was put a leash on me, she was unable to stop me from returning. Moreover, her Qliphoth machines, unbeknownst to her, are not creatures made to serve her, but actually serve a different master: one that you have already defeated – and you have my thanks for that.”

“What?” both Tacey and Tierra wondered, not understanding what it meant.

“If you were a Duel Spirit, you would know that the Qliphoth appeared sometime after the fall of the Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom.” He continued his explanation. “These creatures were sent to locate and retrieve her remains, buried within the Great Naturia Tree, to duplicate it and create a new Goddess… Given that these things are mere machines, they do not understand the concept of deities, and have given it a programming name… the Tierra program.”

Tierra grew shocked at the words. “Me?!?”

“Yes, but what they did not expect was that beneath the tree was a banished race of duel fiends… the Infernoids.” Xelnos concluded. “These creatures are the true form of the Qliphoth… and by defeating the assassin sent by him to destroy you, you freed them from their slavery to these fiends. However, their program remains… and has been left free. As we speak, they are trying to eliminate your guardian and continue the program used to upgrade her dueling skills. They are turning her into a perfect duelist… at the cost of her humanity. Once this is done, they will have no more use for any of us…”

Inside Tacey’s mind, two conflicting thoughts were clashing: on one hand, losing Miss K meant that Tacey would be spared, but on the other, it meant losing the only family she had.

“Enough talk!” Tierra snapped back, tired of trying to make sense of the explanations spoken by the Duel Spirit and machine-struggling woman. “I will duel to stop you…”

Tacey momentarily pulled the spirit’s reins and spoke. “And I’ll save you all!”

“Duel!” the three duelists let out in sync, their life points increasing to 8000.

“Initiating duel.” Miss K spoke, though her voice was no longer her own except in tone, her movements too mechanical to be human. “Placing ‘Qliphort Assembler’ and ‘Qliphort Helix’ in Pendulum positions.”

Two large machines – the former a jeweled monolith and the latter a massive spiral-like airship – appeared in their appropriate positions, the numbers 1 and 9. “Initiating Pendulum Summoning… Pendulum Summon of ‘Qliphort Carrier’.”

A massive airship appeared on the field, its stats 2400/1000 for a level 6 Earth/Machine. “Activating spell card ‘Saqlifice’.” The woman spoke. “Carrier now accounts for two creatures for Tribute Summon. Begin Tribute Summon of Carrier. Executing summon… Qliphort Shell summon.”

The large airship soon vanished as an even more massive form – a sea-shell shaped floating fortress – appeared from the sky. The creature was even more impressive in stats than the former, with 2800 attack and 1000 defense for a level 8 Earth/Machine. “Activating Qliphoth Helix ability: increasing all Qliphoth attack power by 300.” The woman continued, no longer in control of herself. “Activating Saqlifice effect: as sent to the graveyard, one Qli card is added to hand. Selecting and recovering Qliphoth Alias. Activating Qliphoth Carrier ability: returning Qliphoth Helix to hand. Ending turn, activate Qliphort Assembler ability: one card drawn for every tributed monster for tribute summon this turn.”

Tierra looked at the immense fortress with worry. She had never faced something this powerful on a first turn, and given that the woman – who seemed under full control by the Qliphoth machines – had removed one of the Pendulum cards, it seemed that the machines were thinking several steps ahead.

“My move!” Xelnos spoke as he drew his card. “I summon ‘Evilswarm Castor’!” he said, as a dark, knight-like figure appeared from a shadowy gate. “Next, thanks to his ability, I can summon another Evilswarm monster from my hand, so I release Castor to summon ‘Evilswarm Golem’!”

The creature that appeared looked like a cross between a machine and a shadowy cricket, as if the latter was wearing the former’s decrepit form. “Next, I activate my Golem’s special ability! Once per turn, I can target a level 5 or higher monster on the field that is not of Dark attribute and destroy it!”

“Incorrect.” The woman replied, turning her head slowly towards the infected machine. “Qliphoth Shell special ability activated: all monsters with rank or level lower than Qliphoth Shell can function against it.”

The boy made a smirk. “Who said I was targeting your Shell?” he replied before pointing at the monolith. “The card I’m after is Qliphoth Assembler!” The corrupted machine rushed towards the monolith and jabbed its shadowy tendrils into it.

Both Tacey and Tierra could hear an unusual message being emitted through the object before its blew apart: “Unhandled exception at 0x1i-666 in qliphort.exe
Access violation writing location 0x00-000
Ignore the error and continue? <Y/N> … [ ]
=== CARNAGE===
.reverof evil dna, taeDOOLF dna efil foERIF eert eht foGNIRB osla ekatOT dna dnah sih tuoTNAW hcaer eh tsel, wonDNA .live dna doogGNIOD gniwonkRUOY ni suNO fo eno ekilYRGNA emoceb sahSI nam eht, dlohebDOG”

“What was that?” Tacey wondered.

“Try to make sense of this while I continue the duel.” Tierra said, as if speaking to herself.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Xelnos continued, as if he believed she was speaking to him. “Next, I play the spell card ‘Allure of Darkness’! You probably know it by now: I draw two cards, and have to banish them all unless I banish one Dark monster from my hand… and I will banish Necroface!”

Tierra grit her teeth at the thought of what was coming: now, all three of them had to banish the top five cards of their decks. Given that Miss K – or at least, the machine that was controlling her – had used different effects to add cards to her hand, her deck was much smaller than hers, but about the same as his. “Now, I place two cards face-down and end my turn.” Xelnos said before looking at the golden-haired young woman.

It was hard to think of it this way, but it felt as though the boy was trying to help her. Now that she knew part of Qliphoth Helix’s effect, she could come up with a way to stop it. Given that she left no card face-down meant that she might be able to dispatch her… but she feared that he would do next.

“It’s my move.” Tierra said before looking at her hand. Through triangle-duel rules, no monster could attack on the first turn, meaning she had to think defensively. “I place one monster face-down, as well as two cards face-down. I end my turn.”

“That’s all you can do?” the young man snapped back. “I’ll show you how a true duelist does it! I activate my trap card “Deck Devastation Virus! By sending Evilswarm Golem to the graveyard, I’m forcing those machines to show their hand, and all monsters they possess, and those on the field, that have 1500 attack or more are now grave-bound!”

Miss K’s face was expressionless as Qliphoth Shell began to ring out in alarm as the virus contaminated it, causing it to break apart. Revealing her hand, the only card that was a monster – Qliphoth Helix – was sent to the graveyard. The other one – the spell Ancient Rules – remained in her hand.

“Beginning draw phase.” The woman spoke. “Revealing Qliphoth Scout”. Activating spell ‘Ancient Rules’ allowing special summon of ‘Qliphoth Scout’ in defense mode.”

The creature that appeared looked like a sword and shield made into a jet-like object, its stats 1000 attack for 2800 defense. “Turn end.”

“Then I draw!” Xelnos began his turn. “First, I play my spell card ‘Different Dimension Reincarnation’! By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, I can resurrect one of my banished monsters, so… I sent ‘Tribe-Infecting Virus’ to the graveyard and special summon Steelswarm Longhorn!”

“What are you doing?” Tacey let out through Tierra’s lips.

“You need duel energy to bring them back… that’s what I’m offering.” The boy replied. “I can’t let him do what he wants… and you need them more than I do.” Looking back at the duel, he activate one of his set cards. “Next, I activate my face-down trap ‘Shield and Spear’ to give Longhorn an extra 400 attack points this turn… now, Longhorn, destroy Qliphoth Scout!”

The duelists watched as the massive creature ripped through the sky and struck as the Scout, forcing it to crash on the ground before exploding. “I end my turn.”

Tierra looked at the field. With Miss K with no cards in hand and nothing on the field, she was defenseless. However, Xelnos’ viral trap made it impossible for her or Tacey’s guardian to summon a monster with a high amount of attack power. Her face-down monster, ‘Chosen Girl’, would not be enough to do much damage, but it would keep her safe, should Xelnos decide to send his Longroach in her direction. “I draw.” She flatly began before looking at the three cards in her hand. “I flip summon ‘Chosen Girl’ to attack mode!”

The young girl that appeared from the flip summon surprised Xelnos and caused Miss K to cock an eyebrow. “Why would you place something that weak in attack mode?” he wondered.

“I have my reasons.” Tacey spoke through Tierra’s lips as she continued her move. “Next, I summon ‘Friendly Familiar Chime’ in attack mode!”

As the tiny winged creature appeared, Tierra was wondering what her host was planning. “I don’t see what such small creature could do to help.” She whispered.

“Let me deal with this.” The You Show Duel answered. “You try to decode… whatever that thing said, and I’ll handle the duel.”

Tacey felt control of her body return, though her body did not change in proportions. “First off… Chime, knock some sense back into Miss K!”

The little creature scampered over to the woman and leapt in the air before pouncing head-first into her, dropping her life points to 3200. Tacey took a moment to look for some sort of reaction from her guardian and was somewhat relieved when she reeled, brought her free hand momentarily to her face, then slowly put it back down. “Not much, but close…” the yellow-haired girl thought before continuing her attack. “Chosen Girl, your turn!”

The moment the young duel spirit walked over to the girl, rather than attack, she looked into her eyes for a second before frowning, only to deliver a hard stomp from her small foot against the woman’s, Miss K’s life points dropping to 2800.

“What are you trying to do?” Xelnos muttered. “Clobber her with cute?”

“She’s still in there! I just need to bring her out!” Tacey said, realizing that the consecutives attacks had caused the machine-controlled woman to flinch.

“Whatever… but don’t think I’ll go easy on you!” Xelnos replied, not really caring about what had just happened.

“I end my turn.” Tacey concluded, hoping her face-down cards would keep her safe on the next turn.

“Initiating draw.” Miss K began her turn. “Due to virus effect, revealing ‘Call of the Haunted’. Set card and end turn.”

Xelnos drew his card. “Heh… get ready, because I don’t plan on making your life any easier!” he said. “I release ‘Steelswarm Longhorn’ to summon my avatar, ‘Ascent of Destruction, Xelnos’!”

Tacey braced herself as she remembered the abilities behind the Ascent: should it attack, his effect would destroy the monster it attacked no matter its power, and deal damage to the destroyed monster’s control for each of its attack points.

“Now, my effigy, destroy Chosen Girl!” the young man let out as the immense giant raised its axe high to strike.

“No!” Miss K let out as she tried to break out of the machine’s control. “That’s not how it… that’s not how… that…”

Tacey looked worriedly at her mentor, not watching the attack go through as her monster was wiped out, her life points dropping to 3600.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Xelnos snapped back. “Use her special ability!”

“R-right…” The yellow-haired duel replied, visibly shaken by Miss K’s struggle. “I activate Chosen Girl’s special ability: by banishing her, I can special summon two Chosen monsters from my deck with different names, so I choose ‘Chosen Spellblaster’ and…”

There was a problem to the tactic. Normally, she would summon ‘Chosen Spellblaster’ and ‘Chosen of Flame-Sword’, but the latter would be infected by the virus. That meant that she had to summon something weaker. “…and Chosen of Throwing Knives!”

Xelnos smirked as he noticed the dark-skinned elf appear. “So there’s some darkness in you…” he commented. “I like that, but I’m not done! I activate my face-down “Darkfall”! Thanks to this trap, since you special summoned two monsters at once, both are destroyed!”

“What was that for?” Tacey shouted in response, not liking where this was going.

“Hello? Aspect of Destruction here! It’s my job to bring destruction to the world!” the Aspect replied, seemingly beaming with pride. “I place one card face-down and end my turn.”

Tacey let out a sigh as she began her turn. “I draw!” she said before turning the card over, revealing ‘Chosen of Song’. “Yes… I summon ‘Chosen of Song’!”

Xelnos looked at the other child that appeared. “Another child? Are you crazy?”

“Not if I activate her special ability!” Tacey let out as the young girl began to sing. Moments later, ‘Chosen Girl’ reappeared on the field. “Thanks to her effect, I can bring back a Chosen from my grave, and both monsters gain each other’s levels!”

“Meaning you have three level two monsters…” the young man concluded before his eyes shot open. “Wait… you’re not!”

“Exceed Summoning?” Tacey finished the Aspect’s question before looking back at Miss K. “Not yet… Alright, you three, dog pile her!” The two girls and cat-sized creature rushed over to the woman’s side and proceed to bowl her over, knocking her down as her life points dropped to 1300. “Next, I activate my trap card ‘Emergency Overlay’! With my three level two monsters, I build the Overlay Network, and XYZ Summon… ‘Ascent of Song’!”

The creature that appeared shocked both Xelnos and Miss K, whose mind had temporarily reclaimed control long enough to see the woman appear. The being in question was dressed like a diva, had short black hair and had no weapons whatsoever. Her stats were not very impressive: 900 attack and 700 defense for a Rank 2 Light/Spellcaster. “Since this is still my battle phase, I’ll have Ascent of Song attack, and by detaching one Exceed Material from her, I can negate the effects of one monster on the field and increase her attack power by the rank or level of that monster times 100, so Xelnos, I’m attacking you!”

Xelnos did not have time speak of his objection to it as he watched his demonic effigy lull down before dropping to the ground, a clef-shaped blade having appeared in her hand. The duelist looked spooked as his life points dropped to 2500.

“Melody…” Miss K whispered as she looked in the duel monster’s direction with teary eyes.

“Huh?” Tacey wondered, never having heard such a name from Miss K’s lips before.

“Melody?!?” the Aspect of Destruction let out. “How is that even possible?”

“Hold on a sec… who’s Melody?” Tacey asked, confused by how the two seemed unable to grasp what spooked both of them.

“One of the lost Ascent.” Xelnos explained. “The long-lost wife of Reveen… the one you know as Ascent Chosen Lord Magician. Only… this is just part of who she is.”

Tacey looked at the field. The best she could do now is end her turn and wait for more explanations.

“I… draw…” Miss K struggled to say before the mechanized creatures kicked in. “I… In… Initializing reveal of monster card ‘Qliphoth Scout’. End turn.”

Xelnos let out a sigh. “Still out of it.” He says before drawing his card. “I play the spell card ‘Darkworld Dealings’! Thanks to this, we all draw a card, as long as we discard one as well.” All three duelists drew from their decks. Tacey looked at the card she drew – Ascent Fusion – and decided to ditch the other card from her hand, ‘Chosen of Shackles’. Xelnos drew his card and immediately discarded it, while Miss K drew her card and send ‘Qliphoth Scout’ to the grave. “I end my turn.”

Tacey drew her next card and cringed as she noticed that it was ‘Chosen of Battle-Axe’. Given her current field, and what the Aspect told her, tributing Ascent of Song for it would make no sense. “The best I can do now… is attack.” She realized before looking at her opponents. Miss K had the lowest amount of life points, so her best bet would be against Xelnos… but with his remaining face-down card, she figured it could be a trap. “Miss K, I’m sorry… but I’m attacking you!”

The woman barely had time to brace herself as the monster struck her and knocked her down, her life points dropping to 400. “That’s all for now.”

Miss K stayed on the ground for a long moment before she picked herself up, her hands twitching as she drew her card. “Systems critical… initiate spell ‘Dark Factory of Mass Destruction’. Reclaiming ‘Qliphort Scout’ and ‘Qliphort Assembler’.

Tacey looked at the woman’s hand. With the two monsters in hand, she could Pendulum Summon anew, but had no other cards to summon… except with the face-down trap. “I’m not liking this one bit…”

“Placing Qliphort Assembler and Qliphort Scout’ in appropriate Pendulum Scales.” Miss K continued. “Activating ‘Call of the Haunted’. Special summon of Qliphorth Shell-“

“Denied!” Xelnos let out. “I activate ‘Dark Bribe’! Now, your trap is worthless, but you can draw a card instead.”

The machine-controlled woman drew her card, looked at it, then placed it on her deck. “Pendulum Summon initiated. ‘Special summon of ‘Qliphort Disk’ successful.”

Tacey looked on as a massive, flying saucer-like air carrier appeared on the field, its stats 2800 attack and 1000 defense for a level 7 monster appeared. “Another of those things?!?” she let out in shock.

“Qliphort Disk, lock-on target. Direct attack.” Miss K continued.

“Wait!” the yellow-haired girl let out as she watched the immense machine fire down at Xelnos, knocking him down and out, his life points dropping to 0. “Xelnos!”

“End turn.” Miss K said, her voice showing signs of fatigue, as if the one inside was losing the war against the machines.

The girl let out a heavy sigh as she pressed her hand against her deck. “It’s all or nothing… I draw!” she said before looking at the card. “Yes… just what I need!” Looking back at the woman, she made a defiant smile. “I didn’t figure your message out… but I’m going to save my friend here and now! I play the spell ‘Ascent Fusion’! By sending ‘Ascent of Song’ and ‘Chosen of Battle-Axe’ to the graveyard, I summon “Ascent Chosen Star Hero!”

A faint glimmer of light appeared in the woman’s eyes as she recognized the card, the one that looked so much like her.

“Next, I play the spell card ‘Revolution Helix’!” Tacey continued. “I banish ‘Chosen of Battle-Axe’ to increase Star-Hero’s attack power by Battle-Axe’s attack points!”

Tacey looked on with hope that the one last attack, which increased Star Hero’s normal 2900 to a massive 5500, would free Miss K’s mind. “Star Hero, attack Qliphoth Disk!”

A battle-axe shaped energy form appeared in Star Hero’s hands as the angelic creature charged at the Disk, dodging energy blasts before slicing the machine in twine, knocking what remained of the woman’s life points out.

“Miss K!” the You Show Duelist let out as she rushed towards her knocked-out guardian. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, she will be fine…” an older man’s voice was heard from nearby. “However, I can’t say the same for you.”

Tacey quickly turned around before feeling her duel disk shake as the auto-shuffle function began to go into override, spitting out cards at each shuffle. “Who are you and… what’s going on?!?”

“I am Kether…” the man let out as he removed his trench-coat, revealing a set of armor reminiscing to the design on the Qliphoth cards, but the color palette was reversed. “I am the voice of the divine… and your wish to bring Tierra to this world will not stand!”

The young woman looked over at the man and gasped as she recognized the man’s face. “It… it can’t be… dad?!?”