[Yumi, 4000 LP]
[Yubel, 4000 LP]
"You...!" Yubel's eyes widened in disbelief as Yumi started the Duel. "You can't just start a duel withou-"
"Draw!" Yumi drew, completely ignoring her complaint.
Without wasting another second, he slid the drawn card onto his Duel Disk.
"I activate the Spell Card, Take Over Five." The hologram of the Spell materialized before dissolving into countless streams of light. "I send the top five cards of my Deck to the Graveyard."
His Deck automatically ejected five cards one after another. Yumi calmly picked them up before placing every single one into his Graveyard.
"Spell card, Magical Contract Door! By giving you a Spell from my hand, I get to add a monster from my deck to my hand." Yumi casually pulled a single card from his hand before flicking it across the field. Yubel instinctively caught it.
A large ornate door covered in glowing magical runes appeared between the two Duelists before slowly swinging open.
Yumi's Deck began shuffling by itself before one card rose from within it, glowing faintly. He pulled it free.
"I'll add my Ace..." He briefly held the card up for her to see. "...Sky Striker Ace - Raye."
Yubel's pupils shrank slightly.
"Your..." Her voice hesitated. "...Ace...?"
Without another word, Yumi placed the monster onto his Duel Disk.
At once, blue data gathered around the empty space before him and condensed into the slender figure of a young girl with pale blonde hair, her signature Sky Striker outfit flowing neatly as she appeared with her blade already in hand.
[Sky Striker Ace - Raye, 1500 ATK]
"I'll set two cards."
Two face-down cards slid onto the field behind Raye, their backs glowing faintly before settling into place.
Two face-down cards appeared behind Raye, their presence adding a quiet but unmistakable pressure to the field.
"Turn end."
The moment he passed the turn, Yubel's glare sharpened as she focused fully on Raye, and the longer she stared, the worse her mood seemed to become.
Her gaze had completely locked onto Raye. Those heterochromatic eyes. That calm expression. The way she stood beside Yumi without hesitation.
For reasons she couldn't fully explain... Every single detail irritated her. The similarity made something deep inside her twist painfully.
It felt... Wrong.
Like she was looking at someone who had stolen a place that should have belonged to her.
Yubel bit her lip.
"I'm..." Her voice came out quieter than before. "I'm just imagining things..."
She slowly pointed toward Raye. "...Right?"
Then she looked back at Yumi.
"You didn't replace me..." Her expression wavered. "...With that faker... did you?"
Yumi: "..."
Raye: "..."
Yumi chose not to poke the bear since he kinda had enough of this running joke.
It's one thing that your best friend has a crazied yandere chasing after his ass. It's another thing to have that crazied yandere mistaken you for your best friend.
Raye blinked once before letting out a small sigh.
"Oh, come on." She rolled her eyes.
"Master has never had a Spirit like you." She placed a hand against her chest. "So how exactly could I replace someone who was never there in the first place?"
"SHUT UP, YOU HOMEWRECKER!" Yubel exploded as she glared murderously at Raye.
"Homewrecker?" Raye tilted her head. "I was beside him before you ever showed up!"
"YOUU!!!" Yubel was so mad she actually had a heart attack.
Fortunately, she is a spirit, so she couldn't die from it. And the body she possessed current have a well-built physique and is pretty healthy.
Yubel shouted before slamming her finger onto the top of her Deck.
"Draw!"
She pulled the top card free with far more force than necessary.
However... Before she even had a chance to look at what she had drawn
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell, Master Magician's Incantation!" Yumi waved his hand, activating one of his face-down cards.
One of the two cards behind Raye immediately flipped open.
"This allows me to activate a Spell like it was a Quick-Play Spell."
Without any hesitation, Yumi placed the final card from his hand onto his Duel Disk.
"Spell Card, Hand Control! By declaring a Spell Card name, if you hand the declared card in your hand, you must activate it!" Yumi said, pointing toward Yubel. "I declare the Spell, Cold Feet."
"Jaden, you... How could you!" Yubel said through gritted teeth as she reluctantly placed down the card Yumi gave her.
An icy blue mist instantly spread across the Duel Field before freezing solid beneath Yubel's feet.
Layers of ice rapidly climbed upward, locking both of her legs firmly in place.
"Cold Spell prevents you from using, setting, or activating any Spell or Trap card this turn." Yumi said as the card was returned to his graveyard.
Unable to rely on the rest of her backrow, she lowered her gaze toward the remaining cards in her hand.
After thinking quietly for several seconds...
She finally made her move.
"I summon..." She placed a monster onto her Duel Disk. "...Mystic Tomato in Defense Position!"
Dark vines erupted from the ground before a bizarre-looking living tomato with a carved face emerged from the shadows, bouncing lightly as it settled in front of her.
[Mystic Tomato, 1100 DEF]
"Turn end."
There wasn't much else she could do.
"My turn. Draw!" Yumi drew his card, his gaze lowering to his hand for only the briefest moment before he immediately began moving again.
"I banish the two copies of Take Over 5 from my deck, along with the one in my Graveyard, to draw three cards."
As he spoke, the three hologram cards appeared behind him before they shimmered into a burst of golden particles before vanishing completely, as Yumi drew three fresh cards.
"I activate the Equip Spell, Sky Striker Mecharmory - Hercules Base. I equip it to Raye."
A massive mechanical carrier materialized behind Raye in a flash of light, its enormous frame hovering silently over the battlefield while its shadow loomed over Yubel's field with an almost oppressive presence.
He picked another card from his hand and placed it down with complete confidence.
"Spell Card, Instant Synchro. By paying 1000 Life Points, I can Synchro Summon a Level 5 or lower Synchro Monster from my Extra Deck."
[Yumi, 4000 -> 3000 LP]
"Synchro?" Yubel repeated, sounding genuinely confused for once.
Yumi simply smiled. "Synchro Summon!"
A brilliant green ring expanded beneath him.
Stars began appearing one after another before converging together into a pillar of silver light.
"Armory Arm!"
The light exploded outward.
Floating onto the field was a massive mechanical arm colored white and black, its enormous crimson claws opening and closing with metallic clicks while streams of energy pulsed beneath its armor plating.
[Armory Arm, 1800 ATK]
"I activate Armory Arm's effect." Yumi casually waved his hand. "I equip it to Raye, increasing her attack points by 1000."
Without hesitation, the massive mechanical arm shot across the field before attaching itself directly onto Raye's right arm, perfectly integrating with her own equipment as though it had always belonged there.
[Sky Striker Ace - Raye, 1500 -> 2500 ATK]
Raye flexed her newly reinforced arm once before smiling at her new toy.
"Battle! Raye attacks Mystic Tomato! Ace Striker!"
The moment the command was given, Raye disappeared.
She accelerated so quickly that only a blue streak remained behind her.
The massive mechanical gauntlet descended like a meteor, smashing directly into Mystic Tomato before the unfortunate monster could even react.
The tomato exploded into countless fragments that scattered across the battlefield.
"Armory Arm's effect! When the equipped monster destroys a monster by battle, you take damage equal to that monster's ATK."
Raye raised the massive mechanical arm.
Energy rapidly condensed inside its palm before being released as a concentrated sonic blast that tore straight across the field.
The attack struck Yubel head-on.
[Yubel, 4000 -> 2600 LP]
The impact forced her back several steps.
She clenched her teeth as pain shot through her body before glaring murderously toward Raye.
"Damn you, homewrecker...!"
"Hercules Base's effect, when the equipped monster destroys a monster by battle, I get to draw one card." Yumi said, drawing a card.
"Mystic Tomato's effect activates!"
Yubel forcefully regained her composure before pointing toward her Graveyard.
"Since it was destroyed by battle, I can Special Summon one DARK monster with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck in Attack Position!"
She pulled out her deck and quickly searched for herself.
"Come..." She gently held the card.
"Show yourself..." Her voice became softer. "Jaden's one true... one and only Duel Spirit..."
She slammed the card onto her Duel Disk.
"Yubel!"
A figure slowly descended from above with demonic wings.
A fiendish being possessing both masculine and feminine traits appeared before everyone, her chest carrying both male and female breasts, while mismatched purple-and-white hair flowed down around her shoulders. Two heterochromatic eyes slowly opened before the massive yellow eye upon her forehead followed shortly afterward.
[Yubel, 0 ATK]
The Duel Monster calmly landed on the field.
The very first thing she did... Was glare at Raye.
The hostility was immediate, as if wanting to tear the other girl to pieces with it alone.
Still, the real Yubel, currently possessing Adrian's body, looked toward Yumi instead.
Hope quietly surfaced within those unstable eyes.
Surely... Now... Now that he had seen her...
Her beloved 'Jaden' would remember.
He would remember the countless days they spent together, the promise they made, her, throw away that fake woman standing beside him and return to the one who had always stayed by his side.
Yumi simply looked down at his hand before looking back up at her.
"Hercules Base also allowed the equipped monster to attack twice in one turn." His voice remained completely calm.
Not even the slightest trace of recognition appeared on his face.
"Raye." He pointed forward. "Attack Yubel."
"Ace Striker!"
Seeing absolutely no recognition in the eyes of her beloved 'Jaden', Yubel felt her heart crack.
Her eyes gradually became moist as despair mixed together with jealousy, refusing to believe that she had been replaced.
Before Raye could reach her target
The Duel Monster Yubel's third eye suddenly glowed.
Dark vines instantly erupted from the ground, twisting together into countless thorn-covered tendrils that rushed toward Raye.
"My monster's effect-"
"I chain Quick-Play Spell..." Yumi's response came almost instantly. "Sky Striker Mecha - Widow Anchor!"
Yumi instantly placed down a card from his hand. "I target Yubel and negate her effect until the end of this turn!"
Yubel: "!!?" x2
Mechanical claws burst from portals surrounding the Duel Monster before instantly clamping onto her torso, pinning her firmly to the ground before the thorny vines could fully emerge.
"No!" She struggled violently.
But Raye had already arrived. The massive Armory Arm crashed directly into Yubel's face with overwhelming force.
The Duel Monster shattered into countless fragments of light.
[Yubel, 2600 -> 100 LP]
The backlash traveled directly to the real Yubel.
She stumbled backward before dropping onto one knee, one hand clutching her chest while breathing heavily.
Yumi quietly drew another card from Hercules Base's lingering effect before looking back toward her.
"Unforgivable..." Yubel's voice trembled.
"I..." Her expression gradually twisted. "I won't forgive this..."
Dark energy erupted around her.
"I WON'T EVER FORGIVE THIS BETRAYAL!" She pointed directly toward Yumi. "JADEN!!"
Both Yumi and Raye looked at her before turning to each other.
Raye shrugged. She was just as confused as her Master.
Yubel had become so convinced of her own conclusion that no amount of explanation seemed capable of reaching her anymore.
"Imagine if Jaden really found out; he would be heartbroken." Yumi couldn't help but let out a somewhat dry joke.
Knowing that sooner or later, Yubel would realize that she had gotten the wrong person and would return to stalking Jaden.
Although at this moment, words are meaningless.
"Henshin." Yumi said as orange flames instantly erupted around Raye, completely engulfing her body before rapidly compressing into blazing armor. "Sky Striker Ace - Kagari."
She swung her hand to the side, casting the flame off her body and revealing her brilliant orange combat suit, while six mechanical wings unfolded majestically behind her back. The previous equipment, including Hercules Base and Armory Arm, dissolved into data as she calmly drew the long tachi resting at her waist.
[Sky Striker Ace - Kagari, 1500 ATK]
"Kagari's effect, when she is summoned, I get to add a Sky Striker Spell from my grave to my hand." A card emerged from his Graveyard. "I'll add Widow Anchor back to my hand."
He placed it into his hand before continuing. "She also gains 100 ATK and DEF for every Spell Card in my Graveyard."
Golden particles flowed around Kagari. Her aura immediately intensified.
[Sky Striker Ace - Kagari, 1500 -> 2300 ATK]
Yubel widened her eyes in alarm, realizing that she won't even get a next turn
"Kagari." Yumi calmly pointed toward her. "Direct attack."
Kagari spread all six of her mechanical wings. Jets of blazing fire erupted behind her.
"Afterburner."
She shot forward like a blazing comet.
In a single fluid motion... Her tachi flashed. A fiery slash cut cleanly across Yubel.
[Yubel, 0 LP]
Adrian's body immediately collapsed onto the cold metallic floor, his eyes rolling back as consciousness left him.
At the same time, the fiendish fingers covering his left hand slowly returned to normal, the traces of Yubel's possession disappearing as though they had never existed.
The oppressive darkness that had filled the chamber also began fading away.
Yumi quietly walked over and crouched beside Adrian.
After checking him over and confirming there was no remaining trace of Yubel's presence inside him, he simply nodded to himself before standing back up.
Without another word, he turned around.
The sound of his footsteps echoed softly through the empty chamber as he calmly began making his way back toward the entrance, leaving the unconscious Adrian behind while the remains of the duel gradually dissolved into silence.
Yumi had only just turned back toward the battlefield, intending to see whether or not the others had managed to deal with Viper by the time he returned, when Jaden's voice suddenly rang out ahead of him.
"Let's go, Flare Scarab, Grand Mole, Neos!"
Three monsters appeared before Jaden in rapid succession, each one taking its place on the field as if they had been waiting for this exact moment to strike. Jaden thrust his fist upward immediately afterward, his expression burning with complete confidence as he shouted the next command without hesitation.
"Triple Contact Fusion!"
The three monsters leaped high into the sky at once, their bodies flashing as they flew directly into one another, and the collision between them created a dazzling burst of light that briefly flooded the entire area with brilliance.
"Come out, Magma Neos!"
The much larger HERO appeared before him, his dark green and black armor gleaming fiercely under the light as he landed with enough force to make the ground seem to tremble.
[Elemental HERO Magma Neos, 3000 ATK]
Jaden smiled.
"For every card on the field, Magma Neos powers up by 400 ATK!"
A glowing white light began coating Magma Neos's body, spreading outward in a steady surge as his power rose in response to the number of cards currently present on the field.
[Elemental HERO Magma Neos, 3000 -> 5400 ATK]
"Go, Magma Neos!"
Jaden's voice rang out once more, sharp and full of excitement.
The HERO raised his left hand above his head, and in the next instant, a massive fireball larger than his own body formed above his palm, blazing so intensely that it seemed almost like a miniature sun. The heat rolling off it was so severe that the air around it visibly shimmered, and then, with a single violent motion, Magma Neos hurled the meteor straight toward Viper and his monster.
"Super Heat Meteor!"
The attack struck with overwhelming force.
A massive explosion erupted across the battlefield, consuming everything in a storm of fire and light and sending a shockwave outward that rattled the entire area.
When the flames finally died down, there was nothing left of Viper's Life Points.
[Viper, 2000 -> 0 LP]
However, the moment the match ended, the wristbands around them suddenly emitted a violent burst of Spirit Energy, and an enormous amount of power began being forcibly drawn from both duelists at once.
The sudden surge was so intense that Yumi immediately realized something was wrong, because he clearly remembered that the system had already been shut down after he had entered the chamber.
So why was it still working here?
Before he could think further about it, Jaden's body suddenly gave out, and he collapsed to the ground completely drained, the overwhelming exhaustion hitting him all at once now that the duel had ended.
Yumi rushed forward with the others almost immediately.
Jaden was out cold, but he was still breathing, which at least meant the situation had not become as bad as it could have been. Still, Yumi did not waste any time and quickly picked up Neos, then directly called him out so he could help handle the wristband before it had the chance to start draining Jaden any further.
Neos appeared at once, immediately reaching down toward his Master's wrist with practiced familiarity before shattering the wristband without the slightest hesitation, destroying it before it could accidentally activate again and pull any more Spirit Energy from Jaden's body.
At the same time, while the others were checking on Jaden, Celina, Jim, and Axel rushed over toward the fallen Viper.
Celina crouched down first and slowly reached out, holding her finger just beneath his nose to check for breathing, only to freeze for a second once she realized there was none.
"He is... dead."
Her voice carried a note of surprise, as though even she had not expected the situation to end in that way. Then, just as she was about to pull her hand back, a faint yellow spark suddenly jumped from Viper's body and snapped against her finger, causing her to jerk away in alarm.
The very next second, the entire facility began to shake violently.
The floor trembled beneath everyone's feet, and the sound of metal groaning under pressure echoed through the structure as cracks began spreading across the walls.
"This place is collapsing!?" Syrus shouted in a panic.
"Everyone, gather together!" Yumi called out sharply, his voice cutting through the growing chaos and instantly drawing everyone's attention.
The others reacted at once.
Syrus and Hassleberry hurried over immediately, dragging the fainted Jaden along with them while making sure he stayed upright enough to move, since both of them knew full well that if their big brother were conscious, he would have come running over on his own without needing to be told twice.
Celina, Rio, and Alexis also rushed toward Yumi without hesitation.
Jesse, Jim, and Axel followed a little more cautiously, clearly not fully understanding why they should gather around Yumi instead of simply running for the exit, but after seeing how quickly everyone else had chosen to trust him, they decided not to argue and simply moved with the group instead.
Without wasting even a second, Yumi raised his hand and activated the Shadow Charm Mask, the black energy spreading outward in a dark ripple before opening into a portal large enough for the whole group to pass through.
One by one, they rushed into it.
Then, just as the facility behind them gave one final violent groan and began collapsing in on itself, Yumi stepped through last and closed the portal behind him.
The moment the darkness sealed shut, the sound of the collapsing structure was cut off completely, leaving only silence behind them.
...
Inside the Slifer Red dorm, Yumi and Celina's dorm room...
Pharaoh let out a yawn. The fat orange cat caught its head as a massive black portal appeared, and Celina fell out along with everyone else. Pharaoh let out a hiss as it was caught by her in a bear hug, and fortunately, they managed to escape before getting buried under the facility.
Although they hadn't fully understood what had happened, they were still grateful they'd managed to escape unscathed; the only one unhappy was Pharaoh, currently being squeezed by Celina.
With everything that had happened, the group all decided they should get some rest first, and since it was already late at night, reporting today's incident would have to be left to Axel and Alexis.
Rio decided to return to the infirmary to check on her brother, while Jaden's friends took him back to his dorm room to get some rest, leaving only Yumi and Celina alone in their room together like usual.
As Yumi lay on his bed, trying to recall something he had forgotten, or someone... He wasn't sure when before he could think any further, he felt someone climb on top of him in the dark room.
"Not now, Raye- Celina?" Yumi was taken aback as he realized the weight and the shape of her hips were different from his Ace's monster.
"Shhhh." Celina placed a finger between his lips, silencing him as she slowly moved her finger down his chin, neck, and shirt. "You share enough love with your monsters; how about sharing some of that love with me?"
Before he could respond, Celina took off her shirt and tossed it over his face, briefly covering his eyes as she smiled sweetly, her eyes suddenly flashing teal and orange before returning to their green color.