The exhibition of Yugi's deck had been a success. Those who had the special tickets not only got early access to the display of the deck, but also got to meet the Duel King, Muto Yugi, himself. Yugi even offered to have an exhibition Duel against one of the special ticket winners. Said Duelist ended up being Yuki Judai, the very student hoping to one day become the new Duel King.
It was a very intense Duel. But in the end, and to no one's surprise, Yugi won that Duel.
Of course, Judai wasn't deterred by the loss. If anything, it made him even more determined to improve as a Duelist.
Afterwards, they all got a group photo together, taken by Daitokuji and will have the photo sent to each of them once the exhibit is over. When the exhibit finally opened and the students filed in, to say that they were shocked to see Yugi was an understatement. About a good chunk of Obelisk Blue were surprised, some of Ra Yellow were happy to see him, and Osiris Red?
Naturally the students studying under the dorm named after his signature Egyptian God card were outright bending the knee like the mutt had almost done in reverence and respect, much to the Duel King's slight embarrassment. Then again, Atem was given this treatment during his time as Pharaoh.
Nonetheless, Yugi went out of his way to talk to these students, give them advice on their dueling skills, and even give autographs and take photos.
Of course, like everything else, all of it soon came to an end. Yugi's deck was bound for the next tour destination.
Yugi was at the helipad, as a chopper was ready and waiting for him. Principal Samejima, Tsukasa, Kyoshiro, Judai, and Kuromu were there to see him off.
"So, this is it, huh?" The Rider Duelist asked the Duel King.
"Indeed. It was an honor to have met you and your friends." Yugi nodded. "But I'm sure that one day we'll meet again when the chance presents itself."
"Definitely. And when we do, let's Duel again!" Judai cheerfully said.
"Haha, of course." Yugi replied.
"Hope you'll have me as well. I Dueled against your deck using my old cards, but… next time, I'll use my real one." Kuromu said, as all the Duel Spirits of the Kamen Riders appeared beside him. Yugi couldn't help but smile.
"I look forward to it." Yugi affirmed. "And good luck in rescuing your mother."
"Eh?" Kuromu said wide-eyed. "You-"
"I told him, son." Kyoshiro said, approaching him. "Yugi-san had a similar experience after all."
"Wait, you mean… oh…" Kuromu realized, looking at the Duel King's knowing smile. How could he have forgotten that? "That's right. It's part of the reason why you became Duel King in the first place."
"Indeed. And I have faith you will rescue your mother, just as I had faith that I would save my grandfather." Yugi stated.
"He will." Tsukasa said, placing a hand on Kuromu's shoulders. "He's got his father, friends, and I to back him up."
"Good." The Duel King said, giving his approval to the dimensional Rider. He then noticed one particular Duel Spirit off to the side, Silent Magician. He then smiled slightly, 'It was good seeing you again, Silent Magician.'
"It was an honor fighting by your side, Master." Silent Magician answered, bowing to him. "Give my regards to Master Mahad and Mana."
'I will.' Yugi promised.
"Alright everyone, let's not keep Yugi-san here any longer." Principal Samejima said. "Safe travels, Yugi-san."
"Thank you."
With that, the Duel King boarded the helicopter and left the island.
"Man, that was awesome meeting the Duel King!" Judai grinned, "Heck, we even got to Duel him too!"
"Even though you technically met him before the entrance exams." A rather miffed Kuromu pointed out. "Jerk…"
"What?" Judai asked with a shrug. "I was almost late and literally ran into him. A coincidence."
"Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…" Kuromu stared at him, complete with the sound effect as there was no way he was buying what Judai was selling.
In good jest, Kyoshiro couldn't help but chuckle at this sight, before looking up at the sky. A faint image of Yukina appeared in his mind, as he had a look of resolve etched on his face.
'Yukina… I promise, just as Yugi-san saved his grandfather, Kuromu and I will save you… just wait for us.'
A few days have passed since Yugi visited Duel Academia. Now that the excitement is over, other than the upcoming Inter-school Duel coming up, the daily normal and mundane routine settled back in. This particular day, it was starting to end, seeing as the sun had already set. But things were starting to happen at Osiris Red's cafeteria, as Daitokuji had an announcement to make as they ate dinner.
"Alright, settle down now-nya." Daitokuji called out to the Osiris Red dorm.
"Ugh, fell asleep again." The mutt yawned as he woke up upon the teacher calling everyone's attention, "Man, staying up late to study was a bad idea."
"Hey man, if you're not gonna eat your fried shrimp, then I will." Judai said, about to grab Rex's portion with his chopsticks, only to get smacked away.
"Hell no, mine!" Rex snarled before grabbing the shrimp and chucking it into his mouth, chewing openly.
"Rex, stop chewing with your mouth open-nya!" Daitokuji exclaimed.
"Fine…" the mutt sighed, gulping down the rest.
"Alright, where was I-nya? Oh right-nya! Everyone, starting now, we have a new transfer student that will be staying with us for the next few days-nya." Daitokuji announced.
"Wow, a transfer student at this time?" one Osiris Red student asked.
"Why so late into the school year?" Another wondered.
"Yeah, it's kind of late to be entering ain't it?" Rex pondered.
"Now, now children. While it is true that we are nearing the end of the semester, this transfer has done exceptionally well in their entrance exams. In a few days, they'll be transferred to Ra Yellow-nya." the Osiris Red dorm leader explained, to the disappointment of Judai.
"Aww…" the Elemental HERO Duelist sighed.
"So until then, please be accommodating to them during their stay-nya." Daitokuji said. "May I now introduce Saotome Rei-nya."
*PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!*
Sho and Judai quickly turned towards the shocked Rex after having spat out his tea from the side before looking at who was there.
'No… No no no! There's no freakin' way.' he panicked.
Coming towards the front of the cafeteria was a young person that looked boyish to most of the people, but to Rex, he knew otherwise.
Said person was wearing a standard Slifer Red jacket and boots with gray pants ending at the ankles, and a large hat.
"Oy vey…" Diecarrii muttered.
"Not good." Murmullo agreed.
"This kid…" Bestrouli lamented.
"Aye-yai-yai-yai-yai…" Laquer grumbled whilst shaking his head in disapproval.
Rex soon turned to the Gladial quartet, 'This is gonna be hell for me, isn't it?' The beast gladiators nodded alongside their long sighs, confirming his worst fears.
"What's wrong with you, Rex?" Judai asked, confused. "And why are your friends looking sorry for you?"
"Nothing. Just… nothing…" Rex reassured him before grumbling, 'Oi, what a day. What a wonderful day…' he sarcastically grumbled in his thoughts before taking another sip.
"Now is there anyone who wants to volunteer in sharing their room with Rei-san, nya?" Daitokuji asked the Osiris Red students, but then none of them raised their hands. "Oh dear-nya. Very well then-nya, Judai-kun, can you, Sho-kun, and Rex share your room with Rei-san for the time being-nya?"
*PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!*
"Again with the tea!" One Osiris Red student yelped.
"Is something wrong-nya?" Daitokuji asked the mutt.
"I just got a tickle in my throat. I swear." Rex reassured him, giving a fake cough as proof.
However, Judai became very concerned with the mutt. Just what exactly was his relation to Rei?
Night had fallen and the temporary bedding arrangements had already been made for Rei. A twin sized bed was on the floor with just barely enough room for the Osiris Trio to walk in-between said bed and the bunk beds.
"Yeah, this isn't gonna work out…" Rex deadpanned. "I knew we should have gone with the hammock idea."
"Come on, it's not like we can't just walk over it." Judai pointed out.
"It's blocking your way out, since you got the bottom bunk." the mutt pointed out. "You wouldn't be walking, you'd be rolling."
"Ah…" the Elemental HERO Duelist realized.
"I'll ask Daitokuji-sensei for the hammock. In the meantime, you and Sho use the bath. I need to talk with Rei for a bit about the rules around here."
"Well alright. But don't take too long." Sho said before he and Judai left for the outdoor bath. Once the door to their dorm room closed, Rex sighed before looking at the newcomer with a tired glare.
"Cut the act, I know it's you."
Rei pouted, before taking off the hat, revealing the long hair underneath.
"Just what do you think you're doing here?" He scolded Rei, his cousin, "Aunt Mashiro must be worried sick about you."
"Ehehe… I guess I was that obvious," Rei admitted.
"Obvious isn't the word I'm looking for." The mutt groaned before taking on a more worried tone, "Seriously, unless you did something to skip grades, you shouldn't be here."
"I'm 14, thank you very much!" She huffed.
"Exactly my point. You have to be 15 to be even allowed entry." Rex pointed out. "How the hell did you skip a grade all of a sudden?"
"Well… I may have gotten the same thing you did." She answered timidly.
…
…
…
"'Scuse me?"
"Yeah~ so long story short, Pegasus held a local tournament, with a prototype deck as the prize. And I may have won it, so~…"
"Great…" Laquer groaned.
"That makes perfect sense…" Diecarii said dryly.
Rex sighed, 'I swear, that's another proto-deck I've encountered, including my own.' he thought, coining the term he internally used for his pre-release Gladial Beast deck as well as Kuromu's Kamen Rider and Wally's Six Samurai decks. And there was also Rika's Foodons and Koji's Boogie Knights too. "Okay, lemme ask this, do Aunt Mashiro and Uncle Takeda know you're here?"
"Nope!" Rei admitted shamelessly with a smile, unaware of her cousin's twitching eye and increasingly angry expression growing.
"WHAAAAAT?!" Rex gasped at the top of his lungs. That shout was loud enough to scare the birds roosting in the nearby trees. Something that Judai and Sho noticed. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?!"
"What? Pegasus said I have to keep this prototype deck a secret until I get here." Rei said in confusion. "I couldn't tell mom and dad even if I wanted to."
"That's not the point! You can't just get the okay from Pegasus and stowaway to this island just to test out a prototype deck!" Rex ranted.
"So what? You used to run a gang back home."
"This is different and you know it." Rex growled. "And don't you ever bring that up again."
"Okay, sorry…" Rei sighed.
The mutt sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache, "Is there anything else I should know?"
"No, that's it." She said plainly.
"Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure there's nothing else?"
"Nope, nada, zilch." Rei said with a smile.
Rex wanted to press her for more answers. But at this point, he just sucked it up. "Alright fine, but at the very least, I'm calling Aunt Mashiro and Uncle Takeda to tell them where you are. They deserve to at least know where you are, okay?".
His thoughts however, were not exactly positive, 'I'm gonna give Pegasus a piece of my mind whenever I see him.'
"Ugh… fine…" Rei relented.
"Alright then." the mutt noted, crossing his arms, 'Well, at least things can't get any worse…'
Rei smirked, "So, how're things with Big Sis Henrietta?"
"REI!" A blushing Rex snapped, scaring more birds outside whilst earning a giggle from his cousin.
The next morning…
["Alright, please calm down everyone."] the principal said as the student body gathered in the assembly hall. Rex was growling in the background, eyes lacking rest.
The whole night he couldn't sleep a wink. When Judai and Sho got from the bath, Rei had put back up her large hat and had to keep playing her part as a boy. Throughout the night he became wary that Rei would accidentally expose herself as a girl.
"Yo, you okay man? You don't look too good." Judai said, concerned.
"Oh I feel great…" the mutt sighed.
Kuromu and the others quickly noticed their friends… condition. He was less than presentable to say the least.
"You guys notice what's up with him?" He asked Koji and Rika.
"Obviously someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Koji pointed out, "Hound dog's lookin' like he did the graveyard shift."
"I heard that they just got a transfer that's gonna be moving up to Ra Yellow." Rika recalled.
"Really? This late into the semester?" Kuromu asked incredulously. "Why?"
"Who knows?" The disco fan shrugged before the principal cleared his throat.
["As you know, our Inter-School with North Academia is soon approaching. Our school was well represented with Marufuji Ryo, a second-year student last year, defeated North Academia's representative and we thank him for this accomplishment."]
"That's my Nii-san." Sho whispered to Rei, who began to smile dreamily at that name, something Rex would have caught onto, had his sleep-deprived mind not kept his mind busy.
["This year, both schools have decided to have a Singles Division and a Tag Team Division and we have already decided the Tag Team representatives. None other than Kururugi Kuromu and Tenjoin Asuka."]
"Of course you two are the Tag reps." Koji chuckled to the Rider Duelist, "You two already make a great team."
["We've not yet decided who will be this year's Single Representative, but nonetheless you must put in all your daily efforts. It could be any one of you. Good luck."] Samejima said, before the transmission cut off.
"Heh, I'll make sure to be that Singles Representative." Judai grinned eagerly, with a fist up and clenched.
"Sorry, Aniki. But it's already obvious that Nii-san's gonna be that Singles Representative." Sho glowered, with crossed arms.
"I mean, I wouldn't put it past them to put the Kaiser as the rep. If he was the one to win the duel last time, it makes sense that he'd do it again." Rex pointed out.
"Actually, Marufuji-senpai declined to take part this year." Kuromu informed them.
"Eh?!" Sho gawked in shock.
"It's true." Asuka nodded. "We were there when Principal Samejima talked to Kuro and I being the Tag Team Representatives and your brother declined to take part."
"Huh… well that's interesting…" Rex said in between yawns.
"You sure you're okay though?" Rika asked the mutt.
"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm good." The mutt reassured her.
Later that night…
Kuromu was in his dorm room at his desk as he looked over his deck that was spread out before him. Next to his deck were the various support cards for the Riders. Mainly their Rider weapons, equipment, even form changes. Looking at them and their various effects, most of them will prove useful. Of course, he can't use all of them in the deck. After all, there's only a 60 card limit. So he had to be careful of which to choose.
"Hmmmmmmm…" Kuromu murmured, with crossed arms, pondering and deciding what to add or remove. "Maybe if I replace it with this one… no, the balance would be slightly off…"
He was wondering if he should make the cards that he doesn't choose into a side deck, allowing him to have access to them without messing with his deck's current synergy. But then again, with 15 of the Riders' final forms in the extra deck and the rest in the side deck, he could only choose ten.
"Ugh, this is tougher than I thought." He grumbled to himself.
"Something wrong, Kuromu-san?" Ex-Aid asked as he appeared, then closed his Driver and took out the Gashat he had.
GACCHAN… GASHOON…
Digital motes of light removed his armor revealing his civilian form, Hojo Emu. He was a relatively young man with a doctor's coat over a yellow shirt, a multicolored stethoscope, and red pants.
"I'm not sure which cards to put in my deck." Kuromu sighed, "You're a game expert aren't you? I'm sure you also played card games at some point."
"Hmm, what gameplan do you want out of your deck?" Emu mused.
"Gameplan?" Kuromu asked.
"There's a lot of archetypes that have different playstyles. Judai-kun mostly focuses on swarming the field with Fusion Monsters, Asuka-san more focus on attacking opponents directly and destroying cards, Misawa-san always has a strategy for each deck."
"Hmmmm…" Kuromu mused, as he thought about it. "I've been mostly relying on the Transformation Summons to win my Duels. But at the same time, I also want to display yours and the other's strengths without them, hence why Tou-chan made your upgrades. The problem is, I can't fit all of them in order to use them."
"True. Though honestly, I can't help you."
"Eh?!"
"Hey, I may be great at video games, but card games usually aren't my forte. And I say that despite finding out Gemn Corp is here too." Emu said sheepishly. "You just have to trust your instincts."
"Trust… my instincts?"
"Yeah. Trust is important. Especially in my line of work with my fellow doctor Riders." Emu said. "Back then, everyone wanted to save the patients their way and we didn't trust one another with our methods of saving them from the Bugster Virus, but…"
"But?" Kuromu prompted.
"It took connecting to our experiences for us to finally work together." Emu finished. "And because of that, we started trusting in each other's power and strengths to save our patients."
"I see…" the Rider duelist trailed off, "I guess I'll trust you on this one…"
"Good." Emu nodded with a smile.
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
"Huh?" Kuromu got out, looking out the window, "What's that?"
He could have sworn that he heard someone singing. He then went out towards the balcony, looking out into the night as the wind gently blew, but there was no one out there?
"Am I… hearing things?"
"That didn't sound like anything I knew." Emu observed.
"Yeah…" Kuromu sighed.
Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl
"There it is again…" Kuromu gasped, looking around again, but there was no one in sight.
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl
"Who's singing at this hour?" Kuromu pondered.
*KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK*
Kuromu blinked as he went over to the door of his dorm room and opened it up, revealing Ryo standing there. "Marufuji-senpai?"
"You heard it too, right?" Ryo asked.
"Yeah." Kuromu nodded, as he looked to see that most of the Obelisk Boys had come out into the hallway. "Looks like we're not the only ones."
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
"General. I hear something." Murmullo informed Rex.
"Kuri! Kuri!" Winged Kuriboh urged Judai to wake up.
"Ugh, five more minutes." the Elemental HERO Duelist groaned.
"Yo, Judai. Get up." A rather confused Rex called out as he shook his friend awake.
Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl
"Wonder where that's coming from?" Besturoli pondered.
"What's with all the noise?" Sho groaned, waking up, rubbing his eyes. "And… who's singing?"
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl
"I don't know, but I swear no one should be singing at this hour." a groggy Rex growled. "But… even then… it sounds haunting…"
"Like a bad omen." Dicearri said, which Laquer silently agreed.
"It's enough for Winged Kuriboh to react." Rex pointed out.
"What?" Judai groaned, slowly getting up. "Who… what's going on?"
"I don't know, but something tells me it ain't good." the mutt theorized.
Meanwhile, at the same time in the Obelisk Blue Girls dorm…
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
"Hm? Hey, Asuka-chan, do you hear that?" Rika asked, as she, Asuka, Junko, and Momoe were having a sleepover. They were minding their own business with girl stuff until now.
Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl
"Is someone… singing?" Asuka agreed, listening to the music.
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl
"It sounds creepy…" Momoe squeaked.
"It sounds sad to me." Junko argued.
"But… who's singing this late?" Rika got out, as they all went to the window and looked out. But there was no one in sight.
"I don't know." Asuka said as none of them could locate where the singing was coming from.
At the same time at Ra Yellow…
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
"Huh? Who the- who's howling in the middle of the night?" Koji asked, as he looked out the window of his dorm room to find no one. It was then that the other Ra Yellow students opened their doors, coming out of their room, wondering where the singing came from.
Emustolronzen Finé el balal zizzl
"What in blazes?" Misawa got out.
"Okay, so I'm not the only one gone cray-cray." Koji said.
Gatrandis babel ziggurat edenal
Emustolronzen Finé el zizzl
"I'm sure that making this much noise is against the school rules." Misawa pointed out.
"But who'd be singing this late though?" Koji pondered. "There's no one out there." He then turned to his fellow Ra Yellow students. "Any one of y'all see anyone out there singing?"
They all nodded as from all across the school, students from all three dorms were wondering the source of the music. Yet none of them could find the source.
"Speaking of not good, where's Rei?" Sho asked.
That quickly got the Osiris trio to look around for their newest room mate.
"Kuri! Kuri!" Winged Kuriboh cried out as the door opened to reveal… Rei?
"Hey guys, what's with all the singing?" Rei asked. "I was using the bathroom when I heard it."
The trio were left confused, but as soon as the singing began, it also came to an end.
"I don't hear anything now." Judai said.
"That is so weird…" Rex grumbled before shrugging it off, "Anyways, I need to catch up on sleep. Night y'all." The mutt then went back to sleep, snoring loudly the moment he reached his bed.
"That was creepy though… who would be singing this late at night?" Sho wondered. "And it sounded very eerie."
"I don't know, maybe it's a ghost or something." Judai noted, quickly making the rest of his roommates flinch.
"D-D-D-Don't say that, Aniki!" Sho stammered.
"Please, dude. I'd rather not have a repeat of Winter Break." Rex briefly grumbled before going back to sleep.
"Right, sorry…" Judai sighed, before the rest of them went to bed again. No doubt that tomorrow morning, everyone's going to be talking about it.
That next morning, that thought was proven to be true.
From the moment the students woke up, to having breakfast, walking towards the school, and sitting in their classrooms, everyone couldn't stop talking about what they heard last night. They couldn't get the haunting voice out of their minds. Kuromu sat at his desk, while listening in on the various comments from his classmates.
"Huh, I guess everyone else heard that strange song." The Rider Duelist mused.
"I'm sure the entire island heard it." A familiar voice said, as he looked to see Asuka, Rika, Koji, and Misawa approaching him.
"Hey guys." Kuromu greeted them. "Yeah, it's been like this all morning. Even during breakfast or walking to school… Everyone's talking about it."
"Yeah, that was some funky timing man." Koji said, crossing his arms. "Misawa stayed up trying to analyze the voice, even tried deciphering whatever words were sung." He said as he pointed his thumb towards the tired genius.
"Honestly, I can't remember the last time I was this irritated." Misawa grumbled.
"So… did you find anything?" Rika asked.
"Sadly no. This phenomenon was just as much of an enigma as the source." Misawa sighed in defeat. "But… I did manage to isolate a few words." He said, taking out his laptop to show the lyrics which the friends gathered around. "One word I isolated was the word 'balal', Hebrew for the word 'confusion', and 'ziggurat', which is an ancient Mesopotamian structural building. And one other word is Finé."
"Finé? Like the end?" Asuka questioned.
"That's strange though." Kuromu muttered. "These are from different cultures. None of these words should fit together-"
"Yet we all heard them in the song." Rex finished as he and the other Osiris students joined the group. "There's also one other word in there you probably missed. Babel, as in the Tower of Babel." The mutt pointed out, "I also felt like the song itself was a bad omen. It sounded sad yet haunting at the same time, like a last stand."
"Tower of Babel…" Misawa pondered, "Of course, that's it!" He said, as he typed on the laptop. Moments later, a historical article popped up, "Here it is. According to this, there was once a time where humanity spoke the same language and thus understood each other. However, in their arrogance, they tried to create a city and a tower that could theoretically reach the heavens."
"So a skyscraper." Judai understood.
The genius nodded as he continued to read up, "This caused their languages to be diversified to the languages we have today, like Japanese and English. With no way to understand each other, humanity scattered across the world and left the tower before it could be completed. An unfinished symphony, forever incomplete."
"Okay, but that doesn't explain the Finé part of the song." Sho pointed out.
"Yeah, it doesn't add up." Rex added, "Still, this is definitely something most of us will be telling our future juniors for years to come."
"You mean you want us to have this whole song thing turn into some urban legend to scare them?" Kuromu chuckled.
"Oh hell yeah, great way to scare the newbies. But honestly that haunting feeling's gotten me thinking that this might be a sign things could be changing." the mutt said before lowering his voice so that only the others could hear, "Keep in mind that Oogumo is still out there."
"Right…" Kuromu muttered.
"What do you think about all of this, Rei?" Judai asked, making her flinch.
"U-Uhh, yeah. I guess it would be fun to hear a weird ghost story." Rei chuckled nervously.
Rex raised an eyebrow at this, noticing her demeanor.
"She's hiding something." Diecarrii said.
'Clearly.' the mutt thought.
"Alright, class, back to your seats-nya." Daitokuji said, entering the classroom and prompting them to listen and obey the teacher. Everyone soon dropped the conversation and moved on with that day's lesson, but the mutt was still keeping an eye on his cousin.
After going through the first round of classes, it was finally lunchtime.
"Finally, some good food!" Rex chuckled after a good meal.
"Yeah, you're telling me!" Judai grinned.
"Even though what you ate was all from the Drawbread?" the mutt pointed out, "I mean, don't get me wrong. Destiny Draw is powerful, but I think only Taizan can use it to get that Golden Eggwich every time."
"Come on, Rex. Can't a guy dream?" Judai groaned, which made Rex chuckle before the two saw something off, "Say, is that Rei?" he asked.
"Yeah…" The mutt's expression went from confused to worried as he quickly leaped onto a place where he could track her safely.
"H-Hey, wait for me!" Judai called out as he chased after Rex and Rei.
Meanwhile Kuromu was in his room, concentrating on his deck building once more, but despite the filling lunch he had and the free time he had left, he was still thinking about the song. Particularly the word Finé.
"Doushita?" Kivat asked, appearing as he and Tatsulot flew next to the Rider Duelist. "You look deep in thought."
"Pyun, pyun, that seems to be." Tatsulot agreed.
"Still thinking about the song." Kuromu muttered. "You're a music trivia expert, Kivat. What do you know about the word Finé in the musical aspect of things?"
"Hmmm… tough to say." The bat admitted, as he now hung upside down on the curtain bar. "It's Italian for end, which fits how Rex-kun's description of the song feels like a last stand."
"A last stand… song…" Kuromu muttered, before his eyes widened, "Wait… you mean like a swan song?"
"Perhaps so." Kivat theorized.
"But… What does a swan song have to do with the Tower of Babel?" Kuromu muttered.
"SAOTOME REI! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOUNG LADY!?"
"Huh?" Kuromu blinked, before going over towards his door and opening it. He heard the voice coming from Ryo's room. He went over and knocked on the door. "Hey, who's in there?!"
He soon heard the sound of people scrambling from inside. It sounded like someone had found their way into his senior's room.
"Kuromu?" Ryo voiced out, having just arrived.
"Senpai, do you have your card key? Someone broke into your room!" he called out.
Confused, he quickly took out his card key and opened it to find… nothing. Nothing but an open deck box and spilled out cards.
"What the…" he pondered, "What happened here?"
As Kuromu and Ryo looked around, the Kaiser knelt down and found a hair clip on the ground. One that, unbeknownst to him, belonged to Rei.
"A hair clip?" Kuromu wondered.
Suddenly, the two former stooges of Manjoume quickly rushed to the scene.
"What the heck happened here?" Torimaki asked.
"Yeah, we heard that stupid dog yapping from a mile away." Raizou added.
"Stupid dog?" Kuromu got out. "You mean Rex? Why would he even be here?"
"Whew, I thought we were gonna die there..." A relieved Rex sighed before turning his glare towards the rather timid Rei following behind him and Judai.
"I…"
"Oh no, you're not weaseling your way out of this one!" Rex snapped, making her flinch and wince. He then turned around, facing the girl, which prompted them to stop walking, "The hell were you thinking?! You could have gotten all of us booted out! If Kuromu or worse, some two-bit Obelisk Elite caught us in there, they would have thought we were spies from North Academia!" he ranted, scolding her with the authority of being the elder of the two.
Moments Earlier…
Rex and Judai soon trailed Rei to the Obelisk Blue dorm after tracking her as she snuck into the dorm. The mutt was on a separate tree watching Rei effortlessly leap onto the balcony. He shook his head.
'I shouldn't have let her talk me into teaching her freerunning…' he lamented before looking towards Judai and helping him onto the balcony.
"Why is Rei going into the Obelisk Blue dorm?" Judai asked.
Rex gave a silent motion before the two leered into the room. There they found the girl entering Ryo's room and opening his bedside cupboard.
'What's Rei doing?' the mutt thought.
That's when the pair watched her… cuddle with the deck?
"Wh-What's with this guy?" Judai gasped.
"That's our Kaiser." he soon heard as he looked down and spotted Ryo alongside a few Obelisk students walking into the dorm, "Rex? I think we need to grab Rei an- uhh… Rex?"
When he looked at Rex, the mutt was quite literally fuming as smoke came bursting from his ears while he gnashed his teeth. Then, after letting out a snort that made him sound like a steam whistle, the irate mutt stomped right into the room.
"SAOTOME REI! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOUNG LADY!?" he roared with all the fury of an angry parent as Rei suddenly dropped the cards and slowly met her cousin's gaze with a shocked and scared expression.
"U-Uh… hi, cuz." She timidly greeted him.
The Elemental HERO Duelist was surprised to see Rex act this way, but then that last part shocked him.
"Rei… you…" he muttered under his breath.
*KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK*
"Hey! Who's in there?!" The trio quickly heard Kuromu from the other side of the door, snapping the mutt out of his rage.
"Crap, we gotta go!" Rex yelped before grabbing Rei's arm and Judai's arm and dragging them to the outside balcony.
In his haste, Rex didn't see his cousin's hair clip fall off when the mutt looked at Judai and tossed him like a football right out of the balcony. He then got Rei onto his back before swinging off the branch to land safely next to poor Judai who fell face first into the dirt beside them.
"Ow…" The Elemental HERO Duelist groaned. "Not… cool…"
He then looked towards Judai, "Sorry about throwing you by the way. I panicked."
The Elemental HERO, holding his head, merely winced, "No worries, honestly didn't expect it…"
"Still, I should have known you had some ulterior motive for coming here…" Rex groaned, slapping his palm to his face in disappointment.
"What's your point?" Rei grumbled.
"My point is, you're acting like a creep cuddling Ryo's deck like that!" Rex cried out. "If that doesn't scream pervert, then I don't know what does!" He then motioned for her to follow the two of them, "Now come on. We're packing your bags and shipping you back home."
"What?! But I just got here!" She protested.
"You nearly got us expelled, on your first day!" Rex pointed out.
"Come on Rex, lighten up." Judai tried to tell him, "She's just a kid."
"A kid who's way in over her head." Rex reminded him.
"So what? Just because I'm younger means I can't be here?" Rei argued.
"Rei, you literally snuck up here with a fake ID just to do… whatever with Ryo's stuff." Rex stated with worry, "You could have gotten hurt by them or worse, get banned from ever attending another dueling school. Now unless you got something to change my mind, then-"
"How about a Duel?" Rei hastily shouted.
Rex stopped in his tracks, surprising Judai.
"How about it?" The young girl said, "We're in a school that teaches Duel Monsters right? Then how about you and me have a Duel."
The mutt stayed silent for a moment, leaving his younger cousin confused before finally Rex looked Rei dead in the eye.
"What are the terms?" He asked as his smirk went wild.
Later on that day, Kuromu had called up Rika and Asuka and told them to meet up with him and Ryo. He even called Koji and Misawa as well and they were to hold this meeting at the docks. Once Kuromu and Ryo had arrived at the intended location, they waited for their friends. It wasn't long before their friends had finally arrived.
"Hey Kuro, we got your message." Rika said. "What's up?"
"Yeah, what exactly did you need to tell us?" Asuka asked as she and Rika met up with the boys.
"I'll start with this. Someone tried to break into Marufuji-senpai's room." Kuromu began. "But when we got in, there was no one. Only thing we saw were Ryo's cards all over the floor. And… we found this." He looked over to Ryo who held up the hair clip.
"That's a strangely cute clip." Rika observed.
"A couple of underclassmen also mentioned hearing Taylor's voice in the dorm." The Kaiser observed; something Kuromu was able to confirm.
"It sounded like he was scolding someone." Kuromu said, recalling what the mutt had shouted.
"It wasn't Judai or Sho, was it?" Misawa blinked.
"No, I heard him shout Saotome Rei." Kuromu answered.
"Rei? The new kid?" Koji asked, "You sure you didn't hear him say something else?"
"Koji, this is Rex we're talking about. I'm sure he's loud enough to wake up literal gods if you get him angry." Kuromu pointed out.
The disco fan took a second to process that, "Alright, fair enough." He admitted, "But that begs the question on why the hound dog was even there in the first place."
"You know, this looks like a girl's hair clip." Asuka observed as she looked at the hair clip, "I remember using something like this when I was little."
"Like when you tried to tie your hair in a ponytail to the side or in those pigtails?" Kuromu chuckled amusedly.
"Exactly." Asuka was silent for a few seconds before smacking the Rider Duelist and looking away with a blushing pout.
"Ow, okay. Sorry." He placated.
"Hmm, I think this clip has something to do with them hearing Rex howl like an older brother." Koji asked as his detective mind began connecting the dots, "I feel like the only way we'll hear the truth is if we head to the boys in red."
"Then let's head over." Misawa said. "It's not far anyway."
Meanwhile at the Osiris Red dorm, Judai watched as Rex and Rei got in position for a Duel, Duel Disks equipped while they were shuffling their decks. Sho was with him, as he had just been filled in about the situation regarding Rei by Judai.
"You sure this is okay, letting Rex and Rei Duel?" Sho asked.
Judai crossed his arms, "Well, they're family. Rei wants to prove to her cousin that she can handle herself, Rex is doing this because he's worried for her safety. I feel like these two have to Duel if they want to get their worries across to the other." He had to admit.
"Okay, so keep in mind, if I win, you're on the next boat ride home." Rex said.
"And if I win, I get to stay and you keep quiet about it." Rei said.
"Alright then. But I gotta warn you, Rei. I'm a lot stronger than you think." The mutt said before locking his deck into his Duel Disk.
"Say that after you beat me and my new Deck." Rei smirked, before doing the same thing. Both players then activated their duel disks and drew their starting Hands.
"DUEL!"
Rex: 4000
Rei: 4000
It was then that Kuromu and co arrived right as the Duel was beginning. The group was surprised to see Rei's true gender, but also to see the mutt standing opposite of her in a Duel.
"Wait… is that-?" Kuromu asked Judai.
"Oh, hey guys." Judai grinned. "You're just in time. Rex and Rei are gonna have a duel."
Soon, Kuromu, Asuka, Koji, Rika, Misawa, and Ryo all saw the truth about Rei whilst the newcomer stared down her cousin.
"So the new kid was a girl?" Rika pondered aloud.
"I guess that explains the hair clip." Koji noted before they focused on the duel before them.
"Since I challenged you, maybe you should go first?" Rei said.
"Alright, your funeral. Draw!" Rex declared as he drew his first card of the Duel, 'Hmm… Rei said she has a proto-deck, so that means I can't let my guard down.'
He then took out three cards from his hand, "I'll start by placing down two cards face-down and summon forth Gladial Beast Equite!"
As two cards appeared facedown, a winged centaur with a black horse lower half and blue armor emerged (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1200).
"So it seems that you are facing your family, my liege." Equite observed, his voice having that same noble tone that his fellow centaur gladiator Saggitari had.
"Pretty much, dude." Rex sighed before returning his attention back to his cousin, "I end my turn. Your move." he said.
"Watashi no ta-n! Draw!" Rei declared, drawing her sixth card. She looked at her hand, before choosing one of them. "Get ready Rex! Because she packs quite the punch! I summon Symphogear Valkyrie - Hibiki in ATK mode!"
"Symphogear Valkyrie?" The Osiris Trio parroted.
Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron
Everyone but Rei uttered a noise of surprise.
"That voice…!" Kuromu gasped.
Suddenly, in a burst of orange sound, a new Monster was being summoned.
A ring of orange light appeared and trailed across the space to reveal a girl around Kuromu and company's age with orange eyes, and short light brown hair fastened with two red clips on either side of her head, currently wearing an orange and black bodysuit littered with yellow hexagon jewels. After performing two stomps and a few karate moves, the gems glowed and separated themselves, transforming into a set of orange and white armor.
She clasped her hands together briefly before spreading them out, as oversized gauntlets attached to her arms before downsizing, steam billowed as briefly the name 'SG-r03' Gungnir appeared, the gauntlets locked in, more armor on her legs and a skirt appeared formed before a set of futuristic headphones materialized onto her head, giving her the greenlight on her weapons. The red crystal on her chest jutted out yellow crystals on the side, then soon gained a long yellow scarf she wrapped around her neck before striking a pose. (4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1200).
All of this while fast paced music played, adding Celtic flavor to it.
'So, this is what Pegasus made…' the mutt observed.
"Woah, a new Monster!" Judai cheered.
Kuromu was surprised to see this, "Wait, so the singing we heard the other night…"
"Wait, you mean Rei's monsters were behind the singing?!" Koji realized.
"Now it makes sense! No wonder we only heard her voice in the wind!" Misawa said. The mystery was solved.
"That's… kind of creepy." Asuka admitted.
/Ikutsu no yami wo norikoeta nara
Hikari no sasu yoake no sora
Mirareru darō?/
"Okay, I think I can dig this." Koji, always having an ear for music, said as he began to groove to the beat.
"Wait… she's singing? In the middle of battle?" Asuka said surprised.
/Mune ni kizanda amata no omoi
Itami dake ja nai
Yakitsuita memoria/
"That's the thing with the Symphogear Valkyries." Rei answered. "In order to use their armor, they have to sing and get Phonic Gain."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Misawa said incredulously.
"Magical girls who fight using music are where you draw the line?!" Kuromu pointed out.
/Nan no tame? Dare no tame?
Honnō wa nan to itteru?
Get to heart (Wowow)
Get to heart! (Wowow)
Ichigeki yo tagire/
"Time for battle!" Rei declared, "Symphogear Valkyrie - Hibiki attacks Gladial Beast Equite!" She then declared as Hibiki felt a boost in her strength, "Plus, if Hibiki-san battles an opponent's Monster, she can gain half of her target's ATK until the end of the Damage Step!"
Symphogear Valkyrie - Hibiki (ATK: 1500-2300)
"A bait and punishment tactic, eh?" Ryo mused. "Quite advanced and yet useful if done right."
/Kikoeteru ka? (Burnin'!)
Kokoro (Burnin'!) Tamashī (Burnin'!)
Kono uta…!
Mayoi naki kobushi ni omosa nado yadoranai (Live now×2)/
/Mada da (Blazin'!) nigiru (Blazin'!)
Tsunagu (Blazin'!) kotae
Hontō no imi wo shiru tame ni
Tabiji wa tsuzuku kaze wa se wo osu/
Hibiki quickly dashed towards the winged centaur gladiator who tried to block the attack with his shield. The orange valkyrie however instead leaped off the shield and spun around before striking the air with a kick to cause a shockwave.
HIBIKI STYLE: FIERCE TIGER SOARING PAW
The shockwave hit Equite as the two monsters continued their battle. The winged centaur gladiator tried his best to land a shield bash on Hibiki, but she was able to parry it and land a decisive strike to destroy the monster and send a gust of wind Rex's way.
Rex: 3300
Rei: 4000
"Ta-n endo." she said, "Not bad for my first move, right?"
Rex sighed, "I'll admit, that was good. But it'll take more than just one attack to win a duel." He then prepared himself for a fight, "It's my turn now! Draw!" Once he had four cards in hand, he had to weigh his options. At the moment, he had Gladial Beast Secutor, as well as Gladial Return, his signature Field Spell, and a Slave Ape.
'Okay, so I need to set down War Chariot or get Murmullo out from a tag if I ever have a chance at fighting her monsters. If only I drew the latter…' he thought to himself before looking down at his set cards briefly.
"First, I activate my Field Spell: Dungeon of the Gladial Beasts - Colosseum!" he started as the familiar arena appeared around the group. "Then, I set a Monster face-down and end my turn." Rex declared as he placed Slave Ape onto his Duel Disk, 'Just gotta hope I can trigger it.'
"Watashi no ta-n! Draw!" Rei declared, drawing her next card, increasing her hand to six. She smirked at what she got. "Time to bring on the firepower! I summon Symphogear Valkyrie - Chris in ATK mode!"
Killiter Ichaival tron
Another magical burst appeared as a short, very well-endowed girl with purple eyes and long lavender hair that fell to her knees, separated into twin-tails that further split into three wavy strands each, and an ahoge.
'What the-?! Her boobs are as big as He-!' Rex immediately slapped himself in the face, 'Hey! Brain! Duel first, perv later! Now don't think about it or else you'll throw your game off!'
She started out with a red variant of Hibiki's bodysuit before the red gems detached and separated to become several lasers that blasted the girl and created her armor piece by piece. Two large gauntlets appeared on her arm, one of them showing the words 'SG-r02 Ichaival'.
They briefly showed themselves to be crossbows, but then reconfigured itself to be a pair of futuristic guns. Her headpiece was more of a futuristic hexagonal headset with four vents on both sides. After the red crystal on her chest changed, she held the two futuristic guns to which she unloaded, before… bullets came bouncing out of her cleavage.
"Holy-!" Kuromu gawked, looking away, trying to hold in a nosebleed. Asuka however was slightly miffed at the reaction.
"Uh-oh, looks like someone's not loyal." Koji joked.
"Urusai!" Kuromu stammered. "You know damn well that was unintentional!"
Regardless, Chris quickly loaded the bullets into the chamber and kissed one of her pistols briefly, twirling one of her guns before aiming, "Bang!". (4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1500)
"Look at the size of those honkers!" Bestrouli swooned.
"Have you no shame!?" Rex, Dicearri, Murmullo, and Laquer all roared at the bird gladiator, who gave a carefree shrug. Rei was confused seeing her cousin suddenly shout like that. While this was happening, hard rock music started playing out.
/Hana wo kusuguru Gunpowder & smoke
Jarara tobikau Empty gun cartridges
Akai hīru ni mihorete ukkari kazaana hoshī yatsu wa
Kyoshu wo shi na/
"U-Uh… Rex? Are you sure you're alright?" she asked the mutt.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" he said before letting out a tired groan, 'Of all the days that birdbrain starts perving, it's when she's here. Just my luck…'
This didn't surprise the others, who were used to the idea of Duel Spirits after several encounters with them.
"I guess she doesn't know?" Koji asked Judai and Kuromu.
"Nope." They answered.
"Moving on, it's time for battle! Symphogear Valkyrie - Chris… attacks all your Monsters!"
"What?!" Rex gawked.
"You heard me! In exchange for my other Symphogear Valkyries not attacking, she gets to attack all of them!"
/Chi wo nagashita tte kizu ni natta tte
Toki to iu na no kaze to nakama to iu kizuna no basho ga
Itami wo keshite kasabuta ni suru
…Attakē/
/Ima wo hyakunijū pā de ikiteikya ī
Sō surya chittā mashi na kako ni/
/Mirai wa itsu datte kono te ni aru
(Fire!) Gimon? Gumon dā! (Fire!) Aisatsu muyō
(Fire!) Zenshin kyōki no
Namaridama wo kurai yagare/
Chris's pistols then transformed into tri-barrel gatling mini guns that she used to spray the mutt's field with bullets.
BILLION MAIDEN
"JEEPERS! She's packin' heat!" Koji panicked.
'Crap, I gotta act now!' the mutt thought. "I activate Slave Ape's effect! When this card is destroyed in battle, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Gladial Beast from my deck!" he declared, "And I choose Gladial Beast Murmullo!"
As soon as Slave Ape's card was shattered, the carp gladiator appeared in its place (3/ATK: 800/DEF: 400).
"Now Dungeon of the Gladial Beasts - Colosseum's effect activates! For every Special Summon performed during this turn, my Gladial Beasts gain a 100 point boost to their ATK and DEF points!"
Gladial Beast Murmullo - (ATK: 800-900/DEF: 400-500)
"Now I can activate his effect! I can target one monster on the field and destroy it, so say goodbye to your markswoman!" the mutt declared.
But to his and everyone else's surprise, a bullet shot towards Murmullo, who looked shocked, looking down at his chest.
"What was that?" the carp gladiator gasped after being forced back into his Duel Spirit form.
"Ba~ka, try again fish-face." Chris taunted Murmullo, one of her pistols having a smoking barrel.
'You alright, bud?' the mutt thought as he looked towards the carp gladiator, who was helped back to his feet by the rest of the Gladial quartet.
"Not good…" he muttered whilst reeling from the pain.
"Sorry cuz, but once per turn, if Chris is targeted by a Monster effect, spell, or trap card, she gets to negate and destroy it." Rei grinned impishly.
Judai gasped, "That means he can't use his Trap cards!"
"It's like her deck is a perfect counter against Rex's." Misawa muttered, "If he tries to use any of his normal ways to negate card effects, Symphogear Valkyrie - Chris can potentially shut them down if he tries to target her. And since her deck focuses on a bait and punishing playstyle…"
"That means Rex is in trouble since his Gladial Beasts need to attack if he wants to tag them out and use his monsters' effects." Kuromu realized, "In other words, he's a sitting duck right now."
"So… anything else cuz?" Rei smiled impishly.
"I still got a few tricks up my sleeve." The mutt said, trying his best to keep his cool in spite of the pressure.
"We'll see about that. Ta-n endo." Rei finished.
"Alright, my turn now! I draw!" The mutt soon added another card to his hand of three. He then looked at the two valkyries before him, 'So Hibiki has a similar effect to Kuuga, and I can't use negates as long as Chris is on the field. This is gonna be tough.'
"I'll start this off with the spell card Unexpected Guy! Since I don't have any monsters on my side of the field, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower normal Monster from my deck!" he then quickly drew out from his deck, "So I Special Summon Gladial Beast Andal!"
The bear gladiator soon materialized before he sharpened his weapon and roared at his opponents (4/ATK: 1900-2100/DEF: 1500-1700). This seemed to intimidate Hibiki as she backed away, while Chris merely scoffed.
"Up next, I play Gladial Return! I can target three Gladial Beast cards in my graveyard and shuffle them back in to draw an extra card." the mutt said before drawing a new card, "Next, I summon Gladial Beast Lanista in ATK position!"
At once, a blue and white bird with green and white armor flew onto the mutt's side of the stage, joining Andal with a red spear in hand (4/ATK: 1800-2000/DEF: 1200-1400).
"I see that you and I are fighting side-by-side again." Lanista observed as he saw the bear gladiator on the field, making the mutt smirk a bit.
"I hope we can claw out a victory, old friend." Andal chuckled.
"You and I both." Lanista agreed.
"Alright, time for battle!" Rex declared, "Gladial Beast Andal, attack Symphogear Valkyrie - Chris! Ursa Usurper!"
Andal soon let out a mighty roar and charged straight for Chris, but just when he was about to slash at the red valkyrie…
"Chris-chan!"
Hibiki took the blow for her, smashing the bear gladiator to pieces while causing more damage to Rex. (ATK: 1500-2550)
Rex: 2850
Rei: 4000
"Huh?!" he gasped, "What now!?"
"Hehe~ shouldn't have done that. See, the Symphogear Valkyries all share an ability, that being if one of them is targeted by an attack or card effect, I can switch said targets. Since you targeted Chris, I had your monster switch to Hibiki, and when she became the new target, her effect activated."
"You gotta be kidding me…" the mutt groaned.
"Wait, does that mean her deck is completely protected no matter what Rex tries to do?!" Sho gawked. "That's so broken!"
"Not necessarily." Misawa responded.
"How do you figure that?" Asuka asked, confused.
"Yeah, I don't know if you noticed, but hound dog's getting cooked here." the disco fan pointed out.
"Every card has its weakness. This prototype deck is no exception." Misawa began as he recalled the duel between the mutt and Jinzo, "While the Symphogear Valkyries' effects are powerful, he still has Nerokius he could summon if he's able to draw United Gladial Beasts."
"Plus War Chariot could still come in clutch to counter Chris' effect, if she doesn't trigger her's first." Kuromu agreed.
"Ugh, I'll end my turn." Rex sighed.
"Watashi no ta-n! Draw!" Rei said, drawing her next card. "I summon Symphogear Valkyrie - Tsubasa in ATK mode!"
Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron.
'Alright, what effect will this one have?' Rex thought as he prepared for another summon.
/Ya-Haiya-Haiya-ie Yaiye-Haiye
Ya-Haiya-Haiya-ie Yaiye-Haiye/
Like the rest of the Valkyries, Tsubasa was the same age as the students of Duel Academia. She was a tall girl with blue hair and dark blue eyes. Her hairstyle was cutthat of a side ponytail on the left side of her head that was longer than the rest of her hair, which fell to just above her waist.
"Not even waiting for the transformation to sing." Koji pointed out as the chanting continued.
A blue ring rose up from the ground, equipping her with a blue variant of her fellow valkyries in a burst of flames, with blue hexagon gems attached, and she was equipped with a katana. A blue bird soon flew towards her as the gems fired out to become her armor. She gained two large bladed boots that had 'SG-r01 Ame-no-Habakiri' on it. Once Tsubasa slashed one of the gems, countless blue energy blades appeared alongside her as the full moon appeared behind her.
/Ya-Haiya-Haiya-ie Yaiye-Haiye- chikara yo kaeran
Ya-Haiya-Haiya-ie Yaiye-Haiye- ame no habakiri Ya-i-ye tsurugi yo utae/
She gained two dark blue gauntlets alongside a futuristic set of headphones that included a way for her ponytail to slide through. With all systems green, the red gem on her chest sprouted blue crystals as she performed two quick slashes and posed (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1400).
/Maichiru toki no hana ni ikuyo mo onore wo tō
(Ya-ha-) Hikuki ni mizu wo nagare (I-e-) hito mo onaji ku… mujō ni/
"Huh… a lot flatter than I expected." Rex barely dodged an incoming energy slash from a blushing Tsubasa, "What the?! It's not even my turn anymore!" he snapped at the blue valkyrie.
Hibiki chuckled at her friend's embarrassment while Chris looked a bit miffed. However Rei couldn't see what her cousin could see.
"Huh, traditional Japanese mixed with EDM?" Koji observed as he heard the music play.
/Kuzurete kiesaru (nasu sube naku) muryoku no kiwami ni (namida wa kare)
Ina… saredomo nageki sura danzai no yaiba e kae
Issen ni negai wo kome kono shishi chigireyō tomo
Sakimoran/
"It's time to battle! Symphogear Valkyrie - Tsubasa attacks Gladial Beast Lanista! When she battles a monster, that monster's ATK gets cut in half until the end of the Damage Step!" Rei declared.
"I ain't done!" Rex shouted, "I activate my trap, Defensive Tactics! As long as I have a Gladial Beast on the field, my monsters can't be destroyed by battle and all damage I take is reduced to nothing!"
/Shizanketsuga no ikubaku wo kizuki yaburereba
Inochi no hi wo gedō kara mamoru koto ga?
Kotae wa aru no ka?
Hikari wa sasu no ka?
Tsurugi yo michi wo kirihirake…! Tsurugi yo…!/
As Tsubasa quickly dashed for a slash attack, she saw Lanista gain a brief barrier around himself that blocked her attack. The blue valkyrie dashed back.
"Holy crap! That was too close!" Judai said.
"But now, Rex can tag out. Question is, who does he tag out with?" Kuromu pondered.
"Alright, I activate Lanista's second effect! Time to tag out, friend." He said as the eagle gladiator vanished, "Time to call on some extra firepower! I Special Summon Gladial Beast Agustol in ATK Position!"
Agustol soon emerged and let out a screech (8/ATK:2600-2900/DEF:1000-1300)
"Now I special summon Gladial Beast Secutor in DEF position using Agustol's effect to add another counter to the Colosseum!" He declared.
A lizard-like Gladial Beast with blue and silver armor and two shoulder cannons briefly appeared (5/ATK: 0-400/DEF: 1000-1400).
Gladial Beast Agustol: (ATK: 2900-3000/DEF: 1300-1400)
"Alright, I'll send him back." Rex said before looking towards Rei, "Not bad huh?" The mutt chuckled in spite of the huge difference in Life Points.
"Ta-n endo." Rei said before smirking, "So~, what do you think? My deck's pretty strong."
"Never tell me the odds. I've survived worse." Rex pointed out, "It's my turn now, draw!" He then looked towards the card in his deck, the Pot of Greed he got from the Drawbread a good while ago. "I activate Pot of Greed to draw two extra cards from my deck."
Kuromu and the others waited in anticipation as Rex drew his next two cards. The moment he saw his new cards, he began to let out a nervous, yet at the same time, excited laugh.
Rei was conflicted, "Uhh, what's so funny cuz?"
The stopped laughing before giving his signature wild grin "Rei? Sorry to say, but your luck just ran out!"
Judai quickly caught onto this tell, "He did it!"
"What?!" Everyone gasped.
With this, Rex enacted his new game plan, "I'm jumping straight to the Battle Phase to activate this! United Gladial Beasts!"
Almost everyone but Rei knew who was coming, Rika even more so given she was cowering in fear.
"I send Gladial Beast Andal, Gladial Beast Sammite, and Gladial Beast Agustol to the deck to initiate Contact Fusion!" he declared before Agustol, Sammite, and the spirit of Andal appeared and created the familiar dark portal "With wings as black as night, let my enemies fear my wrath! I Fusion Summon Gladial Beast Nerokius in ATK position!"
Soon, Nerokius emerged and descended to the field (8/ATK: 2800-3300/DEF: 1900-2400). Rika held onto Judai while Rei was left speechless by the appearance of this beast.
"Battle! Gladial Beast Nerokius attacks Symphogear Valkyrie - Chris!" he declared, "And before you can use your girls' redirect effects! Letting you know that with Nerokius on the field, you can't activate any effects until the end of the Damage Step!"
"Huh?!"
"Do it, Nerokius! Midnight Madness!" he called out as the bat gladiator flew straight for Chris and cut her down using his energy sickles.
"Yukine/Chris-chan!" Tsubasa and Hibiki cried out.
Rex: 2850
Rei: 2800
"I AIN'T FINISHED!" Rex said, "I activate my other facedown card, Thumbs Down! If a card is destroyed by battle or by a card effect, they take 500 damage so that's an additional 500 to you!" he declared before a large hand appeared and gave a thumbs down, dealing an additional 500 damage to her.
Rex: 2850
Rei: 2300
"Now that the Battle Phase is over, I send Gladial Beast Nerokius back to my Fusion Deck to Special Summon two Gladial Beast monsters from my Deck!" The mutt declared before he looked to the bat gladiator, "Thanks for the save."
"It's time this little one learns the law of the jungle." the bat gladiator said before vanishing.
"Now, let's go with these guys! I Special Summon Gladial Best Bestrouli and Gladial Best Retiari in ATK Position!"
Soon, both the bird (4/ATK: 1500-2200/DEF: 800-1500) and croc gladiators (3/ATK: 1200-1900/DEF: 800-1500) emerged and let out a roar. Though Retiari gave a glare to Bestroli to make sure he doesn't swoon over the girls.
"Now I activate Gladial Beast Retiari's effect! Since he was Special Summoned, I can banish one monster from your Graveyard, so it looks like you can't re-summon Chris even if you could." Rex smirked.
Rei soon felt the mutt's pressure build, "However, I still have my second Main Phase so… I send Bestrouli and Retiari back to the deck to perform my second Contact Fusion!" he declared before the two Gladial Beasts leaped into the air, "Time to spread the wings of freedom and claim victory! I Fusion Summon Gladial Beast Gyzarus in ATK position!"
The evolved bird gladiator returned to the field, ready for the next step (8/ATK: 2400-3200/DEF: 1500-2300).
"Now I activate Gyzarus' effect. Since he was Special Summoned, I can destroy two cards on your field. And with Thumbs Down active, that means another 1000 removed from your life points!" he continued, "Let's go, Aves Arrow!"
"Light 'em up!" Gyzarus declared before firing his arrows at the remaining Symphogear Valkyries, leaving Rei's field completely empty.
Rex: 2850
Rei: 1300
"He's done it!" Misawa gasped.
"No way!" Rika gawked.
"All he needs to do is survive one more turn and it's over!" Judai cheered.
"I end my turn." Rex said, "Like I said cuz, you're not ready for the big leagues just yet." he declared with a determined look.
"Well, I'm not giving up!" Rei declared. "I didn't come all this way to lose!"
"Trust me, I remember most of us feeling the same way." Rex said, "But you know what they say. If you want to talk big, then put up and show up!" He then stared her down as he anticipated her next move, "Now let's see who Lady Luck smiles upon?"
"Watashi no ta-n! Draw!" Rei said, drawing her next card. When she saw what she had drawn, her eyes widened, before looking at Rex… with a look of disappointment, "Crap…"
As the realization hit the mutt, the others quickly knew what this meant.
"She got a dead draw!" Judai called out, "That means he wins!"
"I guess this is the end of the road for me." Rei said, "T-an endo." She then raised her arms, "Alright, do your worst cuz."
The mutt sighed, "It's only fair to send you out in style. My turn, draw!" He declared but it didn't matter what card he drew; he knew this duel was over.
"Gyzarus? Let's end like we always do." Rex said before giving his own thumbs down, "Time to clear the board! Gladial Beast Gyzarus attacks you directly!"
"Aye sir!" The evolved bird gladiator declared before firing two more arrows straight at Rei, ending the duel.
Rex: 2850
Rei: 0
As the Solid Field dissipated, the young girl sighed in defeat while Rex could finally breathe, the lack of air making him stumble and sit on the ground.
"Whew, what a rush." He chuckled.
"Hot damn, that was a pretty close fight." Koji observed.
"Sure is." Rika admitted.
"I think we could call that test a success." Misawa commented.
As the mutt got up, he walked towards Rei with a smile on his face, "I gotta say, that was a heck of a duel." he noted, "If you're able to keep that up, maybe you'll be able to get in here for real."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you really had me on my toes there." Rex said before looking behind his cousin to see everyone else arriving, "And I think everyone else can agree on that. Especially your crush, right?"
"Wait what?" Sho got out.
"It's obvious, isn't it? Girls disguised as a boy to stow away on this island to specifically sneak into your brother's room?" Rex said as he soon pointed his finger towards Kuromu and Asuka with a knowing grin, "Need I remind you guys of the current mess we're dealing with. You think I wouldn't catch the signs?"
"Wait, seriously? That's what this is about?" Rika asked incredulously.
"You're up." Kuromu, though blushing from Rex's observation, told the Kaiser.
Ryo was understandably surprised to be put on the spot like this, but soon Rei quickly mustered up the courage to talk to him.
"Ryo-sama…" Rei mumbled, "I'm sorry. I'm the one who sneaked into your room this afternoon. Rex and Judai were only trying to stop me."
"I see…"
"It's just… ever since you graduated to Duel Academia, I've been wanting to see you so much." she muttered, "And now I'm in the same school as you."
Sho and Rika did blush at this, while the mutt merely smiled.
"That's why I wanted to help her make that come true!" A voice said, as Hibiki showed up, gushing, only to get bonked on the head by Chris. "Ita~i! What was that for, Chris-chan?!" She cried comical tears.
"Dumbass! Don't just pop in like that!" the white-haired valkyrie groaned.
"De-mo~"
"Tachibana, you know she's right." Tsubasa said as she appeared as well.
"Tsubasa-sa~n!"
"I'm sorry, what?" Kuromu asked with shock.
"Figured you girls would show up." Rex said to the valkyries, which surprised the valkyries, but then he returned his attention back to Ryo and Rei.
"I may have lost to Rex in a Duel, but I won't lose to anyone in love! So I want to give you a maiden's earnest feelings!"
Everyone was surprised to hear this, sans the mutt who merely watched on.
"Wow, even the Kaiser flinches." Judai said, amazed. "Way to put him on the spot."
"Least I'm not the only one put on the backburner tonight." Rex agreed.
"Rei, I'm happy that you feel this way, but…" Ryo began. "Right now, at the moment, Dueling is everything to me." The Kaiser dug into his pocket and placed her hair clip back into her hands, "Rei… it's time for you to go home."
"There's no reason to go that far, senpai!" Kuromu groaned, "I'm sure tha-"
"She's 14…" Rex said without missing a beat.
"Eh?!" Rika, Koji, and Sho gawked.
"Why do you think I've been hard on her all day, Sho?" the mutt reminded him.
Koji soon let out a huge burst of laughter, "Wait, so the mighty king of the beasts nearly got his ass kicked by a middle schooler?!"
"Why you little-!"
"He's also my cousin to boot too." Rei winked, with her tongue stuck out.
"REI!" Once again, the blushing Rex was loud enough to cause more birds to scatter, though the disco fan's laughter wasn't that far off in volume.
"Still, why on Earth would Rei's cards be connected to that weird song?" Asuka pondered amidst Rex trying to throttle Koji.
"Oh yeah, we still haven't figured that out huh…" Kuromu mused.
"I have the answer to that." Philip said, appearing.
"Philip?"
"What's up?" the mutt asked before letting go of the disco fanatic's neck.
"Kuromu, get me on the disk. Those three too." He gestured to the Valkyries.
"Uh… hey, Rei? Do you mind letting me borrow Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Chris' cards?" the Rider Duelist asked her.
"Uh… sure?" Rei said, confused, before handing them the cards.
Afterwards, Kuromu activated his disk and placed the cards, quickly allowing Hibiki, Tsubasa, and Chris to materialize, while also summoning Kamen Rider W..
"What's this?" Misawa wondered.
"Minna-san, I would like to share with you information about our Valkyrie friends." Philip began, the lens on the green side of the Rider flashing. "Let me start with the conclusion of the mysterious song we heard the other night. It was from one of you three, correct?"
"Tachibana…" Tsubasa glared at Hibiki, leaning forward with hands on her hips.
Hibiki let out a nervous chuckle in response.
"Okay, but… why exactly?" Kuromu asked.
"Um…" Hibiki mumbled, poking her index fingers together, "I was sort-of sparring with Chris-chan and Tsubasa-san and well…"
"What she sang was what they call the Superb Song of the Valkyries." Philip interjected. "What's normally a spell card for us is a hail mary for them. It's their most powerful attack, but the drawbacks are exponential. Their armor, which gives the Symphogear Valkyries their name, is not enough to reduce the backfire or load on the body, even if they are enhanced by a particular drug. Because of the large amounts of phonic gain, any disharmony between the Symphogear and its user will result in damage to their body, and could even destroy the gear itself if their compatibility is at a low enough rate. In other words…"
"A literal swan song. Once sung, they die." Kuromu murmured in realization.
Tsubasa looked down a bit upon the others understanding the swan song.
"As for the song itself, it infers to how Finé, a priestess, believed that she'd brought about the Curse of Balal." Philip continued.
"The Curse of Balal?" Ryo inquired.
"In the distant past, the rulers of humanity, the Custodians, remodeled Earth's moon into a device that emitted this "curse" blocking humanity's shared language. Ever since the loss of the unified language, humanity has suffered through numerous conflicts. However, the true reason for this curse was to prevent a Custodian, Shem-Ha Mephorash, from completely dominating the planet and its humans as a semi-immortal data bank language that takes over any living human. Through her existence residing in the DNA of all humanity, a shared language allows Shem-Ha to easily become a network connected to any person, providing her to revive infinitely yet still remain in control as long as there's at least one vessel she can enter."
"How ironic…" Misawa murmured in amazement. "The very reason that humanity can't understand each other was actually their salvation. Unbelievable."
"Road to hell being paved with good intentions." Koji guessed.
"Enki, a Custodian himself, started the "curse" on the moon after fatally wounding Shem-Ha to prevent her revival. However, without informing his lover Finé of his reason, the curse ironically caused Finé to seek the destruction of a network jammer to restore the order the Custodians originally allowed. The very Tower of Babel we know."
"Wow, that's a lot to take in." Rex said, "Doesn't explain why Hibiki and Tsubasa are wielding the spear of Odin and the katana of Susanoo."
"They are only fragments of the actual Relics made by arcane means in the past of their world, techniques completely out of our current reach. It's almost a miracle to find a working relic that hasn't been destroyed by time. The only way these relics can be activated is through a certain song, which explains why they let out a song upon Rei summoning them onto the field." Phillip continued, "The few whose songs can activate the relics and manifest a Symphogear are simply called "candidates"."
"And let me guess, only young girls can activate them." Rex guessed, "I mean, I don't think a Symphogear Viking monster card is gonna be released anytime soon."
"As for why the weapons of Odin and Susanoo were mentioned, they, alongside other myths and legends, often spoke of these weapons with hidden supernatural powers. Unlike those stories, the relics exist as crystals that are excavated from ruins and other locations. Though what I find most intriguing is Gungnir."
"Why's that?" Judai asked.
"Because it was also a Philosophical Armament from 2000 years of being associated with the death of divinity. It was also the spear used by Saint Longinus, granting it the ability to kill gods and divine entities."
"Egads… you mean Hibiki-san's armor is the very spear that Saint Longinus used to pierce the side of Jesus Christ at His crucifixion?!" Misawa gasped.
"Meaning Hibiki is connected to both Odin, the All-Father of the Norse gods, and God, as in, the Father in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?" Rex understood.
"Yes."
"Wow… Pegasus must have been baked while making this new archetype." The mutt stated frankly.
"Says the guy using an archetype made up of furry gladiators named after Roman Emperors." Kuromu pointed out.
"And I suppose karate bug men that look like Power Rangers are considered high art in Duel Monsters?" Rex countered.
Asuka stepped in before things got heated, "Alright, you two. That's enough. We've all had an eventful day. Let's just leave it at that."
The mutt and the Rider Duelist backed off, "Anyways, I should probably let Rei's folks know she's coming home." Rex said as he left, "After that? Maybe a midnight snack."
Rika flinched upon hearing that, "Oh no, I'm not letting you near the kitchen again after last week!" she shouted as she chased after the mutt.
"It was one frozen pizza!"
"You set fire to an entire microwave!"
"How was I supposed to know that thing was out of order?"
Rei chuckled, "I see my cousin is as inept in the kitchen as always." She said, making everyone turn to her in surprise.
"Wait, he's that bad?" Koji asked.
"You should have seen the time he accidentally fried water during Thanksgiving." She confirmed.
"I think I'm just gonna settle for instant ramen after all of this…" Kuromu grumbled.
"Best not let Rika catch you saying that." Koji reminded him.
The next day soon arrived as everyone went to see her off. Naturally, everyone was a bit sad to see Rei go, but it was for the best. But it's not like they'll see her ever again. They just have to wait for next year, and she'll officially be in as a 1st-year student.
Soon, a small yacht arrived as the group knew it was time. What they didn't expect was to see the person on said boat.
"Hey, Etta." Rex said as a purple-haired girl in a rather simple yet elegant dress walked off, the pair hugging a bit.
"Glad to see you're doing alright, Rekkun." Henrietta, one of Rex's old friends, greeted him while Rei was happy to see her.
Koji had to do a double take, "Wait… hound dog said that he had a friend that was picking up Rei. What the heck is a pop idol doing here?" The disco fan asked Kuromu, who was equally shell-shocked.
"Wait, you mean… Rex knows a pop idol?" Kuromu got out.
"Sorry to pull you away from your concert." Rex apologized, not realizing the growing rage from either Kuromu or Koji.
"It's quite alright. The manager was a bit miffed about me rescheduling, but I have no problem with it."
"Hi there! Name's Judai!" the Elemental HERO Duelist introduced. "So you're the girl from New York City that Rex keeps talking about!"
*CRACK!*
Rex flinched upon hearing that while Henrietta slightly blushed. Koji and Kuromu? The mutt soon turned around to find a seething pair staring judgment down at him.
"ALL THIS TIME YOU'VE KNOWN A POPSTAR AND DIDN'T BOTHER TO TELL US?" they snarled, "REX, HOW COULD YOU!"
"Ah crap, gotta go!" the mutt yelped before running for his life with both the Rider Duelist and disco fan in hot pursuit.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU JIVE-ASS TURKEY/SON OF A BITCH!" Koji and Kuromu roared while Asuka and Rika tried to chase after him.
"Welp, here we go again." Henrietta chuckled.
"This happen often?" Judai asked.
"You have no idea."
Sadly the mutt couldn't outrun too long before a huge dust cloud emerged from the madness he ended up causing.
"I'M GOING TO TEAR OFF YOUR [bleep] AND SHOVE THEM RIGHT UP YOUR [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] AND THEN [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] ON YOUR [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] WITH [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] IN THE [bleep] [bleep] AND [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] YOUR [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] SO THEN YOU'LL HAVE TO [bleep] SIDEWAYS!" Kuromu shouted.
Rex tried to crawl out, but Koji quickly grabbed him by the leg and dragged him back in.
"OH NO, YOU DON'T! YOU'RE TAKING YOUR LUMPS LIKE A MAN!" The disco fan roared as the beating continued.
"I wish they made cards that could counter thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!" Rex cried out in pain.