The world was warm once.
A little girl sat cross-legged on a soft, faded carpet in a quiet living room, her small hands carefully arranging colorful cards across the floor. The soft hum of a ceiling fan mixed with the faint jingle of a holo-screen commercial in the next room.
Tessa Vale, age eight, had her tongue poking out the side of her mouth in concentration. Her blue hair was shorter back then, messy, untamed, and shining in the afternoon light streaming through the open window.
She hummed softly to herself as she tapped her cards against the carpet, whispering the names of monsters under her breath.
"Archwing Serpent…" she murmured with pride. "Level 4… attack mode!"
The tiny duel disk strapped to her arm flickered weakly with old holographic tech, summoning a pixelated dragon that flapped its glitchy wings in the air. She smiled wide, the smile only a child can have—pure, proud, and untouched by shadows.
"Looks like I win again," she giggled, pretending the invisible opponent bowed in defeat.
"Still talking to yourself, huh?"
The voice was warm, deep, and teasing. Tessa turned her head, eyes lighting up like stars.
"Daddy!"
Her father stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame with an easy smile. Marcus Vale—a man with the same sharp blue eyes Tessa had inherited, though his carried a lifetime of battles behind their warmth. He was still in his work shirt, sleeves rolled up, the scent of ink and coffee clinging faintly to him.
"You practicing without me?" he said, stepping inside.
Tessa puffed her cheeks. "You're always busy! Someone has to keep the cards happy."
Marcus chuckled, kneeling beside her. "Cards don't get lonely, sweetheart. But…" His eyes softened. "…I guess I do sometimes."
Tessa grinned, holding up her deck. "Then play with me!"
He ruffled her hair, laughing under his breath. "Alright. Let's see if you've gotten any better since last time."
The two of them sat together on the floor, the old holo-system flickering to life. Tessa's laughter filled the room like sunlight as they summoned monsters, declared attacks, and cheered for every big play. For that brief moment, nothing else existed.
Just a father. Just a daughter. Just a game.
---
But everything changed when she saw it.
Later that night, after her father had dozed off on the couch, Tessa crept into his study. The room was dim, filled with shelves of binders, decks, and cases gleaming faintly under the moonlight.
She was looking for nothing in particular. Just curious. Just exploring.
Until her eyes landed on a small, black case sitting apart from the others. Dust clung to it like a secret begging not to be touched.
Inside was a single card.
Its surface shimmered like oil on water, dark and beautiful, with an eerie crimson glow that seemed to pulse faintly like a heartbeat. The name etched across the top in jagged letters:
"Oblivion Dragon – Sin Eater."
Tessa's small hands trembled as she picked it up. Something inside her stirred—a whisper in the back of her mind, soft and cold.
Play me.
---
The next day, at her cousin's house, she did.
It started like any duel—laughs, cheers, the giddy rush of holographic light filling the backyard as two kids faced off.
Until she placed that card on her disk.
Until the world… broke.
The projection didn't flicker like the others. It tore through reality.
Black fire erupted from the ground, swallowing the field in writhing chains of darkness. The dragon's roar wasn't synthetic—it was real, alive, hungry. Wind blasted the yard, shattering windows, hurling chairs across the grass.
Her cousin screamed—because the attack didn't just hit his life points. It hit him.
The boy was thrown backward, his arm torn with burning cuts as sparks of red energy crawled across his skin. He collapsed, convulsing, his duel disk sparking violently.
"Tessa—what did you—?!" voices shouted. Panic exploded. Adults rushed out. Someone grabbed her, yanking her away from the chaos, while others screamed for medics, for help, for anything—
Her eyes stayed locked on the monster still looming above, half-real, half-illusion, looking at her like it knew her.
Then everything went black.
When she woke, the house was silent. Her mother's voice didn't meet her. Her father couldn't even look at her without guilt drowning his eyes.
Dangerous.
That word hung in the air like smoke.
Freak.
That one whispered louder, though no one said it out loud.
From then on, she was alone.
No more cousins. No more sleepovers. No more laughter-filled nights with Dad kneeling on the carpet, smiling at her cards.
Just walls.
Just silence.
Just the crushing weight of a secret she never asked for.
And the worst part? Deep down, Tessa believed it was true.
Every time she touched the game she loved, she broke something.
That every bond she formed would burn to ash the same way.
So she stopped trying.
She buried the chaos. She sharpened herself into steel. Every duel became cold, perfect, precise. Because if she lost control again, someone would bleed.
And Tessa swore that would never happen again.
-----
Two duel disks gleamed under the crimson sunset, the AR field sparking into reality—a frozen tundra shrouded in eerie mist, snowflakes swirling like fragments of memory.
Tessa stood on the far edge, her blue hair tied high, her expression calm—but her eyes burned with something Shin didn't recognize. Resolve.
Shin tilted his head slightly, sliding his deck into the slot with one sharp motion, his voice low, biting:
"Still think you can talk me out of this with a duel?"
Tessa's lips curled into a faint smirk.
"If pain is the only thing you understand… then I'll speak in a language you can't ignore."
The countdown blared: 3… 2… 1…
"DUEL!"
[LP: Shin – 4000 | Tessa – 4000]
---
Turn 1 – Tessa
"I'll take the first move."
Her voice was smooth, but each word dripped ice. She drew with a flourish, snow flurries spiraling from her duel disk as Frozen Veil spread across the tundra AR field.
"Field Spell: Frozen Veil! Every monster you summon enters the field frozen for one turn."
Glaciers erupted from the ground as magic circles spun around her feet.
"I summon Glacimaid – Lysara!"
A graceful sorceress with flowing silver robes appeared, shards of ice orbiting her staff.
[Lysara | ATK 1700 / DEF 1000]
"When Lysara is summoned, I freeze one monster on your field—though you don't have any yet."
She set two cards, her gaze never leaving Shin.
"Turn end."
Shin chuckled darkly.
"Your ice won't stop me."
---
Turn 2 – Shin
"My draw." He ripped his card, sliding it with sharp precision.
"I summon Fiendling – Grinshade!"
A shadowy creature with a twisted grin crawled from the crimson mist, its claws scraping the tundra.
[Grinshade | ATK 1900 / DEF 1200]
The instant it touched the field, frost surged up its legs, locking it in place.
"Frozen Veil—" Tessa began.
"I know." Shin's tone was cold. "It's fine. I didn't summon him to attack."
He slapped down a Spell.
"Ghostbound Pact! I send two Fiendlings from my deck to the graveyard and gain 1000 LP."
[Shin LP: 4000 → 5000]
"Your ice might slow me down, Tessa…" His eyes burned like coal in a storm.
"…but you can't freeze the grave."
Turn end.
---
Turn 3 – Tessa
"You're still the same," Tessa said softly as she drew, her breath curling white. "Always thinking one move ahead… never the endgame."
She snapped a card into her disk.
"I summon Glacimaid – Miravel!"
Another sorceress danced onto the field, frost singing in her wake.
[Miravel | ATK 1500 / DEF 1200]
"Then I activate Crystalline Chorus! My two Glacimaids gain 800 ATK!"
Blue light rippled as their magic surged, their voices like an icy choir.
[Lysara ATK: 1700 → 2500 | Miravel ATK: 1500 → 2300]
"Battle! Miravel—strike his Grinshade! Frost Rend!"
The blow shattered Shin's monster into black shards, Grinshade screaming as it vanished.
"And when Grinshade falls… his effect activates!" Shin's voice cut through the howling wind. "But too late for him. That won't save me."
Tessa's tone softened just a fraction as Lysara moved for the direct strike.
"Why, Shin? Why bury yourself in darkness when you can still come back?"
"Don't act like you care!" Shin's roar came like thunder. "You don't know what I've lost!"
Lysara's staff pierced the ground, frost detonating under Shin's feet.
[Shin LP: 5000 → 2500]
Tessa lowered her arm, her voice trembling beneath the cold.
"You're wrong. I know more than you think."
She ended her turn, her breath shaky in the frozen wind.
---
Turn 4 – Shin
Shin's laughter was low, bitter, like a blade on bone.
"You think I care what you know?"
He drew, and the entire AR field darkened to blood-red hues, shadows curling like smoke.
"Get ready, Tessa. Because this is where it ends."
"I activate Spectral Portal! I discard one card to summon Fiendling – Sootslicer!"
A blade-limbed demon hissed onto the field—frozen instantly—but Shin didn't care.
"Next, I play Sin Circuit! I fuse Grinshade in my graveyard and Sootslicer on my field!"
The tundra cracked open, black chains erupting as a massive silhouette emerged—horns like spires, wings of ash.
"Rise! Archfiend of Obsidian Chains – Umbra Tyrant!"
The monster roared, a tidal wave of shadow blasting across the snowfield, melting ice in its fury.
[Umbra Tyrant | ATK 2800 / DEF 2400]
"Battle! Umbra Tyrant—shatter Miravel!"
The demon lunged, its chains cleaving like black lightning. Miravel screamed as shards of frozen magic exploded skyward.
[Tessa LP: 4000 → 2300]
Shin's voice broke, raw and jagged:
"This is for Shiyu! Every chain, every scar—this is what vengeance looks like!"
---
Turn 5 – Tessa
Snow swirled violently as Tessa drew, her eyes blazing with silent fury.
"…Then I'll break those chains myself."
Her duel disk pulsed, the temperature plunging.
"I activate Glacimaid Summoning Ritual! I tribute your frozen Fiend to summon my ace—Glacimaid – Aurielle, the Chill Oracle!"
A goddess of frost descended in a storm of silver snow, her robes trailing starlight, her voice a hymn of winter.
[Aurielle | ATK 2500 / DEF 2000]
"And since I have three frozen monsters—including the one I stole—Aurielle gains 1000 ATK!"
[Aurielle ATK: 2500 → 3500]
Shin's eyes widened.
"…No way—"
"Battle! Aurielle—Absolute Frostfall!"
The tundra erupted in a blizzard so fierce it felt real, shards slashing Shin as Umbra Tyrant was buried in ice and shattered.
[Shin LP: 2500 → 0]
"SHIN LP: 0"
"WINNER: TESSA VALE"
The tundra dissolved into fading snowflakes. Silence hung like a blade between them.
Shin stood there, breath heaving, his duel disk flickering weakly. Tessa lowered her arm, her hands trembling as she whispered:
"If this is what vengeance makes you… then I'll follow you into the dark to stop you."
Shin didn't look at her. He turned his back, voice hollow and cold:
"…Then I'll just have to make sure you never catch up."
He walked into the crimson dusk, each step echoing like a verdict.
"Shin wait…"