“End this?” Sora asked. “How do you plan on doing so? Do you know what my skill can do?”
“Yes. I know what Power Structure does. … well, I have a strong assumption.” I answered. “You can add people to your Power Structure, and skills can be somewhat freely moved through the structure. Though I assume when they change branch, they have to go through you. Am I correct thus far?”
“Yes, but not quite. It can also move around status points and everyone in the Power Structure gains boosted experience. Everyone gains levels faster and their skills improve faster.” Sora explained.
“... wow. Alright. Didn’t know that.” I admitted. And that does really make the skill a lot better than it already was.
“Impressive, isn’t it? The true God gave me the skill, so of course it would be.” Sora bragged.
“The God, huh? Saying that as if there is just one God.”
“There is only one God!” Sora yelled. “That is what makes them God!”
“... aren’t you Japanese? You come at me like that when you have like … 70,000 gods for different things. Be it nature, mountain or a random river. Everything has a god and every god has a shrine.”
“God and a nature deity are very different.” Sora argued.
“Yes they are. They are as different as you and one of the members of our audience.” I pointed to the citizens of the States who were looking up at us from the ground. “Completely the same, but just one is more powerful than the other.”
“Humf. Trying to play that card again. You aren’t talking your way out of this.” Sora said, and he charged at me.
And this time his speed was fast enough that he took me by surprise. Luckily it didn’t outspeed my set cards, and Negate Attack stopped Sora and put a temporary attack stop onto him. Though it won’t last long.
I tried to get a hold of him again with Chains of Atla, but Sora had realized their power, so he was dodging my chains. So I swapped to Time-Space Sealing Sword Barrage, keeping Sora away from me.
While I did that, I got a few cards out of Storage and set them up on my duel disk, ready for my big play.
I then set up more Time-Space Sealing Swords around us, using them to make a makeshift Swords of Revealing Light. They aren’t quite as absolute as the Spell Card is, but they’ll hold Sora for a bit.
“Can you just hold still for a moment?” I asked, as Sora was brought to a stop by the effect of my Unique Skill.
“No choice currently.” He responded. “What do you want now?”
“Just a quick question. How much power have you pulled from people?”
“Clearly not enough.” He answered.
He seemingly began pulling more power from those connected to him, and I was honestly getting a bit worried about it. He might take too much.
Because his unique skill most certainly can drain all of a person’s stats and kill them. Worse than that, it has a nasty little problem caused by how the States are operated.
The States like slaves. Like really like slaves. Especially the kind that use the old slave mark which was made illegal for a reason. If the master dies, the slave dies.
And the way Soul Subordinate Link links people to you is the same way as that slave mark. So if I kill Sora now, everyone under him … will die.
Sadly I had to let him do so, as in that state his Power Structure is also vulnerable to my attack.
But I had to do it now as things were getting worse. With all the uncontrollable power Sora had, the space-time around us began to bend. Sora had gathered so much power and had so little control over it that he might honestly crash the local space-time continuum, which might break the dimensional barriers. And I think he knew something was happening too, since my Time-Space Sealing Swords began to crack and break.
“STOP!” I yelled, trying to get him to stop. “You’ll break the space-time continuum!”
“Good! Then these swords will be gone!” He yelled back.
Alright. No time to hesitate.
I shot some Chains of Atla towards him while he was still held in place, but his power began to erode the chains as well.
“Then I’m ending this.” I said, as I got my two custom Pendulum monsters out. “With scale 0 Ritual Pendulum - Nihility Alpha and scale 13 Fusion Pendulum - Eternity Omega I set my Pendulum scales!” As my scales activated, Sora brought through my Chains of Atla, so I again shot Time-Space Sealing Swords at him.1Customs will be shown in just a second.
With the two scales now active, I activated the card that would allow me to perform this Pendulum summon.
“Infinite Cards.” I called out to activate it, as I pulled Errelitea out of Storage and charged some mana into it. I could no longer keep up with Sora’s ever increasing stats without it, so I took the massive stat boosts the sword gave me.
I generated hundreds of Magical Hands. I’d need them to hold all of my cards, even with Infinite Cards in play.
Then, I performed the summon.
“Swing, Pendulum of my Collection. Bring forth every monster I’ve collected!” This was the power of my two custom Pendulums. The ability to summon any and all monsters from my Collection at the same time.
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Ritual Pendulum - Nihility Alpha Level 12 Divine/Divine-Beast/Ritual/Pendulum/Effect 0/0
Pendulum Effect: You can Pendulum Summon Monsters from your Deck. Pendulum Summoning ignores the summoning conditions of all Monsters. Monsters you Pendulum Summon have their Effects negated, cannot attack or be used as material for any summoning, and are banished face-down during the end phase of the turn they were summoned.
Monster Effect: You can Ritual Summon this card with "Origin of Nihility". Unaffected by other cards' effects. Cannot be destroyed by battle. Cannot be Tributed. Your opponent takes any battle damage you would have taken from battles involving this card instead. Once per turn, target 1 of your Pendulum zones, destroy the card in it, if any; then place this card in that Pendulum zone. |
Fusion Pendulum - Eternity Omega Level 12 Divine/Divine-Beast/Fusion/Pendulum/Effect 5000/5000
Pendulum Effect:You can Pendulum Summon Monsters from your Extra Deck, including face-down Monsters. Pendulum Summoning ignores the summoning conditions of all Monsters. Monsters you Pendulum Summon have their Effects negated, have their ATK and DEF reduced to 0, cannot be tributed for anything, and are banished face-down during the end phase of the turn they were summoned.
Monster Effect: 5 Level 12 monsters, including a Pendulum and a Fusion monster Unaffected by other cards' effects. Cannot be Tributed. Monsters destroyed by battle with this card are returned to the bottom of the Deck instead of going to the GY. Once per turn, target 1 of your Pendulum zones, destroy the card in it, if any; then place this card in that Pendulum zone. |
As the Pendulum swung back and forth, I blocked Sora’s sword. It really was coming at me hard, and that is now that I have the Errelitea boosts, and without them, I wouldn’t have been able to block him.
Our clash sent a shockwave towards the city, one powerful enough to destroy my barriers, but luckily the barriers dissipated the damage enough where no one died.
Sora was moving faster than I could, even while boosting myself. I had to use Teleportation to keep up with him.
Luckily I could stop now, as my summoning was complete and my monsters began appearing. But not one by one or anything. Tens of thousands at a time. Each of my Magical Hands held a huge stack of cards, only able to do so because of Infinite Cards.
Thousands of Dragons, Fiends, Spellcasters, Warriors, Sea Serpents and everything else flooded the area.
In total, 1,454,189 monsters were summoned. … which admittedly is only like 15% of the monsters in my Collection. But with just 5439 unique monsters in my Collection, that meant plenty of repeats. Though mostly focused on more common monsters, since I have way more of them.
And since all of these monsters might be sacrificed, none were in sleeves.
The sheer number of them made Sora to stop. Maybe out of surprise, maybe something else.
“What are you planning on doing now!?” I heard his yell. “Doesn’t matter! I’ll take them all under my control.”
“Fine you can have them!” I answered. “So how about a trade? You can have all of my monsters, and you stop draining the life force of the citizens!” I called back.
“Hah! You fool. You think I can’t drain them too?!”
“Oh I know you can!” I agreed. “But better them than the people.”
Sora seemed to consider my offer for a second, but he realized what I was going for.
“Oh I see. This is a trap!”
“Yes!” I agreed. I mean, it literally is one. A Trap card. “I play Switcheroroo. Since your Power Structure has the same number of people as I have monsters on my field, the control of both is switched!”
This had always been my grand plan. Get Sora to use Soul Subordinate Link to make everyone within the States be connected to him. Then I summon an equal number of monsters and force us to switch control of them with Switcheroroo.
And as I said, Sora doesn’t have a choice. His entire Power Structure was now mine. And he got one and a half million monsters that will soon be banished.
Not that I plan on letting it go that far. My monsters deserve better.
I took a deep breath as the cards my Magical Hands had been holding flew towards Sora. At least he could attempt to hold them since they weren’t in sleeves, but there were simply too many of them and he ended up buried in the pile of cards. 2 1,454,189 Yugioh cards is over 4 cubic meters of cards, or like 1090 US liquid gallons. So yeah, quite easy to get buried in them. And that is ignoring any air between the cards.
I returned Errelitea to Storage. It did what it needed, and I don’t want it to get lost in what happens next. I activated the last card I needed for this plan. Admittedly I’m not quite sure what will happen when I do this, but nothing horrible. … probably.
“I discard a card to activate Super Polymerization.” I said quietly. Not like Sora could respond to it anyway. “All of my monsters, fuse with me.”
The cards that had been flooding Sora turned back to me, and now rushed towards me. But not only them. All 1,454,189 monsters turned into specks of light and rushed towards me.
Sora POV
I finally got out of that pile of cards.
Having access to all of those monsters would have been useful, but having the cards piled on me made it nearly impossible to do anything. I didn’t want to damage them since that might undo the summoning before I can drain them.
I saw all of the cards flying back towards the slave. Wonder if he changed his mind? But why would he have given them to me in the first place?
I prepared to continue our battle, but as I tried to reach for my skill, it felt as if it wasn’t there. At first I assumed this was just the feeling of it being empty, since at birth my new mother was automatically added to my level 1 Power Structure. But no, I was completely missing the skill.
I looked towards the slave. He had somehow taken my skill!
How dare he! How can he even take a skill?! That is a power specifically given to me by God!
I took a split second to confirm my status, and while my Unique Skill was gone, all other skills I had were still there, as were my stats which were currently over 10 million each.
And using all of it, I rushed at … where I think the slave is.
My sword held high, I brought it down with the power that could split Mount Fuji.
However, from the strange mist that had surrounded the slave came a hand that caught my blade as if it was nothing.
The hand was dark, almost black, with specks of purple, pink and white splattered across it. The five fingers ended in long claws that could pierce all the way through my body and be visible from the other side.
As the swirling mist that had surrendered him faded, in front of me stood a creature only a crazy person would call a human. Not only the dark skin, the demonic claws, but it also had huge wings, two pairs of horns, eyes with dark sclera and at least seven pupils in each. I even saw a huge tail behind him, one that seemed to stretch into the distance almost as if it has no end.
I dropped my sword and tried to back away, but before I could get anywhere, the claws of the creature’s other hand shot forward and grabbed me by my throat.
“L- let go of me.” I wheezed out.
{Sora Mugenbashi. You have abused your Power Structure for your personal gain. You have abused an entire country for your gain. And by gathering the power you now have, with no control over it, you have almost caused this world to collapse.} Its voice sounded like a thousand voices, all layered on top of each other, each coming from a slightly different direction.
{And even if our Master is willing to forgive you, we won’t! You shall be banished from this world. But to make our Master happy, we shall give you a parting gift.}
I tried to fight against it, but each punch seemingly only damaged me, as if this thing was turning my own strikes against me. At least each one hurt less than …
Each hurt less than the last! I panicked and looked at my status, noticing that my stats were being drained away. My numbers were dropping so fast!
I fought back even more, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t make it let me go. All I could do was look as the stats and skills I’d built up were drained by this monster.
I then noticed that the monster had taken out some sort of magical staff. I didn’t know what it was going to do with it, but I didn’t like the idea.
… but then I remembered. I remembered how I died. And why I died.
I had discovered something huge. A cult calling themselves a church.
They had taken so much. From everyone. And the company I worked for was part of how they were moving all of that money. How they spread their message.
I tried to report it. But somehow the church found out. I was … murdered by them. A young girl, late teens or maybe early 20s. She killed me and walked away, not even flinching.
I also realized why I grew to hate the idea of the Goddess. She reminded me of the ideology of that cult. A fake god with no actual Godlike power.
No. She isn’t fake. I realize that now. This … I want to call it a monster, but I can’t.
Brian. Ami Brian Wood. He was sending knowledge directly into my brain. About what the Gods of this world are, and what their role is.
Are they true Gods? No. But they are still gods, just doing their best. I realize that now.
{Farewell, Sora Mugenbashi.} He said, and my world went dark.
The next time I came to be, I was in a white void. With a person I knew quite well. The young God in front of me looked like he did all those years ago.
“Sora Mugenbashi. I see you have passed away. And again before your time.” The God said.
“... no.” I disagreed. “Last time I died before my time.” I shook my head. “But this time, I died too late. … I shouldn’t have taken your offer.”
“If you believe so. You do remember how this goes, don’t you? Afterlife or reincarnation?” The God asked.
“... I would like to have my soul annihilated, if possible.” I requested. “If not, lock me somewhere until it can be.”
“...” The God stayed silent for a while, but eventually responded. “I see. I will need to ask an overseer. I cannot do that with a soul that has the power yours does.”
Oh. So even this God is just a god. I suppose I really don’t understand gods.
After a bit of time, he faced me again with a slight smile on his face.
“Good news. Your request was accepted.” He told me.
“Thank you.” I kneeled in front of the god. “... I’m sorry for misusing your gift.” I apologized.
For a split second, I was somewhere. I wasn’t quite sure what the place was, but I saw some sort of creature. A creature that a human cannot describe, nor understand. A God.
Then … there was nothing.
Two original pendulum monsters to summon all his monsters, using a trap to give Sora temporary control of his monsters and gain control of Sora’s slaves, and then using Super Polymerization to fuse with all his monsters. Got to admit that was a wild plan but it worked.
I’m glad Sora remembered his past and decided to atone by erasing his soul so that no one can use the powers he abused again. In the end I think he was a misguided person who lost sight of the truth due to the trauma of his death.
It is a wild plan, but there weren't all that many choices. Brian could have possibly trapped Sora in a prison laced with Soul Magic that can block his unique skill, but there is a decent chance that Sora's unique skill will grow powerful enough to outdo Soul Magic. We have seen unique skills resist effects already, though that is mainly with Pack Opener. But other unique skills can also resist certain effects if they are high enough leveled.
And while I never did confirm it, I did plan on having Power Structure work like Dragon Life Dedication with the automatic HP drain. So Brian couldn't even kill him without killing every prime number, letter and sub number.
And yeah. Sora was traumatized by his death, and it imprinted on his soul. He may have forgotten the details, but the hate for 'false religion' remains. He was afraid that hate was going to follow him to his third life, so he decided to go against it.