37 Chapter 30
After watching Yusho's duel, (ARC-V) Yuya didn't feel like he should stay with his father right now.
Nothing good comes from helping him...
(ARC-V) Yusho wanted to stop Yuya but if his entertainment duel couldn't put Yuya at ease, he doesn't know what else he can do.
Meanwhile, in the VRAINS world, a new program known as Bohman has shown up and is trying to capture the Ignis. While the duelists of LINK VRAINS are trying to figure out a way to defeat him, enough time has passed for the next duel to be displayed.
"Next duel. (VRAINS World): Bohman vs Soulburner."
"Bohman," (VRAINS) Yusaku noticed the familiar name. While Soulburner hasn't made his appearance in the present day, his duel against Roboppi woke people up. If he duels Bohman, they will have some idea of how to deal with him.
The screen opens up to Soulburner angrily calling out Bohman to duel, he had just watched how Lightning and Bohman had treated Playmaker and he wanted to channel his anger into a duel.
Bohman happily obliges and meets Soulburner in the air before the two circles each other on the water. The water caves in and the two find themselves in an underwater arena.
What better way for Bohman to display his new abilities gained from absorbing Aqua, a notion that angers Soulburner. If it wasn't for Flame calming him down, he wouldn't be able to duel properly.
A weird talking frog avatar and bird avatar digitize in the air and begin commentating.
These sights are odd for the people in the other worlds as they do not have that kind of virtual world to play in. Not to mention the red AI on Soulburner's duel disk that wasn't there during his duel against Roboppi.
This must be the Flame whose loss negatively impacted Ai.
With both duelists set, Soulburner lets his fiery passion and anger flow as he prepares to take on Bohman.
Hearing Soulburner berates his actions, Bohman's thought process views that as a racial remark toward AI in general which confuses him. Yet, Soulburner's philosophy is that a person's actions dictate who they are not what they are.
"You did what you shouldn't have!" Soulburner yells. "Something that won't be forgiven no matter what you are!"
"I'm emotionally touched right now," Bohman admits. "I'm touched that you're angry at me because that acknowledges I have a personality. Only you and Playmaker have treated me that way."
"Shut up!" Soulburner howls.
"I respectfully challenge you to a duel," Bohman calmly states.
Bohman's calm and respectful demeanor unexpectedly gains some admiration among his myriad world viewers. Bohman may be an AI but he acts as any respectable individual should.
They know nothing about his actions or reasons at the moment but AI are complex beings like humans and should be treated like actual individuals. Roboppi and Ai were treated as villains by humans but their motivations were selfless in nature.
Could it be said that AI as a species is more human than humans thanks to their exceedingly high thought processes?
[4000 LP] [4000 LP]
The duel begins and Flame analyzes the strengths of Bohman's "Hydradrive" deck. It is designed to counter various attributes and is especially dangerous for duelists like Soulburner specializing in one attribute.
Bohman uses the monster effect of Hydradrive Booster and special summons it from his hand.
{1} Hydradrive Booster {=} set.
Link Summon! Link 1 Burn Hydradrive.
Burn Hydradrive: [1000 ATK]
One of Bohman's Link 1 Hydradrive monsters capable of attacking directly while an opponent controls the corresponding attribute, Burn Hydradrive is the Link monster designed to circumvent the fire attribute.
Bohman normal summons Hydradrive Bringer and uses its monster effect to add the Hydradrive Booster in the graveyard back to his hand.
{1} Hydradrive Bringer {=} set.
Link Summon! Link 1 Coolant Hydradrive.
Coolant Hydradrive: [1000 ATK]
Coolant Hydradrive is Link summoned to Burn Hydradrive's link zone with a link marker pointing to the spell and trap card zone. Bohman uses the opportunity and activates the link spell card Judgment Arrows.
Judgment Arrows... A card that was seen in Playmaker vs Ai with powerful capabilities but major drawbacks. It was such a card that prompted Revolver to create a fusion monster capable of stopping it.
Link {1} Coolant Hydradrive {+} link {1} Burn Hydradrive {=} set.
Link Summon! Link 2 Twin Hydradrive Knight.
Twin Hydradrive Knight: [1800 ATK]
Since Twin Hydradrive Knight was Link summoned using fire and water attribute monsters, its monster effect allows it to gain those attributes while on the field. Bohman then activates the continuous spell card Hydradrive Protection targeting his Twin Hydradrive Knight and Judgment Arrows, giving both immunities to Soulburner's effects.
Soulburner preps for his turn and Flame reminds him not to go all out or else he will fall into Bohman's tactics.
Soulburner activates a field spell card Salamangreat Shrine, gaining the ability to Reincarnation Link summon during his turn. He then normal summons Salamangreat Jack Jaguar.
{1} Salamangreat Jack Jaguar {=} set.
Link Summon! Link 1 Salamangreat Balelynx.
Balelynx: [500 ATK]
When Balelynx is link summoned, Soulburner can use its monster effect to search his deck and add a Salamangreat Sanctuary to his hand but Twin Hydradrive Knight negates the monster effects of Soulburner's monsters that share an attribute with it. Since it is treated as a fire attribute monster, Soulburner's Salamangreat monsters cannot use their monster effects.
"Another floodgate, huh?" (5DS) Jack noticed.
"It's a poor man's imitation," (ARC-V) Yuri sneered. His Ivy Bind Castle is more powerful and a Super Polymerization can easily solve Bohman's field if he tried to play a game using attributes.
"It will be tough having no monster effects but Soulburner should have a strategy in mind," (DM) Yugi noted.
Turns out, the strategy was set up before Soulburner played Jack Jaguar. Salamangreat Shrine's field-effect allows Soulburner's monsters to be immune to the effects of fire-attribute monsters. Bohman's attribute game worked against him!
Soulburner adds his Salamangreat Sanctuary from his deck to his hand and then special summons from his hand Salamangreat Mole using its monster effect since he performed a Link summon.
Link {1} Salamangreat Balelynx {+} and {1} Salamangreat Mole {=} set.
Link Summon! Link 2 Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf.
Sunlight Wolf: [1800 ATK]
Soulburner activates the monster effect of the Jack Jaguar in his graveyard, reviving itself since he controls a Link monster by returning Balelynx to his extra deck.
{1} Salamangreat Jack Jaguar {=} set.
Link summon! Salamangreat Balelynx.
Balelynx: [500 ATK]
Since Balelynx is special summoned to Sunlight Wolf's link zone, Soulburner adds Jack Jaguar from his graveyard to his hand.
Link {2} Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf {+} and link {1} Salamangreat Balelynx {=} set.
Link Summon! Link 3 Salamangreat Heatleo!
Heatleo: [2300 ATK]
Heatleo's monster effect activates and Hydradrive Protection is sent back to Bohman's deck.
Link {3} Salamangreat Heatleo {=} set.
Reincarnation Link Summon! Link 3 Salamangreat Heatleo!
Since Salamangreat Heatleo was summoned again, Soulburner uses its monster effect to return Judgment Arrows to Bohman's deck. Since Judgment Arrows is gone, its monster effect destroys Bohman's monsters.
Just as Soulburner is getting excited about dismantling Bohman's field, Bohman reveals that Hydradrive Protection had an effect preventing the effect destruction of his Twin Hydradrive Knight during the turn it leaves the field.
Soulburner uses the monster effect of Salamangreat Heatleo. During the turn Heatleo is Reincarnation Link summoned, he can target one Salamangreat monster in his graveyard and change an opponent's monster's ATK to that monster's. His target is Salamangreat Mole.
Twin Hydradrive Knight: [0 ATK]
Heatleo attacks Twin Hydradrive Knight and destroys it. Feel Soulburner's burning rage!
Bohman: [1700 LP]
Bohman calmly praises Soulburner's moves but the angry man does not want to hear it.
Bohman uses the monster effect of Hydradrive Booster in his hand, special summoning it to the field. He then tributes it to tribute summon Hydradrive Agent and uses its monster effect to revive Twin Hydradrive Knight, drawing a card since he revived a Link monster.
Link {2} Twin Hydradrive Knight {+} and {1} Hydradrive Agent.
Link Summon! Link 3 Paradox Hydradrive Atlas.
Atlas: [0 ATK]
A giant monster emerges from the water behind Bohman. Flame takes a look and realizes it is the monster than destroyed the Ignis World he lived in. Anger takes him as he comes to the conclusion that Bohman was the one responsible for the attack.
Bohman uses the monster effect of Atlas, rolling a six-sided die to determine its attribute. Normally, this would be left to luck but Bohman has combined with LINK VRAINS and is able to manipulate luck. A tremor shakes the world as Bohman alters data however he wishes.
A die materializes in Bohman's hand before jumping around in an energy orb. When it stops, the revealed attribute is water. Bohman then uses Atlas' second monster effect to roll another die, special summoning from his deck a Link monster equal to the revealed number.
Another die bounces around in Bohman's hands before landing on four.
Special summon! Link 4 Rousing Hydradrive Monarch!
Monarch: [3000 ATK]
When Monarch is special summoned from the extra deck, its monster effect places four counters on it. Then, Atlas changes the attribute of Monarch to the same attribute as Atlas while it is in Atlas's link zone.
Bohman then activates the monster effect of Monarch, rolling another die.
It's always dice with this duel! Not even the gambling king (DM) Joey Wheeler rolls that many dice at one time.
Depending on the roll, Monarch will send all monsters Soulburner controls of the corresponding attribute to the graveyard while inflicting 500 points of damage for each. The rolled attribute is fire so Heatleo is removed from the field and Soulburner takes the damage.
Soulburner: [3500 LP]
Monarch attacks Soulburner directly, the blast flinging him through the air.
Soulburner: [500 LP]
When Soulburner was sent through the air, a noticeable shift in Flame's data is detected by the viewers. They didn't notice earlier when another shift happened due to the scale of it being far too small and Flame didn't make any note of it. Just as he was wondering what was going on, Bohan set two cards and ended his turn.
Soulburner activates the field effect of Salamangreat Shrine to reveal Salamangreat Sanctuary in his hand and shuffles his hand into his deck to draw that many cards, resetting his hand. He then activates the continuous spell card Will of the Salamangreat to use its effect in order to revive Heatleo from his graveyard.
Bohman activates the monster effect of Monarch, rolling the water attribute. Bohman calmly accepts his failure to eliminate Soulburner's field. Soulburner uses the field effect of Salamangreat Shrine to Reincarnation Link summon.
Link {3} Salamangreat Heatleo {=} set.
Reincarnation Link Summon! Link 3 Salamangreat Heatleo.
Heatleo: [2300 ATK]
The third copy of Heatleo is out. Soulburner uses its monster effect to send back one of Bohman's set cards. He moves to send the one on the right back to the deck but Bohman activates the continuous trap card Card of Pandora to change the target of Soulburner's effect to it. Bohman shuffles Card of Pandora back into his deck and draws two cards due to its effect.
"He skillfully circumvented Soulburner's play and used it to his advantage," (ARC-V) Reiji praised.
"He might act like he trusts luck but Bohman knows when and where to take his chances," (5DS) Yusei noticed.
"He's strong," (VRAINS) Go Inuzuka comments.
Soulburner activates the monster effect of the Reincarnated Link summoned Heatleo to change Monarch's ATK to 0. He then attacks it with Heatleo.
Bohman activates the continuous trap card Dice Logic, using its continuous effect to roll a die when Soulburner attacks to either double Heatleo's ATK or reduce it to 0. The odds seem to favor Soulburner a bit but since Bohman rolled a die earlier this turn, he can treat his die roll as 1 higher than the revealed amount.
Any other roll than 6 reduces Heatleo to 0.
Bohman rolls a 2 but he treats it as 3.
Heatleo: [0 ATK]
Neither monster is destroyed since they both have 0 ATK. Flame remarks on Bohman's excellent probability maneuvering before his data shifts once more.
Bohman remarks that AI as a species have remarkable thought processes that humans cannot achieve and that's why they aren't needed. Soulburner thinks Bohman is full of it and that he accepts Flame not as an AI but as a friend.
Flame wants to praise Soulburner but a serious shift in his data happens, causing him to grasp his chest in pain. A puff of smoke comes out of Flame's chest before materializing into Windy, the Wind Ignis. Since Flame absorbed Windy's data, Windy acted as a virus inside him in order to use him as fuel for his revival.
This is Windy's curse! Soulburner tries to remove Windy but has his hand captured by the sinister Windy.
Windy laughs at his seemingly inevitable victory but Flame musters the strength to reabsorb him.
"My name is Flame!" Flame roars. "Meaning indomitable soul, never underestimate the strength of my will!"
Flame's data begins to glitch and he realizes his end is here. He requests Soulburner not to let Bohman win before turning into crystal particles absorbed by Soulburner's duel disk.
"I apologize that I couldn't do anything," says Bohman. "It doesn't look like this duel can continue."
"You don't get to choose," Soulburner rebukes. "If I quit now, Flame saved me for no reason!"
An admirable show of Soulburner's passionate spirit!
Soulburner activates the quick-play spell card Salamangreat Burning Shell to negate the effects of Salamangreat Parro in his hand and special summons it to the field. Salamangreat Parro is then used as material for a Link Summon.
Link {3} Salamangreat Heatleo {+} and {1} Salamangreat Parro {=} set.
Link Summon! Link 4 Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix!
Pyro Phoenix: [2800 ATK]
Since Pyro Phoenix is link summoned using Salamangreat Burning Shell, it cannot attack nor activate its monster effects this turn. Soulburner activates the quick-play spell card Salamangreat Transcendence to Reincarnation Link Summon using Pyro Phoenix.
Link {4} Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix {=} set.
Reincarnation Link Summon! Salamangreat Pyro Phoenix!
An intense blue flame courses through Pyro Phoenix's body, its monster effect destroying Bohman's field since it was Reincarnation Link Summoned. The flame stops though before destroying Atlas since its monster effect protects it from card destruction.
Bohman then activates the continuous effect of Dice Logic since it was destroyed by a card effect to special summon from his extra deck the Link 4 Rousing Hydradrive Monarch to Atlas's Link Zone. Monarch becomes a water-attribute monster thanks to Atlas's monster effect.
Soulburner attempts to use Pyro Phoenix's monster effect to inflict damage equal to the Monarch's original ATK but Bohman has a card that can stop that. Activating the continuous trap card Judgment Roll from his hand, he tributes his Monarch to make Soulburner roll a die.
Monsters of the rolled attribute double their ATK but all others have their ATK reduced to 0.
"I accept everything," Bohman proclaims. "You determine your own fate."
A burning passion flows through Soulburner's eyes as the dice stop on the fire attribute.
Pyro Phoenix: [5600 ATK]
Pyro Phoenix attacks Atlas prepared to win but Bohman activates from his hand the trap card Hydradrive Gravity to move Pyro Phoenix into Atlas's Link Zone. Due to Atlas's monster effect, Pyro Phoenix has its attribute changed to water and its ATK is reduced to 0 by Judgment Roll's continuous effect.
Pyro Phoenix: [0 ATK]
Soulburner then takes damage equal to Pyro Phoenix's original ATK.
Dread fills Soulburner's eyes as he realizes this is what Bohman meant when he told him he determined his own fate because Bohman accepts all of the outcomes. He is then sent flying into the air, the folly of his own attack as that was the only way Bohman could activate Hydradrive Gravity.
Soulburner: [0 LP]
Soulburner apologizes to Flame before being turned into data and absorbed by Bohman.
"Playmaker, the rest is up to you" are his parting words.
"Soulburner," Bohman says. "You were a good, earnest, and honest man but there's no place for you in my future."
"(VRAINS World): Soulburner vs Bohman. The winner is Bohman."
