Chapter 7

During the end phase, Power Gravity goes away and Meklord Army of Weisel returns to 1800 ATK.

On the floor, Jack and Luna struggled to their feet. As Leo watches, he starts to tear up again but Jack reminds him to keep fighting. It's too late though, Leo is still remembering the feeling when his actions caused harm to his teammates and he ends his turn without doing anything.

Many of Jack Atlas's fans in the worlds of ARC-V and 5DS are chastizing the kid for being a pig teammate but what can they do? He is only a kid.

He didn't realize that if he did nothing then his sister was going to be a lamb to the slaughter unable to put up a single layer of defense. All she can do is end her turn and take her 100 points of damage.

Luna: [100 LP]

Step by step, Aporia is driving his opponents further and further into despair. Just like he had fallen before meeting Z-ONE.

Not willing to believe Aporia's nonsense, Jack sets up a defense using Clock Resonator but takes damage for his efforts.

Jack: [100 LP]

"Jack and Luna have only 100 LP left!" (DM) Joey exclaimed.

"They can't do anything!" (VRAINS) Takeru yelled angrily.

"Darn it," (5DS) Jack stabbed his nails into the flesh of his hand. He couldn't believe he could lose like this.

"Don't give up hope," (5DS) Yusei tried to console his former friend but Jack is still not the wise king on the screen. He ignored Yusei's attempts of encouragement and stubbornly watched the screen.

Since Clock Resonator was a machine-type monster, Jack managed to escape Forissimo's effect and survived another turn.

Seeing his opponents stubbornly hold onto hope like those who drove his future to destruction using synchro summoning, Aporia used the spell card Boon of the Meklord Emperor to draw a card for each of his Meklords.

Meklords were the weapons made to combat synchro summoning so they were also the symbols of Aporia's future.

"I'll put an end to your despair," Aporia said. "Since I control three Meklords, I special summon Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk. His ATK is equal to the total ATK of my attack position machine-type monsters."

Asterisk: [4600 ATK]

Since Asterisk is a level 10 monster, Aporia should take 2000 points of damage but Skiel's effect can stop 1000 or more points of damage once per turn.

"Since Asterisk is on the field, he is the only machine-type monster you can attack and if you summon a Synchro monster you will take 1000 points of damage."

Watching the four Meklord monsters on Aporia's field, Leo starts to think they've lost but seeing his sister not give hope reminds him of all the times he couldn't help her in the past. It will be different now though since he is her teammate during this duel.

Aporia first tries to end Jack by attacking with Meklord Army of Skiel but Leo responded with the trap card Block Lock to redirect the attack to Morphtronic Staplen. Since Staplen is in defense mode, it cannot be destroyed by battle but Leo still takes the damage. Staplen then switches to attack mode since it avoided destruction in defense mode.

Many younger viewers cheered at the machine's robotic transformation, saying it was cool.

For all of the damage on the screen, it was kept to the participants this time and the viewers of the myriad worlds were spared.

Maybe the owner of the screen grew a conscience?

Since Staplen was switched to attack mode, it can then switch Aporia's Granel and Skiel to defense mode. Since two of Aporia's machines were switched to defense mode, Asterisk's ATK dropped down to 1800.

Weisel then destroyed Staplen, losing 300 ATK as a price for doing so.

Weisel: [1500 ATK]

Asterisk: [1500 ATK]

Leo: [2600 LP]

Annoyed by Leo's behavior, Aporia attacked him directly with Asterisk. The explosion sent Leo flying before the chain on his ankle brought him back to the ground.

Leo: [1100 LP]

Satisfied, Aporia then offered a way out. If Leo just surrenders to despair, he will escape death.

Many viewers wanted Leo to take the way out but Leo was no longer going to cave into despair. He will keep clinging to hope!

Using Aporia's Fortissimo, Leo special summoned Morphtonic Boomboxen and then summoned the tuner monster Morphronic Lamptron. The move triggered Level Cannon's effect, dealing him 1000 points of damage.

Leo: [100 LP]

Now all three of them were at 100 LP with the devices on their chests glowing red. They're on their last breaths.

Not giving up, Leo activates the spell card Double Ripple. He sends Morphtronic Boomboxen and Clockwork Resonator on the field to the graveyard to synchro summon from his and Luna's extra decks a monster with the same summoning conditions.

Level {4} Morphtronic Bommboxen {+} Level {3} Clockwork Resonator {=} Tuning!

Synchro Summon!

Level 7 Power Tool Dragon!

Level 7 Ancient Fairy Dragon!

What?

"Ancient Fairy Dragon?" both the Luna on the screen and the Luna in front of it cried in bewilderment.

"It's over," Aporia said. "You special summoned two level 7 synchro monsters. That is a total of 3800 points of damage!"

If this hits, Leo will lose. It's okay though, Leo must've done this with something in mind. Right? No way he would lose like this, right?

Asterisk turned into a large purple tornado and inched forward towards Leo.

Nervous viewers watched, hoping for Leo to perform a miracle but he had none. He planned to sacrifice himself so that Ancient Fairy Dragon could protect Luna.

He may lose but he will not give in to despair!

Luna could only sit and watch as her brother was engulfed in black lightning and cannon fire. All that was left was a lifeless body as his LP dropped to 0.

"Kyaa!" people screamed all over the myriad worlds as they watched a child die before their eyes. As the women dropped to the ground crying, the men stubbornly held onto the tears silently dripping down their faces.

For his sister, a child, like Leo sacrificed himself. This is an act that deserves nothing but their respect.

"No!" the (5DS) Luna in front of the screen cried as she sank to the floor unable to believe her brother sacrificed himself for her. Leo beside her couldn't believe it either. He had died and he watched it happen. If it is for Luna though, it is all worth it.

The pain of losing her brother was too much for the young Luna on the screen though and her heart started to go into shock, her LP dropping as a result.

No way! Are they going to lose both of the kids?!

No one wanted this, so Ancient Fairy Dragon came before Leo's body trying to urge his spirit to return and continue fighting.

The viewers weren't in the mood to question why the majestic dragon was talking though as they wanted to see Leo's body come back to life.

On Leo's field, Morphtonic Lantron started to flow with light. If Morphtronic Lantron is in defense mode, it could once per duel revive its owner if their LP dropped to 0 on the condition that luck was in their hands.

The simple machine fluctuated between green and yellow lights before stopping on green.

Leo can be saved!

Bathed in Lamptron's light, a mysterious phenomenon began to occur. All around the tower, individuals riding on their duel runners as well as Jack Atlas and Luna themselves began to notice a red mark on their bodies glowing majestically.

This was the Mark of the Crimson Dragon and it was telling them that someone needed their power!

"What?" (5DS) Jack cried.

"This mark is good for something?" (5DS) Akiza asked incredulously. All this time, she thought this mark was a curse but now it can bring someone back from the dead?

"Why don't I have that mark?" (ARC-V) Jack however was confused. He wasn't the only one as the Crow in his world wasn't a Signer either so there was no way for them to have the Mark of the Crimson Dragon.

The Mark of the Crimson Dragon left its hosts and appeared on Leo's dilapidated body. In its claw though was a new mark, a crown.

When the Mark of the Crimson Dragon returned to its hosts, they learned something miraculous had happened.

Leo had become a Signer!

Back to life, Leo crawled to his feet radiating energy.

Leo: [100 LP]

Leo didn't have time to dwell on his new power however as his sister's LP was dropping fast. Using his new mark, he tuned his two remaining monsters hoping to make something new.

Level {7} Power Tool Dragon {+} Level {1} Morphronic Lamptron {=} Tuning!

The body of the Crimson Dragon sprang to life as it hoped to bring a revolution to a despairing world. Synchro Summon!

Level 8 Life Stream Dragon!

Breaking free from its metallic confines, the true form of Power Tool Dragon arrived on the field.

Life Stream Dragon: [2900 ATK]

Evolution or now, Aporia wasn't just going to watch Leo synchro summon. He planned to make Leo take damage for summoning Life Stream Dragon but a dragon made of Leo's desire to protect wasn't that easy to defeat.

Life Stream Dragon has the effect to stop all effect damage and restores all duelists with less than 2000 LP to 2000 LP on its summon.

One card turns back everything!

With her life back to normal, Luna was able to take stock of the situation. Seeing the mark on Leo's hand and Life Stream Dragon on his field, she was not too surprised. In her heart, Leo was always her hero so this kind of power was always supposed to be his.

This sentiment brought a hint of embarrassment to the present-day Leo and Luna but they were okay with it if everything was fine.

Life Stream Dragon attacked Asterisk much to Aporia's cry of dismay. To protect Asterisk from destruction, he sacrificed the Meklord Army of Skiel but he still took the damage.

Aporia: [1800 LP]

With the emotions in his heart returning, Aporia no longer was able to escape the pain he felt when taking damage. Since he took damage from a Synchro monster, Aporia activated the continuous trap card Cursed Synchro to halt all attacks from Synchro monsters.

Leo then set a card and ended his turn.

In Luna's turn, Ancient Fairy Dragon destroyed Aporia's field spell allowing her to gain 1000 LP and add a field spell card from her deck to her hand.

Luna: [3000 LP]

Aporia's mechanical fortress was coming down and a new Synchro Monument was put in its place. Thanks to Synchro Monument, Aporia will no longer be able to respond to the summons of Synchro and tuner monsters. Aporia could no longer stop the Synchro monsters that tormented his dreams.

Jack activated the trap card Descending Lost Star to revive Red Dragon Archfiend as a level 7 monster.

Since he now had Red Dragon Archfiend, Jack could now use all of its support cards.

Red Dragon Vase drew Jack two cards and Scarlet Security dismantled Aporia's face-up spell and trap cards.

Watching all of his defenses dismantled by the Synchro monster, Aporia remembered all of the times in his life that he felt despair and he started to beg for it to stop.

It wasn't that Aporia was a truly bad person but life had given him too many pitfalls that he couldn't accept. That was the reason why he wanted to change the world so that his future would no longer come to be.

The spell card Resonator Call added the tuner monster Creation Resonator to Jack's hand and he could special summon it when he had a Synchro monster on his side of the field. Jack then summoned the tuner monster Dread dragon preparing to synchro summon a new powerful monster.

Level {7} Red Dragon Archfiend {+} Level {2} Dread Dragon {+} Level {3} Creation Resonator {=} Double Tuning!

Double tuning?!

Synchro Summon! Level 12 Red Nova Dragon!

Red Nova Dragon: {3500 ATK}

Level 12. A monster that rarely made an appearance in all of the myriad worlds. This duel had truly shown viewers the majesty of Synchro monsters.

While Red Nova Dragon is in play, it gains 500 ATK for each tuner in Jack's graveyard. With four tuners, that is a 2000 ATK increase.

Red Nova Dragon: [5500 ATK]

Faced with Red Nova Dragon's attack, Aporia used his last trap card that escaped Scarlet Security, Zero Infinity. All defense position monster switched to ATK and then he can special summon monsters from his graveyard while negating their effects.

Revive, Meklord Army of Skiel and Meklord Astro Makanikle.

Skiel: [1200 ATK]

Makanikle: [4000 ATK]

Asterisk: [1500 ATK] - [8300 ATK]

Aporia urged Jack and his teammates to give in to despair and leave everything to Z-ONE but Leo still had hope. He activated the trap card Synchro Big Tornado to reduce Asterisk's ATK by Life Stream Dragon's DEF. Luna supported him with her trap card Fairy Breath, increasing Life Stream Dragon's DEF by Ancient Fairy's.

Life Stream Dragon: [5400 DEF]

Asterisk: [8300 ATK] - [2900 ATK]

The amazing display brought pain to Aporia's chest. This wasn't the pain of despair however but the hope that things will turn out alright.

Aporia: [0 LP]

As everything came tumbling down, Jack and his teammates escapes the falling platform while Aporia fell into the abyss below savoring in the feeling that hope gives him.

"(5DS World): Aporia Vs Jack, Leo, and Luna. The winners are Jack, Leo, and Luna."