Chapter 38: Power to save the world.

Heartland continued to preform for the next hour, lavishing praise on the competitors and building hype for the next round of the tournament. He even presented a top 10 duellists to look out for based on the collected duel data showing highlights of exciting duels.

Drake was actually ranked 5th but he wasn't the only familiar face on the ranking board. Drake recognised the 10th ranked duellist as Wyvern, New Orders Black General, and Kite was ranked 6th just behind Drake. Shark was ranked 2nd.

But that still meant that there were three duellists ranked above Drake that he had never heard of before. But thinking about things that seemed reasonable. Although Drake had been on a duelling rampage these past few days, he hadn't actually focused on the WDC, duelling anyone who might have any information he needed or who just got in his way.

And as for Kite? Maybe Faker had grounded him for trying to help Drake against New Order.

But if Wyvern was in the WDC did that mean the other Generals were in the competition? Certainly there must be other members of New Order besides her and Shark to make the second round.

And if they were then Drake had to be ready.

As for the location of the second stage, it would take place on an artificial island off the coast of Heartland City that had been in development for the past couple of years. Heartland Island, a giant theme park and the WDC would mark its opening.

The qualifying Duellists would gather at Heartland Cities docks to be transported there onboard a luxury cruise ship in two days. The second round would take another two days in which the duellists would have to traverse the island to reach the central Heartland Tower which would house the WDC Finals. It gave Drakes very strong Duellist Kingdom vibes.

Heartland was still keeping hush about many of the details but said more information would be available to the Duellists tomorrow, all the while hinting that special rules of some kind would be implemented for the second round.

After the show finished Drake saw Yuma's friends off before retiring to his room. He had preparations to make.

---

*BOOM*

Drake was sent flying into the scaled body of Critias inside his mental world, and this was not the first time this had happened tonight.

Shaking his head Drake unleashed a string of curses under his breath. Another failure.

{I never took you for a masochist, how long are you going to keep this up?} asked the dragon.

Drake ignored Critias, this was too important to stop just because it was difficult. Standing up Drake walked back over to the object he had set up in the Dragons Shrine. The Mirror of Critias. He had moved it here from the treasury after his first explosive attempt a couple of days ago had buried Drake in the treasury wall.

"I concur with his opinion, this seems to be a waste of time and resources." came an analytical voice.

"Right, what Astral said." Chimed in a young boys voice.

Yuma and Astral.

Having lost Yuma's body Drake had certainly not wanted to take anymore risks with his soul and had long released it from the Seal of Orichalcos. Unfortunately his souls link with his body was being blocked which prevent Yuma's soul from returning to his body on its own, and so to preserve the integrity of Yuma's soul form Drake had moved it into his mental world.

If it could support a legendary Dragon like Critias then it was no problem to also support a simple soul. And because Drake knew that Critias wasn't much of a socialiser he also brought Astral inside so Yuma wouldn't be lonely.

Drake ignored all three of them and placed his hand on the Mirror of Critias again. He selected the card design that he had picked out and began to draw upon the energy that he had acquired from the Nexus, the powers of Chaos and the Shining power and carefully guided the powers together.

Slowly they filled the card, but as they came in contact with each other they began to violently react.

Drake focused his power and will to supress the rising storm of energy that was released, compressing it down as he continued add more power. The pressure swiftly built up until even Drakes iron will was overwhelmed.

*BOOM*

Drake was sent flying again. This time Critias took the initiative to dodge, allowing Drake to continue his flight right into the far wall of the Shrine. Another failure.

Yuma and Astral turned back to what they were doing before, duelling. Between them was a simple duel mat and their cards. It was less exciting but there was no actual need to expend the energy needed to recreate a AR Duel in here. While Yuma would goof off some of the time to explore the recreation of the World of the Beasts, or pester Critias with questions or request, most of his time in Drakes Mental world was spent training with Astral.

Perhaps the reason Yuma could remain so calm after losing his body was the promise Drake had made to him that he could set it right. And he could. In the worse case scenario even if they lost Yuma's body forever, all Drake would have to do is collect enough Duel energy so that Critias could make the boy a new body like Drakes own, but this was the last resort. After all, the amount of energy that method would require was astronomical.

In the current duel Yuma was in dire straits and was focused on his next move when another explosion sounded out and broke his train of thoughts.

*BOOM*

"Do you really have to do this Drake?" Yuma asked as he turned away from the duel.

Drake was red in the face as he picked himself up again.

"Yes I do, if I am to defeat New Order and the Orichalcos then I need an edge. I need the power of Zexal." Drake replied.

This was what Drake had spent his nights doing. Attempting to recreate the conditions that had created the Zexal card that even now floated in his treasury card vault. Zexal, the power that could save the world.

"But you haven't succeeded even once, you already have Critias, do you really need anymore edge?"

Yuma was right, Drake had tried numerous times and wasted almost a third of the two energies he had gathered from the Nexus without any success.

"Critias is not enough." stated Drake.

Critias gave a huff of displeasure but did not refute this claim.

"The Orichalcos Great Beast has recovered far more that I thought would be possible in such a short time since coming to this world. I am afraid that Critias is far from enough at this point." he explained.

Ever since they had faced the shadow of the Great Beast, both Drake and Critias understood this. At that time Critias had to exert almost his full power to dispel the projection which proved this point.

In Critias home world it had taken the combined force of all three Legendary Dragons to defeat the Leviathan the first time and send it into a deep sleep for millennium, but they had failed to destroy it. Ultimately it was the power of the Pharaoh and the three Egyptian Gods that had finally destroyed the beast during the second war of Atlantis.

And now? Now Critias was all alone. Timaeus and Hermos were not here, there was no Pharaoh, no God Cards.

Since the Great Beast had already recovered this much Drake needed to acquire a stronger power if he wanted to destroy it, to defeat New Order. To Drakes knowledge there were only three powers strong enough in this dimension to consider.

The first was Astral himself, he was the ultimate weapon of Astral World with incredible powers, much like the Pharaoh. However currently his memories and powers were scatter among the Number Cards. Without recovering all of them Astral would not be able wield that kind of power and to reclaim all the Number cards would require taking on both New Order and Dr Faker.

The second power would be the power of the Numerion Code. Drake had asked Astral if the code existed in this world and Astral had told him that among the Numbers they had managed to gather so far, that there were faint memories about the existence of the Code. As to where the Code was Astral had no idea at present, if he ever did.

Which was a pity as the Numerion Code Drake knew of was practically the ultimate power of its world, if this worlds Code was the same then claiming it would be the same as claiming victory.

Perhaps the secret lay in the Nexus and some of those sealed doors he had seen? But ever since that first time Drake had failed to find a way to return to the Nexus to investigate further.

Which left only the third option. Zexal, the mysterious power that could save the world. Drake thought that he had already discovered the secret of Zexal through the fusion of Barian and Astral World powers, but after so many failures it seemed like he was still missing something.

As for the Zexal card he already possessed? Critias was of the opinion that because he had forced the finally fusion of the cards energy it was more a half-baked product. A shadow of the true power of Zexal.

Fine, he really had wasted too much precious energy with his stubbornness.

Instead of wasting time and energy to try and fuse the two different energies he would just make a few cards with one or the other while saving his collected Duel energy for emergencies.

Returning to the Mirror of Critias Drake got back to work, the second round would be starting in a few days and he had to be ready.

---

"Number 47 attack! Deep Current!"

*SLASH*

<<SHARK WINS>>

After defeating his opponent Shark didn't even give him a look before walking away. This level of duellist wasn't anywhere near enough for him. The preliminaries were already finished and over but Shark was still duelling. But it was hard to find a challenging opponent to meet his needs.

He had a… craving. He missed the feeling of power that the Seal of Orichalcos filled him with, ever since he had been stripped of it under the order of the Orichalcos King, the yearning nibbled away at his thought's day and night. When he ate, when he slept, when he duelled. It was like an addiction.

The only time he felt relief from his craving was when he was able to draw upon the power of Chaos that slumbered within him.

But he still could not draw that power at will, it was too new, to unfamiliar, it required… stimulation.

A challenge, an obstacle to overcome. But so few duellists could provide that kind challenge. Sharks thoughts suddenly turned to his duel against Drake, and from there to Yuma…

What was he doing? He suddenly asked himself.

It had all seemed to occur so naturally, the clue to the person responsible for hospitalising his sister, accepting the power of the Numbers, New Orders offer of power, defeating Dextra… stealing souls. Yet it seemed as though each small step he had taken had ended up taking him to someplace he just couldn't recognise, to become a person he couldn't recognise.

What would Rio think of all this?

"You will never know because of what they did to her…" the voice of Number 32 echoed in his head.

A devil on his shoulder to stoke the flames of his hate.

"They should pay. They should all pay. And anyone who stands between you and your revenge is your enemy. And enemies should be…"

"…Destroyed." Shark coldly finished the Numbers sentence.

But he was also concerned.

The Number had been becoming more and more forceful these days. When he had first claimed the Number card Shark was determined that nothing would control him, nothing would manipulate him. Certainly not some card. Sometimes Shark wondered just what had happened to his conviction and will from then.

Even with all this power… he was feeling lost.

And then there was Yuma. Perhaps one of the few true friends he ever had. And now because of New Order he was in a terrible predicament, but even if he wasn't they were now on opposite sides of a unbelievable conflict.

"You seemed troubled Shark." a muffled voice called out from an alleyway across the street.

Shark was startled as he looked up from his musing. A shadowy cloaked figure stood there waiting for him, behind him was the unconscious forms of several people, people Shark recognised as the New Order watchers meant to keep Shark out of too much trouble.

"Interesting. And you are?" he asked the mysterious figure.

"An admirer." Came the reply.

"Of me?" Shark asked. A smug smirk on his face, perhaps this was the challenge he was looking for.

"Of Number Cards" he said as he readied his duel disk in challenge.

A Number hunter? Things were looking more and more interesting, it had been a while since Shark had found a Number user to duel against and Shark could always use a few more Numbers.

"Then prepare to be shark bait, Duel!"

"Oh your nightmare has only just begun Shark. Duel."

[Turn 1 - Shark LP:4000 Hand:5, ????? LP:4000 Hand:5]

"I will kick things up with a storm, I draw!"

Shark had a strange feeling as he watched this mysterious duellist, he seemed familiar somehow. But he wasn't going to let some little feeling affect his dueling.

"Because I control no monsters, I can summon <Depth Shark> without a tribute, then I set two cards face down and end my turn."

[Depth Shark – Lv5 ATK:1400/DEF:0]

A metal plated shark with ruby eyes and a shining yellow lantern hanging from an antenna jumped from the ground onto the duel field.

[Turn 2 - ???? LP:4000 Hand:5, Shark LP:4000 Hand:3]

"Draw, I-"

"Hold on! I activate the effect of my Depth Shark, during your standby phase I can double my monsters attack until the end of this turn." Interrupted Shark.

[Depth Shark – ATK: 1400 > 2800]

Sharks monster began to thrash about as its eyes began to pulse with a strong crimson light.

"The guppy that thinks it's a shark, how appropriate. But it won't change what is to come, I summon <Gagaga Child> to the field."

[Gagaga Child – Lv2 ATK:800/DEF:1200]

A Gagaga monster? Isn't that one of Yuma's monster? Shark thought.

"Surprised? Perhaps you will recognise some of these as well. I play <Gagagawind> this spell lets me summon <Gagaga Magician> to the field."

[Gagaga Magician – Lv4 ATK:1500/DEF:1000]

Yuma's favourite magician took to the field, now Shark felt sure that these were Yuma's cards.

"You're the one that took Yuma?" he angrily asked the stranger.

"You could say that, of course its only thanks to your new friends at New Order that I even had the chance."

To think that Shark would run into the person that stolen Yuma's body tonight of all nights. The guy was even using Yuma's cards to duel him!

"Where is he?!" it might be going against New Orders interests, but a part of him wanted to repay Yuma for everything he had ever done for him. Perhaps if he could recover Yuma's body and return it to Drake that could be considered as repaying his debts.

"Closer than you think. I then special summon <Gagaga Clerk> to the field."

[Gagaga Clerk – Lv2 ATK:400/DEF:800]

"Humph, do you really think you will be able to beat me using someone else's cards? Especially Yuma's weak monsters?" Sharks voice was filled with scorn.

"Heh, why don't you wait and see, I next activate the effect of Gagaga Magician, one per turn I can change this cards level to any level I desire between 1 and 8, so now Gagaga Magician becomes a level 2 monster."

[Gagaga Magician – Lv4 > 2]

Spreading wide his arms the hood of the cloak fell back to reveal the duellists face under the lamp light. Shock ran through Shark at the sight before him...

"Yuma…?!"

How could this be anyone else but Yuma!? What was going on here?

"Allow me to introduce myself Shark, with these three monsters I form the Overlay Network, to Xyz summon myself! Number 96: Dark Mist!"