CH 13: Duel Spirits

Alistair :"I had a crazy dream last night..."

Jade :"Your dreams are always crazy, Al."

Alistair :"Last night, i dreamt that i was swimming in an ocean of orange soda... turns out it was just a fanta sea..."

Jade chuckled :"Alright, that's a good one."

--------------------------

"Jade, I'm gonna hit the restroom real quick." With the duel over, Alistair decided to get some alone time. Jade gave a thumbs up while on her game :"Alright. I'll just be here."

Walking out and away to the forest to make sure he was alone, he pulled out his Branded Deck :"Alright, everyone. Can you come out?"

"How could we refuse if it's the order of our beloved master~?" A man's voice came, before a black light exited his deck and turned into a man wearing red and black appeared. He was around 5'7 to 5'9 (173 cm to 179 cm), and bowed before Alistair graciously :"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, master! Aluber the Jester of Despia is at your service."

"We are also here, master." Multiple other voices came, before light after light came out of his d(i)eck and turned into figures. Few were humanoid, while the rest were monsters. Mostly dragons, with a few other creatures among them.

Looking at all the different monsters he knew by heart, Alistair was amazed. He could see all the monsters from Fallen of Albaz, the two Virtues ladies, and all the various fusion monsters that would bring him victory. Predaplant Verte Anaconda was also there. He stood out a lot among the crowd.

It wasn't the time to really be amazed during his duel with Jade at the fact that his monsters had become literally real. But now, looking at all the creatures that made his deck so fearsome, he couldn't help but be amazed.

He also couldn't help but reach out to touch the mask-less Aluber, one of the one-card-combo makers of his deck. But sighed in disappointment when his hand passed through him :"Aww, so you're not completely real, huh?"

Aluber chuckled in amusement :"Not completely. I just don't have a physical body in this realm. But that can change if you bond with me though!"

He raised an eyebrow :"Bond?"

Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous explained softly :"It's the process of becoming one with your duel spirits, master. You should be able to remember it from when Jaden bonded with Yubel in the original timeline."

Aluber nodded :"That's right~! But because they didn't do it the traditional way, they missed out on a lot of things. But with the method we have, the benefits you'll get will be tremendous!"

Alistair :"You guys... know about the original timeline? Even about Yubel?"

Fallen of Albaz grinned :"Of course we do. We are from your world as well, after all!"

His eyes widened :"Wait, you are?!"

Albaz chuckled, hands clasped behind his head :"Of course! We're the same deck that has been accompanying you all this time, you know? We've been with you since your previous world, and the memories of our duels together came to us when we became real."

"You are, huh?" A fond smile etched onto his face :"And here I thought you were just random duel spirits. I couldn't be more wrong, huh?"

"Heh, of course." A deep voice echoed as he was nudged gently. Looking aside, he saw Mirrorjade smiling beside him :"We remember each and every duel. All the wins and losses we went through together. We're not some random duel spirits."

"That's true." Alistair chuckled :"Branded was the first ever Meta Deck I made after working so hard for it. I can still remember how much frustration I endured while going against Meta Decks back then with my casual decks to get enough Gems, and how satisfying it was to win so easily after making it."

"Hahahaha, yeah, we remember." The Bystial Lubellion chuckled :"And I remember how you first made three copies of me before slowly getting enough resources to make the others. Good times, good times."

Aluber smirked :"And those good times are gonna become the best times! Because, getting back to the bonding subject, since we are real in this world, we can bond with you in order to get a variety of benefits!"

Alistair smirked :"Such as?"

Aluber snickered :"Oh, I don't know~. Does immortality and invincibility sound good at all?"

His eyes sparkled :"Alright, now we're talking! But I've got a feeling that's only the end goal. After all, invincibility in this world? That's big talk. What about the process?"

"Allow me to explain." Despian Quaeritis spoke up, his demonic scepter in hand and diabolic wings folded around him like a cape :"Just as Aluber said, bonding with a duel spirit with the correct method has enormous benefits.

When you bond with a duel spirit, its power and energy is shared between you two. Remember the main antagonist of the first season? He wanted to gain immortality through forcibly harvesting the spirit energy of the duel spirits.

You basically do that, but the traditional way, rather than making use of the three Sacred Beasts. You can still use his method, but although you would take a huge shortcut, the benefits you would reap would pale in comparison to doing it correctly.

Through that method, you would only obtain their spirit energy. But through our method, not only will you gain the spirit energy of duel spirits, you'll also gain their powers."

Alistair's eyes widened :"Wait, by powers... do you mean their effects?!"

Despian Quaeritis cracked a grin, which was the stuff of nightmares :"Exactly. By bonding with a duel spirit completely, not only do you gain their pure spirit energy, which enhances your pure physical and magical capabilities, you also gain their effects."

Alistair wiped his mouth, nearly drooling :"Holy shit... then, what if I bonded with... say, Mirrorjade. Would I be able to just... wipe someone away from existence?"

Mirrorjade crossed his arms smugly :"If you think just imagining it feels good, wait till you experience it yourself!"

"Holy shit..." He was speechless, just imagining all the disgusting effects of some monsters had him nearly laughing like a villain. But a thought popped up :"Wait, but then why hasn't anybody else used this method?"

"Limit." Albion the Sanctifire Dragon explained :"Although the benefits are mouthwatering, it's not like obtaining them is easy work. The method itself isn't anything big, just that the duelist and the duel spirit need to agree, and then the duel spirit will start the process of bonding.

However, it's like pouring water into a sealed sphere. If the sphere is too small and you pour too much, the sphere will explode from the inside."

"But that's not the case for me?"

"No, it's not. Although you, as the sphere, are currently small and fragile, you have the unique trait of being able to evolve. To grow when you reach your limit. Normally, this isn't possible. Someone's magical capabilities aren't like muscles to develop.

It's set from birth. Which is what determines if someone is destined for greatness or not. However, you are different. I said that it's normally impossible to grow this sphere, that it's not a muscle. But for you, it is.

The more you work on it, the more you develop it, the bigger it will become. When you bond with enough duel spirits, this sphere will be completely full. However, instead of reaching your limit for good, that sphere will begin to expand, allowing you to bond with even more duel spirits.

The process will be slow, but it will be worth it. After all, just think about all the busted effects of even low leveled monsters. The effects of some low leveled monsters put the effects of most high leveled monsters to shame."

"Hahahaha, yeah, I know that all too well." He chuckled sinisterly, barely holding back from cackling. But Aluber just had to make it even harder for him to keep his cool :"But you know what's even better, master?"

He grinned curiously, dying to hear him :"What could be better than all of this?"

Aluber grinned :"Simple, being able to summon us into this world! So basically, you'll have your own army of duel spirits!"

"Hahaha... hahahahaha..." And Alistair couldn't hold back in the end :"HAHAHAHAHA, And I was confused about how I'd become powerful in this world!! This is just too sweet! HAHAHAHAHA!!"

After waiting for him to laugh away his excitement, Aluber smirked :"See? I told you bonding with us would bring some amazing benefits. And once you bond with me~," Before suddenly giving him a sultry smile, bending over to look appealing :"You can touch me all~ you want~."

Alistair's eyes widened, caught off guard like a deer in a headlight :'Holy shit... now that I look at him, did Aluber seriously get femboy-ified here?! No, now that I think about it, he was always kinda zesty in the card images... wait, Albaz is the same?! Did somebody add a yaoi tag here?!' (A/N: Just joking, for those of you who don't know how to take a joke. Because gay jokes are the best lol.) (Aluber image ಠ⁠◡⁠ಠ:)

But as if being a femboy wasn't already amazing enough (🗿), he just had to make sweeten the fact of making them physical even better :"And not just me, master.

After all, you haven't forgotten about all the sexy girls like Silent Magician, Promethean Princess, The Iris Swordsoul, and just about every one of those hotties, right~? Just think about when you bond with them. I can already imagine the railing those poor women will go through~."

Although a man of "if there's a hole, there's a goal" sexuality, Alistair still definitely preferred women, (unless it was about the homies 🗿) so of course his mind started working a mile a minute. In the gutter at that.

The psychotic smile disappeared as he licked his teeth :"Alright, you're really hyping me up now. Then after today's events end, we'll get to bonding instantly. But for now, let's see how much winning against Jade fetched me- holy shit!"

[Defeating 1 Legendary Duelist: 5,000 Gems

Lv 1 Bonus: 10% (500)

Overkill Bonus: +50% (2,500)

Final Reward: 8,000 Gems

Total Gems: 2,100 -> 10,100 Gems

Exp Reward: 5,000

Total Exp: 4,000 -> 9,000/100k]

(A/N: The 4k exp is from the 2v1.)

Alistair's mouth was agape :"Jesus Christ... a single duel against her fetched me more than a 2v1! Alright, I seriously need to make dueling her a regular thing. This is just nuts! What about the title?"

[MC Slayer Lv 1: 50% (500% Max)

Requirement: Defeat an MC in a duel. To level up this title, defeat MCs for the set amount of times.

Lv 1: 1/20

Lv 2: 0/40

Lv 3: 0/60]

'Oh, yeah! 50% extra chances of getting UR in the bag! That makes it 60% in total.' He grinned, before frowning :"But geez, I really need to duel her a lot, huh? Since the victories of the previous level don't count in the higher levels, that means I need to duel her..."

"1,100 times." Aluber and Despian Quaeritis answered, making him groan :"Uuggh, damnit, that's a shit ton... you two got that pretty quick though."

Aluber smirked :"We –are– evil masterminds, after all. Being smart is pretty important." And Despian Quaeritis nodded :"That's correct. And once you bond with enough duel spirits, your physical capabilities, including your brain and intelligence, will improve tremendously."

"Well, that's good to hear." He hummed, before groaning loudly :"Oh, whatever! It needs time, but I'm willing to put time on it! The percentage bonus is 5 times the rest of the titles, after all. Just you wait, I'll get this title to max level one way or another!"

"That's the spirit!" Albaz grinned, slapping his back :"But you might wanna go back now. You've been out for a long time, Jade might get worried."

"Hm, you're right." Alistair nodded :"It's about time for today's event too. Alright, everyone, it was nice to meet you all, but it's time for you to go back to your deck now!"

"Understood, master." They nodded before disappearing into their cards. All except Quem, who nodded at him blankly :"If you need help, don't hesitate to summon us."

He smiled :"You got it." And she disappeared as well. Putting his deck back into his system, he made his way back. But just as he reached the building, the door of his room was opened hurriedly, with a frowning Jade walking out :"Al, we've got trouble!"