Chapter 14

(VRAINS) Revolver looked at Playmaker and Ai before putting away his deck. Playmaker and Ai can sort themselves out, Revolver however has to discuss the information on the screen with his partners in the Knights of Hanoi.

The other worlds digested the information shared about the Ignis in the video but most of the protagonists have other things to worry about.

(DM) Yugi and Joey have made it to the Duelist Kingdom castle, having acquired their star chips and not having to worry about Seto Kaiba's interference. Right now, the genius is in Kaiba Corporation working on state-of-the-art duel disk technology with Mokuba at his side. The Big Five was sent on sabbatical to the virtual plane.

(GX) Jaden is now standing face to face with the Yubel-controlled Professor Viper who used 'his' connections to arrive at Duel Academy early.

Meanwhile, (5DS) Yusei, Jack, Leo, and Luna were at Arcadia's doors trying to negotiate Akiza's release with the Dark Signer pawns right on their heels. The Fortune Cup is a forgotten project.

(ZEXAL) Kite hunted down Yuma in hopes of getting both Astral and his cooperation. The Barian Emperors though, have come to Shark hoping for him to take his place alongside them. The accelerated events prompted the Arclight family to get into action in the background.

(ARC-V) Reiji's meeting with the Synchro Dimension's council is canceled as Roger utilized his influence to start a coup as soon as the Lancers were sighted in the Synchro Dimension.

Events that would've taken ages to talk about have started to come into motion in a matter of days, courtesy of the mysterious screen. What piece of information will be shared next?

"Loading. Recalibrating. Troubleshooting. Reintegrating search results. Initializing next duel."

A new series of words appeared.

Before, the screen would go through the motions before showcasing a duel. Now, the screen seems to be having difficulties getting through the loading sequence.

"Rotation complete. Restarting rotation. Next duel, DM World..."

So we are returning to the DM world! Does this mean the next duel will come after Yugi and Atem's departure?

(AN: DSOD is not included in the main story.)

"DM World: Duel Selected. (DM World): Marik Ishtar Vs Joey Wheeler."

"Alright," (DM) Joey shouted. It's his time to shine.

"Don't be too happy," (DM) Tristen scolded him.

"All of the duels so far have been serious subjects," (DM) Tea lectured.

"If you are on there," (DM) Yugi explained. "Then, it's nothing good."

New images began to appear on the screen. A tall tower can be seen on an abandoned island. On top, two chairs popped out from below, each with its own duelist at the ready.

On the left is a demonic man, Marik Ishtar. While on the right is the serious Joey Wheeler who could be seen in the spectators of Yugi vs Atem.

Joey looked around for his friends but the tower's height meant they were going to take a while getting up to the duel arena. Seeing his clueless face, Marik sneered saying that if they were here they would be able to hear his screams.

(DM) Joey grimaced, wondering what kind of freak he was going to end up dueling. Marik had no clue though as his darker personality has been sealed by Odion all this time.

On the screen, two other chairs paired with duelists came up the tower.

These are Seto Kaiba and Atem!

Unless Atem came back from the afterlife, this duel must take place before his duel with Yugi.

While people believe that is possible, time travel and simulated futures have appeared on the screen before. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket as they say.

"Are you ready for this?" Atem asks. "It's going to be the most dangerous duel you've ever fought."

"Don't worry about a thing," Joey reassures Atem. "I'm going to clean the floor with that creep."

Seto scoffs at Joey's confidence. Marik wields an Egyptian God card after all.

Egyptian God card?!

The viewers remember the sensation they felt when they watched Yugi vs Atem and the divine might the Egyptian God cards present. Back then, the screen wasn't so friendly and many innocent viewers were sent to the ward.

Does Joey think he can face one of those?

Marik's Egyptian God card is The Winged Dragon of Ra, a still unknown factor among the Egyptian God cards.

During Yugi vs Atem's duel, other than gaining the combined ATK of its sacrifices and requiring a special summoning chant not much else is known about the card. Then again, all Egyptian God cards possess a mighty protective effect to be immune to other card effects.

If The Winged Dragon of Ra had more effects, it would drive some people crazy trying to strategize against it.

While Joey is apparently versed in fighting The Winged Dragon of Ra, his experience left him unconscious after being struck by lightning.

He didn't even get to see all of the mysteries Ra possessed.

Seto Kaiba however, had already translated all of The Winged Dragon of Ra's abilities and knows its strengths and weaknesses.

"A competent fellow, this Kaiba," (ARC-V) Reiji remarked in the midst of a duel.

"The greatest fear for humankind is the unknown," (ZEXAL) Tron sneered.

"Information is half the battle, the other half is fighting it," (VRAINS) Varis noted.

The screen flashes back to a duel between Marik and a blonde-haired woman.

"Mai!" (DM) Joey shouts, not thinking that the present-day Mai was nearby covering her ears.

Mai had apparently managed to snatch Marik's Winged Dragon of Ra but since she was unable to translate the text on the card it instantly came back under Marik's control.

The group on the tower continued to argue about who will win Marik's Winged Dragon of Ra. With the tournament format, however, unless Joey wins the duel it is the winner of Kaiba and Atem's duel who will be facing Marik.

The winner of that duel will possess two Egyptian God cards.

With this piece of information, viewers were more sure of this duel's placement on the timeline.

What they cannot understand though is whether the winner was Joey or Marik?

Joey and Atem's friends rushed up to the top of the tower ready to watch Joey's duel.

Seeing his friends, Joey moved to his place on the dueling platform while thinking of the duelists he fought along the way. His duel with Marik though isn't for them, it's to keep a promise to Mai. Nobody can get away with messing with his friends.

(DM) Mai tilted her head, wondering what happened and what promise did Joey make to her? Did it have to do with that flashback of her dueling Marik?

The referee started the match as Marik's sister Ishizu watches in the distance inside Odion's ward.

(DM) Marik and Odion looked at each other, wondering why their enemy Ishizu was looking over a comatose Odion.

[4000 LP] [4000 LP]

With the duel taking place in the DM world, the pacing will return to a snail crawl.

Marik uses his turn to summon Gilgarth and set a card.

Gilgarth: [1800 ATK]

Joey starts his turn and the viewers get to see his hand. None of the cards are capable of defeating Gilgarth so Joey sets a card and summons Alligator Sword in defense mode.

Alligator Sword: [1200 DEF]

With Joey finally taking his turn, Marik uses his Millenium Rod to bring forth the Shadow Realm to cover the field.

What's the deal with the fog? Does the DM world have more mysteries to show them?

"No, Joey!" Tea screamed.

"This duel is now a Shadow Game," Atem solemnly says.

A Shadow Game is different from a typical game of duel monsters.

With the Shadow Game now in effect, the rules of the duel have changed to endanger its participants. The loser of which can be subject to any kind of fate the initiator chooses. Mai lost one herself and her mind is still trapped in the hourglass facing eternal torment.

"What?!" (DM) Joey and his friends in the present day scream. Their friend had to go through that? No wonder Joey wants to personally take down Marik.

Nearby, (DM) Mai shuddered thinking about what her other self is going through. Will she ever get out? She wasn't in the audience for Yugi vs Atem so her fate is left in the air.

Marik laughed at the thought of other people's torment. Joey's friends wanted to stop the duel and protect their friend but he had already made up his mind to defeat Marik to save Mai.

Serenity watched the conversation while trying to not be in her brother's way.

(DM) Serenity vaguely caught the details on screen and wondered if she would make the same choice after this duel concludes.

(DM) Joey was happy though seeing his sister with a pair of now working eyes. He vowed that his other self has got to win now with everyone relying on him.

In Atem's mind though, Yugi is arguing with the Pharoah not to let Joey go through with the duel. Atem remains steadfast though as he made a promise to Joey not to protect him anymore and let him fight his own battles.

"We need to trust him Yugi. He can win. He just needs our faith and support."

(DM) Joey hung his arm around Yugi's neck and reassured him that his other self will win the duel, no problem.

"Bring it on!" Joey shouts for Marik to start his turn.

"You won't be in a hurry if you knew what kind of torment I'm about to inflict on you," Marik remarks.

The rules of a Shadow Game take a different appearance depending on what the initiator wishes. For this duel, duelists are connected to their monsters via a mystical cord. When the monster takes damage, so does its controller.

These rules are worse than the duel with Aporia!

In the Aporia duel, a player only takes damage when their LP is decreased. In this duel, however, a player can technically take far more than the 4000 initial LP via their own monsters.

Aporia said it before, the more you struggle the farther you fall into despair.

Marik summons Drillago and moves to the battle phase.

Drillago: [1600 ATK]

Drillago attacks Alligator Swarm, sending a burst of pain through the untethered cord connecting it to Joey.

In the distance, Serenity looks up as if she could hear Joey's cry of pain in the distance.

Gilgarth declares a direct attack prompting Joey to activate the set spell Scapegoats.

Four differently colored tokens fill the field before losing one of their comrades. Since these tokens aren't real monsters, none of their pain is shared with Joey as they are cord-free.

With it back to his turn, Joey summons Panther Warrior.

Panther Warrior: [2000 ATK]

Panther Warrior sacrifices a token for its monster effect and attacks Gilgarth.

Marik: [3800 LP]

Despite losing his monster, Marik seems to feel comfortable in the pain inflicted. He activates the spell card, Tribute Burial to tribute summon a monster using a monster in both of their graveyards.

You can do this kind of operation? Many viewers were confused as this kind of nonsensical effect can serve many purposes in their worlds but it was used in the basic DM world for a simple tribute summon?

Removing Gilgarth and Alligator Sword from the graveyard, Marik tributes summon Helpoemer. Marik then sets a card and ends his turn without starting his battle phase.

Helpoemer: [2000 ATK]

A regular duelist can sense something wrong when they saw Marik keep his hand when he could've attacked any of Joey's monsters. For a DM world duelist though, having suspicions is the same as knowing nothing at all without proper removal.

Joey's draw is the mighty Jinzo, a monster he normally would've summoned with no problem but in the face of the mysterious Helpoemo, Joey chooses not to summon it.

While some duelists approve of this logic, others think this might've been a mistake. Many times a duelist will keep a card in their hand to use later only to find themselves having missed the perfect or only opportunity to use it.

Joey instead summons Rocket Warrior, prompting Marik to activate the trap card Hidden Soldiers.

Rocket Warrior: [1500 ATK]

Marik special summons Plasma Eel and attaches it to Panther Warrior's head. This Plasma Eel starts sending a current through Panther Warrior, shocking Joey in the process!

Joey falls to his knees as pain shoots through his skull.

Faced with the pain of Plasma Eel, Joey gritted his teeth and thought about Mai. For her, he toughed out the pain and stood his ground.

This display of endurance earned a few applause in the myriad worlds.

(DM) Mai looked at Joey as if she couldn't believe how cool he looked fighting for her despite all of the pain he is going through.

Joey's Rocket Wheeler attacks Helpoemo, activating its monster effect to drain it by 500 ATK. The sensation traveled down Helpoemo's energy cord and inflicted damage to Marik's spirit as well.

Helpoemo: [1500 ATK]

Panther Warrior sacrificed a token and attacked Helpoemo. A jolt of pain traveled down the discarded cord and connected to Marik.

Marik: [3300 LP]

Marik wanted Helpoemo destroyed though, as it enters Joey's graveyard when it is destroyed.

What's the point of having Helpoemo in Joey's graveyard though?

With Helpoemo in Joey's graveyard, Joey must discard a card at random during each of his end phases.

A ghostly hand exits Joey's graveyard and grabs the Jinzo that Joey was holding in his hand.

Looks like he should've used Jinzo after all.