Well, this two-shot got an epilogue...Heh, heh.

Originally, this would've been put at the end of the last chapter, but a combination of time restraints and exhaustion put an end to that. I now present to you all the true end of ADT, whereupon I hope you enjoy this bit of flashback exposition, one that actually leads to Dyax.

No card stats at the end I'm afraid!

Enjoy!

I don't own the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, those rights go to their respective owners.

Akato and Fehler walked through the portal in silence, both men deep in thought.

Fehler was thinking about everything that had happened to him recently, considering it to be quite the rapid change of events. After all, one moment he had happily been a scientist of Academia on the verge of helping to accomplish one of the greatest scientific achievements known to mankind, and the next, he'd been turned into a card, and then somehow transported to the space between dimensions. There, he had met Jean-Michel Roget, and then Akato, who then proceeded to kill both men in a duel. Roget's soul had been turned into a paperweight, while Fehler had gone from being a simple Doktor, to a demon.

So all in all, he had a lot to think about, and lot to discuss with whomever Akato was working with.

Akato on the other hand, was thinking more about the past. More specifically, when the Supreme Dragon King Zarc had first awakened, as well as when Akato had last dealt with his archenemy, Stephan, and his own associates…

"Well? Is there no one left who can challenge me? Is this all this there is? Is this satisfying?!" the silver-and-green haired duelist demanded.

The audience before him, who had watched him rise to the top of the global duel-circuits, yelled out:

"This isn't satisfying! We need to see more! More! More! Zarc! Zarc! Zarc!"

Zarc smiled maliciously.

"Very well then! If you, the audience, so desire it, then I will become stronger! Strong enough to fulfill your desires, strong enough to destroy the world!"

Down below in the stands, a dark-skinned man with short hair and a blue-and-white lab coat, standing next to a girl with long red-and-maroon hair, which was arranged with twin long-tails, mouthed in shock.

"Destroy the world?" he asked.

Many miles away, several individuals, who had watched the duel from abroad on their television screens, mumbled amongst themselves similar words.

"Did he just say that he was going to destroy the world?" a brown-skinned woman with black hair whispered to a black-haired, thuggish looking fellow.

"How the heck is he going to do that?" the man whispered back.

Another bespectacled man, albeit with his glasses being more like a pair of visors, who was rather tall, with light-brown hair, watched silently, but having a face filled with equal shock.

All around the three, their colleagues watched, muttering the same words, wondering just how Zarc would even attempt to accomplish what he just said.

Back at the stadium, Zarc proceeded to answer the questions of all parties, activating his duel disk.

"Yes, allow us to keep on fighting, so that we may fulfill your desires!" he cried out, upon which he slammed onto his duel disk four dragon-type monsters.

One was a normal Effect monster, known as Odd-Eyes Dragon

The second was a Fusion monster, Starve Venom Fusion Dragon

The third beast was a Synchro monster, Clear Wing Synchro Dragon

The fourth, and last behemoth was that of an Xyz monster, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon.

All four dragons manifested in front of their master. The audience had known them to be Zarc's ace monsters, and the ones that were his claim to fame, as one of those who had mastered all summoning techniques from the Extra Deck. They circled around Zarc, much to the amazement of the audience, who were all speechless at seeing these four majestic creatures together.

That amazement then turned to horror, as all four dragons unleashed their breath weapons upon the audience members.

People jumped out of their seats in terror, and immediately ran for the nearest exits. But as they did so, the four dragons pounced upon them. Odd Eyes jumped in front of one group of escaping spectators, and blasted them to cinders with its so-called Spiral Flame. Dark Rebellion swooped downwards, with its massive underjaw spike glowing with electricity, a maneuver that earned the moniker of Lightning Disobey of Rebellion. It dived into the escaping audience members, skewering them to death.

Clear Wing Synchro Dragon dived downwards, as well, spinning its body around in the attack that had earned the name of Helldive Whirlwind Slasher. It flew into the audience members, slicing them to ribbons. As for Starve Venom Fusion Dragon, it's attacks had no name, given how numerous they were. But the dragon still swooped downwards, and the four enormous Venus-flytrap-like mandibles that grew from its back extended outwards, twisting around the panicking crowd, before chomping down and devouring as many people as they could.

The scientist who had mouthed in confusion when Zarc had announced that he would destroy the world, and the girl next to him, who had notably watched Zarc's duel in the final round with great distaste, had made into the exit tunnels away from the destruction. But the girl stood in place, frozen, and began to mutter.

"They're angry. The monsters are venting all of their anger and fury at us." She said, shivering in fear.

The scientist gasped, as the words of the girl, who was his daughter, reminded the man about an old legend concerning duel monster cards. That the cards of the game had souls. This was a legend that had existed for several decades, but the man had never paid attention to them.

But those individuals who had been watching the tournament, and now, the horrendous carnage that was being displayed on their televisions screens, DID know those legends. Quite intimately in fact.

A brown-haired woman, who also wore glasses, looked on with horror, but despite being so far away, had the exact same thoughts as the daughter of the scientist.

"Those dragons, you can all feel their fury can't you? They're unleashing their suffering on the human world now…I knew that there was something off about that Real Solid Vision technology…" she muttered.

The brown-haired man with the visor looked at the other woman, who had been standing next to the man and his team. Two other individuals who had been standing closer to the woman, another girl who had blond hair, and an Indian-looking fellow, looked at their colleague.

The thoughts and trepidations that they had had, that had been building up these past few months, they were all coming back, and what did not fit in their prior investigations was starting to click into place. They knew what was happening, and they all knew what dire consequences were about to be paid.

"This must be stopped at once!" the man with the visor yelled out, leaving the room immediately, his teammates and associates following.

The streets were relatively quiet that night, despite the ominous presence of the enormous purple-shadow dragon hovering over the streets.

The only noise that could be heard in the town, once known as Crescent City, at least in that particular street, were the three duelists on their motorcycles, which were built for both transportation, as well as what were known as Riding Duels. These motorcycles were known as D-Wheels in Japan and Germany, or Duel Runners, if you lived in other countries.

One of the riders, a thuggish-looking man known as Sherman, looked at the city.

"One benefit to the world being on the edge of destruction," he muttered, "no traffic jams."

"Yup." A brown-skinned woman replied, whose name was Juana.

The man in the center, who was rather tall with a tad bit of stubble, was named Stephan. He was the leader of his three-man squad, and was waiting anxiously for the message from Leo Akaba.

Leo was the man who had implemented the innovation to Solid Vision known as Real Solid Vision to Duel Monsters. Originally, this technology of hard light was used only for product demonstrations and occasional home decorations. Leo however, had improved the technology immensely by implementing it into Duel Monsters, hoping that it would make the hard light business more attractive to consumers and businesses.

Suffice to say, it more than did its job. Specifically, because that tiny innovation had caused a single duelist named Zarc to effectively become an all-powerful demonic dragon god bent on destroying humanity.

To say that Zarc was succeeding in that venture was an understatement. Granted, his destruction was currently confined to Crescent City, but as time passed, Stephan, Sherman, Juana, Azusa, Akutil, Chuma, and all of their colleagues of the organization Aurelius knew that it would not be long before Zarc's power grew even more than it already had, growing large enough for him to eclipse the world, and enable him to destroy everyone on the planet.

Azusa feared that Zarc's destruction would not be limited to Earth. She feared that Zarc's growing power would enable him to tear open holes in the fabric of dimensions, accessing the spirit worlds and sub-dimensions that existed within the universe. Given her past and background, which several members of Aurelius shared, they all knew very well that this fear was NOT unfounded.

But their initial attempts at an offense failed spectacularly, and the members of Aurelius found themselves stuck shielding duelists who had banded together to stop Zarc, or getting said duelists out of the danger zone before Zarc would graciously breath his enormous energy breathes onto them. And those few who had managed to actually attack Zarc found themselves blown away in a heartbeat.

In the end, Aurelius sought out Leo Akaba himself, hoping that his research into the particular branch of Solid Vision would prove useful in defeating Zarc. Leo thankfully, had come up with a hypothesis concerning the nature of Zarc's abilities.

Zarc's power had been born of pure hatred and anger, an unnatural destructive impulse. As such, attacking him with any kind of power that was already fueled by it (Which very few members of Aurelius ever used), or a power that caused destruction at all (Which unfortunately extended to even the white magic that Aurelius members were trained to use), would either empower Zarc or do nothing to him.

However, there WAS a power that could stop Zarc. Natural energy, the inherent energy within the earth. Not power born of scientific research, not power born of supernatural energies, but the latent power within the earth.

Of course, while there WERE members of Aurelius who could use these abilities, the energy that would be needed to bring Zarc down was far too great for them. As such, it was decided that to stop Zarc, they would locate and research as many avenues of natural energy as possible, and gather all of that energy at once, then aim it at Zarc.

Leo thankfully, had already come up with a source. He suggested using the Kachou Fuugetsu principle against Zarc. This principle utilized power from the tranquility associated with flowers, birds, wind, and the moon, which, if used properly, could cancel out Zarc's power and wipe him from existence.

With no other plan available in this delicate situation, Aurelius provided Leo with whatever he would need to carry out this work. Price would be no object, and Leo was to be guarded against whatever forces might be trying to assist Zarc in his destroying of the world. Aurelius had come into contact with many horrific forces in its fourteen years as an organization, and several of these forces were guaranteed to try to put a stop to this operation.

Thankfully, it seemed that bits of sanity had seemed to seep into the world for once, and the research Leo was undertaking went by smoothly. Of course, it helped that it was all kept secret, even from Leo's daughter Ray.

Now, after several weeks of travel, Leo had returned to Crescent City, and informed the members of Aurelius that his plan was to channel the natural energy of the principle into four spell cards, and then channel that into a card meant to take that energy and direct it at Zarc. The card that would direct the energy was known as Spirit Tech Vessel Cannon.

But even so, Stephan and his team, along with several others, including Azusa's team (Though Chuma was technically the leader), traversed Crescent City, either to keep Zarc distracted if needed, or just keep watch for trouble.

It was then at that moment, that Stephan heard a beeping noise from his D-Wheel. Someone was trying to contact him, and the I.D. number indicated that it was Leo.

Sighing with relief, Stephan pressed the button allowing for communication.

"Leo? Is that you? Are the cards ready?" he asked, before pressing another button on his D-Wheel, "hold on for a minute, I'm putting you on everyone's contact lines…"

"Yes, but they've been stolen!" Leo replied from his end.

Stephan, Sherman, and Juana gasped in horror.

"Who took them?!" Stephan cried out in a panic.

"My daughter, Ray took them! She's going to confront Zarc herself!" Leo called.

"Your daughter?!" Sherman cried out in horror, "How the hell is she going to fight Zarc? She doesn't even know how those cards work! Please tell me she at least has the cannon card!"

"Did you get what Sherman said?" Stephan asked

"I heard! No, she doesn't have them!" Leo replied.

"We have to stop her now!" Juana cried out, bringing up her GPS, "where is Ray? Hopefully we can intercept her and explain what's actually going on."

But before Leo could call back, there was only static, and then, all three duelists saw on their D-Wheels, the words 'Communication Signal Lost'.

"NO!" Stephan bellowed, desperately pressing buttons to re-establish contact.

"JUMP! NOW!" Sherman cried out, seeing a fireball rush towards the duelists.

Juana and Stephan gasped at the sight, and jumped off their D-Wheels along with Sherman, using their training to keep themselves from being injured by their landing. The fireball smashed into their bikes, destroying them in a rather large explosion. However, the three duelists were trained to avoid shockwaves from explosions and detonations, and managed to parry those and get up on their feet to look at the person, or, demon, who had thrown the fireball.

"Akato." Stephan growled, upon getting a good look at their attacker.

Akato was hovering above the Aurelius members via fire jets that emerged from his feet, looking at them with a calm smile. Slowly, Akato hovered lower and lower, until his fire jets had dissipated and he was standing on the ground looking at his opponents.

"Well, well Stephan. We meet once again. Nice to see you as well Sherman, you look as surly as ever. You as well Juana, still as hot as ever." Akato said.

"Move Akato. In case you haven't realized, the entire universe could get destroyed by a horrific abomination. Last I checked, you weren't exactly a fan of universe-ending monsters." Juana growled angrily.

"True, Zarc's insanity is so immense, if I tried to recruit him, he could very well destroy even me, and everyone else in our group. However, the actions of Leo's daughter could very well change that. Lamash has sensed that Ray's recent actions could turn this entire situation into one of great benefits." Akato replied.

"Lamash sent you?" Sherman gaped in horror. While Aurelius had been able to identify Akato's joining forces with that demon, he still tended to act on his own accord.

Which, from what little information they could gather, really didn't affect whatever Lamash was planning. The fact that there was someone capable of putting any kind of restraint on Akato was terrifying enough as there was. The fact that she herself had sent Akato out was a rarity in of itself, which did not bode well at all.

Akato snapped his fingers, trapping himself and the member of Aurelius in a ring of fire.

"I call procedure duel! So no trying to blast me with your weapons." Akato smirked.

Sherman growled, having brought out his shotgun a few seconds too late.

"We have no choice. If Akato has started a wizard's battle, we can't destroy him the conventional way." Stephan muttered angrily, pulling out a large pistol with a touchpad on the side.

"I really hate that rule." Juana grumbled, pulling out two old-west style pistols, and crossing them together.

"No time to explain what it is, attack!" Stephan commanded.

"RIGHT!" Sherman and Juana replied.

Stephan placed the side of his pistol onto his right arm, with the touchscreen facing upward, at this, from the ground's bottom, a metal strap much like a duel disk's strap enclosed Stephan's wrist, while the body of the gun extended somewhat to allow the touchscreen to fully form to the size of that of a duel disk. A blue blade, shaped like the center of a fleur-de-lis blade, but sideways and double ended, formed from the disk.

As for Sherman, the ends of his shotgun retracted, and he placed the side of his gun onto his left arm much like Stephan had, with a blade much like Stephan's except it was red, emerging.

Juana crossed her pistols, and the two guns combined into a rectangular shape that produced a strap over Juana's left wrist. A green blade like that which Stephan and Sherman had emerged from her duel disk.

Akato sneered as his own duel disk manifested in a blaze of fire.

After several turns, the duel was not going very well for the duelists of Aurelius, while they had dealt Akato serious damage, their own stats were not doing very well. However, with Stephan's current turn, they now had a way to finally attack the demon and end the duel.

Stephan LP: 1800

Sherman LP: 700

Juana LP: 1300

Akato LP: 2300

Stephan field stats

Paradigm Shift – Gibbons/Rank 8/DARK/Psychic/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 2300/DEF: 2900

Paradigm Shift – Fermi/Level 7/DARK/Psychic/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2500/DEF: 1600

No face-down cards in Spell/Trap Zone

Sherman field stats

Holder of Prophecy/Rank 6/DARK/Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect/ATK: 2400/DEF: 1900

One face-down card in Spell/Trap Zone

Juana field stats

Hallowed Gunslinger Calvera Catrina/Level 8/LIGHT/Zombie/Synchro/Effect/ATK: 2800/DEF: 1900

Two face-down cards in Spell/Trap Zone

Akato field stats

Anarchy Agent – Abstract Apotheosis/Level 10/FIRE/Pyro/Ritual/Effect/ATK: 3300/DEF: 2600

Anarchy Agent – Cycle Reaper/Level 9/FIRE/Zombie/Fusion/Effect/ATK: 2900/DEF: 2200

No face-down cards in Spell/Trap Zone

"It's over Akato! I activate the effect of my Paradigm Shift – Fermi! I…" Stephan began, only for the four duelists to notice something.

Many streams of light were floating in the air, all focused towards a point quite close to where the Supreme Dragon King Zarc was. All four knew what was happening. The natural energy of the Kachou Fuugetsu principle was gathering.

Jauna looked at the light streams carefully.

"Do you think Leo got the cards back?" she asked nervously.

"None of us were trained in natural energy, I don't know…" Sherman muttered

Akato however, began to cackle.

"YES! YES!" He bellowed, "it has begun! The first phase of our plan has begun! Weep Stephan! Watch as this world is torn asunder!"

"TORN ASUNDER?!" The Aurelius duelists cried out.

"Yes! All of this was part of our plan! Ray, that foolish duelist blinded by love and mercy, has just signed all of your (sadly not permanent) get-wiped-from-existence warrants!" Akato replied.

"Wiped from existence?! What do you mean by that Akato?!" Stephan roared in anger.

"Oh, you'll find out, in three, two, one." Akato replied, vanishing in a cloud of smoke.

Before Stephan, Sherman, or Juana could reply, there was a bright flash of light, and then they, and so many other people, saw nothing at all.

As Akato and Fehler continued to walk, Akato exited his reminiscing of the past, thinking to himself about the current situation.

'Well, the pieces are falling into place. Soon, everything will be ready. The universe will drown in discord, and you Stephan, while you cannot hear me right now, prepare yourself. Your restoration doesn't exactly please me, but no matter, no matter how our current plans unfold, you and that organization will not stop us. You will fall, as will everyone else.' Akato thought.

And thus, the demons continued to walk in silence, preparing to bring about their plans. Plans that would forever change the world…

Sorry if the end was a tad anti-climatic, ran out of steam there...heh, heh. Might edit the end to be a tad more detailed.

But yeah. Hope you enjoyed this whole thing! Too tired to give out much of a end, so ciao!

Leave a review if you would all be so kind!

-Epsilon Tarantula