Field Effect: Draconian Realm

Matt LP: 150

Chaos Number 51: Dark Excalibur Reita: Warrior-Type/Xyz/DARK/Rank 6/ATK 2800/DEF 2000 – 2 OLU

Spell & Trap Card Zone: 1 set card

Montsu LP: 1500

Number 23: Coldsteel Dragon Jin Long: Dragon-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2800/DEF 1900 – 1 OLU

Spell & Trap Card Zone: Metalmorph [equipped to Number 23: Coldsteel Dragon Jin Long], Metal Coat [equipped to Number 23: Coldsteel Dragon Jin Long], 1 set card

Montsu was slow to pick himself up. As he had mentioned before, he was familiar with the power of the Chaos Numbers, but that still hadn't prepared him for Matt's onslaught, and now he was having difficulty recovering. But recover he did, and the other Sages watched him silently and expectantly, waiting to see what he'd do next.

While the Sages had been shocked by the appearance of the Chaos Number, their faith in their leader never wavered. Not for one second did they believe he would actually lose. Even though Montsu hadn't always been their leader, once he had asserted command, the other Sages had (mostly) looked up to him, relying on him to lead them in reawakening and releasing the dragons. That he would lose to this child was unthinkable.

"My turn... draw!" Montsu declared, drawing what could well be his last card.

He froze.

Nine sets of eyes looked on in surprise as Montsu stared at his drawn card, a mixture of fierce longing and unbridled horror etched into every line of his face. His hand shook as he held the card. He seemed to be grappling internally with himself, desperately struggling to decide what to do next. What was happening? What card had he drawn? Was it a dead draw? A high-risk card? What card could possibly make someone act like this?

Finally, the Sage shook his head violently and switched the card to his other hand, before unexpectedly triggering his set card. "I activate the Continuous Trap Card, Spell of the Ruler! After activation, this card becomes an Equip Card and equips to a monster I control. I choose Jin Long!" The Trap let loose a swarm of glowing green chains, which draped themselves over the metallic dragon. "With this card, the equipped monster gains 700 ATK, but cannot change its Battle Position."

Number 23: Coldsteel Dragon Jin Long: ATK 2800 → 3500

"Additionally," Montsu went on, "if the equipped monster is sent to the Graveyard, you'll take 700 points of damage. So if you were planning on using your face-down card to send Jin Long to the Graveyard to get around Metal Coat, then you've failed, and this next attack will be the end of you!"

'He's doing it!' Matt realised, his heart racing. 'He's pushing for game!'

"Battle!" Montsu declared, his loud and authoritative voice echoing around the chamber. "Coldsteel Dragon Jin Long, attack Dark Excalibur Reita!" The metallic dragon poised itself, ready to strike.

"Gotcha!" Matt said, cracking a rare grin. "In response to your attack, I activate the Trap Card, Xyz Reversal!" The Sage's widened in shock as the Trap activated. "This card allows me to switch control of an Xyz Monster on my field with an Xyz Monster on yours. I swap Chaos Number 51: Dark Excalibur Reita with Number 23: Coldsteel Dragon Jin Long!" Both Numbers distorted and vanished, only to reappear on opposite sides a second later. Likewise, the glowing symbols that shone from the duelists' hands also changed; Montsu acquired a smokey red number fifty-one, whereas Matt's changed into the symbol for twenty-three, glowing a brilliant white.

As the Trap Card faded from view, something else happened. Jin Long seemed to glance down at its new controller, its heavily-armoured face giving nothing away of what it was feeling. In fact, it was working hard, assessing the new soul that it found itself temporarily occupying, learning what it could about the boy who – until now – had been nothing more than an opponent. Now, however, the dragon had discovered that it liked its new ownership, and it glared up at its previous owner with nothing but contempt in its glowing eyes.

"Jin Long..." Montsu said, the shock still prevalent in his voice. "You have betrayed me... why? How could you prefer him to me?"

Matt frowned. "You knew enough to lecture the other Sages on why their dragons deserted them. Why can't you do the same for yourself now?" A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Actually... maybe that's exactly why. The other dragons deserted their Sages because my teammates were better equipped to handle them. Maybe that's what happened to this one as well."

"Perhaps..." Montsu muttered, still struggling to take it all in. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and shook his head. "No! It makes no difference now! One way or another, I will not allow Jin Long to fall into your hands."

"And how exactly are you going to take it back?" Matt asked, glancing up at the dragon. "I don't think it even wants to go back to you."

"It doesn't have to! I'll take it back by force!" Montsu snapped. "You forget, in exchange for taking Jin Long, you've just had to hand over your Chaos Number. And I know its effect now... which means that all I need to do is attack Jin Long, trigger its effect, and you'll be finished! Plus, with no cards in your hand or face-down on your field, you have no way of stopping me."

"Really?" Matt asked confidently.

Montsu was about to retort, to chide the boy for being so cocky, but a sudden movement from Reita stopped him. The Chaos Number shuddered, and the Sage turned to watch as it folded its arms around itself, doubling over as if in pain. Out of nowhere, a crack appeared in the warrior's crystalline armour – a jagged thing that ran all the way across its chest. More cracks spread across the glass, and the shadows began to leak out like smoke, sending out purple wisps from numerous places on the monster's torso. Finally, with a single cry of agony, the warrior's armour was ripped apart by a massive explosion, and the monster itself consumed by the shadows once contained within. The two remaining Overlay Units, now useless, dropped out of orbit and shattered against the stone floor.

"What... what was that?" Montsu breathed, staring at the scene of devastation in front of him. "What happened?"

"I guess you don't know as much about Chaos Numbers as you think," Matt replied. "They can only exist on the field as long as their controller has less than 1000 Life Points. It was fine while under my control, since I had 150, but you have ten times that, which takes you over the limit and causes Reita to self-destruct."

The Sage opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it. There was nothing left to say anymore. From the moment this boy had slipped under Draconian Realm, Montsu had lost this duel. It was only now that he realised it, and he bowed his head solemnly, ready to accept the inevitable.

"I end my turn."

Matt nodded. "Then it's my turn, draw. Coldsteel Dragon Jin Long, finish him off!" It was more a mercy strike than anything – putting a poor defeated creature out of its misery. Still, Jin Long wasn't going to be gentle about it. The dragon lunged forward and lashed out with the blunt side of the blade, which struck the Sage square in the chest and sent him sprawling.

Matt LP: 150 [WINNER]

Montsu LP: 1500 → 0

For the final time, a buzzer echoed around the room, and the augmented reality field faded from view, taking the dragon and Montsu's remaining Trap Cards with it. Matt breathed a sigh of relief and allowed his duel disk arm to hang by his side. He was secretly glad that he didn't have to perform the extraction, as the dragon was already in his possession.

With a feeling of finality, he calmly moved the card to his Extra Deck – and as he did so, he felt something click inside him. It felt like a gear was finally clicking into place, and he assumed that this meant the dragons' cycle was complete once again, and it was now safe to interact with his team.

As if to test this theory, Leah dashed over and threw her arms around him before he could stop her. She quickly realised her mistake and – far too late – backed away from him. Once they both realised that nothing had happened though, they returned to the embrace, joined swiftly by the other three Deltas, all of whom were eternally glad that their ordeal was over.

"Matt..."

The five kids, suddenly on guard again, quickly turned to face the person who had spoken. It was Montsu, who, after the beating he had taken, was now being supported between Gelb and Hapim as he waited for his strength to return.

"Matt..." he said again, before glancing around the others. "All of you... I'm deeply sorry for everything I said to you."

"Sorry?" Matt repeated, surprised.

"Yes," the lead Sage nodded. "I have done you all a great injustice. Ever since I first prophesised your arrival-"

"Yeah, I was meaning to ask about that," James interrupted. "How did you know we were coming?" "What's this 'prophecy' you keep going on about?"

"It's not important anymore," Montsu replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Anyway, ever since I found out about you, I resented it strongly. Why did we have to challenge these children? What right have they to fight for the Dragon Cards? Now, after meeting and dueling with you all, I think I finally understand. You each have properties about you that we never had – traits and attributes that put you far above us." He gestured towards Matt's Extra Deck. "The dragons evidently reached the same conclusion, and deemed you far more worthy of wielding their power than us. We failed in our duty of keeping them contained within the jar, and we failed again when trying to keep them under our control."

"Why would you ever release creatures like that in the first place?" Leah asked. "Surely the harm it could have done vastly outweighs the upsides."

"An excellent point, young lady," Montsu nodded, bowing his head in shame. "To put it bluntly, we were greedy. We were greedy and power-hungry and sick of our passive roles. And above all else, we were foolish. We should never have released the dragons in the first place. It was my idea, and it was a stupid thing to do. I put many lives at risk the past few days, not the least of which were you five. For that, I speak not on behalf of the other Sages, but on my own behalf, when I say that I am truly sorry for everything you have had to suffer through owing to of my actions."

Matt shook his head. "What's done is done," he replied. "No-one was hurt – much – and the city is in no danger as long as the dragons remain in Number form. We can handle Numbers."

"I'm glad to hear that," Montsu replied.

Matt nodded. "Now, though, I need to know something. Are we safe?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, are all five of us safe from the dragons?" Matt asked. "They've already shown that they have powers far beyond what's normal for a Number. I want to know if we'll be safe from them while they're in our possession."

"Of course you're safe! Don't be such a wimp!" Ara snapped, but a stern glance from Montsu shut him up.

"Ara is correct; you're perfectly safe," the Metal Sage went on. "If you allow the Numbers to be taken by someone else then you risk breaking the cycle, just as we did. However, so long as you don't allow the Numbers to fall into the wrong hands, you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

"That's good to know," Matt said. Unable to think of anything else to say, he merely held out a hand and Montsu shook it. "What can I say? It's been... interesting."

"Indeed it has," Montsu chuckled as the other Deltas shook hands with the Sages.

"What're you going to do next?" Dan asked, shaking Sateis' hand. "I mean, the dragons are gone now. There isn't really any reason for you to stay down here anymore."

"That's a very good question," Sateis replied. "I suppose we'll just do what Montsu tells us to do. He's never steered us wrong before."

"You mean besides today," Dan pointed out, and Sateis laughed loudly.

Or at least, most of them did – Ara refused to hold his hand out to Katie, and instead stared down at her, a fierce determination burning behind his eyes. "You beat me this time kid," he muttered. "But the next time we duel, you're really going down in flames."

Katie grinned and put her hands on her hips. "Oh that'll be the day," she replied. "If you want to beat me, you'll have to try a lot harder than you did today."

Despite everything, Ara cracked a smile. "I like you kid," he grinned. "Now get lost before my good mood wears off."

There was nothing more to be said. The ten duelists bade each other farewell one final time, then the Deltas made their way out of the room and back to the elevator, chatting idly about their duels, and their new toys. Leah, in particular, was very pleased with her new monster

"Just you wait," Leah said, staring at Mu Long's card. "I'm gonna have so much fun with this thing!"

Matt laughed. "Just be careful," he warned her. "That thing's dangerous. You may want to be careful about using it on regular Number holders."

Leah wasn't listening. In fact, she was so engrossed in her new card that she didn't notice that the others had stopped just outside the elevator. Instead, she just walked in through the sliding doors... and bumped straight into a man coming out.

"Sorry... sorry," she gasped, regaining her footing and looking up at the man in front of her. What she saw was shocking to say the least. The man before them was tall and impossibly bulky, with arms as big as tree trunks, and hands that could probably crush her entire head with ease. He wore a brown traveling cloak that covered most of his body, including a hood which, when coupled with the strange silver mask he seemed to be wearing, eclipsed most of his face too. She backed away from him slowly. Maybe it was just the way he dressed, or just the way he stared at her with those strangely luminescent eyes, but this man put her in mind of Misael, the man from the Arcana Caves.

One other Delta had made a similar connection. James, who had been immediately suspicious of a similarly-dressed man that had visited the Professor, was staring at this gigantic man with wide eyes. Slowly, deliberately, the man turned to face James, locking eyes with him. James felt his heart skip a beat – it was like this man was staring into the very recesses of his soul.

But why him?

Without a word to them, the man pushed past Katie and Dan and, his travelling cloak flapping around him, set off down the corridor towards the Dragon Sages' chamber. The Deltas watched him go for a few seconds, then piled onto the elevator as fast as they could, keen to put as much distance between them and this strange man as possible.

*MEANWHILE*

"Montsu?" Ara asked once the kids had left.

"Hmm?"

"Mind if I see that card?" he asked, indicating the last card that Montsu had drawn.

Montsu raised an eyebrow and tensed up. "Why?"

"I want to know what you were so scared about when you drew it," Ara replied. And before Montsu could stop him, he had reached out and swiped the card from his grip. The other Sages clustered around him to look at the card... but the air of mystery quickly turned into one of confusion as they read the card.

"Rank-Up-Magic Barian's Force...?" Sateis said slowly. With a bemused look, he turned to Hapim. "Have you ever heard of this card?"

Hapim shook his head. "Never. It's new to me..."

"Hey Montsu, mind telling us what the hell this card is?" Gelb said.

"That card was supposed to be your secret weapon!"

The voice echoed around the room, and in response, the Sages quickly gathered around their weakened leader, Hapim and Gelb supporting him on either side, protecting him from the potential threat. Like the Deltas, they were shocked by the appearance of the man from the elevator, who had entered the room silently while they were talking, and now stood before them, staring at their defensive formation with contempt.

"Who are you?" Ara snapped. "How did you get past security upstairs?"

The man ignored them, and instead glared past the Sages, directly at Montsu. "You there! Montsu! I'm disappointed in you. I gave you that card to defeat the children, and you didn't use it, you yellow-bellied coward."

"Gilag... I'm sorry," Montsu said quietly. "I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to win on my own terms, without using borrowed strength-"

"So, your name is Gilag," Ara said.

"Do you really know this man, Montsu?" Hapim asked.

"Of course he knows me," Gilag growled. "I was the one who provided him with the power to release the Dragon Cards, and the power to lead the Dragon Sages. I was the one who informed him of the children who would inevitably come, seeking the Numbers, and how he should best handle them. And I was the one who told him to phrase this information as a 'prophecy', so that you doddering old fools would all believe it."

"Wait a minute..." Gelb said, turning to their leader. "Is this true? That prophecy, did it really come from this man?"

Montsu turned his head away in shame.

"You traitor!" Ara spat. "You lied to us, you snake!"

The two Sages supporting their leader stepped away, letting him fall to the ground. Montsu looked up at his fellow Sages with pleading eyes, but they turned away, furious for having been lied to all this time. In desperation, he turned his gaze to Gilag... but he was to find no sympathy there.

"Enough!" Gilag shouted. "As far as I'm concerned, you're all pathetic failures! Not one of you was able to defeat these children, which means I'll have to do it myself – and I really hate it when I have to sully my hands with grunt work!" He swept back his cloak, revealing a huge green and grey duel disk, shaped like a shelled insect of some kind. "Now, come Dragon Sages. I need someone to take out my frustration on, and you've all just volunteered!"

The Sages all spread out away from their old leader and prepared themselves, knowing full well that they didn't have a hope of winning without their dragons. It didn't matter; they knew that this was now a fight for survival, and were all prepared to fight to the bitter end. Montsu stood up and took his position too. He knew that he would be little more than a liability, but as their leader, it would be wrong of him to desert them at a time like this.

Across the room from them, Gilag chuckled, amused by the desperate display. "That's right, little worms," he laughed. "Come! Fight me for your lives!"

Author-made cards:

Chaos Number 51: Dark Excalibur Reita
Warrior-Type/Xyz/DARK/Rank 6/ATK 2800/DEF 2000
3 Level 6 DARK monsters OR 1 "Number 51: Dark Excalibur"
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. If you have 1000 or more Life Points, destroy this card. Once per turn, at the start of your Battle Phase: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; during this Battle Phase, this card can attack all monsters your opponent controls once each. When this card targets a monster for an attack: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; negate that attack, and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's original ATK. You can only use this effect of "Chaos Number 51: Dark Excalibur Reita" once per turn.

Number 23: Coldsteel Dragon Jin Long
Dragon-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1600
3 Level 5 monsters
Must be Xyz Summoned, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a FIRE "Number" monster. This card inflicts Piercing Damage. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card, then target 1 face-up monster on the field; halve that target's ATK, and if you do, this card gains ATK equal to the ATK it lost. If this card attacks, the ATK gained from this effect returns to 0 at the end of the Damage Step.

Draconian Realm
Field Spell Card
Neither player can Xyz Summon non-Dragon-Type monsters.

Fun Fact #171: And we're done! Everyone wave goodbye to the Filler Collection.

Fun Fact #172: As promised, the next story you can expect to see is Skyler's Story. In that, we'll finally unravel the mystery surrounding that madman, as well as much of Usur's shady history.

Fun Fact #173: My my, the Barians seem to be getting pretty active in our stories lately, don't they? I wonder if all these little events are our way of setting up something really big to be revealed in The Finale... and I wonder if this will negatively impact on the Deltas in some way... nah, I'm probably just being paranoid.