What's been going on

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've just been... I don't know... trying to enjoy my freedom I guess.

Anyway, after beating my dad, I went back to the Board. I still had most of my stuff there, and I wanted information. Luckily for me, The Ace Of Clubs was waiting for me. He had his mask off.

"I thought you were supposed to keep that thing on," I said.
"Now that the Game Master's gone, there's really no point," he said.
"So what are you guys gonna do now?" I asked.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to elect a suitable replacement soon," he said. "However, with the Jokers gone, it could take a while."
"What do you mean, gone?" I asked.
"They've both left us," he said. "The Game Master stated that, should he die, the Black Joker would be next in line, and if he was unable to, the Red Joker would."
"And if neither of them could?" I asked.
"In that event, we are supposed to elect one of the Emissaries," he said. "You and Wildfire are all that's left, and no one knows where she is. That leaves you."
"Not interested," I said, shoving my way past.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "We need a leader, and you're the most qualified."
"Why don't one of you Aces fill in for him?" I asked. "I don't wanna take his place. In my opinion  the world would be better off if there was no Game Master."
"You don't fully understand this," he said.
"I don't care," I said, walking away.

I got to my room to retrieve my things. There was an envelope sitting on my pillow. It contained 5000 dollars and a couple cards. Convocation Nest- The Crow and Ren, The Thorned Prince. I'm pretty sure the Jokers left it there.

I'm back in the normal world now. I'm renting a room in LA right now, and trying to find a job. I think the Devil Killer was telling the truth when he said he cleared my record.

Anyway... uh... guess that's about it.

Free At Last

This morning, The Game Master transported the machine to the normal world. Before leaving, he informed me and Phantasm that the Devil Killer had been spotted on the Board, and he wanted us to take care of him.

We located him near the former Ace Of Spade's tower. I say former because he's apparently been fired. Anyway, we found him. He saw us, grinned, and a door to the Empty City appeared. He ran through it, leaving it open. Phantasm ran toward it.

“Wait, what are you doing?” I asked.

“Our orders are to take him out,” he replied. “Now come on.”

I followed him through. We searched the City for hours. We could find him. But I eventually felt something. The Game Master's died. I just got this feeling in my stomach when it happened.

Istopped in my tracks, and so did Phantasm.

“You felt that, right?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “But we need to finish the mission.” I drew my sword. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“The Game Master's dead,” I said.

“Yes, he is,” Phantasm said.

“There's no one left,” I said, “To stop me from killing you.”

“You wouldn't,” he said.

“I've seen you on the job,” I said. “You're a cold blooded, merciless killer. You don't care about putting innocents in harm's way. You deserve what's coming.”

I suddenly felt intense pain all over my body. I fell to the ground.

“What did you do?” I demanded.

“My emissary power,” he said. “I can control my aura, causing anyone around me to feel any emotional or physical sensation I want. Fear, joy, pain, itchiness, guilt. I can make you feel anythi-.”

He was cut off by the Devil Killer, who appeared out of no where and punched him in the gut.

“You're absolutely right about this guy being evil,” he said. “But you don't know the half of it.”

He removed Phantasm's hood, then vanished. I was left alone, looking into the face of Carlton Kallaway. My father was the Phantasm. But he wasn't as old as he was when I killed him the first time. He looked like he did in his old college photos.

“How is this possible?” I demanded. “How are you here?”

“The Game Master can not only restore life, but also youth,” he said. “I've been his Emissary since I was a child. After you killed me, he revived me.”

“I'm about to kill you again,” I said, raising my sword.

“Is that so?” he said. “You know, I never forgave you for the first time. And as you said; with the Game Master gone, there's no one to stop me from killing you.”

He fired a bullet from one of his guns. It hit me in the shoulder, and I was filled with negetive feelings. Guilt, sadness fear, regret, all sorts of emotions that I couldn't control.

“Another of my powers,” he said. “I can compress my aura into my bullets, causing any one hit by them to experience physical and emotional feeling so powerful that they're virtually impossible to resist.”

I heard the voice in my head again. The voice of the Brute.

“Most people can't resist your aura,” I said. “But I can!”

I allowed the Brute's power to flow. I charged at him. He dodged it and started running threw the City. I chased him. As we ran, I heard the buildings shifting. We were disturbing the Empty City. After a while, he turned around to face me. There was a burst of energy coming from his body. His cloak vanished, and was replaced by black and white armor, and his guns quadrupled in size. He fired a bullet from one of them. I dodged it, and the bullet crashed into the building behind me, causing the entire thing to come crashing down.

He smiled at me and said “This isn't even my final form.”

“Fuck you and your internet memes!” I yelled, charging at him.

The ground began crumbling, lava exploded from beneath us, the building can crashing down, and hands made of stone rose and started to attack us both. We were really pissing the City off. I fought with him. He was even more powerful. But he didn't seem to be trying to control my emotions anymore. Instead, he was just blowing shit up. I managed to get up close to him and sliced one of his guns in half. I swung my sword again, but he ducked under it and punched me in the chest. He was strong enough to send me flying. I got back up and charged at him again. Some of the City's hands tried to get in my way, but I cleaved through them. I got up close and hit him in the chest with my blade. His armor protected him, but he still went flying.

He got up and changed again. He sprouted a pair of metallic wings, his armor grew spikes and razor blades, and his skin and hair turned snow white with black markings. His gun transformed into a giant gatling gun. He flew up into the sky and began raining down explosive bullets all over the place. I did my best to avoind them. The Devil Killer appeared again, and we were surrounded by a dome of swirling flower petals. The bullets couldn't seem to penetrate the cloud.

“Listen to me,” he said. “You need to use the full extent of your power to win this.”

“I am!” I said. “I've been using all of my power against him!”

“You've only been using the Brute's power,” he replied. “In order to defeat your father, you need to combine the Brute's power and the Vision's power.”

“Is that possible?” I asked him.

“I've seen you do it before,” he replied.

I decided to take his word for it. I closed my eyes, and I tried to draw on the Vision's power. It was working. I felt a new strength flowing through me. It surrounded my body, hardening into a powerful armor. The tentacles that usually hold my sword when I'm not using it transformed into wings, and my sword expanded and became stronger. A helmet formed around my head, completeing the transformation.

“You'll haave to finish this fast,” the Devil Killer said. “You'll only be able to keep this power active for a minute.”

He vanished, and I charged at my father. His bullets couldn't damage my armor. I closed in on him and sliced through his gun. He tried fighting back, but I was stronger. I hit him with a powerful slash, and he fell to the ground. He reverted to his original form, and was grabbed by one of the City's hands. He looked up at me, with fear in his eyes. I landed on a nearby building as my powers wore off and my armor vanished.

“Please!” he cried out. “My son! Save me!”

“I glared down at him. “You don't deserve it,” I said.

He was dragged beneath the ground, consumed by the Empty City. I opened a portal into the Streams Of Destiny and returned to the normal world. The Devil Killer was waiting there.

“What happened to the Game Master?” I asked. “You know, right?”

“He was killed by Isaac O'Zalia, with the help of my younger self, the former Eight Of Clubs, and Malkator.”

“Good,” I said. “So he won't torture anyone else?”

“No,” he replied. “He's gone for good. Although, something had to be sacrificed to make sure he was gone for good.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What was sacrificed?”

“Malkator is dead,” he said.

“What!?” I exclaimed. “Why didn't you do anything? You could have stopped it, right?”

“He wouldn't have wanted me to,” he said. “This was Malkator's choice.”

“I see,” I said. “So what now?”

“Now you do what you want,” he said. “You're free now. You have no master.”

“I'm still a wanted man,” I said. “Wouldn't really call that free.”

“Well, I changed a few things,” he said. “Had to destroy a lot of documents and alter a lot of memories, but as far as the government knows, you're completely innocent. Go enjoy your new life.”

Then he vanished. I have no idea if he was telling the truth about making me innocent again, but I guess I can go ahead and test it out. I'll update later I guess.

Device

The Scientist is working on a machine. He showed it to me earlier. It's huge, and I have no idea what it does. Apparently, it's fueled by eldritch energy. That's why we needed that knife. The one we stole from the Blind Man. We've been storing it in Damien's world, so that it can absorb more energy from the atmosphere. It'll need to absorb a lot, so it will take a while before the machine is completed. I asked what it's supposed to do, but the Scientist said I'll just have to wait and see.

Fire And Lightning

Phantasm brought us to Estren. He's apparently been tracking Estren's group for a while now. He would be assisting us.

"Okay, listen up," he said. "He's traveling with a former Emissary called the Vampire. I'll handle her. Kallaway, you deal with the Willing Doll. The Scientist will face Estren. But remember, you cannot kill him. Any ill fate you inflict on him will be inflicted on you tenfold by the Ace Of Spades."

We went in. I didn't catch any of the other fights. I was too focused on my own. The Doll I was fighting was incredible. He wielded a katana that was almost as big as he was, and he had godlike skill with it. We were having something of a stalemate. Then I heard the order to fall back. I used my watch and warped back to the Board.

"I got it," the Scientist said. "Mission successful."

"Good," I said. "Can I have some time off now? That fight was exhausting."

It was then that the Leopard ran into the room and said "The Piper is dead."

That was startling news. I mean, I hated the guy, but I certainly wasn't expecting him to die that easily.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We were on a mission," she said. "We were trying to find information on a Scion, and we were attacked by a man with white hair. I don't know what he did, but he killed the Piper."

I got to see the body. No wounds. Nothing external, anyway. The Ace Of Hearts says that the something-something of his brain was shut down, causing most of his internal organs to stop functioning.

I know who did it. I white haired man who can control peoples brains.

O'Zalia killed the Pied Piper.

Mad Science

The Scientist brought me to see his latest experiment today. He has a man tied to a chair in a glass tube.

"The hell is this?" I asked.
"A Dying Man host," he replied. "I've been exposing him to various chemicals and radiations."
"Why?" I asked.
"To strengthen him," he said. "I'm trying to create a stronger Dying Man. And I've succeeded. Watch this."

He flipped a switch and the tube lifted. He entered and placed a hand on the man's head. The man started screaming in agony, then he calmed down and passed out. The Scientist held up a hand, which was now emitting sparks of electricity.

"This is what happens when you infuse a Dying Man Man with the Convocation's power," he said.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"This is my Emissary power," he said. "I can imprison Dying Men inside myself, and use their powers without them gaining control. I tried doing the same with a Dying Man known as Silvermist, but it didn't work out very well."
"So why are you showing me this?" I asked.
"It's relevant to our assignment," he said. "Have you ever heard of Estren Saltown?"
"No," I said.
"He is the former 8 of Clubs, and the younger brother of the Ace Of Spades," he explained. "And he is in possession of one of the most powerful Dying Man fragments in the world. I'm going to take it from him. And you're going to help me."

Back On The Board Now

I ran into the Jokers in a park a while ago.

“Hello, Kallaway,” the Black Joker said. “It's time for you to return.”

“Not interested,” I said. “I'm getting sick of all of you.”

“You'd rather stay here, where you're wanted for countless cases of murder?” he asked.

“You have a point, but I'd rather not go to the Board,” I said.

“Tell you what,” the Red Joker said. “Play a game with us. If you win, you can have a few more days off. If we win, you come with us.”

“A few days?” I asked. “That's not much of a prize. What game are you guys thinking?”

They both summoned duel disks. “This one,” the Black Joker said.

“You're joking, right?” I asked, which seems a little redundant, now that I think about who I was talking to.

“Come on, you know you had a thrill when you dueled with Gordon,” he said.

“Is it even possible to play with three people?” I asked.

“My partner and I will share our card zones and life points,” the Red Joker said. “I will go first, you will go next, then the Black Joker will have his turn, then you will have another turn before I go ahead.”

“Sounds complicated,” I said. “Fine, I'll take you two on.”

“Very well,” she said, drawing. “I'll start by summoning Convocation Sparrow from my hand!”

A bird appeared on her side of the field.

“Using Sparrow's effect, I can special summon Convocation Raven!” she said. Another bird. “Since Raven was summoned from my hand, I can bring out another one from my deck.”

She now controlled 3 Convocation cards, each of which was level 3.

“I build the overlay network with these 3 level 3 monsters!” she said. “Come forth, Convocation Nest- The Crow!”

I'd recognize this guy anywhere. Wasn't expecting him to have a card. It had 2200 attack points.

“I end my turn,” she said.

“I draw,” I said. “I summon SlenderProxy Grinning Reaper in attack mode!”

A woman wearing a skull mask appeared. She was wielding a scythe that burns closed any wounds it inflicts. The perfect weapon against Nests. She was level 4 with 1600 attack and 1400 defense.

“Grinning Reaper's attack doubles when she attacks a card with Nest in its name,” I said. “Now, destroy her Crow!”

I know it wasn't really him, but it felt satisfying to see him getting slashed with a burning scythe. They lost 1000 life points from that attack.

“I set a card face down and end my turn,” I said.

“My turn,” The Black Joker said. “I'll start by playing Foolish Burial. This card allows me to send OathBreaker Night Surgeon from my deck to the graveyard. Next, I summon OathBreaker Shadow Stitcher, and by switching him to defense position, I can resurrect my Night Surgeon!”

He now had 2 level 4 Oath Breakers on his field. One was using a Plague Doctor themed deck, and the other was using Convocation cards.

“I activate Night Surgeon's effect,” he said. “Now, I can put a plague counter on your monster. Then, I build an overlay network with my two level 4 monsters to xyz summon OathBreaker Syringe Keeper in attack mode!”

His new monster had 1900 attack, and was armed with several syringes.

“I use Syringe Keeper's effect,” he said. “By detaching an overlay unit, I can place 2 overlay units on one of your monsters.”

One of the overlay units, which orbited his monster in the form of glowing orbs, was absorbed into his monster. It grabbed a couple of syringes and threw them at my Grinning Reaper.

“Shit,” I said out loud. My monster had 3 plague counters, bringing her down to 700 attack.

“Attack,” he ordered. My monster was destroyed and I lost 1200 life points.

“I activate the trap card Proxy Revenge,” I said. “Since one of my Slender Proxies was just destroyed, you take 500 damage.”

“I end my turn,” he said.

“I draw,” I said. “I normal summon SlenderProxy Guardian.”

A monster with 0 attack and 2200 defense appeared. It was carrying a large, makeshift shield.

“Since I just summoned a SlenderProxy card, I can special summon SlenderProxy Thug,” I said. “And by overlaying these 2 level 4 SlenderProxy cards, I can xyz summon SlenderProxy Enhanced!”

This new monster was a muscular looking guy with 2000 attack and 1800 defense.

“I detach one of his overlay units to increase his attack by 1000 until the end phase,” I said. “Now, destroy his OathBreaker!”

My monster destroyed his and they lost 1100 life point. They were now at 5400.

“I activate Syringe Keeper's effect,” he said. “Since he was destroyed in battle, your monster gains 3 plague counters.”

“I end my turn,” I said.

“My turn,” the Red Joker said. “I summon Convocation Hummingbird, and with it's effect I summon Convocation Kestrel. And when Kestrel is special summoned, its level increases by 1.”

She now had a level 1 monster and a level 4 monster.

“I tune level 1 Convocation Hummingbird to my level 4 Convocation Kestrel!” she said. “With these two monsters I synchro summon my level 5 Convocation Frostwing Falcon!”

A large white falcon appeared. The air grew increasingly cold once it appeared. It had 2200 attack and 1200 defense.

“Once per turn, I can have my Falcon reduce the attack of a monster you control by 500,” she said. My Enhanced was suddenly coated in ice. That, and the plague counters, brought it down to 600 attack points. “Attack his monster!” she ordered. I lost 1600, bringing me down to 5200. “I end my turn.”

I drew my card. “I activate Fear Arises! At the cost of half my life points, I can special summon Slender Man from my hand!”

I had the edge now.

“I activate the equip spell Dark Demotion,” I said. “And I'll equip it to your Falcon, reducing its level by 2. Now, Slender Man, attack!”

Her monster was destroyed and they lost 300 life points.

“I activate Slender Man's effect,” I said. “Since he just destroyed a level 4 or lower monster, It becomes a SlenderProxy Hallowed, and I gain control of it. Now, I'll attack you directly with your own monster!”

The falcon hit her, and their life points went down to 2900.

“I set a card face down and end my turn,” I said.

“I draw,” The Black Joker said. “I activate the spell card Fear Summoning. I banish OathBreaker Shadow Stitcher and Night Surgeon to normal summon my Plague Doctor without tributing!”

Flashback. This totally reminded my of that time I dueled against Gordon.

“I activate his effect,” he said. “Now each of your monsters gains a plague counter, and he gains 100 attack for each of them.”

So his monster had 2400 attack, and mine had 2200 and 1900.

“Attack his Slender Man!” he said.

“I activate the trap card Hallowed Interception!” I said. “Now my SlenderProxy Hallowed can take the hit for Slender man, and I get to draw a card.”

I lost 500 life points, and the Falcon was destroyed. But I had protected my most powerful monster.

“I set a card face down and end my turn,” he said.

“My move,” I said, drawing. “I summon SlenderProxy Hacker, and I'll use his effect to revive SlenderProxy Thug.”

“What's the point to that?” he asked.

“I use the spell card Slender Man's Gift,” I said. “I pay 500 life points, then I can draw one card for each card I control with Slender or SlenderProxy in its name. That adds up to 3.”

I drew 3 cards from my deck.

“Next, I tune level 1 SlenderProxy Hacker to my level 4 SlenderProxy Thug to synchro summon my SlenderProxy Supporter!”

A man appeared on my side of the field, with 2000 attack and 1300 defense.

“I use his effect,” I said. “Now my Slender Man gains 1200 attack this turn, and I'll have him attack your Plague Doctor.”

The attack hit and he lost 1100 life points.

“I can't attack with Supporter this turn, so I'll set a card and end my turn,” I said.

“I draw,” the Red joker said. “I activate the effect of the Convocation Herin in my hand. Since you control 2 more monsters than I do, I can special summon it!”

Another bird appeared. It was level 5, with 1800 attack points.

“Next, I normal summon Convocation Quail,” she said.

This one was level 4, with 1300 attack.

“I use Quail's effect,” she said. “Now, I can reduce Herin's level by 1. And I'll build the overlay network with these two level 4 Convocation cards to xyz summon Convocation Nest- The Faceless Bastard!”

I've heard of this guy. An insane Nest, who shows no mercy.

“I'm not finished yet,” she said. “Since my life points are less then 2000, I can build a new overlay network using the Faceless Bastard, turning him and his overlay units into the overlay units for a new monster! Come forth, Deadly Nest- Ashen Phoenix!!!”

This new monster wore a different mask, and was wielding the same burning scythe that the Grinning Reaper used. And its overlay units took the shape of flaming birds instead of the usual glowing orbs. He had 2500 attack.

“I activate the spell card Overlay Regen,” she said. “Now I can add this spell card to Ashen Phoenix as an additional overlay unit. And by removing all of his overlay units, I can have him gain 500 attack for each of them until the end phase.”

Shit. 4500 attack points. I was in trouble.

“I attack your SlenderProxy with my Ashen Phoenix!” she said.

“I activate the effect of SlenderProxy Medic!” I said. “By discarding it, I can prevent any damage I would take from this battle!”

“Too bad for you, Ashen Phoenix is allowed to attack all of your monsters!” she said. “Attack his Slender Man!”

“I activate the trap card Fear Fury!” I said. “Now, a Fear monster I control gain attack equal to its level times 200. No my Slender Man had 3800 attack.”

My life points became 900. I barely survived that. Since Slender Man's a Fear, he managed to survive too.

“I set a card face down and end my turn,” she said.

“I draw,” I said. “I activate Pot Of Avarice, allowing me to return My Hacker, Thug, Medic, Supporter, and Enhanced to my deck and extra deck in order to draw 2 cards. Then, I use monster reborn to bring back Grinning Reaper. And I'll have her attack Ashen Phoenix! Since he's a Nest, she gains a power bonus.”

3200 attack point Proxy vs. a 2500 attack point Nest. I won, and they went down to 1100 life points.

“I activate Ashen Phoenix's effect,” she said. “When he's destroyed, I can special summon Convocation Phoenix!”

Damn. Wasn't expecting that to happen.

“I set a card face down and end my turn,” I said.

“My turn,” the Black Joker said. “From my hand, I use the spell card fissure, allowing my to destroy your Grinning Reaper!”

“Then I use the trap card Call Of The Haunted!” the Red Joker said. “With it, I bring back the Plague Doctor!”

“And I'll use the trap card Medicine Of Broken Oaths,” he said. “I discard an OathBreaker card and gain life points equal to its attack. I discard OathBreaker Plague Master to gain 3000 life points. Then I use Plague Doctor's effect to place another counter on Slender Man,” he said. “Now, I'll attack with both our monsters!”

“I activate Negate Attack!” I said.

“Congratulations,” he said. “You've bought yourself another turn. But do you really think you can win? Your Slender Man is weakened, and we control 2 Fears. You're powerless.”

“Shut up!” I yelled at him. “I'm sick of both of you! I'm an Enhanced! I don't back down, even when I'm obviously overpowered! I won't surrender, and I sure as hell won't lose!”

Then something really weird happened. My deck started glowing for a few seconds, then stopped.

“I end my turn,” he said.

“I draw!” I said. I looked at the card, and realized that it was a new card. It had never been in this deck before.

“If I control Slender Man, I can bring out this new guy!” I said. “Come forth, Slender Dragon!”

A huge, yet thin dragon appeared. It was pitch black from the shoulders down, and its white head had no facial features at all. Its black wings where paper thin and torn in places. It was level 10 with 3000 attack and 2500 defense.

“I activate the spell card Tune Down!” I announced. “Now, Slender Dragon has its level reduced by two, and any monster I synchro summon or xyz summon with it gains 600 attack points. Now, I build the overlay network with these two level 8 monsters to xyz summon Chaos Slender Man!”

I felt the universe quake as I summoned it. A towering abomination, with uncountable tentacles and arms. The Jokers fell back in terror at its presence. It was powerful, with 3300 attack, which went up to 3900 due to Tune Down's effect.

“I use his effect!” I said. “By detaching one of his overlay units, I can convert Convocation Phoenix into a SlenderProxy Hallowed and gain control of it!”

The tentacles entangled the Phoenix, pumping full of dark energy and dragging it to my side of the field.

“Now, I'll have the Phoenix attack the Plague Doctor!” I said. They went down to 3500. “I attack directly with Chaos Slender Man!” I said. The tentacles lashed out, striking them both and reducing their life points to 0.

The battle field cleared and they approached me.

“Good job,” the Black Joker said.

“I don't get something,” I said, holding the Slender Dragon card in my hand. “Where did this card come from? Where did any of these cards come from? Why do these Fear themed Yu-Gi-Oh cards exist?”

Suddenly, a blade of energy stabbed me from behind, going straight through my chest, and a voice I recognized as Jack's whispered in my ear, saying “You can blame me for that.”

I blacked out, and when I came too, I was back on the Board. The Ace Of Hearts had treated my wound as best as she could, but since it was inflicted by Jack's Blade, it had taken a while. I had been unconscious for days, apparently.

Anyway, I met the Scientist. He's an old, creepy guy, and I have an assignment with him soon. Great.

Bloodying Up The Biker

I met the owner of this house. His name's Zack Waters. After a talk with him, I learned that he's being tormented by the Bloody Biker. I agreed to help him with the problem. So I waited for him to show up. Didn't take long. I saw outside the house this morning and went to confront him.

"Why are you tormenting this guy?" I demanded.
"I'm just havin' fun," he said. "Why do you care?"
"Leave him alone," I said.
"Really?" he asked. "You're gonna stick up for some random weakling?"
"Leave him alone," I repeated, wrapping my hand around my sword's hilt.
"Fine, fine," he said, turning around and starting to walk away. "I'll leave him alone." Then, he turned back to me and shouted "Psych!"

He then jumped into his realm and reappeared in front of me with a huge blade in each hand. We started fighting. I'm strong, but with his speed and strength, he was still a tough opponent. After a while, I started to get tired.

"Use the Brute's power!" I heard. I looked and saw that the Devil Killer was watching us from the sidelines.
"What do you mean!?" I yelled back at him. "I can't control that kind of power!"
"I've seen you control it!" he yelled back at me. "Just do it!"

I closed my eyes for a moment. I heard the voice again. Ferratus, his fetters freshly forged. Break the chains and unleash the beast within. I opened my eyes again, and my body began glowing red. I fought back, and managed to slash Damien pretty badly across the chest. Then I sliced his leg too. He fell over, and I prepared to stab him through the chest when another voice in my head spoke up. Do allow it to flow wildly. You can use this power without losing yourself. I stopped myself.

"As I said," I told him, as the red light faded. "Leave him alone."
He got and said "Fine. I'm out of here." He started leaving, then he turned back and tossed me a new watch. "The Game Master said to give you this. Come back whenever you're ready."

The Devil Killer had left by this point. I'm gonna stay with Zack for a bit longer. I don't really wanna see the Game Master or any of his servants right now.

Kind Of Complicated

I was somewhere in West Canada when she attacked me. A woman made of fire. It was the Burning Bride. I've only ever heard rumors of her, and meeting her in person was a lot scarier than I could have imagined. And to make it worse, she was accompanied by Nightlanders.

I lost consciousness at some point. While I was out, I had another dream. It was about the Ace Of Chaos, but this time I wasn't seeing through his eyes. I was looking at him as if I were a bystander. He a little under six feet, and wore a full face mask with a single eye hole. I guess he got more than just a scar from his fight with the Ace Of Spades. He was walking through the desert with one of the Scions.

"Where are we going exactly?" the Ace Of Chaos asked.
"We're going to the second layer," the Scion said.
"The hell is that, Dyson?" he asked.
"It's the place where you will gain a new power," Dyson said.
"What power?" the Ace asked.

Dyson turned and raised his hand. Flames appeared from no where and began to circle around it.

"This power," he said.
"Whoa," the Ace Of Chaos said, whistling. "Neat."
"I should warn you, though," Dyson said. "This power threatens the sanity of those who use it. Even I have trouble keeping myself composed. There are few people who can handle it."
"And you think I have what it takes?" the Ace Of Chaos said.
"My mistress saw something in you," he said. "Something I would be blind not to see as well. I believe you have the persistence necessary to wield this weapon. Now, are you ready to proceed to the next layer?"
"If it will bring me closer to revenge, then yes," the Ace Of Chaos said.
"Very well," Dyson said. "We're almost there."

And then the dream ended. i was in the middle of a vast, grassy field. It seemed kind of peaceful. That is, until I noticed the river. It was pure blood. I had to bend over the river to be sure. When I looked up again, there was a giant elephant made of wood watching me from the other side.

"Where the hell am I?" I asked, even though I was seemingly alone.
"You're in your subconscious," A voice said. I turned around and saw the Devil Killer standing there.
"You!" I said. "Explain this! What the hell is going on!?"
"Well, you lost your fight with the Bride and passed out," he said. "Now you're here, inside your own mind."
"Okay, then I have a few questions," I said.
"Shoot," he said.
"First, why was she after me?" I asked.
"Well, that one should be easy," he said. "It's because of that."

He pointed up to the sky, and as I turned my head up, I saw a massive red orb, filled with swirling clouds of smoke and wrapped in chains.

"Is that what I think it is?" I asked.
"That's the shard of the Brute sealed inside you," he said. "The Burning Bride seeks to resurrect it, and the Nightlanders are aiding her, as they mean to use it's power in their grand scheme."
"Grand scheme?" I asked.
"They want to recreate the plagues of Egypt," he said.
"Okay, moving on," I said. 'If this is my subconscious, why are you here?"
He laughed. "I possess the ability to absorb the powers of Fears when in their presence," he said. "I can never become as powerful as they are, but I've spent enough time around the Reverie to learn his tricks."
"You can control dreams?" I asked.
"That's one of my abilities," he said. "I pulled you away from those Fears, then entered your mind so that I could explain this all to you."
"Okay, last question," I said. "And I want you to answer it truthfully, and entirely."
"I have a feeling I know where this is going," he said. "Go on then."
"Who are you?" I asked. "Really."
"Do you remember when I asked you to intercept the hallowfication of that man?" he asked. "There was a boy there about your age, with shoulder length brown hair and a vest."
"Yeah, I remember him," I said. Then it hit me. "You... you're him!"
"Sort of," he said. "I'm him, from fifteen years into the future."
"You're a time traveler?" I asked.
"Not really," he said. "It's complicated. My name is Daniel Ferris, and I've come here to prevent your old boss from destroying the world."
"Slender Man... destroys the world?" I asked.
"In my future, yes," he said. "All the Fears played their hands in the apocalypse, but he was the worst of them. My friends, family, rivals... they were all killed by him. I despise him more than any of the other Fears. I came here to try and set destiny on the right path."


Then he was gone. I woke up sometime after that. I war house, in an unfamiliar bed. I think I saw Daniel standing on top of a street light and watching me from the window, but he was gone before I had time to double take. My bag with my lap top in it was lying next to my bed. I started typing this up. Now... I guess I'll try to figure out where the hell I am. I'll update later.

Wrong Side Of The Law

I learned last night about what happened to Blair. I saw the posts. I was shocked. Blair didn't deserve that.

I should have tried to suppress it. I was stupid to let my anger get out of hand like that. I should have stopped when I heard the Brute's voice in my head. I let my rage consume my heart, and I blacked out.

When I regained my mind, I was in the middle of a crowded street. But it wasn't crowded with people. Not living people, anyway.


Bodies. Everywhere. slaughtered, chopped up, bloody. And I knew as soon as I looked down at my blood soaked sword who had down it.

I was almost immediately surrounded by police. They had their guns all trained on me, and I heard one of them say into a megaphone "David Kallaway! Put down the weapon and put your hands on your head!"

Shit. They knew who I was. I had to try and make a break for it. I looked around me. There was an alleyway a few yards away I could run down, but there was no way I could get there before they pulled their triggers.

I only had one escape route. One I wanted to avoid using. I took a deep breath and entered the Path Of Black Leaves. In hindsight, I might have been better off with the cops.

When I entered the Path, He was there. He attacked. His tentacles lashed themselves around my throat, and he threw me into the trees. I gripped my sword and rushed at him. Another tentacle whipped me across the chest and sent me flying again. I got up and started running. I made it a little while before he cut me off and whipped me with several tentacles. I was knocked to the ground, and my sword slid away from me. Another of his tentacle shot down and stabbed straight through my left wrist, breaking my watch and pinning me there.

Now, before I continue, there's something I wanna bring up real quick. You see, the Path Of Black Leaves is connected to the normal world, but distance works differently than normal. A few feet in the Path equals a couple dozen feet in the normal world. Something like that, I don't know exactly. Proxies sometimes use the path to get out of tight spots in the normal world, but it works both ways. I was stuck in that dangerous situation, and it suddenly occurred to me that I could use the human world to escape.

I vanished from the Path. I was suddenly in the middle of a closed library. I got up and ran to end of the aisle. I passed back into the Path briefly and picked up my sword, before returning to the library. I broke the door down and started running.

Police were still looking for me. I had some trouble getting back to the hotel to retrieve my laptop. When I started to leave with it, I saw him again. I turned and ran out the back. I kept seeing him him as I ran through the city. I stuck to the alleyways. I had been running for a while when Jack appeared.

"Hello, David," he said. "Are you having fun?"
"What are you doing here?" I demanded.
"I've come to see this new event unfold," he said. "I honestly wasn't expecting you to gain the Brute's power, and seeing the trouble it's causing you is quite amusing."
"I'm leaving," I said, turning around.

He was standing right there. Stuck between Slender Man and the Jack of All. Not the place you want to be, especially when both of them want you dead. Slender Man sprouted his tentacles. Jack summoned this glowing blade made of energy. I was screwed. Then my sword started glowing with that weird light. I knew what to do. I slashed through the air and entered the Streams Of Destiny.

I'm in the next town over right now, but I doubt it'll be long before the police spread there search here. I'll have to keep moving, or else I'll be in huge trouble. Because if I'm locked up, I'll be vulnerable.

If any of the other Emissaries are reading this, I need help. Seriously.

Schle's Safe

They found Blair. I'm relieved. Schle's hurt badly, but at least schle's alive. And from what I remember from the tournament, schle should be able to pull through this. Also, if I ever meet that Daisy Chains creep, I'll give her a good talking to. With my sword. And fire.



I haven't had any dreams since my last post. Like, literally, not a single dream. I go to sleep, then wake up, with nothing happening in my head in between. I have no idea what's going on with the Vision, but I know she has a reason for doing this.


I know I should be getting back to work now that Blair's in good hands, but screw it, I'm taking an extended vacation and I'd like to see the Game Master try and stop me.

More Dreams

I've had 4 more of those dreams since my last post.

In the first dream, The Ace Of Chaos was with the Vision. She was sleeping, and there were two small figures lying beside her. Babies. She had given birth. I was still seeing through his eyes. He was just sitting there, watching them sleep. Then he heard a noise outside. He grabbed a sword lying next to the bed and approached the door. He peered through a crack in the door. A man in a mask was walking down the hallway. As he passed, I got a look at the mask. It was the Ace Of Spades mask. But not the Ace Of Spades that I've met. This was a different one. A clawed hand rested itself on the Ace Of  Chaos's shoulder. He turned and faced her.

"Take them and go," she said. "I'll take care of him."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"I'm sure," she replied. "Find my Scions. they can help you."

He placed the children in a basket and snuck down a trap door. That was the end of that dream.

In the next dream, The Ace Of Chaos had found his way to some kind of secret underground meeting hall. Three people were there. They all appeared to be cultists, and were wearing hoods tha concealed most of their faces in shadows. There was a woman, and two men. The woman seemed to be in charge.

"You're the Scion's right?" the Ace Of Chaos asked.
"Yes," the woman said. "And you must be the man who courted our master."
"Umm, yeah," he said, scratching his hair. "This is kind of awkward."
"Not at all," she replied. "Dyson, show him and the children to their chamber."
"Yes, Miera," one of the men said.

The Ace Of Chaos followed him. They came to a chamber which had been prepared with a bed and two cribs.

"We prepared this room for you," the man said. "Sleep well."
"Will she be all right?" the Ace Of Chaos asked.
"She is a God Of Darkness," the man said. "Few enemies would have a chance against her."
"What if that enemy was the Game Master?" the Ace Of Chaos asked.
"Where did you hear about him?" the man asked.
"She speaks of him sometimes," the Ace Of Chaos said.
"This is troubling," the man said. "Please excuse me. I must speak with the other Scions."

That's when that dream ended. The 3rd dream was different. I wasn't seeing through his eyes this time.

I was looking down at a scene. The Game Master was confronting the Vision in the middle of a desert.

"You will pay for what you've done," the Game Master said, angrily.
"I see no problem with my actions," she said.
"You have broken the game's rules!" he yelled at her.
"Where in the rules does it forbid what I did, Game Master?" she asked.
"Enough of this!" he said, transforming his cloak into bats, and then a sword. He charged at her, and their fight began.

It dragged on for a while, until the Game Master slashed her across the stomach. She collapsed, clutching her wound and coughing up blood. He stood over her.

"Why?" he said, choking on his words as if he were crying. "I loved you! How could you choose him over me!?"
She glared angrily up at him. "Because you're a monster!" she hissed.

His body shook with anger. He raised the sword, and then brought it down on her skull. he then collpsed to his knees. A few minutes later, the Jokers appeared.

"Master?" the Red Joker asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he said, getting to his feet. "Gather my Emissaries. I have a new job for them."
"What is it you need?" the Black Joker asked.
"I want them to hunt down all that is left of her," the Game Master said. "Her Scions, her children, every thing. I want her gone from this universe."
"M-Master?" the Black Joker said nervously.
"DO as I said!" he shouted. "Have them all killed! Except for that cretin you fell for her! I want him alive! I want to make him suffer by my own hand!"

And then that dream ended. In the fourth dream, I was seeing through the Ace Of Chaos again. It was late at night, in the chamber. He bolted upright, suddenly woken from his sleep. He grabbed his sword and ran out the door, nearly crashing into one of the men from the second dream.

"What's going on?" he asked.
"She's gone!" the Ace Of Chaos exclaimed. "I felt it. The Game Master killed her!"
"I know," the man said. "I felt it as well."
"Listen to me Dyson," the Ace Of Chaos said. "I want you to take the children somewhere safe. His minions will be here soon."
"What about you?" he asked.
"I'm going to stay," the Ace Of Chaos said, gripping his sword. "I'm going to issue him a warning."

the man, Dyson, took the children through a portal. The next few hours passed, and a couple of Emissaries barged into the chamber. One of them had tattoos all over his face, and could summon explosive balls of energy, and the other one wasn't wearing a shirt, had a shaved head, and could control rocks. The Ace Of Chaos killed them both with some difficulty. Then the Ace Of Spades showed up out of no where and slashed the Ace Of Chaos across his left eye, blinding him partially. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Don't go dying fro that measly injury," the Ace Of Spades said. "The Game Master wants you alive."
"Tell the Game Master something," the Ace Of Chaos said, leaping up and stabbing his sword through the other Ace's chest. "Tell him I'm not going down easy."

And that's when that dream ended.

I got a message a couple hours ago from the ace of Clubs. The Ace Of Chaos is dead. He used a self destruct feature in his mask to kill himself along with a Dying Man piece. I guess I won't have to worry about him any more.

Which means I can focus on Blair now. Schle was captured by a Willing Doll, and is being held in the Screaming Tower. Unfortunately, there are only a few ways for me to get in there, none of which aren't safe.

I'm going to post the best option I know here, in case Blair's companions find this blog, and are brave enough to give it a try. Some pathways, such as the Path Of Black Leaves, are connected to every other domain. Which means that if you could get into one of the other domains somehow, you could use it to get to the Screaming Tower. It's a dumb thing to try, but it could be the only option.

All Of These Dark Dreams Gotta Mean Something

This past week, I've been having dreams. Visions. Memories from someone else. In each dream, I was seeing through some one else's eyes, as events happened.

In the first dream, the Vision appeared before the person I was seeing through. She looked in his eyes, and showed him his destiny... his death. Then it began happening. The event she showed him began to occur, but he saw it coming and was able to barely avoid it.

The next night, she showed him another vision. Another death. Once again, he escaped.

This occurred 4 more times.

Then, just last night, she showed him a vision so complex, that he couldn't survive. No matter how he dodged, or what he did to try and avoid his death, he would fall. And then it came around, but he wasn't afraid. He faced his fate head-on, and fought it. He was almost killed, but by some stoke of luck, he survived it.

She appeared before him again, as he was struggling to his feet.

"You surprise me," she said. "You've defied your destiny, no matter what is shown to you."
"Wasn't to hard," he replied weakly, but still cocky for some reason. Either he was fearless or stupid.
"You are strong," she said. "I would like you to put your strength and persistence to use."
"What do you mean?" he asked, slowly approaching her.
"I would like you to become my Scion," she said. "A piece of my mind shall be sealed within you. You shall gain my power, and do my bidding."
He laughed. He was almost face-to-face with her. "I don't really like the idea of servitude," he said. "If it's all the same to do, I think I'll pass on the whole 'Scion' thing."
"You should consider it a reward for resisting your destiny for so long," she said. They were close enough to see each other's eyes now.
"Becoming a servant isn't really what I'd consider a reward," he said, still moving slowly closer to her.
"And what would you like?" she asked him.
"I can think of one thing," he said.

And then he... well, he kissed her. And that's when I woke up.

I know exactly what these dreams are about. The guy in the dreams- the guy whose eyes I'm seeing through- it's the Ace Of Chaos. The Vision is showing me his past.

The Ace Of Chaos

I was enjoying my off time earlier today. I've been hanging around LA a lot. There's this one diner I tried out recently that serves great food. And the waitress there is pretty cute. I haven't really gotten over my last girlfriend (the one who Crow MURDERED!!) but I have to say, this girl has a great as- PERSONALITY!!

Well, anyway, I was enjoying a chocolate cheese cake when the Black Joker walked in. Didn't recognize him at first without the mask, but it became pretty clear who he was after he started talking.

"I need you to come with me," he said.
"Why?" I asked.
"We need your assistance feeding the Ace of Chaos," he said.
"Come again?" I said.
"He doesn't require as much food as our other prisoners, so we only feed him once a month," he explained. "He is a dangerous man, so I never go in there without backup."
"Why me?" I asked, continuing to eat my cheesecake.
"Everyone else except Damien is busy, and I need you both with me," he said.
"I thought this was my day off," I said.
"Not anymore," he said.

So then we went to the dungeon, to the locked up room. The Black Joker, with his mask back on, opened the door cautiously. There was a man inside, chained to a wall. He was starved looking, and had a mask on. It resembled a vertical eye with a large black pupil, surrounded by chains, and overlapped by an intricate letter A.

"Finally got around to bringing me food, eh?" he asked.
"Shut up," the Joker said, crossing the large room halfway. He set the food tray, which held gross looking food that nobody should be able to eat, and slid it across the ground to the Ace Of Chaos.
"I you were within range, I would remove my mask and spit in your face," he said.
"Is this the dangerous guy we're supposed to be worried about?" Damien chuckled. "He looks like nothing!"
"Shut up, Damien," the Joker growled under his breath.
"What did you do to get yourself locked up in here!?" Damien called at him.
The Ace chuckled. "I romanced the Vision," he said.
That was a shocker. I was definitely not expecting him to say that. I just had to ask the question.
"If you're the man who the Game Master resents so much, why does he let you live?" I asked.
"Because he's a cruel bastard," he replied. "He doesn't want to see me die, he wants to see me suffer."
"So if you're the guy who plowed the Vision, that makes you Malkator's old man, right?" Damien asked.
At this point, the Black Joker face-palmed. Mask-palmed. Whatever.
"I-I still have descendants?" the Ace asked.
"Not for long," Damien cackled. "He'll be dead soon."

And then everything went to hell. The Ace broke from his chains and sped across the floor so fast I barely saw him move. He punched the Joker and sent him flying. Then, this glowing thing, sort of like Saturns rings, appeared around his body. It spun rapidly as he charged at Damien. Next thing I know, Damien's on the floor with his arms and legs chopped off. Then he came at me. He was fast, and powerful. Whatever power he was using, it wasn't Eldritch. It was... something else.

We had an intense fight, but then She suddenly took over.

"Stop!" she demanded, using my lips.
He froze. "Isalein?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"You're... in a guy..." he said.
"Yes," she replied. "Does that bother you?"
"It's... a little awkward, yes," he said.
"Malkator is in danger," she said. "He needs your help."
"I'm on it," he said, opening a portal into the Streams Of Destiny. He turned around before leaving. "Goodbye," he said, just before the portal closed and I regained control of my body.

I got Damien and the Joker medical treatment as fast as I could. I accept some myself, too. I know I said I'd tough it out, but fuck those Saturn thingies hurt!

My next assignment is to try and find ou where the Ace Of Chaos went. My job sucks.

Evolution

Damien and Wildfire are healed now. Damien can pretty much recover on his own, and Wildfire got some help from the Hearts. I declined medical treatment. When I was a proxy, I had to deal with injuries on my own. I can still do that. I'm not asking them for help.

After the other 2 got better, Damien used the knife. He was strapped to a large metal chair, larger than the one that was involved the first time he used the knife. The Black Joker approached him with the knife in his hand.

"Are you prepared?" he asked.
"I survived this once," Damien said. "I can do it again."

The Joker plunged the knife into Damien's chest. Damien screamed, and started writhing in pain. A bright red light consumed his body, and the chair he was sitting in. The light remained for several minutes before it faded. Damien had changed. He was much more muscular. His hair had grown in length, and he had also grown a pointy mustache and goatee. He really did look like what I imagine the Devil looks like.

The chair melted and reformed into a bunch of swords. Then he summoned the rest of his metal, which he transformed into a really large bike, and began testing out his new power. I am now even more injured. I probably shouldn't have agreed to spar with him.

So Kallaway, How Did The Mission To Steal From The Archive Go?

Sort of good, sort of bad. On the plus side, we not only got the knife, but I also got my hands on a couple of the Blind Man's books from the Catacombs. On the downside, We're all suffering from injuries, Damien has to re-learn everyone's names, and I think I might be possessed.

So here's what happened. We broke into the Archive base, charged through several Archivists, broke into the vault, grabbed the knife, and started to run for it. Of course, by then, we had attracted attention from the Martyrs. There was one buff guy there with a huge two handed sword who can cut speeding bullets in half, and who Damien seemed to recognize. Anyway, there was this weird door that appeared, and looking for an escape route, we decided to stupidly open it.

Bad move. It led to the Catacombs. And there were the spiders. Big, skeletal spiders. I drew my sword, Damien summoned his swords, and Wildfire drew her gun. We started cutting a path through them, looking for an exit. Things got messy. We ended up knocking over some books. I was drawn to 2 of them. I can't tell you why. I grabbed them, and continued fighting.

Then the spiders dispersed, and He was there. The Blind Man himself. Something came over Damien, some kind of sadistic joy. He charged at the Blind Man. I turned and saw that we were surrounded. Then I heard a voice in my head saying "It's time to escape". It was a woman's voice, but I couldn't place who it belonged to. My sword suddenly started glowing with this blue light. I followed my instincts and raised the sword above my head, then brought it down. It cut through the barrier between worlds, and opened a rift into a new one. It was full of glittering sand, colorful streams, and color changing skies. I recognized it as the domain Malkator used to infiltrate the tournament.

I threw the books through it and me and Wildfire jumped to the other side. I called to Damien, but he said to go on without us. I didn't want to, but he was too caught up in his fight with the Blind Man, and the spiders were closing in on the portal, so I closed it. We walked through the world a bit before I opened another portal and returned us to the normal world. It's an interesting place. I wanted to touch the water, but I decided it would be a bad idea.

We made it back to the hotel, and Damien showed up a few hours later. He recognized us, but he couldn't recall what we were called. The Blind Man had removed all the names from his memory. Other than that, he says his memories are all intact.

Also, I've glanced through those books I stole. They're records of 2 Fears; The Brute and the Vision. The Vision's eyes can see destiny, and can see through any known substance. The Brute goes by many other names. One of which I've heard.

Ferratus. His fetters freshly forged. The words I heard that night when I tried to screw over Slender Man. That same night, I was able to see through the walls.

I'm suddenly reminded of my duel with Gordon. When I won, I obtained the Brute's card, along with the Vision's card I had taken from Saylo's body before. They both contained fragments of those Fears. I burned those cards, and according to a comment Dewitt left on my blog, I had freed those fragments.

I think he may have been right. When I burnt those cards, the fragments sealed within them passed over into my body. I have 2 Fears living inside me.

Damien's Story

Damien took us to the Archive base town via his own personal Domain, Bloody Hell. We ran into problems, mainly the fact that the monsters living there don't agree that he owns the place.

While we were traveling, I decided to ask some questions.

"What's your story anyway?" I asked.
"'Excuse me?" Damien replied.
"How did you become an Emissary?" I asked. "And what happened between you and the Archive?"
"You really wanna know?" he chuckled. "Fine, I'll tell you. It started when I was a kid. I had a seemingly normal family. A dad, a mom, a sister. We lived in England, in a small forested town. We were normal people... on the outside."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"My father had a secret," Damien said. "He was a devil worshiper. I walked in on him trying to perform a ritual in a secret room in our basement. Ever since then, I would sneak down there once a week to investigate. I found all sorts of books on satanic lore. Legends of Lucifer, Asmodeus, Belial, Belphegor. I knew it was wrong, but it was just so fascinating. One day, I entered the chamber and found a man there. He was tall, tan looking, and wore torn clothing. He told me I had the potential to become just as powerful, if not more-so, than the demons I read about. He then shook my hand and vanished."
"I see," I replied. That must have been the Game Master in a human form.
"Some time after that, we found a boy in the forest, completely unconscious," he continued. "He was suffering sever migraines when he came to. We nursed him back to health, and he practically became part of the family. His name was Benjamin Malkator."
I almost tripped over my feet when he said that. Malkator. The same guy who helped my out during the Tournament finals.
"Something we didn't know was that the Fears were hunting him," Damien said. "The Archangel attacked us one day in the park, and we ran. Then a Dying Man piece calling itself HELLFIRE passed into the Malkator. He turned on us and killed our sister. I could never forgive that."
"But it was HELLFIRE who was controlling him, right?"
"No," Damien said. "HELLFIRE doesn't take full control of his host. Not at first, anyway. He takes the darkest aspects of a person and makes them darker. Malkator hated my sister, and HELLFIRE made that hatred stronger. Malkator was the one who killed her. HELLFIRE was just the catalyst."
"So that's why you were so eager to go after him during the Tournament?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "I tried to kill him then and there, after HELLFIRE left, but the Blind Man got between us. He took our memories and brought us into the Archive. I was a Martyr, he was a Collector. We didn't know each other. We hardly ever crossed paths. Then one day he decided to become a Martyr too. And he was good. He even managed to out match me. He became Epsilon, while I was just Iota. We became rivals, always trying to one up each other. Then he came back. The same man I had met as a child."
"The Game Master?" I asked.
"I didn't know it then, but yes," Damien said. "He told me about my power. The ability to control my atoms at will. Then he gave me this."
Without warning, a book came whizzing through the air and into his hand.
"These are my memories," he said. "They're a part of me, so I can control like the rest of my body. As soon as I opened it, I remembered my life before the Archive. I remembered what Malkator had done to me. I knew I had to get stronger than him, so I made a reckless decision and signed up for an experiment. An experiment involving this."
He showed me the picture of the knife we were going to steal.
"It was infused with eldritch energy taken from this very domain," he explained. "They stabbed me with it, and that power flowed into my body. I lost control of my power, and it extended past my body and merged me with the metal chair I was strapped to. Then, my body dissolved and was warped here, the home of the energy they fused me with. I was able to reconfigure my body. I even made a few adjustments. Anyway, I tried fighting Malkator, lost, and some time after that the Game Master came back and brought me to the Board. I've been training ever since in order to become stronger. And this knife is just what I need to overpower Malkator."
"Are we there yet?" Wildfire asked impatiently.
"Yeah yeah, don't get your knockers in a twist," Damien sighed.

Anyway, we're staying in a hotel tonight, and we're gonna do the heist tomorrow. I'm not really sure if this qualifies as a heist, but I've always wanted to be part of a heist, so I'm just gonna pretend that it does. Whatever, goodnight.

Failure + A New Assignment

We went to the building the birds had accumulated around. I charged in before Wildfire. There was something strange going on with my eyes. The walls were transparent. I could see everything that waited behind each door. I ran up the stairs to the second floor, intending to take the proxies by surprise. They were all right bellow me, with 4 hostages. Malkator was one of them. He managed to release himself and the others by sprouting wings and blades from his arms. I had no idea he could do that.

I stomped on the floor and it gave way. I fell to the ground bellow and joined the fight. The other hostages escaped while me and Malkator fought. Wildfire joined us. Then I felt it. Slender Man was there. In the building. I ran to him. I saw him on the other side of the walls, and I charged. He had changed one of the hostages into a Hallowed, and was about to kill the others. I charged at him with my sword ready. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the pale guy who we had imprisoned appear. He grabbed one of the hostages by the shoulder and vanished. I was shocked to see that he had escaped.

Slender Man took advantage of my surprise and whipped me with a tentacle. I got back up and attacked him again, but got hit again. I heard a crash and realized that the Convocation had burst in through the windows and were charging straight at me.

Before they made it to me, I was somewhere else. It was a black world, full of smoke so thick I could hardly breath. I couldn't see the ground at all. And the chains. They were everywhere, binding me in place. I heard a voice in the darkness. I couldn't make out what it was saying at first, but I slowly realized that it was repeating something, like some kind of weird chant.

Ferratus, his fetters freshly forged. Break through the chains and unleash the beast within.

I struggled with the chains, and managed to break through them. I was back in the building, but I felt different. Stronger. I swung my sword, slaying a large number of birds with a single slash. I charged at Slender Man, but I wasn't the only one The pale man had reappeared, and he was attacking as well.

It wasn't long before Slender Man vanished and the birds left the building. I then turned to the pale guy.

"How did you escape?" I demanded.
"Wasn't hard," he said. "The Game Master needs to work on his security."
I heard some one approaching from behind me. I turned and saw Wildfire carrying the Bloody Biker. I was then hit hard in the back of the head and knocked out.

Woke up a bit ago in a hotel room, with Wildfire standing over me and telling me that I'm a reckless idiot.

"Don't be too hard on him," the Biker said. "What's the point of having impulses if you never act on them."
"Oh, don't even get me started on you!" she hissed angrily.
"Are we forgetting who the higher up is?" he said. "I've been placed in charge of our latest mission, in case you've forgotten."
"A new mission?" I asked. "Already?"
"Yeah," he said. "You get to screw with your old master, and now we're gonna screw with mine."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"We're going to steal something from the Archive," he said delightedly.
"What are we stealing?" I asked nervously.
"This," he said, showing me a drawing. It was a knife with a red aura around it.

Crow

After the pale guy gave that cryptic title, I used my watch to escape. It was given to me shortly after I became an Emissary. It prevents my power from being suppressed when I enter the Board, and allows me to pass freely between the Board and human world.

I made it to L.A, where I bumped into Wildfire again. She told the Game Master what I was doing, and then came to assist me.

We had been searching for the all of five minutes before he showed his face. I recognized him immediately and attacked. He drew a short sword and guarded himself.

"Nice to see you too, Kallaway," he said.
"Shut up!" I demanded.
"Oh, are you still sore about that chick?" he asked.

I tried to take off his head but he was too quick. He zapped me and I went down. He stomped down on my solar plexus, winding me. Wildfire charged at him, but he released a flock of birds from his mouth, and they grabbed her by the limbs and lifted her into the air.

"The funny thing about us death dealers," he said, still pinning me to the ground. "We kill people whenever we feel that it's justified, but in the end we deserve death more than anybody else. Your girlfriend was no different."
"Shut up about her!" I shouted up at him.
"Hmph, whatever," he said.

The air was suddenly full of birds, appearing from seemingly no where. They flew everywhere, spreading out across the entire city. Not enough to create chaos, but enough so that they were noticeable. And there was one place where they grouped together thicker than any where else in the city.

"You've been looking for the Black Garden Of S," he said. "And it looks like they've found it." He lifted his foot from, my gut and began walking toward a portal into the Bleak Shore. "Have fun there," he said.

I jumped up and charged at him one more time. He lashed out with his whip, which wrapped around my arm and began pumping my body full of electricity. I've been tazered before, but the Convocation's lightning is a completely different experience. I tried fighting it this time, but it was no use. I collapsed.

As he made to leave again, I tilted my head up and asked him. "Why!?" i demanded. "Why are you showing us the way?"
He looked down at me, and all I saw in his eyes was hatred. "Because I'm hoping you get yourselves killed," he said. "I'll have two less Emissaries to worry about, and I won't have to dirty my own hands."

Then he left us there. The birds are still watching us. I know where the Black Garden is. I'm gonna get some rest for now, and when 7 p.m. rolls around, I'll be ready.

Captive

They had already caught the guy by the time we made it back to the Board.

He was this really pale guy, with dark hair and a jacket. He was locked in a cell in the Game Master's dungeon, next to a heavily locked door labeled "The Ace Of Chaos" (I'm tempted to ask who's inside there). He didn't say anything, until Wildfire and I were sent to bring him a prison meal.

"Hello, David," he said. "And you too, Valerie."
"How do you know my name?" She demanded.
"Mine too," I said. "I don't recall introducing myself."
"I know you both pretty well," he said. "A former servant of the Slender Man, who was Enhanced so that he could avenge his girlfriend, who was killed by a Nest under the code name Crow. You dueled against Gordon Tayler, won, and destroyed a set of cards containing fragments of the Brute and Vision. Who lost your life in the semi-final round of the Game Master's tournament, but were resurrected. I could tell you more, but I don't wanna reveal too much. And you," he turned his attention to Wildfire. "You were contacted by the Game Master when you were six. However, your body didn't accept your new abilities, and you changed. Your parents died your hair and made you wear colored contacts to hide your defects. Eventually, got sick of having to hide it, and you ran away. You became an outcast, but were given a new life by the Game Master."
"How do you know all that!?" she demanded.
"You told me," he said.
"What are you-" she started to say, but he interrupted.
"Never mind," he said. "Listen, David. I need to get out of here. You guys are wasting my valuable time by keeping me locked up here. I need to do something important."
"Oh yeah?" I asked. "And what would that be?"
He grinned. "Slender Man' about to make a new Hallowed, and I plan to stop him," he said.
Damn, he really does know me. He knew saying that would get my attention.
"You think that matters to us?" Wildfire asked.
"I'm not stupid," I said to him. "I'm not gonna help you escape so that you can mess with my old master's plans."
"Exactly," Wildfire said.
"That's why I'm gonna do it myself," I said.
"Wait, what?" Wildfire asked.
"I don't like Slender Man," I said. "So if I have a chance to stop him from getting a new servant, I might as well take it."
"You can't be serious," she said.
"What, am I on duty?" I asked. "Tell our Master that I'm taking some time off. I don't care what he has to say about it." I turned to the prisoner. "Where is this going to happen?"
"There's a place is Las Angeles called the Black Garden Of S," he said. "If you talk to the local gang members, they should be able to point you in the right direction. It's gonna go down Thursday night, at 8."
"Who are you, anyway?" I asked.
He smiled. "I'm the Devil Killer."

Callback

We've been asked to return to the Board. It's urgent apparently. Something about catching some one who's been meddling with things. I don't know. We still haven't heard from the doctor. I don't know what's going on any more.

The Thorned Prince

Our group assignment was a meeting with the Plague Doctor. I never learned the full details. I was mainly there to provide muscle in case things went to hell. Phantasm was the only one who was fully briefed on what we were contacting the Doctor about.

Unfortunately, the Doctor isn't easy to track down. We went to a hospital that was confirmed to have a Mad Doctor working inside. One by the name of Dr. Helthead. We tried to make an appointment, but they wouldn't let us in. So Phantasm did this weird thing that made all the people fall asleep. So then we made our way to his office.

He was sitting at his desk, and I immediately noticed there was something off about him. He wasn't human. I can't quite explain it, but I could tell. There was another guy there; some Asian dude with his sleeves torn off. We asked nicely if he could arrange an audience with the Plague Doctor. He turned us down, so Phantasm gave me the signal to threaten to hurt him. Didn't play out very well.

The Asian guy transformed one of his arms into a Bleeding Tree. I've only seen one of those, and they creeped me the fuck out. Anyway, i got in a fight with him, and we were evenly matched at first. Then his other arm turned into a tree and then I was overpowered. Then Phantasm did another weird thing. What little I could see of his face twisted into an angry look, and the atmosphere of the room suddenly shifted. I can't explain it, but he was emitting fear.

The tree guy backed off, and we tried again to arrange a meeting. Helthead said he'd get back to us on it. Better than nothing I guess. We're staying in a hotel until he calls us back. I wish I knew what the hell we were doing.

Wildfire informed me that the tree guy is called the Thorned Prince, and he had competed in one of the Game Master's tournaments a while back. He's apparently gotten stronger since then, and is one of the Plague Doctor's toughest servants.

Evil Task Force Of Doom

I met the other Emissaries. Most of them, anyway. Apparently, there's one more who was busy doing science in the normal world, so he couldn't make it. Let me introduce the party.

Damien Monroe, or, as he prefers to be called, the Bloody Biker. Emissary power; the ability to rearrange his atoms in any way he wants. Also, as a side effect of an Archive experiment, he has super human strength and speed that could give me a run for my money. Also, during the experiment, a large amount of metal became fused with him, and he can manipulate that metal the same way he controls his body. Appearance wise, he has red hair (not his natural color, but something he did by shape shifting), along with red eyes with pentagrams in the pupils which he normally hides behind a blindfold. His clothes were white at some point, but he stained them red with human blood. Also, when he's wearing the blindfold, he flicks his tongue out a lot, like a snake. He does this because he has a bunch of eyes on his tongue (more shape shifting). He has his own domain, which he calls Bloody Hell, and he usually stores any of his metal that he's not using there. There's apparently monsters there, because he got side tracked on his mission to find Malkator because the Pied Piper got attacked by a goat-bat. I already saw this guy a while back in the tournament, so yeah.

Next there's the Piper. I've met this guy before. His flute is possessed by the Choir, and his Emissary power is the ability to not hear the Choir. Interesting.

Then we have Phantasm. He wears a hooded robe that obscures his face beneath shadows. No clue what his power is.

And there's Leopard. Emissary power; she's a cat girl. No, seriously. It's like something you'd see in an anime. She has cat ears and a tail, her hair is gold with black highlights, she has claws and pointy teeth. She is annoyingly flirtatious. With everyone. Even other girls.

And finally, there's Wildfire. She wears revealing armor that covers most of he body, but leaves her stomach, knees, and elbows exposed. Her left gauntlet has sharp claws. As far as facial features, she's pretty cute. Although, her hair is blur and her eyes are pink, but I've seen weirder things. Her Emissary power? She can fly. And breath under water. And she breathes fire. And her armor has some cool features too (or so I'm told, I haven't seen any of it yet).

You may be wondering why I don't turn on the Game Master. It's physically impossible. I can't get close to him. He did something to my body that causes me to freeze in place if I get to close.

Damn it.

Any way, I'm going out on an assignment with Wildfire and Phantasm. I'm about to be briefed on what the hell we're doing.

Til then, bye.

This Isn't Right

I should be dead. I remember. My heart gave out when I tried attacking the Game Master. And now I'm sitting in bed, healthier then I've been in weeks.

A lady was standing over me. I could tell by her mask that she was the Ace of Hearts.

"What's going on?" I asked.
"You've been revived by our Master to become an Emissary," she said.
"A what?" I asked.
"You serve him," she said. "You be-"
"You'll be sent to fulfill missions in the outside world on his behalf," some one interrupted. I looked. It was a man, taller than me, with short black hair and a button up black shirt.
"Where is your mask, Giron?" the Ace of Hearts asked him.
"I can't be expected to keep that thing on all the time," he replied.
"I suggest you put it back on," said another person. It was the Ace of Spades. "We're allowed to remove the masks in our leisure time. We're doing business right now."
"Well, if you insist, Al," the man said in an annoyed manner. He reached for a mask sitting on the table next to him and placed it on his face. The Ace of Clubs.
"Where is Kylia?" The Ace of Hearts asked. "We can't bring him to meet the others until she gets here."
"Let her take her time," the Ace of Clubs said. "It can't be easy keeping the Diamonds organized. Especially after the tournament. The Board took so much damage, half the buildings aren't even recognizable."
"I'm going to try contacting her," The Ace of Hearts said.
"Don't bother, Day," said a woman entering the room. She was wearing the Ace of Diamonds mask. She plopped down on a chair, removed her mask, and began fanning herself with it. "Oh, man, I am beat! Can we all agree that we're overworked?"
"Now's not the time," The Ace of Spades said. "We still have something important to do."
"Oh yeah, right," she replied. "Hey... weird... Enhanced... thing... update your thingy so we can go meet the other Emissaries."
"There's others?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said. "We have the Bloody Biker, the Pied Piper, the Phantasm, the Leopard, and the Wildfire. We also had the Vampire, but someone went and turned her against us."
"Please don't go there right now, Kylia," the Ace of Hearts said.
"I'm just saying, that Estren kid is being a serious pain in the-" The Ace of Diamonds started, but before she could finish, the Ace of Spades had his sword to her throat.
"Don't that way about my brother!" he hissed.
"What's wrong, Alphonse?" she asked. "Did I touch a nerve?"
"Alright, shut up all of you!" The Ace of Clubs said. You all get out and give the new guy some space. He just died twice in case you've forgotten!" They all left, except for the Ace of Clubs. "You know, sometimes I can't stand those guys," he said. "They're always bickering with each other and it really grinds my gears. Anyway, go ahead and take care of your blog, then come outside when you're ready."

Then he left. So, if I've got this right, The Ace of Spades is Alphonse, the Ace of Diamonds is Kylia, the Ace of Hearts is Day, and the Ace of Clubs is Giron. I have my laptop with me, and my sword is leaning against the wall.


I don't like this. I wanted freedom, and instead I just got turned into a different servant. God Damn it!!!

The Game Master On Behalf Of David Kallaway

The semi-final round between Blair and The Enhanced is over. Kallaway is dead. Blair is victorious. He fought valiantly, and with the last of his strength, he charged at me and tried to take my life. His heart exploded within his chest. He is no more. Blair shall move on to the final round.

Restored

Malkator paid me another visit. Opened a fucking portal right in front of me and hit my chest with a bunch of weird martial arts strikes.

"Gah!" I exclaimed. "What the hell was that!?"
"Nothing much," he said casually. "Just hit a few pressure points. Feeling better?"
"Why you son of a- actually, yes, I am feeling better," I said. "What did you do to me?"
"I just relieved some of the pressure on your heart," he said. "I don't know how long it'll last, but you should be good to go for your next match."

And then he left. Also, I noticed a comment on my last post from the Tale Weaver, and decided to check Dewitt's blog. He's been resurrected as the Game Master's servant. I'm gonna be keeping an eye out for him.

My match is tonight, against the androgynous person, Blair. This is gonna suck. Schle shouldn't even be here. Schle's not a bad person. I can't stand how cruel that Game Bastard is. If I live to see the end of this, I'll kill him.

Also, I heard the Frog guy won his match and that Harold basically vanished. Dafuq?

Resting

I've been bedridden since my fight. I didn't get to see the fight between Dewitt and Emily, but I heard she won. Damn it. And I'm stuck here in fucking bed! hopefully I'll be good enough later today so that I can watch Harold's match against that Frog guy. Stupid Enhancement. Why did I even let my old Master do this to me? All so I could fulfill some petty vendetta against that Nest! Dammit, my chest is killing me! Literally!

My Fight

I was still feeling chest pains this morning. I was really worried because I thought I might die before my fight even began.

Then the portal opened. What was on the other side confused me, but It looked familiar. Color changing skies, streams everywhere, glittering sand...

And then there was the guy standing there. He didn't crossover, and I don't blame him; I've come to realize that anything that comes to the board has it''s power suppressed, so it made sense to stay on the other side.

He was British, slightly younger than me, with something similar to a trench coat on. His eyes were almost exactly like hers. He said he was Malkator, and that he was here to do a favor for O'Zalia. He tossed me something and closed the portal.

Medication. Something to help with the chest pains. I don't know if you're reading this Malkator, but thanks.

My fight was a little while ago, against the snake woman, Siph. The arena had been completely restored since the last fight. It started, and she lunged at me. I dodged and grabbed her tail, swinging her around and throwing her at a nearby pillar. I chopped another pillar into chunks (because my sword is fucking awesome like like) and started throwing them at her. She dodged them and slithered over to me rapidly. I leapt up onto a platform and let her chase me a bit. I've never been able to compare the stamina of a Lilim vs. and an Enhanced. We were evenly matched. She got up close and bit me. Great, on top of ll my other health problems, I'm now poisoned.

I was then forced to fight her head on. And the most annoying thing was that she was enjoying my suffering. I hate that. I hate that so much! My rage guided my blade and I cut off her tail. I grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against a wall.

"I hate people like you!" I hissed. "I hate people who enjoy killing!" And now she is headless. I collapsed in a coughing fit of blood right after that. Every one saw it. They all no that I'm running out of time. But that doesn't mean anything! I'll keep fighting.

The Hearts brought me back to my room and are treating my hearts problems and poison while I type this. I don't know how much time they can bye me, but I think the meds Malkator gave me should help.

Stickin' It To The Slender Man

In hindsight, I might have been a bit reckless. Let's begin at the match. I watched the androgynous person blow up the Hanging Man with a grenade gun. I guess I should be thankful, seeing as he was hired to kill me. And now I know what to expect if I have to fight schler at any point in the tournament.

Anyway, I payed a trip to a free cafeteria that they apparently have in this colosseum. On my way back to my room, it hit me. I fell to my hands and knees, coughing up blood. Saylo's magic had extended my life some, but not by much apparently. I guess I was making a lot of noise, because a door nearby opened up and Schle came out. I guess my Enhancement decided to fuck with me right outside Schler door.

"Are you okay?" Schle asked me.
"Don't worry about me," I said.
"But-" Schle started.
"I said don't worry!" I snapped, then I coughed up even more blood. Schle offered to help me back to my room, and when when I refused, schle insisted. In the end, I caved. Schle helped me up, and we started walking.

Then he appeared. My old Master. But he was a little different. He was still tall, but not quite as tall as normal. And he had hair. He had black emo punk teen hair. Ana face. He had a fucking face with a mouth a nose and green eyes.

"Hello, Kallaway," he said. "I'm aware that O'Zalia has contacted to."
"Yes he did," I said.
"Where is he?" He asked.
"Why are you so curious?" I demanded.
"He's plotting against me," he said simply. He had a face now, but he still didn't show any emotion. "He is our enemy."
"You mean your enemy," I hissed. "I refuse to work for you any longer!"
"Well that's a shame," he said. Then, without warning, a tentacle sprouted from his back and through me down the hall.

I got up and saw that he had Schler by the throat. I drew my sword and charged at him. I hit him in the chest with the blade, but it didn't break his skin or phase him at all. He dropped schler and grabbed me by all four limbs with tentacles, stretching me like a rack.

Then the Game Master appeared behind Slender Man. He grabbed Slender Man by the shoulder and threw him backward. I fell to the ground and got back up in time to see the Game Master's cloak shift into a swarm of bats and then shift into a giant sword. He and Slender Man stood there, staring at each other for a moment, then Slender Man opened a portal into the path Of Black leaves.

Before stepping through, he looked at me and said "If you survive this tournament, I will treat you as I treat all my other enemies." Then, he stepped through the portal, and as he did so, he grew in height, and his hair and face vanished. It closed behind him.

The Game Master then handed me a scroll and walked off. I read it. My match is tomorrow. Schle and I went our seperate ways for now. I had to assure Schler that I'd be fine after I got some sleep. I hope I'm not lying.

Nearing The End

Having disposed of those cards, I went searching for the others. Found them. Well, first I found Emily, and we hadn't met yet, so she immediately assumed I was an enemy. She started attacking me with a sword, and we had a nice little sword fight. Then at one point she jumped backwards and threw her sword at me. It started moving and slashing at me in midair. I managed to grab its hilt and used my Enhanced strength to plunge it into the ground. Must be a strong sword, cause any normal sword would have broken if I tried to do that. Anyway, we were about to continue our fight when Dewitt showed up and broke it up. He properly introduced us and everything, so... I guess we're cool now? I don't know.

Shortly after that, we all suddenly wound up at this giant wall at what I assume was the edge of the Board. Five other people were there. There were two Lilim, a boy and a girl, who I assume were the bastards who killed Axiom. There was this Southern-looking guy with a long rope. I'm guessing that was the Hanging Man that Dewitt talked about in his blog, and that Jack mentioned to me. Then there was this guy (or maybe a girl, I couldn't tell). I just him or her... Schle? Yeah, let's go with that. Schle had a few weapons with schler, and schle had a fucking horse. And then there was Harold, who was on a motorbike for some reason. He was also wearing a funny looking mask.

And then shit got real. The giant wall in front of us split down the middle and slid apart to reveal the vast void beyond the edge of the Board. I walked toward the edge and looked down. The abyss bellow us was dark brown, as opposed to the orange skies above us, and there were chunks of floating rocks everywhere. I couldn't see the bottom of the void at all.

Then I caught sight of the colosseum. It was enormous! Bigger that any of the other buildings here. And it was... changing. I kept shifting its form on the outside. And he was there. The Game Master himself. It was weird, like my vision just zoomed in when I saw him, so that I could see every detail. Then a fucking rainbow bridge appeared connecting us to the colosseum. We crossed over and entered the colosseum.

We were in some kind of foyer or something, with lots of furniture. He stood there, towering over all of us.

“It is time for the second phase of the tournament to commence,” he said. “Over the next week, your the eight of you shall be taking part in a bracket. The first fight shall begin tonight. In the mean time, I work like you all to make yourselves at home. You will be shown to your rooms shortly.”

And then he vanished. Everything he said just managed to piss me off.

“Well, this seems like a decent place,” the lilim guy said. “I think I might actually be able to enjoy my time here.”

“Oh, yeah!” I shouted. “Let's all spend a night here at the luxurious Game Master Resort and Casino! And then in the morning, we can all kill each other!”

I needed something to take my anger out on. I turned and backhanded a vase so hard it went flying and smashed against a wall. Not enough. I lifted my fist into the air and brought it back down, smashing the table the vase was on. Still not enough. I walked up to an armour and lifted it up over my head, then I threw it at another armour so hard they both broke into pieces. I then realized everyone in the room was now staring at me. I hate awkward moment. I found the nearest masked person and demanded that they bringing me to my room. I seriously couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I guess this is the beginning of the end. I hate this Game Master guy.

All Out Battle Of The Fears (with card games)

I hid away and started doing some research on the game. I spent several hours studying the rules carefully, but I didn't learn much, and I didn't have time to.

It wasn't long before I bumped into him.

“Gordon,” I said to him.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“My name is David Kallaway,” I said to him. “I'm here to challenge you.”

He laughed. “If you think you have what it takes, go on then!” he said.

We stood across from each other and drew our starting hands.

“I'll go first,” he declared. “I summon Axe Dragonute in attack position.”

A humanoid dragon creature wielding an ax appeared. I had 2000 attack points, and from what I know of this game, that's really good for a low-level monster.

“Next I'll set a card face down and end my turn,” he said.

I drew my card, then I heard O'Zalia's voice.

Summon the card you just drew, he told me.

Are you insane? I asked him. This card only has 1300 attack points, it's no match for that dragon!

I am insane, actually, He replied. But that's not the point. Just do it. Trust me, I know how to play this game.

“Alright then,” I muttered under my breath. “I summon SlenderProxy Mechanic in attack mode!”

“A SlenderProxy card!?” Gordon said.

“You've seen em before?” I asked.

“Yeah, I have,” he said. “Who gave you that deck?”

It was the same guy who gave him the Burning Shadow Dragon, O'Zalia informed me.

“Jack The Hand,” I said. “I believe you've met him. He gave you that card of yours. He's the reason we have to fight each other.”

“I see,” Gordon said. “So, are you gonna finish your turn or what?”

Activate the effect of SlenderProxy Thug, O'Zalia told me. It can be special summoned from your hand when you normal summon a SlenderProxy card.

“I special summon SlenderProxy Thug to the field!” I said.

Perfect! O'Zalia said. Mechanic is a level 3 tuner monster and Thug is a level 4 non-tuner monster, so by sending them both to your graveyard, you can summon a level 7 synchro monster from your extra deck.

Okay, I replied. I pulled the extra deck from my back pocket and searched through it.

Summon SlenderProxy Ravager, O'Zalia instructed.

“I tune level 3 SlenderProxy Mechanic to my level 4 SlenderProxy Thug to synchro summon the level 7 SlenderProxy Ravager!” I announced.

Okay, I will definitely admit that the summoning was FUCKING AWESOME!!! The Mechanic transformed into 3 glowing rings and the Thug turned into 4 stars, and then the rings surrounded the stars and then there was a column of light and then this really insane looking Slender Proxy with twin kodachis appeared. It had 2100 attack points and 1300 defense.

“Now, I'll have my Ravager attack your Dragon,” I said. The sword wielding proxy charged, but Gordon had a trap ready.

“I activate Dark Armor Of The Underworld!” he said. The dragon was cloaked in what appeared to be armor made out of flames. “I discard Flamvell Grunika and reduce Axe Dragonute's attack power by 500 to prevent him from being destroyed in battle this turn!”

Use Ravager's effect! O'Zalia said.

“SlenderProxy Ravager can attack twice per turn,” I informed Gordon. “Your monster may survive the assault, but you'll still take the damage.”

He was hit with 600 points of damage twice, which brought him down to 6800 life points.

Set the trap card in your hand face down, O'Zalia told me. I did as he instructed.

“I end my turn,” I said.

Gordon drew his card. “I activate the effect of Cthuga Dragon from my hand,” he said. “At the cost of 700 life points, I can special summon it to the field.”

His life points dropped to 6100 and he summoned a dragon made out of fire with 1400 attack points.

“Since I control two monsters, I can tribute summon my Plague Doctor!” he said.

Tribute summon? I thought.

You have to offer tributes to summon high level monsters, O'Zalia explained. Level 7 or higher monsters require you to tribute two monsters you control.

“Come forth, Plague Doctor!” Gordon shouted. The Doctor appeared, with 2200 attack points. I was expecting it to stronger, honestly. “I activate the Plague Doctor's effect,” Gordon said. “Now I can place a Plague Counter on a monster you control!”

A serpent slithered from beneath the Doctors robe and bit the Ravager. The Ravager collapsed, with his skin turning really pale really fast. His attack power dropped to 1800.

“What did you do!?” I demanded.

“It's simply,” Gordon said. “Monsters with Plague Counters lose 300 attack for each one they have. And as an added bonus, Plague Doctor gains 100 attack for every Plague Counter on the field. And if a monster accumulates 3 or more counters, I can destroy that monster at the cost of 500 life points. Now, attack!”

Should I use the trap? I asked O'Zalia.

Not yet, he said. Powering up your monster won't work. His Plague Doctor can only be beaten by other Fears.

So I have to take this attack? I asked.

Don't worry, I think of a way to recover from this, he said.

I don't know much about O'Zalia, but I do know that he's a genius, so I trusted him and allowed my monster to be defeated. My life points went down to 7400.

“I set one card face down and end my turn,” Gordon said.

What's going through his head? I asked.

No idea, O'Zalia replied.

I thought you were a mind reader, I pointed out.

I am, but his mind is protected by the Brute, he said.

The Brute!? I exclaimed (mentally).

Yeah, you can feel its power, can't you? O'Zalia asked.

“You possess the Brute's power, don't you?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “That last clown I beat says I'm destined to resurrect the thing.”

“How dare you speak that way about Saylo!” I shouted, drawing my next card in a very angry fashion.

Listen to me, O'Zalia said. You need to-

Shut up! I barked. I'll win this on my own!

“I activate the Slender Walk spell card!” I said. “I banish two level 4 or higher SlenderProxy cards in my graveyard, my Thug and Ravager, in order to special summon Slender Man from my deck! His effect will be negated this turn, but I can still attack with him!”

Master appeared, and his power resonated. I know I said I would seek freedom, but his power was so great. I that moment, I was his servant again.

“You really think you can defeat me?” Gordon demanded.

“I swear, in the name of my Master, I will destroy you and the power you've been given!” I shouted.

He started laughing. “Destroy my power?” he asked. “Don't be ridiculous! You can't destroy rage! You can't destroy war! You can't destroy the Brute!”

“Well I'm about to try!” I exclaimed.

And, just like in my vision, the two forces charged at each other.

“I activate the trap card Shield Spear!” Gordon exclaimed. “Now my Plague Doctor gains 400 attack and defense, bringing him up to 2600!”

Slender Man only had 2500. Weaker than his Doctor.

“I activate my own trap!” I said. “With the effect of Miracle Locus, you draw a card and Slender Man gains 1000 attack!”

My monster had been powered up. His Plague Doctor was destroyed.

“Due to the effect of Miracle Locus, I take no damage,” Gordon said bitterly.

“I set one card face down and end my turn,” I said.

“Now, I'll go. I activate the spell card Ancient Rules, Now I can special summon a level five or higher normal monster from my hand, so I call forth the Meteor Dragon!”

This was a dragon that seemed to be composed entirely of burning rock, with 1800 attack points and 2000 defense.

“Next, I normal summon my Crawling Chaos Dragon!” he announced.

This one was a really ugly looking dragon that I don't even think I can describe properly. It only had 400 attack points.

“Now, I tune my level 1 Crawling Chaos Dragon to my level 6 Meteor Dragon to synchro summon the Convocation Phoenix!” he said. A giant flaming bird with 2600 attack points appeared. “Phoenix, attack his Slender Man!”

“I activate the trap card Collision Of Fear!” I said. “When two Fear cards battle, I can end the battle phase and reduce both players life points to half their current value!”

The battle ended. My life points were reduced to 3700 and his to 3050.

You're doing great! O'Zalia said. I didn't think you'd be able to do so well on your own.

I'm just going with the flow of things, I said. It's like all of this is just coming naturally to me.

“I set a card face down and end my turn,” Gordon said.

“My turn,” I said. “I activate Slender Man's effect, allowing me to normal summon high level SlenderProxy cards without having to tribute! So I summon SlenderProxy O'Zalia The Illusionist!”

Wait, you're summoning me? O'Zalia asked.

Yes, yes I am, I said.

He appeared, with his snow white hair (I wonder if that's his natural color) and a black shirt displaying the Operator symbol, and a large glave in his hand.

“Next, I activate the spell card Tune Down,” I said. “I select one monster I control and reduce its level by 2. Also, any monster I xyz summon with it gains 600 attack points until the end phase! I'll use this effect on Slender Man!”

In order to xyz summon, I need to take two monsters that have the same level and stack them on top of each other. Then, I take an xyz monster whose level is equal to the rank of those monsters and stack it on top of them. In order to use the xyz monster's effects, I have to send the cards underneath it to the graveyard.

“I overlay these two level six monsters to xyz summon Unleashed O'Zalia!” I said. O'Zalia and Slender man turned into glowing orbs and were pulled into a portal that had appeared. Then my new xyz monster stepped out of the portal. He looked just like the regular O'Zalia, except his eyes were glowing, his hair was flared up as if being blown by wind, and the atmosphere surrounding him seemed to be distorted.

“I know this card,” Gordon said. “It's xyz materials can be used to destroy monsters on the field. Unfortunately for you it won't do you much good. Phoenix can rejuvenate when destroyed by a card effect during the end phase. And if you do destroy it and try to attack, It'll hurt you more than me.”

He still had his face down. I wasn't sure if he was bluffing or not, but I wasn't planning a direct attack anyway.

“Tune Downs effect activates,” I said. “Now, Unleashed O'Zalia has his attack power increased from 2400 to 3000. Also, since SlenderProxy O'Zalia the illusionist was used to xyz summon him, I can have him use any of O'Zalia's powers. So by sending the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard, I can negate the effects of all card you currently control. However, since I'm activating this effect, I can't use any effects this turn that would destroy cards you control.”

“So my monster and my face down card are powerless!?” Gordon said, shocked.

“That's right!” I said. “That means that Convocation Phoenix looses its invincibility! Now, O'Zalia, destroy his monster!”

His phoenix was destroyed and his life points dropped to 2650.

“I end my turn,” I anounced.

He started laughing. “You really think you can beat me?” He asked. “Well, guess what? It's far from over! I draw, then I activate the trap card Reckless Greed! This allows me to draw two cards and then skip my next two draw phases!”

So yeah, he was bluffing earlier. Whatever. As soon as he drew those cards, I felt his aura shift and the power of the Brute filled the air.

“I banish the dark attribute Crawling Chaos Dragon and Axe Dragonute, along with the fire attribute Meteor Dragon and Flamvell Grunika to special summon the Burning Shadow Dragon!”

A giant, smoky dragon appeared, with a high attack power of 3000.

“Next, I activate the spell card Sacrificial Strike,” he said. “By tributing my monster, I can destroy your Unleashed O'Zalia!”

“Destroying your own monster?” I asked.

“That's right!” he said, still laughing. “Now, both our fields are empty. And by banishing Burning Shadow Dragon from my graveyard, I can special summon the Chaotic War Dragon Brute!”

It was here. Staring down hungrily at me. I gulped. It was over. My destiny was coming true. The dragon opened its mouth and was about to start breathing smoke and fire down at me. I was about to give up and accept it when it happened. She appeared. She looked me in the eye briefly, then vanished again. I understood the message. I could still win.

“I activate the effect of the SlenderProxy Guardian in my graveyard!” I said. “This card got sent to the graveyard when I used O'Zalia's effect, and now by paying half my life points and banishing him, I can negate your monsters attack and end the battle phase!”

“You think that means anything?” he demanded. “You don't understand what my monster's really capable of. As long as I control him, you can't skip your battle phase, and all your monsters are forced into attack mode and have to attack him. Don't you see? All you can do is stall. All you've done is bought yourself and extra turn.”

“An extra turn is all I need,” I said to him.

“Oh well,” Gordon said. “If your that confident, lets see what you can do. Since my battle phase is over, the 500 attack bonus for each of my banished cards that the Brute gains is lost until my next turn. Now show me what you're made of.”

I drew. “I'll start by activating the effect of SlenderProxy Agent in my graveyard!” I said. “Like the Guardian, he was sent to the grave when I used O'Zalia's effect, and now I'm gonna put him to use. By banishing him and SlenderProxy O'Zalia the Illusionist, I can special summon Slender Man from my graveyard!”

“That guy again?” Gordon asked. “Please, give me a challenge.”

“I will!” I said. “I normal summon SlenderProxy Hacker to the field!”

I brought out the level 1 tuner to my field. He was weak, but his effect would win my the game.

“Thanks to Hackers ability, I can special summon a level 4 or lower SlenderProxy card in my graveyard,” I said. “So now I special summon SlenderProxy Mechanic!”

“What's the point of summoning all those weak monsters?” Gordon demanded. “They'll all be forced to attack the Brute, and you'll lose!”

“The point is that I now control 2 tuner monsters and a non-tuner monster whose total levels add up to 12!” I said.

“I can't be!” he gasped. “You're going to summon that card!”

“That's right!” I said. “I tune level 1 SlenderProxy Hacker and level 3 SlenderProxy Mechanic to level 8 Slender Man to synchro summon Vision, The Fear Of Destiny!”

There were more light works and stars an stuff, and then she was there. She was ready to fight for me.

“I activate the Vision's effect!” I said. “Now I draw a card for each level 8 or higher monster in play. We each control a level twelve monster, so I get two!”

I drew. I got SlenderProxy Quan The Enhanced and Reload. Quan, I thought to myself. It's been a while. I hope you can hear me, where ever you are right now. Wish me luck.

“I activate Reload!” I said. “By shuffling this card into my deck, I get to draw a new card. And it looks like I lucked out, because I drew Eclipse Of Fear!”

“Oh shit, not that card!” Gordon said.

“I banish any level 7 or higher Fear cards from both of our graveyards to give the Vision 1000 attack points for each of them!” I said. “So I banish Slender Man from my graveyard and the Plague Doctor and Convocation Phoenix from yours. This brings her up to 6300. It's over! Vision, attack!”

The Vision cut the Brute to pieces, then stabbed Gordon in the gut with her claws before vanishing.

I approached him. He gave me a malicious glare before he died. I picked up the Brute's card and burned it along with the Vision's. She helped me a lot, but it needed to be done. I needed to dispose of the remaining fragments of those two Fears.

I think I finally understand it. She showed me my destiny so that I would be able to overcome it.