Chapter 12: Chapter 11
Rumble.
Shun and Sora's duel was the spark that lit a new way of discussion in the myriad worlds.
A child, like Sora, was an undercover spy from a world that invaded a peaceful land like Heartland. As a result, many innocents were hunted and duelists like Shun had to band together to form a Resistance.
In many of the worlds that saw the duel, silent oppression could be felt.
Could the neighbor or classmate they've been friends with all this time have just been a spy this whole time?
That shady (DM) Bakura who showed up on the Duelist Kingdom seems awfully suspicious.
Could (5DS) Rex Goodwin be working for Illiaster?
(ZEXAL) Shark has already proven that he's a Barian, maybe he has been undercover this whole time?
All over the myriad worlds, a cold war has started to brew with many of that world's higher-ups searching nook and cranny for anyone suspicious.
In the Arc-V world though, the gasoline has already been ignited and the undertones of war have sprung to the surface.
Since (ARC-V) Sora's role has been blown, he had to try and escape with Yuzu before LDS showed up to capture him. Since Yuya wasn't going to let that happen, a duel ensued but this time Yuya was too weak to stop Sora.
When (ARC-V) Yuya was about to lose the duel, however, Yuto showed up and supported him. With Sora looking like he was on the ropes, Leo Akaba decided to go to Plan B and swapped him out with a couple of Obelisk Force squad members. These new Obelisk Force members opened up with their "Ancient Gear" monsters and started to fire on the surrounding environment.
A miniature battlefield emerged in the city as Fusion and Standard started to fight everywhere. In the midst of everything, (ARC-V) Yuto was tracked down by Yugo and their inner Zarc urged them to duel one another. It's absolute chaos as Yuya tries to protect Yuzu from the invading Obelisk Force members. Time repeats itself though as Yuto was defeated and absorbed by Yuya while Yuzu disappeared with Yugo once Yuri showed up in the Standard dimension.
Faced with the accelerated Fusion invasion, (ARC-V) Reiji has no choice but to start the Lancer program early without the means to eliminate unnecessary sacrifices.
Duelists, weak and strong, joined the Lancers in hopes of protecting their (ARC-V) Standard dimension.
In the midst of their preparations, the next duel was ready to load onto the screen.
In the VRAINS world, Playmaker and Revolver stopped their impending duel to pay attention to the screen. The passions of dueling can wait, the screen's duels hold greater weight in duelists' minds.
"Next duel. (VRAINS World): Playmaker Vs Ai."
"Ai?" (VRAINS) Playmaker questioned as he looked down at his duel disk.
"No, it's not me!" (VRAINS) Ai strongly denied it while shaking his head like a spinning top.
"Really?" (VRAINS) Playmaker didn't really trust Ai yet. They were still newly acquainted so he doubted the legitimacy of Ignis's claims.
On the side, (VRAINS) Revolver looks at the two while not showing his thoughts on his face. He knew AI were dangerous creations that needed to be stomped out of existence before they destroy humanity. By the looks of it, Playmaker will be forced to make a move on the dark Ignis sooner or later.
The screen loaded and a teenager could be seen walking into an abandoned building.
Many could guess this was one of the duelists but for those who know Playmaker and Ai in the VRAINS world, this was an indirect confirmation of Playmaker's real-life identity!
AI don't have physical bodies after all...
Not long after Yusaku entered the building, the sound of confetti filled the room as a brightly lit elevator came down the side of the building. On it was a flashily dressed man welcoming Yusaku for coming.
This was Ai.
The present-day (VRAINS) Playmaker and Ai couldn't believe what they were seeing. This was the purple blob sealed inside Yusaku's duel disk?
"This is the first time we meet in real life. Ain't I like a human?" Ai explains.
Another non-human, the myriad worlds wondered. Why are there so many non-human beings on the list?
(VRAINS) Revolver frowned. AI were able to escape the network. If that happens, his Tower of Hanoi will be for naught.
On the screen, Ai showed Yusaku around the SOL Technology factory. He had commissioned SOL Technology to build copies of himself after taking it over.
Bang!
(VRAINS) SOL Technology higher-ups like Akira Zaizen and Queen were shocked at the news that something like Ai had taken over SOL Technology and used it to clone itself. Once people find out, their stock and reputation will go right out the window.
Meanwhile, (VRAINS) Akira Zaizen worried about what Ai was going to do with his clones.
Ai on the screen explained that the clones won't be perfect copies of himself but independent beings with their own free will.
In the VRAINS world, the other Ignis were shocked. Why would the dark Ignis do something like this? The only one who could possibly reason Ai's intentions was Lightning who ran the simulations.
According to this situation, there is a high likelihood that things were going according to that specific simulation he thought of...
"Why are you doing this?" Yusaku asks.
"So I won't be lonely anymore," Ai responds. "I'm all alone right now."
Alone. What happened for Ai to end up alone and plan to create an AI empire?
The myriad worlds might not know but the other Ignis had a clue as to what may have happened.
Ai, you are the last of us, aren't you?
Yusaku pleads with Ai not to do this as he obviously wanted someone to stop him. For this, he even lost his fellow AI Roboppi.
(VRAINS) Roboppi tilted its head at the sound of its name. It was a simple cleaning AI, why would its name come up on the video? In fact, why could it see the video in the first place?
Ai warns Yusaku that a duel cannot be avoided. He holds all of the data of the duelist who lost to him and the copy system he is using is also linked to him. If Yusaku wanted to stop Ai, he has to win and eliminate his old comrade in a duel.
"Nothing happened for me to be this way. We are different existences, human and AI," Ai says carefully.
"You are walking the same path as Lightning?" Yusaku questioned.
The same path as me? (VRAINS) Lightning wondered.
"I'm not as extreme as him. I don't plan to eliminate humans. I only want AIs to have a chance to survive," Ai explains.
He only wants to give his own kind a chance to survive. Isn't this similar to Nash?
While not the same, Nash fought his best friend for his own people. Now, Ai is doing the same for his own race.
Of course, this isn't a simple solution that Ai is taking. It is Pandora's box. Anything could happen.
Odds are, humanity will go to war with AI. That's for the future though. Right now, it's time for a duel.
"Into the Vrains!" Yusaku and Ai shouted, engulfed in a bright light coming off their duel disks.
When the light faded, two duelists can be seen inside a swirling purple gale.
On one side was Ai and on the other is a brightly colored man looking different from Yusaku.
This was Playmaker.
[4000 LP] [4000 LP]
Playmaker starts the duel by summoning Garbage Collector. He then activates the continuous spell card Cynet Optimization to summon Flame Buffalo.
Activating Garbage Collector's monster effect, Playmaker returns Flame Buffalo to his hand to special summon from his deck a different cyberse-type monster of the same level. Special summoning Sea Archiver from the deck, Playmaker then activates the monster effect of the returned Flame Buffalo to discard a cyberse-type monster and draw two cards.
"Wonderful strategy," (DM) Yugi praised.
"It summons multiple monsters while preserving the hand," (5DS) Yusei explained.
(GX) Syrus scratched his head. "Why does it feel like we and Playmaker are playing two different games? We're both duelists but compared to him we seem awfully slow."
That is a good question. While the last few duels were a little fast compared to their predecessors, none of them seemed to overwhelm the audience right out of the gate.
Without doing too much, Playmaker had already completed a series of actions that would've taken early-era duelists several turns to do.
This is the speed of late-era duelists.
{1} Garbage Collector {+} and {1} Sea Archiver {=} set
Link summon! Link 2 Splash Mage
Splash Mage: [1100 ATK]
Link summon! Another new summoning method and one unique to the VRAINS world.
(ARC-V) Reiji Akaba put down his work and paid attention to the duel as he studied the properties of Link summoning. It hadn't been long since Pendulum summoning was introduced in the Standard dimension but Reiji was already gearing up to introduce Link monsters to his world. Unfortunately, without an extra monster zone, this will not be a viable dream.
Since Playmaker link summoned Splash Mage, its monster effect triggers. Reviving the linked material Sea Archiver, Playmaker continues to link summon.
Link {2} Splash Mage {+} and {1} Sea Archiver {=} set
Link summon! Link 3 Decode Talker
A dark knight swarmed with purple lines appears on Playmaker's side of the field.
Decode Talker: [2300 ATK]
Playmaker sets a card and ends his turn.
Ai reminisced on how times have changed. He was the biggest influence on Yusaku in the past couple of years, leading to Playmaker's creation. Now the two must fight.
Ai summoned Pikari @Ignister and used its monster effect to add the field spell card Ignister A.I.Land from his deck to his hand.
{1} Pikari @Ignister set.
Link summon! Link 1 Linguriboh
Linguriboh: [300 ATK]
A dark ball pops up on Ai's side of the field, reminiscent of a Kuriboh.
In the VRAINS world, a certain Link Kuriboh feels jealous seeing this look-alike on Ai's field. That's my friend!
Ai then activates the field spell, Ignister A.I.Land. Using its effect, he can special summon a level 4 or lower @Ignister from his hand. Special summoning Doyon @Ignister, he adds Pikari back to his hand from the graveyard. Ai then activates the continuous spell card CompromA.I.Se. using its spell effect to place Doyon in his spell and trap zone as a continuous spell card.
Since his link zone is empty again, Ai uses A.I.Land's field effect to special summon Pikari back to the field. Ai adds a second A.I.Land to his hand and triggers CompromA.I.Se's continuous effect to special summon Doyon from his spell and trap zone.
Starting a long summoning chant, Ai sets the link arrows.
Link {1} Linguriboh {+} and {1} Doyon {+} and {1} Pikari {=} set
Link summon! Link 3 Dark Templar @Ignister
Dark Templar: [2300 ATK]
A dark copy of Decode Talker appears on Ai's side of the field. With A.I.Land's effect, Ai special summons Achichi @Ignister from his hand to Dark Templar's link zone. Since a monster was summoned to Dark Templar's link arrow, Ai revived the link materials Pikari and Doyon from the graveyard to the rest of its link zones.
In one turn, Ai summoned so many monsters and he can still continue!
Many duelists in the myriad worlds widened their eyes as they learned what it truly means to special summon.
{1} Doyon {+} and {1} Ikari {+} and {1} Achichi {=} set
Link summon! Link 3 Fire Phoenix @Ignister
Fire Phoenix: [2300 ATK]
With Fire Phoenix and Dark Templar on Ai's side of the field, Ai is ready to go all out against Playmaker. He then activates the continuous spell card Judgement Arrows.
A strike of thunder hits Ai's side of the field as a spell card with three-link arrows pointing up is shown on Ai's spell and trap card zone.
You can even do this kind of operation?
Many duelists in other worlds do not know how special this card is but for the duelists of the VRAINS world, this was an earth-shattering creation. Until now, no one has been able to utilize the spell and trap card zone for link creation and this card managed to circumvent all their understanding of how link arrows work.
(VRAINS) Lightning gritted his unexistent teeth as the fruits of his labor are shown to the world without his consent.
Ai moves to attack Decode Talker but Cynet optimization activates its continuous effect to negate effects during the damage step. On Fire Phoenix's attack, Playmaker then uses the continuous trap card Code Hack to protect Decode Talker from effect destruction and reduce Fire Phoenix's ATK to 0 for the turn.
Fire Phoenix: [0 ATK]
During a battle that a monster targeted by Code Hack battles, neither player takes battle damage and their monsters are not destroyed by battle.
Ai then commands Dark Templar to attack Decode Talker, protecting his Dark Templar using its monster effect since Decode Talker and Dark Templar have the same ATK. Decode Talker goes down in a blaze of glory and Ai sets a card to end his turn.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone