A,N: So sorry for the wait you guys. I still have problems with my eye sight so working extremely slower than usual. Gotta have another eye operation here the 25. So hoping they will be able to help. However, hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Have fun reading, and if it is not too much trouble, I would also have some feedback on how I am doing. Thank you so much and thanks for your time.

Normal p.o.v.

In some unknown place.

Yuma groaned slightly as he opened his eyes and found himself in a completely different place. This was neither earth nor Sargasso where he was dueling the barians. The lobster haired boy looked puzzled around. All he could see was sand and some weird energy partials who was floating around in the air.

"Where... wait I know where" Yuma mumbled to himself as he got up "I got pulled into Zexal by Astral and... Hold up, Astral!". He looked frantically around for his ghostly friend and found, a giant statue looking exactly like Astral.

"What in the world is that?" Yuma uttered rather surprised. The statue was even taller than the tallest tower he knew of. He noticed this window where Astral's were supposed to be at this giant statue and noticed some movements. He remembered how Vector had mentioned some sort of seed, and it made Yuma clench his fists.

"I gotta go find him" he then uttered and rushed towards the statue's entrance.

He ran up this stairway inside and began climbing the statue. He had only one goal and that was to reach Astral and apologies. All so he could get his friend back. Astral I am so sorry! I am so sorry I kept the truth about Ray a secret! Those thoughts ran through his head now. All he wanted to do was making everything right again.

At the window at Astral's heart, was in fact Astral standing and were looking down on the sandy ground. In some ways his thoughts were still in the duel at the outside of this zexal morph. The Astral prince was feeling a lot of sorrow and anger at the moment which all got released through the duel in some way.

"Yuma you have betrayed me" Astral mumbled to himself in a low voice "Your dishonesty has destroyed my trust in you". As he said that the statue began to slowly crumble as it was a symbol to that trust.

Zaira's p.o.v.

I woke up in the complete darkness. I was literally floating in it. It was all around me and I couldn't see a thing. It scared me to no end, and it if wasn't for the fact that I knew Cy was somewhere in here, I might have flipped out as well. However, surprisingly I kept my cool. Maybe it was because the darkness in here was different in some way. It was warm and comfortable and were nothing like the other times the darkness had claimed me. Like etc. when Vetrix and my past self-had held me there. It actually felt like home. Then I could suddenly feel the wind blowing and I backed scared away. This was not the same wind as Cy's. Seconds later my back hit some warm fur and I instantly placed my hands at it. I knew it was Cy there, My Cy! I also didn't get surprised when a warm furry face rubbed up at my cheek which just proved to me that it was Cy.

"Mistress?" Cy questioned confused as I didn't pad him back.

"Cy there is something there. I am scared" I whispered slowly in hopes that he would protect me as he did so many times before. Cy nuzzled my cheek once again.

"I know, but there is no need to fear it. It won't harm us. They saved our lives" Cy replied dutifully. My eyes narrowed suspiciously at that. I was gonna determine that myself here.

"Hello young one. Cy" A voice then suddenly greeted and surprised me deeply. The voice sounded male, but at the same time old and ancient. However, like Cy had stated, they didn't want us any harm. I could feel that as soon as the voice had spoken, which was a little weird. I had never heard it before, so how did I know it was not an enemy?

"Who, who are you? What's your name'?" I then asked slowly which made the voice laugh.

"My name? You should already know it young one" It then questioned and sounded suddenly sad. The wind brew around us again and I was sure I felt a hand roaming through the locks of my hair now. "My name is xxxxxx". I growled a little annoyed at that. Not that I actually minded it much. Like I said, this felt like home.

"I didn't quite catch that name" I replied slowly and could feel how the hand left my hair again "Could you repeat it?". This time it was the voice who growled rather annoyed. Rather annoyed and really sad.

"I see. You are not able to hear it, it seems. Cy was not able to either" The voice then muttered and sighed deeply "The day you can hear and pronounce my name, that is the day we will truly meet dear Cy and Zaira". I must admit that just confused me even more. I mean we were in some kind of darkness with a stranger we couldn't see and at the same time it felt like this was home?! It made no sense here. Then I felt a weird pull. It was at the spot that had hurt so badly inside the sphere field and I groaned a little at that.

"A thread. A thread filled with darkness now. It seems like they have bound you to the Astral prince, who sadly has fallen to the dark side" The voice mused coldly, and I knew it was the one pulling at the thread. "How foolish of them. They might lose you. Their lack of trust in you are disturbing to say the least. They seem to only use you as their weapon for the war young one. My dear Cy and Zaira. All so they can force your destiny in their favor. It pains me to see you two like this".

I bit my lip worriedly at that. It was almost the same words Vector had used when we spoke in his room inside the barian palace. It made me hesitate big time. I wasn't someone's weapon! No I just wasn't! Then my eyes widened. Something else the stranger had said caught my eye.

"Wait, you are the one who made me duel Yuma and Astral!" I then uttered as I remembered the test duel in the key, and the numeron code. I didn't like this at all.

"Hmm I suppose so. In directly. It was the work of my shadow giant to be honest" The voice replied slowly and sighed again "You had to fulfil a part of your destiny dear Zaira". That only made me even more pissed off.

"Listen you whoever you are! Stop interfering with my life! Stop messing with me and my friend!" I yelled in an angry loud tone "I decide my own destiny, got that! I am no one's weapon. Not yours. Not any bodies! I do whatever I feel like!".

"Mistress..." I could hear Cy say worriedly. I knew what he was thinking. This stranger had after all saved us from the effects of the infecting darkness Astral was now under. Which also was one of the reasons I was not gonna stay here for long. I needed to get back. Who knows what happened in my absence after all.

"Young one I do no such thing" The voice replied. In my ears it sounded like it was offended "I would never use you as a weapon. That is the reason I am here. To keep you safe and free you from those bad humanin influences...".

"What?! Are you stating Yuma and the others are bad influences for me?! Who the hell do you think you are?!" I sneered angrily. No one insulted my friends while I was here hearing it. The wind was blowing even more around us, and this was Cy's power this time. My trusted companion was always at my side, and I was grateful for his support.

"No! you misunderstood I..." The voice tried reassuring, but I didn't let it.

"Oh is there other humans back there who could influence me?!" I hissed angrily and climbed up on my numbers back. It was a little difficult since I couldn't see, but in the end, I managed with Cy's support. I looked at Cy. "Let's go Cy! I am not gonna stay here a minute longer. Let's go back to Yuma and the others":

"As You wish Mistress" Cy replied dutifully and began storing its power.

"No! wait! There might be terrible consequences if you leave without your..." the voice uttered but I interrupted it right away.

"I don't care! I am going back to my friends now!" I replied stubbornly "And you can't stop me!". I could hear the voice sigh deeply once again.

"I see it is pointless for me to stop you now" it then said, and I was sure I could feel a smile of some kind. A hand roamed around in my hair once again. "I can only hope for your safety. Just remember young one, Hope can create a miracle. It is very important you remember this. Then you will know what to do when the time comes".

"Yeah fine whatever" I growled annoyed.

I didn't care what this ancient voice was all about. All I wanted was to leave so I could help my friend. A portal suddenly appeared in front of us, and I had a hunch this was the strangers doing, but at the same time I didn't think twice on it and Cy and I jumped into it and hopefully towards Sargasso where the others were dueling right now. What I didn't manage to hear was the strangers final words before we left.

"Good luck dear Zaira and Cy. Hopefully that time comes for that miracle".

Vector's p.o.v.

Outside on the Sargasso dueling field, Vector was waiting intensely for this Dark Yuma to his move. He wanted to get this over with, so he could get his sister back. He could literally see how Zaira would be grateful and thank him. To free her from the seal and make her return back to the usual way. Back to those times when she knew they were siblings and did stuff together. Sure, Vector must admit he had not always had the time to be with her, being the barian emperor he was, but that was gonna change. As soon as Zaira remembered him that is.

"It is my move" he could then hear Yuma say in a dull but also determined voice. "Let's see what kind of trouble I can summon up. Dark draw!".

Vector chuckled at that. Even with their twisted version of Zexal Yuma and Astral still didn't stand a chance of beating him. Not that Vector was even sure who of them were in charge of this Zexal body. However he was gonna beat him regardless. Yuma however started off his move by summoning "Dark Zexal weapon chimera clad" who was looking like this dark flying monster, who was surprisingly level 1 and had 0 att and def points. Vector knew that meant it had some special effects.

"Now witness the dark power of chimera clad" Yuma then said and made his monster summon a beam in its mouth, which it surprisingly made his activated trap card "Vain betrayer" get destroyed.

Apparently, its effect allowed it to destroy a trap or a spell card on the field. Vector looked puzzled at him. What purpose did that move do other than destroying a useless card? Not that Vector daunted over it for too long, because Yuma used his monster now to equip itself to Utopia ray V.

"When Utopia Ray V is equipped with chimera clad it loses its special abilities, but it's dark power makes it invincible" Yuma then told him and surprisingly attacked with Utopia. Vector was looking at him in disbelief.

"What? What are you thinking?" The barian uttered "Masquerade has more attack points. Even if utopia isn't destroyed, you still take damage".

He had just said that when his number defended off the attack and send it back at Utopia. Yuma lost 100 life points because of that move. However it was not like he cared much about it. The lobster haired boy was smiling a sinister grin. Something who was clearly unlike Yuma at all. It was like he liked the destruction he made.

"Thanks to Chimera clad's special effect, when I take damage from battle, Utopia can attack again with doubled att points" Yuma explained as his monster's att points rose from 2600-5300.

Then he made his monster attack Vector's monster again. Not that Vector was allowing that to happen. He activated the trap called "Extra hundred". With this trap Utopia couldn't destroy his Masquerade either, even though Vector took some major damage to his life points. (3800-1300) Sadly the trap also allowed Utopia to attack once again, but there were some perks to it too. Now when Masquerade was attacked his att points became 100 more than the opponent it was facing. Since Utopia currently had 5200 att points, Masquerade's rose to 5300, and once again his monster send Utopia's attack right back at him. Yuma lost 100 life points once again. He had only 900 life points left now. However, this dark zexal version of Yuma truly didn't care at all.

"I don't care if it is 100 or 1000. I double Utopia's att points again" the boy said and smirked evilly.

He made Utopia's att points rose to 10400 and it attacked again, and since Masquerade was attacked, his att points became 100 more than Yuma's monster. It would be an endless cycle if Yuma didn't stop his reckless and pointless attacks. The only one he was hurting was after all himself. His life points dropped down to 800, but Yuma didn't seem to care. All he cared about was the destruction he created around the field. As long as that happened, Yuma didn't care about what else happened around him. He was clearly influenced by Astral's darkness. Either that or Astral was truly the one in charge here. Vector chuckled darkly at that.

"He has lost his mind. They are destroying themselves, and that makes my job so much easier" the grey barian now uttered to himself.

Yuma's p.o.v.

Yuma continued climbing the stairs inside the Astral statue. He had survived the crumbling blocks who had suddenly fallen down on him. Yuma still didn't know that the reason was because of Astral's lacking trust. He had stained the Astral prince's spirit with doubt, sadness and anger. A lot of anger. For that reason Yuma was soon standing face to face with a group of angry, dark and wild wolves. They were blocking his path and growled angrily at him.

"Nice wolfy. Nice wolfy" Yuma said slowly as he backed away.

He had just said that however, when the wolves attacked. Yuma had no idea if it was because of his comment or if it was just because they wanted to hurt him, but he was not gonna find out. He turned around and ran as fast as he could to get rid of the flock. That did little. One of the wolves charged at him and made him fall to the ground instead. All which made the flock surround him pretty quickly. The one standing on his chest lifted its paw and was about to strike when...

Light emitted around them all and Yuma had to close his eyes for a second. When he opened them again, he was staring up at a ghostly spirit who was hovering above him. It didn't help on Yuma's awestruck face, that he knew this ghost.

"Zaira?!" the lobster haired boy uttered stunned and starred at the ghostly girl above him. The wolves were all looking at her as well and was that hesitation in their gaze?

"Seriously Yuma. What the heck are you doing?" He could hear Zaira complain at him "It is not time to play with animals".

"I am not playing!" Yuma uttered rather offended "They attacked me and...".

His gaze turned towards the wolves who was now just standing there, looking at the newcomer. They were not even looking angry or fierce at all. Although one of them growled a little angrily at Zaira. It was the one standing at his chest. Yuma could see her gaze glare back at the wolf. It was like they had a staring contest. Then the wolf surprisingly began to whine. Like a dog who knew it had done something bad and now had to leave the room by it's master's order, or in this case Alpha's order? The wolf even got of Yuma's chest. The others followed suit around their former leader and were now looking at Zaira, like she was their new leader.

"Good. It was wise of you to do as I say" Zaira then said firmly and made the wolves look apologetic down in the ground now "Yuma is my friend. If I see one wolf attack him without my content, you are so gonna get it".

Surprisingly all the wolves whined as well. It was like this were their way to apologies. Yuma was starring in awe now.

"Yuma your idiot! We don't have time for you to lie on the floor. We gotta save Astral" he could then hear Zaira say and got quickly up on his feet's.

"But I don't understand. How did you do that?" he questioned rather confused and looked at her "How did you even get here? Why are you a...?".

"We really don't have time for this Yuma. I will explain everything when we have saved Astral" Zaira just replied and flew over to one of the wolves "Hey, is there one of you who knows where Astral is? If you do, then show us the way".

Yuma was about to point out that he already knew were Astral was, but he never managed to say anything, because one of the wolves howled and ran up the stairs, making Yuma and Zaira rush after it. As they ran up the stairs, Yuma was sure he heard Zaira mumble something sounding like "It is because I am the wolf princess".

Cy's p.o.v.

A little bit earlier.

Cy and his mistress were staring down on the Sargasso field. To say that both of them were surprised were an understatement. This was not what they had expected would happen when they left that darkness realm. Cy still remembered this strangers warning when they had tried leaving, and this had clearly been that warning he had spoken off. Right now both of them was in spirit form and were looking down at the battle field. Not that it bothered Cy much. He had after all been in this form many times and knew how to retrieve back in his card, whenever it needed it. No the problem clearly lied with his mistress. Zaira was floating beside him and were looking in horror at everything that happened. Beside that she was in this spirit form, Yuma was currently in this dark Zexal form and was facing off against Vector with a lot of menacing and destruction on his way. What was even worse was that Zaira couldn't be seen by anyone beside Cy. Not even the other barians. His mistress had tried. She had been yelling at Vector for over a minute that if he dared to hurt her friends or he was gonna get it. Cy had sighed deeply. Even if this barian could have heard her, he would clearly ignore her. What was also a problem was that his mistress couldn't enter her body again. Mostly because it was locked in the sphere field because of that barrier that was around it. Cy had a feeling that also truly had been the strangers true warning. Being outside her body was clearly not good for his mistress. She was so desperate. She just wanted to do something. Anything to help Yuma and Astral in this moment. Cy was really feeling with her.

"I am going in" Cy could then suddenly hear his mistress say which surprised the blue wolf deeply. "I am a ghost right now, so I should be able to do it. I should be able to enter their Zexal bond and pull both of them back".

"Mistress I don't think that is a good idea..." Cy mused worriedly.

So much could happen and had already happened, and the blue wolf didn't want anything else to happen to his mistress. She was very dear to him after all. But at the same time he also knew he couldn't hold his Mistress back when she had decided on something.

"Okay fine let's get going mistress" Cy said and were about to grab her and toss her up on his back when Zaira surprisingly shook her head.

"No Cy I have to be the only one to go. You are connected to Astral and who knows what will happen to you when you enter Zexal bond with me" his mistress then said and sighed deeply. "I don't want to fight you or anything".

Cy opened his mouth to say something, but in the end ended up closing it. It didn't matter what he said, his mistress was determined to do this.

"Just stay behind and protect my body" Zaira then told him and send him a little smile "Who knows if the barians tries anything or actually wins. I know my body is safe in your paws Cy". The blue wolf nodded eagerly.

"They have to get over my dead body" Cy responded which made Zaira gaze darken.

"Hopefully it won't come to that" she replied and patted his back a little. Then she flew towards this dark Yuma and actually entered his body as the Astral form she was in at the moment.

Time skip.

Cy was growling angrily as he paced back and forth in front of the sphere field. His mistress had been gone a long time. Too long for his taste. Even though Cy had no idea how much time had gone really. He was worried for his mistress. He was after all not there to protect her. Once in a while Cy of course took notice of the duel. Vector and Yuma's duel being the wolf's priory. After all he knew Shark drake and Galaxy eyes could protect their wielders. He was unsure with Utopia since the warrior had been summoned with a barian card and now filled with the dark energy from Chimera clad. It also didn't help that Yuma now only was interested in destruction and didn't care about that he was caught in an endless cycle by Vector. He was literally only shaving away his life points to raise Utopia's for no purpose at all. In such moments, Cy really wished the numbers and xyz monsters could disobey. It was horrible to watch. Properly also one of the reasons Kite and Shark had stopped to focus on their duels too. They were both worried about Yuma.

"Guys this is absolute disastrous" Cy could hear Flip say from inside the ship. After all Cy could hear everything that was connected to the wind.

"If Yuma keeps this up and he gets down to 500 life points, Sargasso's effect is gonna wipe him out" Caswell also added worriedly.

Cy's gaze turned over to this dark Yuma. He was already down to 800 and after this attack he would have lost another 100 life points. Sure Utopia att points rose to 20800, but it did little with Vector's trap in play. Cy just really hoped his mistress would hurry it up.

Zaira's p.o.v.

We ran and ran. Or correction, Yuma and my wolfy side kick was running. I on the other hand was flying or floating. Whatever you prefer. It was not like I did care much about it. Had it been any other day, I might have enjoyed being able to fly like Astral did, but not now. Other things were far more important. Like Astral himself. I was very determined to save him from this darkness. As we reached another staircase our guide let out a quick bark before it slowly began disappearing. I nodded encouraged to the wolf before it disappeared completely. I knew what it had meant. Astral was up there. At the end of the next staircase.

"You ready?" I asked Yuma and turned to him. The lobster haired boy nodded, but then his gaze turned towards the floor. Sadness was shown in his eyes.

"I'm not so sure. I mean Astral is pretty mad at me because of Ray being Vector and all that" Yuma then mumbled worriedly "What if he doesn't accept my apology? And what is worse, what if he doesn't return to his usual self?".

I hummed a little at that, but then send Yuma a reassuring smile. I even placed a ghostly hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it. No one of us knew Ray's true colors, and even if you did, he can be pretty persuasive. I should know. He tricked me" I replied and could see how Yuma looked up at me with worried eyes. I sighed a little at that.

"Yuma don't feel bad. Where is your high five spirit?" I questioned as I tried cheering him up "Listen Astral did not turn evil because of you got it?! Vector is the reason he is behaving like that. He used Astral's naive nature to trick him to the dark side, just as he tricked both of us. After all Astral never felt... You know what I mean...and Vector acted on those new emotions. I am sure your apology will return him to the way he was before, when he remembers our friendship". Yuma nodded eagerly.

"Yeah! You are so right! Let's go Zaira and make Astral high five the sky with us!" He yelled just as eagerly and rushed up the stairs. It was like seeing him at Master Roku's sanctuary all over again. Seconds later I followed him.

As we reached the top, Yuma's tempo got slowed down. I knew why. Yuma in his heart truly wanted to apologies, but he just didn't know how to word it. I placed a hand on his shoulder again and send him an encouraging smile. Then I gave him a little push to make him go the last few steps up. I waited for several minutes before I also entered the room Astral was supposed to be in. I just didn't use the stairs. After all I was a ghost and I felt like Yuma should do this apology on his own, without knowing that I was there. That and I was not even sure Astral could see me. I mean I am still a little bit stunned over that Yuma can, when nobody else can. As I reached the room, I found Astral at this weird shaped window. I was not sure what he was looking at, but he was having his back turned to Yuma at the moment and didn't seem to have noticed any of us as of yet.

"Astral..." Yuma began and made the Astral prince aware of his presence.

"Yuma" Astral acknowledged as he turned his head towards Yuma. "Why are you here?". I could see how Yuma stumbled forward, trying to say something.

"I... I wanted to come here... and say sorry to you" he then managed to get out. I couldn't be prouder.

Astral actually closed his eyes for a second, which I felt rather weird. Sure Vector had done something to him, but the real Astral should still be inside shouldn't he?

"There is no need for that" Astral then replied which confused both of us "You did betray me by keeping your friendship with the barian a secret, so I lost my trust in you".

I could see how Yuma was looking down at the ground once again. He was having that sad look in his eyes and I hissed angrily inside. Sure, Yuma may have done some terrible mistakes here, but that was life! Sometimes you do mess up stuff and sometimes you don't. What was important was to see past that and forgive each other. Everyone deserves a second chance. Just like Yuma gave Shark and I, when we weren't following the law. So why the heck didn't Astral accept his apology?!

"But as a resolve, I have acquired a new power" Astral then suddenly said and turned towards Yuma completely.

Until now he had only had his right side towards him, and now I understood why. The other side of his body was covered in darkness. In some way he reminded me of 96 and Astral merged together. All which just strengthen my resolve in that those two never should merge. He would look like an evil maniac.

"Now I see. Your betrayal and your lies have created within me the power of anger" Astral then told him and smirked like a maniac too. The room began to shake as Astral began unleashing his evil powers "Look Yuma. Just look at me! I am filled with so much power! I want more lying! More betrayal! I need to doubt and have anger. The hatred that it create within me will then give me more power!".

I couldn't handle it any longer. I couldn't stay quiet and watch any longer. I needed to act! It didn't help that Yuma had fell down on his knees, while crying and blaming himself that he had turned one of his best friends into an evil maniac. It needed to stop!

"Astral!" I shouted and moved out of the shadow making the corrupted prince look at me. Apparently, he could see me, because he send me an insane smile as well.

"Ah Zaira you finally showed yourself. Did the barians let you out of the sphere or did you come here yourself?" Astral then said and chuckled darkly "Well no matter. All that matters is that you have appeared. Now I want you to kill Yuma and take his powers for me. Then I will be unstoppable!". I hissed angrily at that.

"Yeah in your dreams!" I yelled back "No ones orders me around! Just come back to your senses Astral. We are your friends! I know Yuma hurt you, but he didn't mean to and he apologies. Just forgive him already!".

"Oh?! And why should I do that, when his betrayal and lies gives me so much power?" Astral then grinned evilly. Then he send me an evil smirk "As for you Zaira... Have you forgotten that you are my protector? My guardian. Your duty is to obey me regardless what. Now get over here!".

It was like someone had pulled in a thread who was in some way bound to me. Astral was pulling in the other end, forcing me, step by step, towards him, I tried to resist, but I couldn't. I was truly bound to Astral. Just as the stranger and Eliphas had mentioned to me. It made me almost cry inside. Was I really only seen as a weapon here?

"Zaira!" I could then hear Yuma scream as he grabbed around my waste and tried to pull me in the other direction. All that it did was Yuma getting pulled along with me. But I was impressed that he didn't give up. Just as usual.

"Yuma your idiot, let go!" I shouted as we both where been pulled further and further towards this dark version of Astral. I didn't doubt that he would kill Yuma, because he had already summoned a giant blue ball of scorching flames.

"No! Never! You are my sister and I won't let anything happen to you. Family stick together!" Yuma shouted loudly. He was still trying to pull me to safety. Then he continued "Besides, this is all my fault. I did this to him".

"That is so true, and I am grateful to you" Astral confirmed and smiled evilly "You Yuma brought above this transformation in me. Now, along with both of your powers and the darkness that is within me, will give me the power to destroy everything I desire. The darkness will then fuel my anger and my wrath will conquer all!".

Then Astral laughed like a maniac and his powers grew and grew. They pulled us both even quicker towards Astral, and I knew we had to do something before it was too late. I had a bad feeling that if we reached Astral's side, everything was done for. My eyes was scanning around for anything that could stop this from happening and in the end my gaze fell upon the window behind Astral. I didn't know why but I knew we had to make Astral leave from here. This place clearly made him this crazy.

"Yuma use all your strength to pull me away from him, and when I say now, you will stop resisting" I then told him. Yuma looked stunned up at me.

"But why? If he gets his...".

"Just do as I say!" I sneered angrily "We need to get Astral out of here. Even if we have to push. Just think of this as bumpy jump".

Yuma's eyes widened but then he nodded. He apparently understood my plan. Even though this was not truly bumpy jump because there was no rubber band, or safety net or... I wouldn't think about all that could go wrong or what would happen to us. I could feel how Astral used even more power to pull us towards him, and when that power was at its peak, I told Yuma to stop, forcing us to fly with extreme speed towards Astral. The Astral being looked surprised at us, but he couldn't stop the power from pulling us towards him, and soon we both slammed into his chest and send him flying, along with us, outside the shattered window.

Vector's p.o.v.

More or less the same time.

Vector chuckled darkly as Yuma activated Chimera clad special effect once again. Utopia's att points rose up to 41600 and just like before Yuma made his monster attack. Because of Vector's trap however, Masquerade att rose up to 41700 and send the attack back at them. Yuma, who was smiling like an insane maniac, looked extremely happy when the destruction was created all around him. He didn't even care that his life points now dropped down to 600. But his friends were a different story. Vector could hear their distressed shout outs and how they wanted Yuma to stop these meaningless attack. After all if Yuma went down to 500 life points, Sargasso's effect would wipe him out. Something Vector was actually a little annoyed about. He wanted to torment Astral and Yuma a bit more. However, then again, his friends cries of agony was also music to his ears. He might even have some fun with them after he had defeated Yuma and Astral of course.

"Let's do this again. Dark charge!" Yuma shouted and activated chimera clad's effect once again. Utopia's att points rose to 83200. It would be an insane amount if it wasn't for Masquerade always having 100 more than its opponent.

"Yes attack me and seal your doom" Vector encouraged this dark Yuma. He could hear the horror filled cries from Yuma's friends and Vector chuckled evilly. Soon this would be all over.

Sadly, that wasn't the case, however. Utopia was about to attack when Yuma then suddenly stirred and let out a painful cry. He got lifted up in the air and suddenly the dark zexal form split into too beings. One red, being Yuma and a blue one being Astral. Both of them hit the ground seconds later, and Astral seem to have gotten rid of his dark influence. Not that it mattered much since the Astral prince was flashing in and out. Both of them actually seem to rather beat up.

"Mistress!".

A voice could suddenly hear a voice say and something in the color of blue was rushing passed him. A cold breeze of wind even hit Vector's face, making the grey and black Barian look puzzled around. "Wait wasn't that my sister's newest pet wolf? Yeah, her number, cyclone beast wolf. What is it doing here? Have Zaira summoned it or? His eyes wandered over to Dumon's field. A screen connected there showed him his sister inside the red sphere field. She was still out of it though. Vector's eyes narrowed in confusion. What was going on here? He could however see how Yuma was slowly getting up and had his attention turned towards Astral.

"Astral! Zai..." But he didn't manage to say anything more, because two screens popped up in front of him to Vector's annoyance.

"Yuma listen! You have to stop Utopia ray V's attack!" Shark shouted at one screen.

"Stop it now Yuma or it is all over!" Kite yelled in as well.

Yuma turned quickly over to the duel and noticed that Utopia was about to attack. Vector was sure Yuma didn't have a clue what was going on at the moment, but he did as Kite and Shark told him to and ended his turn, and thereby Utopia's attack. Vector growled annoyed at that.

"Fine! Then suffer Sargasso's effect" he then uttered as lightning appeared in the sky.

Vector could see how Yuma rushed over and tried shielding Astral from the effect, and he did manage more or less. He got hit instead to Vector's amusement and lost 500 life points. He had only 100 life points remaining.

"Ha-ha, you only have 100 life points left and you are down to your last card" Vector then mocked "And speaking of down, your friend is looking a little down on his luck Yuma. Just give up". Then he chuckled evilly once again.

"No! Never!" Yuma then shouted angrily back, making Astral look weakly up at him "There is just no way you can stop me!".

"Ha. Well have it your way" Vector responded and drew.

He activated the spell "Rank up magic barian's force" to rank up his Masquerade into a chaos xyz monster. Vector could feel how the chaos floated out from his own barian door and engulfed his monster as it entered the overlay network. Yuma was gonna regret that he didn't surrender when he had the chance. Now it was too late.

"Appear C. Nb 104 Umbral horror Masquerade!" Vector then shouted and saw how his newest monster materialized.

It was still his masquerade although the monster had gained a long red cloak like it was a magician and a black staff with a red crystal at its end. It was now a rank 5 monster with 3000 att points and 1500 def points, along with some other new effects, which Vector didn't want to reveal as of yet.

"Vector's chaos number" Yuma uttered in horror which pleased Vector. He always loved the frightened look on his victims faces before he killed them.

"Duo to Barian forces effect my Xyz monster absorbs all of Utopia's overlay units" he then informed Yuma and made Masquerade steal the only Ou from Utopia.

By doing so Utopia ray v lost 300 att points. (83200-82900) But Vector was not done yet. Since his Umbral horror masquerade was special summoned, he was now allowed to destroy a spell or trap card on Yuma's field. Vector of course chose Chimera clad since it was counted as an equip spell card right now, and by doing so, Utopia ray V lost all those extra att points chimera clad had given him. It only had 2300 att now.

"Oh no Chimera clad!" Yuma uttered rather stunned.

"It appears that shaving away your own life points to raise Utopia's attack points have all gone to waste" Vector said and chuckled darkly. He then made his monster attack to finish Yuma off for good.

However, once again Vector got surprised by Yuma's determination to not give up. He had quickly got his hang on the duel once again and activated the trap called "Xyz revenge shuffle". With this trap in play, even though Masquerade destroys Utopia ray v, Yuma takes no damage and Utopia ray v is send back to his extra deck instead of the graveyard. Yuma could now summon another xyz monster to take Utopia ray v place. He of course summoned "Nb 39 Utopia". There were two catches, however. Vector's Masquerade was allowed to attack again and...

"Did you forget already?" Vector replied and chuckled evilly "When you summon an xyz monster, Sargasso's effect will finish you off".

"I activate 'Interceptomato' special effect from the graveyard" Yuma then said and surprised him big time "By banishing this card, I don't take damage from Sargasso, so I am still alive and kicking your butt".

Vector could see how this tomato shaped monster appeared from Yuma's grave and stopped Sargasso's effect. Vector figured that was one of these 30 cards he send to the grave earlier in the duel.

"This changes nothing. My Masquerade will attack your utopia and finish you off anyway" he then told Yuma and did make his monster attack. He could the anger rose in Yuma's face, but then suddenly something must have dawned to him, because his face now looked a lot more determined.

"I banish 'spell recycler' from my graveyard to activate its effect" Yuma then uttered "That let's me send one card from my deck to the graveyard, to return the spell card from the bottom of my graveyard back to my deck".

Vector rolled his eyes at that. He knew what Yuma was trying to do. He was trying to get the rank up magic card he gave him back into his deck. Not like that changed much.

"Whatever" Vector responded and shrugged. Yuma had just discarded his last card in his deck to get the barian card he had given him back into his deck. But it was not like he would be able to use it, because Masquerade was gonna end this now!

Or so did Vector believe. The reality was a completely different story. That card Yuma had sent into the graveyard, to get the barian card back, had been "Xyz agent" and now that it was in the graveyard Yuma could activate its effect. By banishing this card, and two xyz monsters were about to battle it out, Xyz agent could make it so that Utopia didn't need to use an Ou this turn to activate it's effect. Soon the known light wind shield appeared, and Utopia stopped Masquerade's attack, to Vector's annoyance. Then he chuckled darkly.

"Still thinking you have a chance?" He then asked Yuma and grinned "Well I will just use my Umbral's special effect to fix that. By using one chaos Ou, not only do I send one card in your hand to the grave, but you also lose half your life points. So I think I will use two chaos Ou to double the fun".

Yuma let out a scream as two beams from Masquerade's staff hit him hard in the chest. The power was jolting to say the least and Yuma soon were lying on the ground with only 25 life points remaining. It didn't help that the two only cards in his hands got send to the graveyard as well.

"Say goodbye to two cards you can't afford to lose" Vector mocked. His eyes were filled with glee "You have 25 life points, one card in your deck and no cards in your hand. You still think you have a chance?".

Then he laughed like crazy. However, it annoyed Vector to no end that Yuma's eyes were still filled with hope. Any normal person would have given up long ago, but not Yuma. That was one of the reasons Vector had been looking so forward to beating him. To see that light of hope disappear from his eyes. To see his spirit finally be broken. That would truly be music to his ears and create joy in his purple eyes. Vector chuckled a little and looked down at the trap card in his hands. This should finish him off. Barian explosion deals him 1000 points of damage for every Barian card in Yuma's hand. Vector chuckled darkly as he placed the card face down on the field and ended his turn. He couldn't wait to see Yuma's shocked face, when he revealed what he had in store for him.

A,N: And cut. I know I am being cruel, but this chapter would have been too long otherwise, or do you want an over 20 pages to read? If that is the case then inform me and I will gladly do that next time. As for the next chapter I promise this will be the concluding chapter for the Sargasso event. With an interesting ending to boot. So hope that makes you excited. 😉