Regional Hall

Marching through hordes of Reversed fighters, Grand Ezel Scissors walked with her like a bodyguard - a Stand almost. The duo moved quickly, having the Chosen Sword deal with the infected up close until the lion could approach from behind and snip away at their locks. The girl and her best friend unreversed people on their war path, trying to make it to the park to stop Seifer, while also... tracking down the Clown. After awhile, they wound up traveling around the Regional Hall. It was odd, as Chaos Breaker wasn't anywhere in sight, nor was his vessel, but they were sure his distortion reading was here.

"You sure that thing isn't busted?" Ezel inquired.

"I sure hope not."

"Heeeey! Big bad! Can we get to the final boss already? And none of your final form crap!"

Yugure whacked Ezel. "Idiot, don't shout random RPG stereotypes like that trying to make him show up! And keep your voice down anyway, we don't want to attract any more mobs", the woman scolded. The golden warrior nursed his aching skull by rubbing it, wincing in pain.

"I mean, it's just, his vessel might be into that stuff! Maybe. Or was it anime?"

"... Where did you hear this?"

"Being Tsubasa's buddy, I'm privy to some stuff he tends to talk about. I heard him talking about some kid who likes... manga, I think? Some kid like that who could be using Chaos Breaker. He doesn't seem to take Vanguard seriously."

This person was going around acting like some sort of reaper, wielding a scythe and all, reversing the masses by thrusting void into their hearts. Thinking on it, that same entity mocked her for using card games to settle world matters. ... This approach might not work unless they start a city-wide battle with each other then, which was bad. Though, the Chosen Sword was starting to remember something...

... Something as Yukino Espoir.

"It's just a game", someone significant said to her a long time ago. She couldn't remember his name and barely his face, if at all. The only striking resemblance between the memory and the entity... was a black school uniform. When Ezel appeared and attacked Chaos Breaker back at the beach, the Figure's appearance distortion faded somewhat. That's when a glimpse of those clothes were caught.

It was no good, however. The woman simply couldn't remember.

But she had an idea.

With the scythe rested horizontally on the back of his deck, held in place by his wrists at both ends of the scythe for balance the figure circled the Regional Hall's building, looking around for any people not yet infected with Reverse.

Someone's voice echoed around the Hall, being loud enough to be heard from the outside. Having recognized the person, the Figure pressed on the lower end of the scythe with his hand and let go of the other end, giving the scythe a spin and launching it into the air where he'd catch it and move on into the Hall towards the source of the voice.

And just like he guessed, it was Yugure. The one person to not only succesfully resist the Reverse after being directly stabbed in the heart infront of his eyes, but also the first person to actually hurt Chaos Breaker Dragon's image. On top of that they were alone, not counting Ezel.

Upon getting closer to her, the Figure threw the scythe right at her. Not aiming for the heart, but for the head instead.

Soldier's instinct immediately screamed "watch out", turning around quickly to deflect the scythe away with her sword just barely. Ezel, thinking he saw where it came from, let loose a mighty roaring shockwave from his mouth in an attempt to force their attacker into the open.

The Chosen Sword was fixated on the scythe, knowing that the radar was right. They found their target.

"Clown!" They shouted.

Signaled by the sound of footsteps echoing around the empty hall, he entered through one of the many hallways leading to it, shrugging his arms.

"Well, that was my best shot. Oh well." He completely ignored their taunting and instead just stopped infront of her. The large figure of Chaos Breaker was nowhere to be seen either, just like back at the rooftop with Tsubasa.

"Surely there's a reason why you decided to go looking around a large empty hall that's not going to be used anytime soon?"

"Looking for you, the one who wields Link Joker's strongest."

Yugure could've said more, a sort of taunt about how this Figure is likely to get everyone killed if they kept on. However, she decided to choose her words carefully. This person found it idiotic to bet the world or anything of ridiculous heroism on a card game. Unfortunately, a game of cards was the only way to ensure this doesn't escalate into mass destruction from a duel between them.

Ease him out of the thought of using that scythe again.

Meanwhile, Ezel found himself turning a lot, looking all over the place. He remembered quite clearly the Clown was with the Figure. However, for some odd reason, the cyber dragon wasn't even here.

"I wanted to talk." Yugure added.

"Unusual. I bet you think that you can keep my attention and then ambush me or evacuate something, eh?" he asked, stretching his hand out towards the direction his scythe was deflected in, which after a second would lift itself from the ground and blast off towards Yugure once again in attempts to harm her. Then regardless of the outcome, back to the figure's hand.

"But go ahead, are you surrendering yet?" he once again asked, ignoring and being completely casual about the fact that he attempted at taking her life seconds ago.

Goddammit, he used the scythe again. Thanks to hearing the weapon pluck itself out of the floor, the Sword of Courage was used to successfully block it again, and they watched it go back to the wielder. "I'm not trying to ambush you, and there's nobody to evacuate", the woman tried to assure. Hopefully there wouldn't be a need to evacuate, anyway.

"I'm not exactly surrendering, but..." Here goes nothing. "Awhile back... you defeated me while I was using Revengers, and I would've been Reversed if not for my friend here."

"Whooooo meeeee?" Ezel flashed a cheesy grin with a goofy tone of face.

"Naturally... my pride was still wounded by your scythe after our... game", she lied. Well, somewhat lied. The Yukino Espoir in her was genuinely upset for losing. The Yugure Espoir in her was more concerned with the fact that Chaos Breaker wasn't dead. Then, the girl gently placed her blade on the floor. "I would like to restore my broken ego by having a rematch against you... with this game."

She put emphasis on the game.

"While you don't have to humor me, I would like you to know this. Concerning other affairs, I am the overall commander of the army fighting against Reverse and the like. To your benefit, crushing me underfoot twice in a row would surely drill 'card games to save the world is stupid, and you're all idiots' into our skulls. Not only that, but it'd make a good laugh, I suppose."

Ezel was sort of visibly baffled by his vanguard's words. Yugure stood by them, however. Yukino Espoir's pride was screaming in fury for making such asinine remarks for a stupid bet. This was still the only way to get to Chaos Breaker.

"Now that's different." Without even really thinking about it, he put the scythe to the side and a table hologram erupted between the two of them.

"Figures your pride would be wounded after being so destroyed, but sure why not."

The fight started the moment both fighters flipped their Vanguard up.
As the fight progressed the Figure didn't ride a Grade 3 turn after turn. Yet despite that he managed to attain tremendous advantage with Grade 2's alone. Critical Trigger after another and before both fighters knew it the score was 3 damage to 5 with the Figure's favor.

Even with the advantage of Twin Drive Yugure struggled to protect herself, barely making it to the point where he finally rode a Grade 3 - Infinite Zero Dragon. At that moment the roof of the Regional Hall slowly strated to crumble, and eventually got shattered completly with Yugure's Stride Generation release, Aurageyser Dragon. She left not a single rearguard on her field, giving her opponent nothing to lock. But as a result, Aurageyser was stopped by a simple Perfect Guard.

"Leaving your field wide open like that won't do you any good you know. Lock is just supposed to make things easier. I don't need it." the figure explained, discarding a Grade 3 from his hand to the Drop Zone.

"Stride Fusion, Death Star-vader, Quintessence Dragon!" at the signal of those words a large black ring warped into existence above the Hall, and from it opened a large gate dropping off a girgantuan dragon "Quintessence Dragon". It's attack nearly blew up one half of the entire building, simply being stopped by Yugure. At the end of the Figure's turn, the ring "ate" Quintessence Dragon, leaving only destruction as a mark of it ever existing.

Durning his next turn, Chaos Breaker Dragon finally made an appereance, in card form. He was still gone physically. All of Yugure's field got conquered by Lock as the Clown's laugh echoed around the fighters.

Yet he still lost, Yugure's Liberate the Lock which affected even Locked units, units that aren't even supposed to exist on the field. Leaving quite an impression on the Figure. And annoying him in a way. Not only could she resist Reverse but also affect Lock itself. With a tremendous 43000 power Critical 3 strike from Monarch Alfred and no heal triggers, the fight ended.

The figure packed up his deck, shruging it off and then.. Above them, Chaos Breaker's large figure suddenly appeared swinging his gigantic scythe towards Yugure. The figure too, grabbed his scythe and blasted off towards his opponent, aiming for a double sided lethal strike alongside Chaos Breaker.

For better or for worse, the trap to keep the Figure's attention worked. They began a game of cards, no weapons or powers. This person was incredible at obtaining massive rush hands, as this is the second time Yugure found herself pressured by the invaders' second turn. The Chosen Sword didn't believe this was dumb luck. No, Critical Trigger after Trigger with a full field on the Figure's Grade 2 turn was a display of raw power. It was natural, seeing as aside from the Seeds, he was the absolute top of Link Joker. Dark Band, Freeze Ray, Infinite Zero, even Nebula Lord found themselves hating the Clown because of his treachery and trickery. But it wasn't just that. They simply could not compare to Chaos Breaker alone. A demon genius that toys with hope and despair, laughing madly as everything dies or begs to die in front of him. Calculated and powerful was he to the point where he was basically the true, greatest threat of Star-vaders.

Then there was the catch.

He didn't get a Grade 3.

The best timing, as Yugure's own Grade 3 surplus curse did not come. Though a surplus of triggers did, they provided shields she'd desperately need. Twin Drive was supposed to give her the advantage, but the backs of the United Sanctuary were still pushed to a wall. Even with the Armor of the Genuine King, Alfred was stared down by Infinite Zero Dragon finally arriving onto the battlefield.

That's when her plan began.

Exerting her massive focus, and accidentally a large amount of power, Aurageyser Dragon was summoned. The abyss dragon centaur G Unit that tore Yugure apart whenever she called it... Not only did it arrive on Cray and begin thrashing about, oh no. It was brought into reality, and blew a large chunk of the Regional Hall apart. Maybe even half of it in total. "You're weak", he stated to the Chosen Sword again. "But it's alright, you can become strong."

She listened.

Even if he seemed to have an arrogant might-boasting mentality, adding on to what felt like a mindset similar to the Dragon of Hell... Yugure listened to him and valued his opinion. As it stood, she was weak, and she needed him. Yes... she needed his power. His unshakable power that shook the world. To prevent her allies from falling into a slumber, Alm moved to soul early, and her only two rearguards on the field were retired for Aurageyser's skill. Though he was Perfect Guarded, what she aimed for was resources. To tip balance back toward her favor, she needed enough cards in her hand to burst and strike him down hard.

Unfortunately, Stride wasn't just for them and the Seeds. The Figure performed something called "Stride Fusion", summoning what looked like a massive behemoth variation of Infinite Zero himself. Naturally, the appearance of another G Unit basically destroyed the rest of the building. However, it was summoned by one of the terrifying Gates that suddenly materialized into the sky. Even with the gigantic commander coming down, the soldier successfully defended the golden warriors. The Gate "devoured" the Star-vader G Unit, leaving the catastrophe of the area the only evidence that it existed.

However, that didn't change that Star-vaders were being evened with.

Yugure took the offensive with rearguards, finally. An assault of Liberators that came after a myriad of triggers began whittling at the binding forces of the black rings. Ahmes himself stood with his now resolved king, charging through the front lines. While they didn't all make the finishing blow, they did what was necessary. They reduced the Figure's hand size.

Throughout the fight, the Chosen Sword felt like his mocking of "we" and her emotional speeches... have been done before this year. She asked if they had met before, and he said they hadn't. It still felt like they did...

... Wait.

... When was she able to determine the person she's facing was actually male?

Regardless, proceedings were about to take a turn for the worst.

In fact, it did even worse than that.

A laugh.

A sinister, circus kind of insanity categorized cackling.

The Clown - Chaos Breaker Dragon appeared, and even if they were here specifically to find him, nobody expected him to practically decimate their forces within minutes. Yugure's whole field was locked except for one open circle, and at the end of her next turn, Chaos Breaker would draw the Figure four cards, along with basically killing what was put into slumber. If they couldn't stop him now, they'd never be able to. But... how could they when the Liberator forces were already torn apart?! The Clown keeps getting them, he keeps destroying their "bonds" by locking them away from each other entirely. Driven to despair by sheer loneliness, those who were absolved from lock were practically left begging to join their friends.

But not them.

The Chosen Sword and the Genuine King simply stood against adversity, and Yugure was wondering what to do next. The whole world was on the verge of ending if they couldn't stop Chaos Breaker at some point. If they couldn't stop another Seed from being born. Sera - Glendios was going to be able to seal everything into an endless slumber. The entire reason for the woman coming back from an annihilated timeline would be for naught. ... So they simply had to make it so it wasn't in vain. Just as she herself told everyone "just do it", "simply do it", that's all that was needed. ... Yugure proceeded to make an odd decision, calling another Blaster Blade Liberator to that last circle. She only had two boosters locked, and it was in the back row, so it would do nothing as it is. Even so... the woman closed her eyes, and found herself on the battlefield in Blaster Blade's armor. Surprise and shocked gazes met the girl on Cray. This... is something impossible. She could synchronize with her avatars, yet... Ahmes was locked.

Exculpate the Blaster, with her base avatar, stood on Cray at the same time.

The Chosen Sword's eyes shining once again with a fully glowing iris, the same golden swords forming her pupils just as they did with the birth of Exculpate after Majesty Lord... Questions would come later. Doubt can come later. Alfred's Limit Break activated, taking his vanguard's hand. All of hear rearguards would go to the top of deck and she would call five cards... except four of them technically did not "exist". Lock ensured that. Despite this, the black rings began breaking. The Monarch shined a glorious light upon his people... It wasn't directly chopping away at them like Ezel's scissors. No... A power like and unlike that of the Messiah. It was not "unlock". It was "Liberate the Lock".

All those under the grasp of a spell shot toward the sky, transforming into streams of light.

"Awaken warriors of the world, and save it!"

At His Majesty's command, the comets shot down onto the earth, revealing every soldier to be free.

They were all finally free.

The miracle that had occurred resulted in hope itself basking in triumph: two Blaster Blade Liberators side-by-side with King Alfred. Even more so, with amazing power that tore her scar wound open once again, a Double Ultimate Break was reached. At the eleventh hour, when Yugure and Ahmes were called to war, the True King would gain massive power, on top of a Critical, and on top of his own passive power gained for the presence of his comrades. The Blasters moved the only intercept in the way, and with grandiose shoulder cannons, holy fury was blasted forth, ending the longstanding war against them with the Figure's sixth damage.

Meanwhile, she was sure of it... They had definitely met before. In fact, they had met here in the Regional Hall for some reason as well... A reason that was her own fault...

... The Figure began leaving. That was fine, as Chaos Breaker was defeated, so they didn't... need to... bother him. That's what they wanted to believe before the Clown appeared on Earth. An enormous scythe of void energy came swinging down for the girl herself, and even his vessel turned around, darting toward her. This scythe-pincer was to ensure she couldn't escape and one of them would not Reverse her... but kill her. That thought didn't cause her to waver in the slightest, and in fact, fueled her incredibly amplified power. In a crisis, Ezel went back to his card form to pass the baton. Monarch Sanctuary Alfred was summoned behind her. The absurd bulk design of his armor halted the scythes in place so they wouldn't close in on her. Chaos Breaker and the Figure's weapons were beginning to break through, and in response... Exculpate the Blaster and Alfred both let out a battle cry - a roar of defiance as the shoulder cannons of the king's armaments fired Sacred Sparkle directly at the duo!

"Shatter and be deeeessssstttttrrrrrrooooyyyyyyyeeeeeeed!"

Much to his surprise the sudden two sided attack from him and his partner was blocked, even when the blows were slowly starting to break through, the moment they noticed Alfred charging up a beam they both jumped back with flashbacks of what happened on the Beach long ago invading both of their heads.

"Not this time I'm afraid." the Figure exclaimed, and then quickly blasted away, escaping from Yugure.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, on Cray's plane of existence.

Not on the land, not under the sea, not up in the sky, not even inside the universe. In a space severed from everything, the scythe-wielding dragon laughed, gazing over a large capsule almost completely filled with liquid.

"It's almost done.. thanks to those Human fools.. haha.." he laughed once again to himself, watching as it slowly became full. With a single press of a button a machine elevated itself under the capsule. The machine was connected to several vessels. Of different sizes, these vessels were filled by whirling black flames.  Infront of all this was what looked to be a large set of armor in the shape of a humanoid.

Once again, a button was pressed and all the liquid mixed with the black flames who were then sent inside the armor. Chaos Breaker extended his arm above it, and slit his wrist with his enormou scythe, almost severing his hand off completely. Blood dripped onto the armor, and into it.

"Despair, take your shape!" the Dragon yelled, after a brief moment of silence millions of screams echoed from inside the armor, many different voices screaming in pain and sorrow.

Without caring about its enlarging wrist wound, the Dragon raised its two arms exaggerately, and shortened the distance between its two palms gradually. As if responding to its action, the armor twitched.

"I see. This is the shape of the despair they tasted. Sorrow, fear, regret.. I should call it the composite of all negative emotion!"

Gradually, it stood up, raised its arm, clenched its fist, as if confirming how much it could move.

"Marvellous!"

Chaos Breaker looked up at the Colossus, raising its arm again with a voice of exclamation. It, a being that was supposed to gain pleasure only from the pain of others, was excited.

"Time to wake up, Creator of the End, 'Omega'. No.."

Born from the whim of the Dragon, the Doomsday Weapon of Star-vaders.

"My masterpiece, 'Omega' Glendios!"

"ORRRGGGGHHHHH!!"

From its demonic mask purple flame spewed out. The soul-chilling first cry of the Colossus shook every piece of Cray's land, it's armor slowly started to crack with red flames spewing from every hole

"..?!" the Dragon couldn't even react to this, this isn't something he expected to happen.

Once again, the Colossus let out a scream, all lights in the lab started flashing red and all possible alarms went off

"This shouldn't be happening..!" Chaos Breaker panicked for the very first time, attempting to evacuate from this disaster.

The armor partially exploded, leaving only the gloves, helmet, chest piece and legs intact, everything else was consumed by the expanding flames, and so eventually was the entire lab. In all of the derbis, no signs of Chaos Breaker were found.

Dark skies engulfed all of Planet Cray.. and a large black ring manifested itself, a large majority of it.

Alfred vanished as the two opposition managed to avoid the blasts of light. The glowing of the Chosen Sword's eyes dimmed somewhat, afterward. The girl winced in pain, unused to the searing sensation like she was years ago. Her head was pulsating with pain, still bleeding. Helicopters and the like were coming in, news reporters and Espoir soldiers. Using military authority, they quickly sealed off the area. They pleaded with Yugure to get her wound checked, but she rejected the thought. There wasn't any time left.

He was on Cray.

Glendios was on Cray.

They failed to stop him from getting there, and now the end of the world is at their doorstep.

The Chosen Sword sent a text to everyone with Resistance connection.

"Glendios reached Cray, we couldn't kill the Clown in time. All we can do is try to stop him. I'm sending coordinates to every able body to find Chaos Breaker's vessel, which likely received the Clown's creation of this timeline. The situation is critical, and the chance of another Seed happening is extremely high.

Use caution, but do not lose heart.

I'm going to find Haruka. The rest of you prioritize the apocalyptic weapon, and confirm the Figure's identity."

She left, still bleeding.

As Cero stumbled into the empty regional halls, he searched for a first aid kid. He had to take care of the wound, even a little, before anything else. After some time, he found one, and did his best to patch his leg up. It probably wasn't enough but it was better than nothing. When he got back to the training facility, the staff there would take better care of it. If Cero let them. He probably wouldn't. Eventually, Cero walked his way into the viewing hall and laid down in the stands. Not the most comfortable place, especially for a King, but it's better than the broken door of a shop nobody cares about.