CW: spiders, not exactly Houdini out of life but soul goes bye bye but bye bye willing. Idk how to explain it without spoiling the chapter

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(3rd Person PoV)

"I begin my turn," Rudger said and the alter behind him lit up a fire, signifying that an Earthbound Immortal Counter was gained.

"I summoned Ground Spider (ATK: 0. DF:1500) in defense mode," he added on.

Another monster in Defense position. If this keeps up, then he'll be able to summon an Earthbound Immortal and take their souls, Yusei looked over at the kids who were crying.

"I set a card down and end my turn," Rudger said.

It was now Yusei's turn and he scanned the field.

I need to remove the amount of monsters in defense mode but if I destroy them by battle, then my monster will get forced into defense mode due to Spider Web's effect, he thought. He has to be careful.

"I use Road Warrior's effect! Once per turn, I can special summon a level 2 or lower monster. I special summon Speed Warrior (ATK: 900. DF: 400)!" Yusei shouted.

"I activate Ground Spider's effect. If it's in defense mode and my opponent normal summons or special summons a monster in attack mode, then once per turn, I can switch that monster's position to defense!" Rudger said.

A web shot out of Ground Spider's mouth and tied down Speed Warrior, turning him blue to signify that Speed Warrior is now in defense mode.

If this keeps up, he'll be able to summon his Earthbound immortal next turn, Aki thought, worried.

"I activate the Spell card, Advance Draw! By releasing a level 8 or higher monster, I'm able to draw two cards," Yusei stated.

Road Warrior disappeared in a sparkling light and Yusei drew two cards from his deck.

"Desperate move to lessen the monsters in defense mode, I see," Rudger noted.

But Yusei wasn't done yet.

"And now I release Speed Warrior to special summon Turrent Warrior (ATK: 1200. DF:2000)! When a Warrior type monster is tributed to special summon Turrent Warrior from my hand, it'll gain the attack points of the tributed monster," Yusei explained.

1200 —> 2100 ATK

"Attack Ground Spider! Revolving Shot!" Yusei shouted.

Cannons from Turrent Warrior turned to Ground Spider and shot it.

Because it was in defense mode, Rudger didn't lose any life points.

Then threads of webbing shot up and pulled Turrent Warrior down, switching it to defense mode.

"I set a card down and end my turn," Yusei said.

He managed to turn the tides by having only one remaining monster in defense mode. Yusei...you're amazing, Aki thought.

In a nearby building, Ushio, Martha and Grian arrived.

"Looks like this is where Yusei is dueling," Grian noted.

"Martha look! The children!" Ushio pointed and Martha gasped.

"Ushio, Martha, Grian! If he summons an Earthbound Immortal, then the kids will be in danger!" Aki warned them.

"Oh no! They're in the geogylph! This is bad, their souls will get sacrificed," Grian explained.

This scared Martha and she poked her head out of the window.

"Yusei! Stop playing around and save the children!" She shouted.

Yusei gave her an acknowledgment nod before turning his attention to Rudger who was laughing.

"It is now my turn," he drew a card and as he did this, another flame lit up on the alter.

"I congratulate you for using various techniques to prevent me from getting all four counters but that still isn't enough for I activate Offerings to the Bound Deity! At the cost of half of my life points, I'm able to place 2 Earthbound Immortal counters on the alter!" Rudger shouted.

3400 —> 1700 LPS

And just like that, the two remaining fires lit up.

The alter imploded and a purple beam shot up into the air and out of that beam, came out a Shell heart that began beat as the black fog around it was getting sucked into it.

"The souls of those in Satellite are in the fog and will now be sacrificed to the Earthbound Immortal!" Rudger shouted.

There was a cry and Yusei turned around to see the kids who looked like their souls were getting sucked out of their bodies.

No...I failed again! I couldn't prevent another Earthbound Immortal from being summoned, he thought.

Martha cried out the names of the kids and everyone thought that it was too late to save them...

...

Until...

Vrooom!

A white Duel Runner was flying through the air and the rider was none other than...

"Jack?" Grian asked.

"Earthbound Immortals are nothing special to me!" He shouted.

"Jack, the children!" Martha called out.

"Don't worry! Jack Atlas never gives up on his young fans!" Jack assured her.

His Duel Runner went through the flames and landed on the ground. Jack left his Duel Runner and raced towards the kids.

He grabbed them and held them close to him. Suddenly, his Signer mark began to glow and a bubble shield surrounded the three of them which prevented the kids' souls from being sacrificed.

"He did it," Ushio noted.

"Jack, thank you!" Martha called out.

Yusei took a breath of relief as he then turned his attention to Rudger who was laughing.

"And now I call forth the god of death! Descend, Earthbound Immortal Uru (ATK: 3000. DF: 3000)!" He shouted.

Then the shell heart opened up and a large spider monster with red glowing lines towered over the buildings, it was that huge.

It roared which caused a ripple in the air.

Rua, Ruka, Mikage, Seiga, Etho and Joel all arrived on a nearby rooftop to see the duel. Ruka's arm was glowing.

"There is it. An Earthbound Immortal," Joel said.

Back at the ground, Jack got up while staying near the kids. He looked at Yusei.

"Oi, Yusei. Hurry up and crush that Earthbound Immortal," he told him.

"Right!" Yusei acknowledged this but then Rudger chuckled at this.

"How naive. Earthbound Immortals stand above all else like the great ultimate energy that is Movement! Heh...how amusing. To think all of this time, that my opponent today is none other than Professor Fudo's son," he said.

!

"What? How do you know my father?" Yusei asked.

"I was an assistant of his, I worked alongside him. Oh and there was one other assistant. My younger brother, Rex Goodwin," Rudger explained.

"Goodwin?" Yusei was confused.

"We were his assistants at M.I.D.S. However, sometime during Movement's development, Professor Fudo ordered all testing and development on Movement to be stopped due to the dangers that were associated with the negative rotations. However, sponsors and Neo Domino City wouldn't allow that to happen so they left me in charge of the project. And so, the Zero Reverse happened," Rudger explained, almost proud to be apart of such a devastating event.

"You...did you intentionally set off the explosion that caused Zero Reverse!?" Yusei shouted.

"Who knows?" Rudger chuckled.

Yusei made a fist. He was pissed off.

"Why did you do it? What happened between you, my father and Goodwin!?" He demanded.

"Your time to know what happened is up! Earthbound Immortal Uru, attack Yusei Fudo directly! Hell Thread!" Rudger shouted.

A large spider webbing shot out of Uru's mouth and was about to collide with Yusei.

"It's over," Rudger said.

"Trap card, Iron Resolve! By paying half my life points, any battle damage that I would have taken gets reduced to zero and it ends the battle phase," Yusei said, quickly.

1600 —> 800 LPS

A barrier appeared and shielded Yusei from the attack. The webbing hit the nearby building though.

"I set a card down and end my turn then," Rudger said.

The impact of the attack made the building rumble and shake. The same building that Martha, Ushio and Grian were in.

Grian held onto the window still for dear life and Martha was about to fall over when Ushio grabbed her.

"Thank you," she told them.

Unbeknownst to them, Scar was on the stairs when the building began to shake.

He held onto the railing and when it stopped, he had to forcibly let go of the railing.

What's going on out there, he thought.

Then a scream could be heard up on the roof.

"Takuya!" Martha cried.

"He's on the roof!" Grian realized.

The three of them carefully went up towards the roof where it was sloped down.

Takuya was at the lower end and the three of them were at the higher end.

Martha, without hesitation, began to make her way over to Takuya.

"Martha!" Ushio and Grian cried, concerned for her safety.

"I'm sorry, Martha. I just wanted to help," Takuya told her.

"It's alright. You must have courage in order to join Security," Martha assured him.

"Martha, Takuya," Ushio reached out a hand to help them up as the two of them made their way back to the higher end.

"Go on," Martha urged Takuya to take Ushio's hand.

As he did so, Grian leaned over to take Martha's hand but then Martha slipped and went sliding down.

Grian almost bowled over when someone grabbed the back of his sweater.

He turned his head around to see...

"Scar?"

Scar was holding onto the side of the doorway with one hand and with the other, was grabbing the back of Grian's sweater, which made him dangle in the air.

Martha looked to see that they were safe before trying to climb back but then slid again.

"Martha!" Ushio called out.

Martha looked at her situation before shaking her head with a sad smile on her face.

"Don't give up! You can climb back!" Ushio called out to her.

"...take care of Takuya. You are his hero after all," she told him.

"I'm no hero...I...I...I looked down on all of you in Satellite. I don't deserve to be called a hero," Ushio admitted with tears in his eyes.

"Scar, lower me down so I can grab Martha," Grian told him.

Scar didn't respond as he strained to hold onto Grian's sweater.

"Scar!" Grian yelled and Scar looked away.

"Martha!" Yusei and Jack called out to their foster mother.

Martha looked at them with the same sad smile. "You two were good kids," she said before adding on, "you will build the bridge between the city and Satellite."

One final slid and Martha fell off the edge of the building.

"MARTHA!" Yusei, Jack, Aki shouted.

No no no! I have to help her! I can't let her be sacrificed! Grian thought.

Do you though? You barely know that woman. Why risk your life over a stranger, ⊬⍜⎍ ⍙⏃⏁☊⊑⟒⍀, a voice in the back of Grian's head told him.

His eyes widen at this and his face turned pale.

"Martha!" Takuya yelled.

As she was falling, Martha transfigured into a blob of light which got sucked into the Earthbound Immortal.

One more soul for a god of death.

!

"N-no...," Yusei said in shock.

Then on the building, Ushio and Takuya slid down to one side, Ushio grabbing onto Takuya.

Scar strained to lift Grian to his side so he could hold onto the side of the doorway as well.

"Yusei...defeat that Earthbound Immortal!" Jack shouted.

"Yusei, Ushio and Takuya are in danger," Aki said.

"We'll be fine! Don't worry about us!" Ushio called out as he climbed up back to the upper side.

While this was happening, Rudger laughed, "Isn't this delightful?"

"You...you'll pay for this," Yusei said in a low voice, angered. His eyes were blazing with rage.

"My turn! I summon Junk Synchron (ATK: 1300. DF: 500) and then I use its effect to revive Turbo Booster (ATK: 0. DF: 0)!" He shouted.

His two monsters appeared.

"Level 3 Junk Synchon tunes level 5 Turrent Warrior! The wishes come together to form a new shining star. Become the path that lights the way! Syncro Summon! Soar, Stardust Dragon(ATK: 2500. DF: 2000)!" Yusei shouted.

"Your Signer dragon I see. But it doesn't have nearly enough attack points to attack the Earthbound Immortal," Rudger mocked.

"You may be right but my feelings towards Martha and my friends will guide me and are hanging in this duel. I swear to them that I will defeat you, Dark Signer. Attack!" Yusei yelled.

"Due to Earthbound Immortal Uru's effect, it can't be the target of attack," Rudger pointed out.

"You're right...which is why I didn't target it," Yusei said.

"What?" Rudger asked, a flick of fear passed those black sockets and golden irises.

"Since the Earthbound Immortal can't be a target of an attack, the next best thing is to target you! Go, Stardust Dragon. Attack him directly with Shooting Sonic!" Yusei shouted.

A beam of light shot out of Stardust's mouth.

"Damn you...I activate Spider Egg which negates your attack and special summons 3 spider tokens," Rudger said, quickly.

A large web egg appeared, blocked the attack and split into three spiders.

"...damn! I set a card face down and end my turn," Yusei said.

Ushio and Takuya made it back to safety on the building.

"Yusei! We're safe! All four of us!" He called out.

Yusei gave him a nod and said to Rudger, "All that there is left to do is to defeat you."

Rudger chuckled at this before changing into a purple glow.

The purple glow disappeared and he was replaced by...

"Rally?!" Yusei gasped.

"What, Rally? What's he doing here?" Jack asked.

"What's going on?" Aki asked.

Rally was staying motionless with the spider mark glowing on his arm and he was holding onto Rudger's Duel disk.

Yusei began to run over to him before stopping when he heard Rudger's laughter.

He was standing upon the web of the Field Spell, Spider Web.

"How ironic. You still have one more friend to save," Rudger mocked.

"How dare you control Rally like that!" Yusei snapped.

"His will is free. If he wants to win, then fight. If he wants to lose then lose. However, surrendering is not an option. Now boy, do whatever you want!" Rudger called out.

Rally shook and it seemed like his free will is back.

"Yusei...the loser of this duel will be erased. That's why Nerve, Taka and Blitz are gone. It's all his fault," Rally explained.

When they heard this, the Double Lifer's eyes widen.

Gone?

The people who took them in when they got to this world and the reason why they weren't stranded are gone?

"No this can't be...," Joel said.

"M-my turn," Rally drew a card and he was shaking.

"Rally no!" Yusei cried but Rudger just merely smiled.

"If you want to survive then fight," he told Rally.

"...I use Earthbound Immortal Uru's effect. By tributing a monster, I can take control of an opponent's monster. I release a Spider token for Turbo Booster!" Rally cried.

Uru's web string wrapped at Turbo Booster and grabbed it onto Rally's field.

"I then summon Turbo Rocket (ATK: 0. DF: 0)," Rally added on.

Is he going to...oh no, Aki thought.

"That's one of the cards that we got back for Rally," Etho noted.

"No...no no I think I know what he's going to do," Joel said in a scared voice which rarely happens.

"Rally, no! Don't do it! Attack me instead," Yusei urged. He caught on what Rally wanted to do.

"I...I can't do that, Yusei. Because you're...you're Satellite's hope. Now I tune level 2 Turbo Rocket with level 1 Turbo Booster. Synchro Summon. Turbo Cannon (ATK: 0. DF: 0)," Rally said.

"Rally!" Yusei called out.

"Turbo Cannon's effect allows me to destroy one monster and inflict the attack points of that monster to the controller," Rally explained, sadly.

"Rally no!" Grian shouted and if it wasn't for Scar holding him back, he would have dived forward to stop Rally even with the consequences of losing his soul like Martha did.

"I'm sorry, Yusei. But this is all I can do," Rally apologized before adding on, "The monster I chose...is Earthbound Immortal Uru!"

Turbo Cannon, a small blue, yellow and white machine monster, hovered over towards the Earthbound Immortal.

"Final Shot!" Rally shouted.

Turbo Cannon blasted Earthbound Immortal Uru which exploded, causing a large whirlwind that knocked Rally back as his life points went down to zero.

1700 —> 0 LPS

Winner: Yusei

Yusei raced over to catch Rally.

"Yusei...protect...Satellite...," Rally said in a weak voice before turning into the black fog and disappearing for his soul was taken.

!

"RALLY!" Yusei yelled out his friend's name.

The spider webs and geoglyph disappeared and the rest of the Signers and the Double Lifers and Ushio rushed to Yusei's side.

Up above them, standing on some rubble, appeared the five Dark Signers.

Rudger, Kiryu, Misty, this buff guy wearing a cloak with yellow lines and another person wearing a cloak with orange lines whose face was covered by the hood.

"Now this was quite an interesting show but now this is where the battle between the Signers and Dark Signers truly begin," Rudger explained.

"Battles will be decided by the stars of destiny," the buff guy with the yellow lined cloak stated.

"Yusei, I see that you still haven't conquered your fear of the Earthbound Immortals. I'll make sure that there's still plenty of fear in you," Kiryu laughed, manically.

"Yeah...yeah I'm still scared. Scared of my anger and how much I want to defeat you!" Yusei shouted.

Signers v.s. Dark Signers.

Who will win? Who will fall?

The true battle begins now, the Double Lifers realized.

And they were in the middle of it all.

A/N: oh my god, we're getting there! Let's go! How's that for a chapter!

I am so excited for this. I got plenty of plans, both canon and canon divergence.

Hope you wisps are excited for it!

Cya in the next one -Flare

P.S: here's a meme that nobody will understand except for one person and one person alone. You know who you are

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