𝐘𝐮𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐡! - 𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡

5. Hunting

Neith looks down on Heartland City, feeling the heart piece in her pocket. Something you need to duel in the World Duel Carnival. Both her and Nebula are in the city for the tournament. Which started earlier. Announced by Mr. Heartland himself. 'Alright, the further we get in this tournament, the more chance that the other duelists will have a Number card. We're going hunting.' After jumping down, landing smoothly on her feet in an alley. At the end of the alley she mingles with other people, someone bumps into her.

The guy doesn't react or say anything. Seemly in a hurry to get away. 

'Not even sorry?' Not that she fell or anything but still. It's the idea of apologizing.

He simply runs away.

'Duelist?!' Neith isn't done talking or the man stops. 'In the tournament also?'

'What if I am?' He turns to the woman he just bumped into.

Neith doesn't waste time and throws something at the man.

The end wrapping around his wrist. 'What's this?' He looks at the lasso look-a-like that glows red. Only to disappear not a second later. 

'To make sure that you'll see through till the end of this duel.' Neith activates her duel disc and the tattoo appears around her eye. 

The man snickers. 'Fine, but I'm first.' Only to activate Machine Soldier and next comes Machine Sniper. 'Since I have both, I build the overlay network and Xyz summons Adannion in defense mode. I place one card face down.'

'You want to go first but build a defense instead of attacking me.' Neith can't believe it. 'My turn.' To draw her next card. 'I place one card face down, then I summon Raidraptor Vanishing Lanius. Through him, I can special summon Raidraptor Tribute Lanius from my hand. Now I can overlay them to Xyz summon Raidraptor Blade Burner Falcon.' 

'I use the effect from Adannion, by detaching two overlay units, I can negate your special summon and destroy it.' 

'Not exactly smart now, is it? First, that activates Raidraptor Blade Burner Falcon's effect. I use one overlay unit to destroy your monster. Second, you have to send Adannion to your graveyard, and you only have two tokens to defend you. You are almost wide open for an attack.' Neith sure knows enough about the cards. Not just the ones in her deck. 'I summon Raidraptor Avenge Vulture and Raidraptor Mimicry Lanius. Thanks to Mimicry Lanius I can level my monsters up by one level, making it level five. Now I overlay them to summon Raidraptor Blaze Falcon. Now, Blaze Falcon, attack.' 

'You activate my trap card, Nightmare Mirror. I negate the attack and...'

'Yes, I know, you can do me damage by thousand life points.' Neith smiles only and takes the damage without even being out of balance. All part of her plan. 'I'll end my turn with a face down.'

The man chuckled. 'So you know something about one card. It doesn't mean you know all my cards. I draw.' 

***

Neith is blasted and that got her on one knee. 'I detach Raidraptor Blade Burner Falcon's overlay units. I get to destroy all your special summoned monsters.' The entire duel, she only had to change her tactics once without losing control over the duel. She gets back up. 'Another good effect is that per destroyed monster, you lose five hundred points damage. How's your math?'

The man falls on his back due to an explosion of the attack. He had roughly twelve hundred life points left but his three monsters have now vanished. 'No! How is this possible? I had the upper hand, not you.' He crawls back up on his feet. Only to witness that his life points drop to zero. 'I had this duel...' 

'No you didn't.' Neith sees a picture of herself, which ends the duel. She goes to the man and takes the heart piece that she needs. It fits with the one she already has. Time for the next piece.

'Nice duel, miss.' Nebula goes after her around a corner. On the lookout for another duelist of the tournament. 

Having still her duel tattoo, she can see other duels in progress. 'Have you found anything about the Numbers?' 

'No, miss, unfortunately not.' Nebula can easily keep up. 'But the computer is still running.'

Neith nods one time.

'There seems to be a kid who lost mostly and now he wins all of his duels. He is still in school. Heartland Academy, where Celeste goes.' Nebula adds.

For a moment, Neith looks at the robot but her attention gets drawn to a duel that seems to take place in a construction site and recognizes Kurivolt. To see that the little monster steals overlays for two tokens from the opponent. 'Well, that duel is over. One duel, then lunch and further with the hunt.' 

'Hunting for heart pieces and or Numbers.' Nebula hears something else in an alley. 'Miss.'

'I heard it, Nebula, but this is the preliminaries of the World Duel Carnival. We're talking about more than a thousand duelists, who are hoping to make it to the finals. Do keep your eyes open in case you see a Number.' 

The robot stays behind her now. 'Of course, miss.' 

'We're hunting for heart pieces and Numbers. Not or.' She corrects the robot.  

Somewhere else...

'This is not how things work! If you want help, then ask! But not this!' The woman screams when the cell door closes behind her. So much for her attempt to escape. 'Please, just let me go! What do you want with me?' 

'Shut it, woman. This is your fault for trying to escape.' The hooded figure walks away. Not that he can get far or he sees a signal. Knowing who it is, he opens a portal and goes through it. 'What is it, Dumon?' 

The other barely turn around. 'How are things going from your part? Vector's plan might seem to work so far but I don't want to rely on him.' Looking at some crystals, he can see how the few humans win their duels. 

'I have set a few things in motion. Soon I know more, and when I do, I will let you know of course.' He doesn't want to say anything for he has no results. For that reason, he wants to contact his associate in the human world. He walks away to a different side of the castle. To look at a few crystals. His associate shows and the results of the duels. Satisfied to see that the girl is winning all of her duels. Not once has she lost. He knew that he made the right choice. Now to find out how many Numbers she has collected. 

***

Now we have Dumon in the story but who is the other one? Or who is the woman? You know one thing for sure, that last part is in Barian world. Stay tuned to find out more.