Chapter 9

Dyne: Target 3 down!

I said in my comms and relaxed for a second.

Then the sound of clapping made me flinch as I tensed up.

: Bravo! I must say, this was a nice display of hand to hand combat! Uhh maybe a bit uncoordinated but still nice.

The voice was a little too nonchalant.

I quickly turned only to see a man in a white mask that only had 2 eclipses for eyes and 1 for mouth. It was like the eyes were crying and the mouth was smiling and it was kind of creepy.

:Oh! Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Phantom!

He bowed mockingly.

Phantom: May I have your name?

Dyne: No!

Phantom: That's too bad, I'll call you James! No, no! I'll call you Ralph!

"Is this guy for real?"

Phantom: So, Ralph, I must say that I'm intrigued to see that you didn't resort to that insignificant and pathetic imitation that you inferior people have unceremoniously dubbed solid vision.

He begun walking towards me. His nonchalant attitude was slowly changing, becoming aggressive.

Phantom: It is a mockery of the birthright that was granted to me and my people!

Dyne: My, you're pretty high and mighty for a terrorist!

I said while I silently pressed a button to alert my team.

Phantom: I prefer the term activist. Now, since I see that you're so eager to die, allow me to help.

He pressed something on the dueldisk around his arm.

But nothing happened.

"Thank God! It seems that Jones was able to defuse the bomb and not a moment too soon."

Dyne: Performance issues? It's actually pretty common, 4 out of 10.

Phantom: Ugh! You inferior creatures!

He shouted angrily while I was a bit happy that the smug attitude of his was gone.

Dyne: I suppose I can't ask you to surrender.

Phantom: Don't act coy with me Ralph! You should know that I don't need a bomb to bring this place down. I grew tired of this farce. Be gone!

He played something on his disk and a longsword was shot towards me.

I barely reacted and rolled out of the way. Immediately, I activated the function that forces a duel since psychics can't do whatever they can in a duel.

Another longsword greeted me for my effort and grazed my arm.

"How?"

Phantom: Ralph oh Ralph...I don't even need to see your face to know what you're thinking. You can't force me to duel you know. You see this?

He showed me his dueldisk.

Phantom: This is my special super custom-made disk. It does everything a dueldisk does, except duels!

He burst into laughter.

"Since it's like this, then don't mind if I do!"

I played a card on my disk and chains shot forth trying to bind Phantom. Just as they were about to reach him, he disappeared and reappeared a few meters away from his initial position.

Phantom: You know what makes us psychics special and sets us apart from that solid vision of yours? Yours does nothing more than making holograms solid. That's it! Nothing else! We on the other hand...

He played something and a small wisp came to me. I couldn't dodge completely and it touched my leg. Instantly, my vision blurred and I felt dizzy for a second as I fell on my hands and knees.

Looking around, I realized that Phantom and I have traded places.

Phantom: We can actually use the effects of the cards. We can teleport, we can trade places, we can do anything! So, think Ralph, think! Why can't we, the superior specie, do whatever we want to ants like you?

Dyne: Wow, you really are mental!

I said while getting up.

He shrugged.

Phantom: Meh, blame it on my childhood.

He checked his watch and sighed.

Phantom: It seems I've wasted too much time!

He played a card and a spherical object was launched to the window behind him. At the moment of impact a small explosion occurred and shattered the glass.

Phantom: Now, you can either follow me, or save people! The choice is yours?

"What does that even mean?"

He jumped through the window and landed on a flying serpent that was around 5 meters in length.

Phantom: Toodles!

As he was flying away, a huge eastern dragon descended from the clouds. It was covered in glistening white scales and had a golden mane that ran through all the way to its tail. Two dark blue horns protruded from its head. It gazed at me for a second.

It opened its mouth as light particles were being drawn to it. Then I realized what Phantom meant and panicked. I quickly went through my extra deck, picked the first card I saw and summoned it.

A huge warrior appeared clad in gold and red just in time as the dragon unleashed a devastating beam. The warrior stood in front of the beam like a mountain as the unrelenting force of the attack seemingly had no end. The ground and the surrounding buildings shook unceasingly while I was trying to keep my balance.

Finally, the attack ended. The fiery fighter roared and dashed towards the serpentine beast. Arriving next to it in an instant, he got hold of the monster and in a show of brutal dominance ripped the dragon in half with its bare hands while I stood there watching and wandering how this was happening without me giving any commands.

Lissandra: Dyne! Can you hear me?

My comms came to life as Lissandra's worried voice was heard.

Dyne: Yes, I'm fine! But Phantom got away.

Lissandra: Phantom was with you?

She seemed surprised for some reason.

Dyne: Didn't you get my signal? I pressed it a while ago.

Lissandra: No, we received nothing. Perhaps. Phantom had blocked your signal somehow.

Dyne: I guess so. Anyway, I'm coming down.

As I was walking down the stairs, Lissandra spoke again.

Lissandra: Hey Dyne, Phantom may have gotten away, but we defused the bomb and protected the hostages.

I laughed as the tension left my body.

Dyne: So we can say that mission failed successfully!