Yu-Gi-Oh: P.O.D: Part 54

Cassidy pointed at Caius. "Sebastien, do nothing, Exterio, take out that nuisance of a monster! Forest Fang Fury!"
    Seb tried to bring himself to activate his cards, but his arm never reached the card before the attack struck.
    Suddenly Exterio ripped Caisu to pieces as Kou sudennly had a huge rip in his blazer.
    "Ngh! What the!?" Kou grabbed his chest in pain. 3600 LP.
    Seb was sweating bullets. "S-sorry...ugh...it's taking me everything just to...think straight..."
    Cassidy looked confused. "Strange...well it must be a glitch in the disk or whatever, I'll just whittle you down 'till you're unconcious then drag you back to base." Cassidy then turned to Seb. "Hmmmm, you're still a bit resistant...maybe I should focus on you..."
    Kou stepped forward. "Leave him be, I'd rather take physical pain than watch a friends mind be ripped apart again..."
    Cassidy shrugged. "Fair enough, it's your turn Kou."
    Kou drew his card, looking at Seb worryingly. "I activate Foolish Burial to send Necro Gardna from my deck to the grave. That ends my turn."
    Cassidy looked back between Seb and Kou before drawing. "I activate the field magic Gaia Power." 3300 Attack. "Now Naruki, Kou. use Necro Gardna before your Obsidian Greater Dragon is in pieces!"
    Kou gritted his teeth as Obsidian Greater Dragon was destroyed.
    Cassidy chuckled. "After Seb ends his turn, you're wiiiiide open Naruki, Kou..." Cassidy stated, licking her lips.
    Seb's voice trailed. "What...wide open...?"
    Kou smiled back at Seb. "Sorry Seb, I just don't wanna see your mind get hurt any more."
    Cassidy laughed. "You really do think of this moping little boy as a firend don't you Naruki, Kou? Such a shame your power came with foolishness."
    Seb took a look at his cards. "I can...I have to do this..." He said, the last sentence coming out with a sigh. "I flip...Vylon Tesseract." 800 Attack.
    "Next...I play Monster Reborn to claim Archfiend Soldier as my own..." 1900 Attack.
    Kou and Cassidy looked confused. "Archfiend Soldier?"
    Cassidy couldn't help but laugh. "Out of every monster in the whole graveyard...you chose him?"
    "And now, I summon Vylon Stigma..." 1600 Attack.
    Seb looked at Kou with a stone-cold look for the briefest of moments. "I overlay these three creatures." he says, his tone as cold as his stare. "When Light has lost hope and was twisted by evil, let the Radiant destruction assimilate the heretic souls. Exceed Summon...rain down judgment...Vylon Disigma." 2500 Attack.
   Cassidy looked worried for a moment but let out a weak laugh. "Haha...hahaha...Sebastien, y-you will not attack, and you will not activate that monster's effect..."
    Kou just smiled back at Seb with a confident nod.
    Seb didn't notice Kou's nod. "Cassidy...I tire of seeing you struggle." He replied, his voice having an eerie sort of authority. "Have you forgotten the oath of the Radiant? Only those who are blessed can see the great design the Radiance wishes to call forth. Weakness must be destroyed."
    "Sebastien...you will end your turn..." Cassidy replied, sounding unconfident.
    Seb pointed at the Vylon creature. "Disigma, be rid of Archfiend Soldier...and claim Naturia Exterio into your heavenly grasp."
    "N-No this is NOT right...t-two on one was never fair in the first place!" Cassidy whined, clearly realising she had already lost.
    "Enough of your empty words. Disigma, rid her of...gaah!" Seb stopped before he could finish, his head wracked with pain, as if it was squeezed in a vice.
    "Chance!" Suddenly Cassidy deactivated the duel disk and ran off as Seb grabbed his head in pain and dropped to his knees, Kou kneeling beside him.
    "Dude are you okay?" Kou asked.
    "Ghh...forget about me...the Radiance wants me...and Cassidy gone!" Seb cringed.
    The noise woke Yu, who flicked the light switch to his room. "Huh?" He sleepily wondered. "What's that racket?"
    Kou just put an arm around Seb. "Seb, I don't care who's after you...you're my friend, that's all that matters for me to protect you..." Kou noticed Yu had woken up. "Yu, can you give me a hand? The Radiance just attacked!"
    Yu opened the door. "Huh? That was-oh crap, what happened to him?" He asked, noticing Seb's condition.
    Kou helped Seb get halfway off the ground, Seb unwillingly using Kou's arm. "Just get his other arm, we need to get him back to his room, he needs rest."
    Yu grabbed hold of Seb's arm. "Alright, then. Let's get going..."
    Seb let out a gasp of pain. "You should've stopped her. Once the Radiance finds out she messed up, they'll attack this place in full force..."
    "And we'll be ready for them." Kou replied.
    Yu gave a quick look to Kou. "The hell happened?"
    Kou looked back at Yu. "First, let's get Seb to a bed, I'll assemble everyone in the morning."
    Yu gave a quick nod. "Okay, sure. It looks like one migraine from hell, anyways..."

In the morning, Kou, Yu, Tacey, Etsuko, Nanjo, Seb, Kary and Lena are gathered in the juice bar.
    Kou walked over so that he was in front of everyone. "Okay, Tsuko said he couldn't make it, being a dorm representitive makes him a busy guy."
    "So, why're we like, here?" Nanjo asked, a bit drowsy.
    Kary put her book away. "I suppose it must be something important, or he wouldn't have called us this early."
    Kou looked over at Seb. "Seb and I got jumped last night by a member of the Radiance."
    Nanjo cracked his knuckles. "Maaan, can't believe I missed that..."
    Lena looked a bit worried. "Are you both okay?"
    Seb let out a sigh. "He's fine..." Seb replied before swallowing a pain-killer.
    Kou looked over at Seb while Etsuko seemed more intruiged than worried. "I only got a scratch, whereas Seb got...well I don't even wanna know what to call it."
    Tacey looked back at Seb. "You look...pale."
    Seb let out a sigh. "Took me all I had just to keep the Radiance from breaking me. When Cassidy said Kou was wide open, I kinda panicked...then it started talking to me."
    Yu raised an eyebrow. "It being...?"
    "Cassidy?" Nanjo asked.
    "The Radiance member who attacked us." Kou answered.
    "It said that the only way to save Kou was for me to stop struggling...and for a moment, I did. Before I knew it, I could hear the Radiant wanting to...eradicate her. It's like it couldn't accept that she, a member of the Radiance, was scared."
    Yu put a finger near his head and turned it clockwise.
    "Yu, that's just rude!" Tacey said, giving him a stern look.
    Kou shook his head. "In any case, the Radiance right now are just as dangerous as the Darkness. And Seb here says they'll probably attack this place in full force soon."
    Nanjo grew a smirk. "Gooood, finally some ACTION around here."
    Lena gave Nanjo a confused look. "It's only the second day of the school year..."
    Tacey let out a sigh. "First the Darkness, then the Radiance...seems like we always end up knee-deep in trouble."
    Yu cracked his knuckles. "Wouldn't mind throwing down. I'm ready to break names!"
    Kary put her book away. "Don't you mean 'take names'?"
    Megumi suddenly ran in. "S-sorry I'm late Naruki-ku...ahem, I apologise for arriving late." Meugmi slowed down to walking again after noticing everyone else.
    "Hey Megumi-chan, good that you're here." Kou stated as Tacey turned around and noticed Megumi.
    "Oh, good morning, Kanjori-san."
    "G-good morning..." Megumi replied as she sat down next to Tacey.
    Kou pulled at the stitch in his blazer. "Thank Osiris Etsuko is quick with needlework."  
    Etsuko smiled. "It's no problem...and speaking of needlework, ta-da!" Suddenly Etsuko pulled out new armbands for everyone. "Don't know why but only me and Kou actually brought ours...so I had to make seven." Etsuko began handing them out.  
    Yu looked confused. "Oh? Huh...can't remember where I put my old one. Thanks."
    Etsuko began handing them out. "Awesome! So does...this like mean I'm a member of...what's it called?"
    Kary counted the number. "Wait...seven? Why seven? From what I remember, Seb, Nanjo and I aren't members of...what did you call this group?"
    "A.D.A.D. and sorry, I asked Etsuko to make some for you guys...I mean if you don't want to-" Kou began.
    "Why wouldn't we!?" Nanjo retorted, putting the armband on.
    Seb let out a sigh. "With all that mess I put you through, you really want me as part of the group?"
    Kou smiled back at Seb. "Of course I do dude."
    Lena put the armband on. "Mmmmmm, to be in the same team my sister was in...and that Kou is in..."
    Yu then looked at Seb. "Hey, stop fussing about it. Anyone else would jump at the chance."
    Megumi looked confusingly at the armband. "A...D...A...D? English letters?"
    Tacey looked back at Megumi. "It's an acronym. I don't remember what it represents, but Kou started it to stop the bullying at the Academia."
    A sweatdrop went down Kou's head. "It stands for Assembled Duelists Against Discrimination...and WE started it to stop the dorm war remember?"
    "So...wearing this...means I'm in the same group as Naruki-kun?" Megumi asked, her eyes lit up.
    Tacey gave a gentle nod. "How about it? It'd be nice to have another strong duelist around."
    Megumi put the armband on after recieving Tacey's nod, and seemed mesmerised by it.
    Yu put his arms behind his head. "Not to mention that almost every girl on campus wants a piece of Kou-"
    Tacey's reply was a quick slap behind Yu's head. "Ow, hey!"
    Tacey turned away from Yu and over to Kary. "What about you, Kary? Want to take part?"
    Kary looked back to her book for a moment, finishing her page before looking back at Tacey. "Well, the mystery around the Ascended Fiends intrigues me. Perhaps we could uncover it together."
    Tacey felt a sweatdrop fall from down her face. "That's...Risen Fiends."
    Nanjo looked back. "Maybe that's what they're called in America?"
    Kary shrugged. "Whatever they are, it reads that there were a total of 72 of them. This book doesn't tell if some were lost or destroyed, though."
    Seb looked deep in thought.
    Kou walked over to Seb, giving off a rather serious look. "Seb, if you don't wanna join go ahead, but I'm not letting you fight these guys alone got that?"
    Seb shook his head quickly, as if woken up. "Huh? Oh, right...with that talk about the Risen Fiends, I was just remembering how it felt when Baal attacked me." Looking back at his deck, Seb pulled out ten cards.
    "Huh what're you doing?" Kou asked.
    "Disigma almost took me over." Seb said before looking at Kou. "If I can't control it, I might as well not use any of the Vylons in my deck. Who knows if they won't try to make me submit to the Radiance again."
    Kou tried to grab a card but ended up burning his figners. "Yeeowch!"
    "Naruki-kun!"
    "Kou!"
    "Kou-kun!"
    Megumi, Lena and Etsuko ran to Kou.
    "I'm okay, just a burn...but Seb, I'm guessing the radiance gave you those?" Kou asked, shaking his hand.
    Seb looked away from the cards. "Yeah...the Vylons, and the Lightray, but not the Sacred. Those are mine."
    "So what're ya gonna do with them?" Nanjo asked.
    Seb let out a sigh. "No idea. The Duel Monster stories say that the Sacred Star Knights, my Sacred deck, are the legacy of the Vylons. Wonder if there's a Risen Fiend out there that could clean them up."
    Kary looked back at her book. "Maybe if I do some more research, we could find what you're looking for...um...I never know what formal title to use."
    Seb shook his head. "Don't use any, then." Seb stated, before looking at Kou. "So, what do we do now?"
    Kou walked back to where he was in front of everyone as Seb put on the armband.
    "Right now, all we can do, is wait. Darkness or Radiance, one of them will make a move sooner or later." Kou took out Baal from his deck. "We know that the Darkness can be beaten and reversed with the Risen Fiends but...Seb, any idea on what can reverse what the Radiance do to you?"
    "Not yet..." Seb replied, then looked at the cards. "But whatever it is, we need to find it...before the Radiance attacks the Academia."
    Kou gave off a wry smile. "Then the Radiance and Darkness will try to have their own little dorm war here...okay, Kary, I need you to dig up what you can on the Risen Fiends, Yu from now on stay with Seb he's their main target right now. Everyone else just be on alert, and report anything suspicious okay?"
    Everyone nodded as Kou smiled.
    "Awesome, well the bell's about to go...dismissed?"