So, in trying to cast Hiro away for good, Blackheart accidentally conjured him up a false body like the one that Dark Marik used to walk the Earth in recent years. Cool. Convenient, but cool. Still, Blackheart left Hiro with very little power, so Hiro can't do anything against Blackheart alone. Clearly he was trying to spare the DF the risk of fighting Blackheart anymore, for some reason which we will learn about shortly. Either way, he's no longer withholding anything from the DF. He doesn't have time anymore for secrets.
Hiro vs. Blackheart
Hiro
I felt myself pushed from John’s mind, and from my home in the Soul of Darkness. I tried with everything I had to hold on, and a portion of the Soul’s power remained with me. I held onto it, knowing that without it I would die.
For a period of time, I’m not sure how long, I floated in what seemed like nothingness. Then I saw a light. I poured my entire being into reaching that light, and slowly but surely I was able to make my way to it. I touched the light and I suddenly found myself in the back portion of the Old Park, just a short distance from John’s house. I was near the gazebo where the Duel Force and Karen’s group had their first meeting on friendly terms. I looked down at my hands and was astonished, mostly because I had hands, my own hands. I felt my arms and my chest and finally my face.
I was a physical being for the first time in three thousand years. I was wearing a black t-shirt and a black sweat jacket with a hood and a white pattern on the left half of the chest, and jeans. I looked down and saw a Soul hanging around my neck. It was the Soul of Darkness. That portion of the Soul that I retained had become infused with the light, which I realized now was what remained of my own magical power, and it had blossomed out into a second Soul of Darkness! Unfortunately I could tell that my duplicate Soul was not as powerful as the original.
The thing that forced me from my place in the Soul of Darkness. I know it. I didn’t expect Blackheart so soon. If I’m right and he’s possessed John’s body then the Duel Force will have no way to defeat him. I have to find him and defeat him before he achieves his full power and begins anew his ancient plan to conquer this realm along with any others.
I started running, reaching out with my Soul to locate my old enemy. It was hard in the face of the Soul’s weakness, but I managed to find him. I stepped into the Shadows and disappeared.
I reached through the Shadows and found my way to Blackheart. It was hard too. Harder than it should have been. There was less power in my fake Soul than I’d originally thought. I have all of the Soul’s powers through this Pseudo Soul, I realized, but it takes far more effort to access them. It’s much more draining.
I brushed my golden blond bangs from my brown eyes as I stepped from the shadows, finding myself in an old warehouse. It was empty except for the figure that faced me. Blackheart was sitting on a large wooden crate. His hair was jet black and his skin was pale with a dark circle under each eye. He had seen me coming and was waiting.
“Welcome, Remnant of the Duelist’s Spirit. I was wondering when you would make an appearance.”
“Go back to the darkness Blackheart,” I told him. I held my left arm behind my back and strained to summon the Shadows to me, forming a Dark Disk, "and leave that boy alone. He's under my protection."
"He's of your blood, you know," Blackheart said, "your descendant, or maybe your reincarnation in the modern world. Either way he's heir to your power."
I was shocked. I'd sensed a connection to John since we'd met, but I'd thought that it had been because he was the bearer of the Soul of Darkness, the vessel for the majority of the Duelist's power. However, if Blackheart was right, he was a part of me, or he was me reborn. Now more than ever, I had to save him.
I guess my surprise showed, because Blackheart laughed a laugh that still, after millennia, chilled my bones. "Didn't you know," He asked, "that when you sealed me, you sealed me in your own blood, your own Shadow? Even if you never took a wife and bore a child, the certainty of my return would ensure that The Duelist would simply be reborn in another form, for I can only be born from The Duelist, from you."
I didn't know what to say, so I steeled myself up and again demanded, "Leave him, now."
“I can’t do that Remnant,” said Blackheart, looking around thoughtfully. “I have great plans for this world.”
“I know all about your plans,” I spat, “and I won’t let you carry them out!”
I swung the Dark Disk around in front of me and separated the sword from the shield, running full out at Blackheart. I would use the Dark Disk to cut Blackheart’s spirit without cutting his host. Hopefully. I swung my sword. Blackheart raised his right hand, and in it appeared the blade of the Dark Disk, summoned effortlessly and instantaneously, and he parried my blow.
I jumped back and held my sword in front of me with both hands. Blackheart rose slowly and casually to his feet. He laughed under his breath. “I’m glad you’re here,” He said. “I’ve been waiting for an opponent who comes close to my abilities. This should be entertaining.”
I charged at him and stabbed. Blackheart used his shield to deflect my blow and slashed at my chest with his own blade. I jumped back out of his reach, ducked to the side, spun, and slashed. Blackheart leaned back out of my reach, smiling ear to ear.
“Huh,” I said, circling my opponent slowly, “you’re just as crazy as you were three thousand years ago.”
“I’m surprised that you can still remember what happened three thousand years ago. Is there really enough of you left in there for you to have any real memories of your past?”
“You’d be surprised.”
I ran at him again. He jumped back, twenty feet through the air, brandishing his blade. Shadows lashed up at me like tentacles. I managed to repel them with my sword and shield and what Shadows I could summon up myself while managing to retain focus. I pushed through and struck again, but Blackheart avoided my attack with minimal effort. He countered. I jumped back as he sliced through the place where I’d just been.
I only have to cut a millimeter into him to disrupt his spirit, but at the same time if he so much as touches me with his sword, I’ll die. I was losing focus. Even as I parried another of my foe’s attacks I noticed that my sword and shield were dissolving into the Shadows that had created them. Looks like I’m out of power. I have to regroup and find some help. I have no choice but to go to the Duel Force.
I ran from Blackheart, letting my sword dissolve completely, and melted into the Shadows as I heard him laugh wickedly behind me.
I reemerged from the Shadows just outside of the mall. I recognized this place from my time with John. He rarely spent time at home, usually preferring to spend it here or at the local hobby shop. I could sense the Duel Force inside, sitting at their usual tables in the mall’s Game Center.
I sense all eleven members, I thought, but only seven Souls. Blackheart has already amassed a great deal of power. If he were to absorb the equivalent energy of even one or two more Souls, he would be as strong as he was in the past, strong enough to force all three Gods under his control. I have to act fast.
I walked quickly toward the game center’s outer entrance. Out of all of the Duel Force members that remained only one of them had ever seen me before. The others would have no idea who I was. I would have to count on the one who would to help me handle my introduction to the others.
Karen
I was sitting with my friends in the Game Center. Lawrence had just finished telling a truly unbelievable story.
“So what you’re saying,” I asked, “is that you faced Blackheart, but he let you keep your Soul?”
“Yeah,” said Lawrence. “I guess Blackheart knew he’d never get away with it if he took my power.”
“Maybe, except that you lost,” I pointed out, my arms crossed, showcasing my frustration. We simply didn’t have time for something else to be added to the pile. Not that we could do anything about Blackheart at the moment. His attacks seemed to have stopped, and not even our combined power could locate him.
“And your point is?” Lawrence asked, unable, or unwilling, to see the flaw in his logic.
“Why would Blackheart let you go of all people?” Monty asked, as if an unwanted idea were forming in the back of his mind. “I’m your only friend and even I’ve thought of at least seriously wounding you more than once.”
“Who cares why,” Lawrence replied, leaning back in his seat and putting his arms behind his head.
“I do!” Monty said. “What did you do, Lawrence?”
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked.
“I get what he means,” Lawrence said. “You think I made some kind of deal with Blackheart to save my Soul, right?”
“Did you?” Monty demanded.
“Enough!” I yelled, harshly and disbelievingly. “We don’t have time for you guys and your crap!”
My outburst had drawn the attention of several of the Duelists sitting at nearby tables. I took a deep breath and looked down at my hands until they went back to what they’d been doing. “Okay, let’s settle this. There’s no way that Lawrence would sell us out, and Monty, I’m surprised at you for even suggesting that he would. You know better than anyone that he’s a lot nicer than he lets on.”
“Am not,” said Lawrence proudly.
“I don’t know if we can trust that Karen,” said Sarah, ignoring Lawrence. “You two were really different when you were under Marik’s control, but Jerk here is still pretty much the same. Who knows what he’d do.”
“Hey,” said Lawrence, “I may be a jerk, and I may not be good at showing it, but I’m loyal to my friends.”
Monty laughed.
“You wanna go?” Lawrence yelled, rising quickly to his feet.
Monty stood up as well, “Any time!”
I clenched my fists, shaking angrily, “Quiet down and sit down.”
I gestured instinctively, and with a flash of my Soul they were pushed back into their seats. Every member of the team looked to me, surprised by my outburst of magic, waiting to hear what else I had to say, but before I could speak someone behind me beat me to it.
“Sorry I’m a little late.”
I stood up and spun around, finding myself face to face with someone who was very familiar.
John?
Then I realized who it was and my excitement died down slightly.
I sighed, “I was wondering what happened to you, Hiro.”
“Who is this,” Sarah demanded, moving to stand by my side, staring up into Hiro’s eyes.
“He calls himself Hiro. He’s a spirit, the last remnant of the Forgotten Duelist’s old magic. He’s been living in the Soul of Darkness, helping John out in tough Duels.”
“When Blackheart possessed John’s body,” Hiro said, “I was forced out. I was just recently able to attain a physical form, using what I’d imagine is the same power that Blackheart used to give himself a body three thousand years ago.”
“Not that I don’t believe you, Karen,” Tucker asked, ignoring Hiro, “but why wouldn’t John tell us that he had a powerful ancient spirit living in his Soul?”
“Because none of you could see Hiro,” I replied. “John didn’t want to make your lives more complicated unless he had to.”
“Why do you look like my brother?” Sarah demanded of the new arrival. She was crying but trying very hard not to show it.
“To be honest,” said Hiro, “I don’t know. But there are things that I do know, like the fact that I’m not very powerful on my own, but I’ve already tried to defeat Blackheart myself and failed. He’s powerful. Nearly as powerful as The Legendary Forgotten Duelist himself. But I think I can beat him, but only with your help.”
He looked each of us in the eyes in turn, “Even if you don’t trust me yet, if it means saving this world, will you help me?”
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