Bonus Chapter
The night remained unnaturally quiet. Not the peaceful silence that settled over a city after midnight, but the kind that felt wrong, as though the streets themselves were holding their breath.
The distant hum of traffic had faded into little more than a low murmur. A chilly breeze drifted through the empty road, carrying discarded newspapers and dry leaves across the cracked asphalt. The flickering glow of a lone streetlamp painted long, wavering shadows over the abandoned storefronts lining both sides of the street.
Alexander stood beside Roland, his gaze slowly sweeping over every alleyway and rooftop within sight while his mind calmly assessed the situation.
Several meters away, Blade still lay sprawled across the pavement, or at least he appeared to.
Alexander wasn't particularly worried about the vampire hunter himself.
Blade's regenerative abilities were among the few things Alexander remembered with absolute certainty. They weren't quite on the level of true vampires and the iconic Wolverine, but they were terrifying by human standards.
The countless gashes covering his body would've killed an ordinary man several times over. Deep sword wounds crossed his torso, his clothes were soaked in blood, and one shoulder appeared nearly shredded beyond recognition, yet Alexander knew better.
If his memories served him correctly, it was only a matter of time before Blade stood back up.
The real concern lay elsewhere.
Someone, or something, had inflicted those wounds, and if Blade had stumbled onto the street while fleeing, then whatever had pushed him into that state couldn't be far behind.
Alexander subtly shifted his footing.
His right hand rested casually at his side, but his thoughts had already reached toward the YGO System.
At a single command, a card could be summoned; he only needed to decide which one.
Beside him, Roland silently tightened his grip around the gun he pulled out a few moments ago.
The butler's posture remained relaxed, yet Alexander recognised the familiar alertness in his eyes. Roland had already begun scanning every angle, prepared to react the instant danger revealed itself.
Neither of them spoke.
Words would only disturb the silence, so instead, they waited.
One second. Two. Five.
The oppressive stillness stretched long enough that Alexander almost began questioning his own assumptions.
Then footsteps.
Rapid and echoing from the narrow alley where Blade had emerged only moments earlier.
Alexander's attention snapped toward the darkness.
A voice rang out from the dark alley, "Be careful!"
The speaker sounded like a man in his thirties as he added, "He's dangerous!"
For a fraction of a second, Alexander frowned, 'Dangerous...?'
The warning wasn't directed toward Blade; it was directed toward them.
No, that wasn't quite right either.
The voice carried urgency, almost concern, as though whoever was shouting genuinely wanted to keep innocent bystanders alive.
His instincts immediately told him something about this situation didn't add up.
He turned and saw that Blade was standing and every wound covering his body had disappeared.
Alexander watched as the last ragged cut across the vampire hunter's forearm sealed itself shut before his eyes, flesh knitting together in seconds. Blood still stained Blade's black clothing, but his body looked untouched beneath it and, even more unsettling, his expression had changed.
The cold professionalism Alexander usually associated with Blade had vanished completely.
His jaw tightened, his lips peeled back into a feral snarl, and his red eyes burned with naked hostility and with such intensity that they could be seen behind his dark sunglasses.
Then, without saying a single word, he lunged as the pavement cracked beneath his feet.
Alexander reacted instantly. His consciousness connected to the YGO System and the familiar Card Database unfolded inside his mind like pages turning in an invisible book.
One card answered his call and appeared in his hand while a hundred points of Duel Energy vanished.
"Big Shield Gardna... Come!"
Spirit Energy exploded outward in a brilliant column of golden light as the card in his hand shattered into motes of light before a towering armoured warrior materialised directly between Alexander and the charging Blade.
The towering armoured guardian stepped from the golden light, its massive frame clad in weathered bronze plate. Long black hair spilt from beneath a horned helm, but all attention was drawn to the colossal round shield it carried before itself; it was a scarred wall of steel so immense it almost hid the warrior behind it, as though the shield, not the knight, was the true guardian.
The instant it appeared, the enormous shield slammed into the pavement with a deafening boom.
Dust burst outward, and the asphalt beneath it fractured.
Blade reached it an instant later.
His sword descended with frightening force.
Clang!
Steel collided against steel.
The impact echoed down the empty street like a cannon blast while sparks erupted across the shield's surface.
An ordinary automobile would've been cleaved clean in half, but Big Shield Gardna didn't move, not even a centimetre.
Blade attacked again.
His movements blurred as one slash targeted the shield's edge.
Another aimed low toward the knight's legs.
A third came from above, followed immediately by a thrust intended to exploit even the smallest opening.
Each strike flowed seamlessly into the next.
It was less a series of attacks and more a relentless storm of steel, yet every single blow met the same immovable wall.
Big Shield Gardna shifted only enough to intercept each strike with mechanical precision.
Shield. Deflect. Reset. Shield. Deflect. Reset.
Alexander watched from behind his summoned monster, his breathing steady despite the barrage unfolding only a few meters away, and a small, confident smile formed on his face as he thought, 'Exactly as intended. Big Shield Gardna possessed almost no offensive capability. A mere 100 ATK Points. Against pretty much anyone, that might as well have been nothing, but its true strength lies elsewhere. 2600 DEF Points... That was one of the highest among the Duel Spirits currently available to me and a true impenetrable wall to many. Yet, I'm still not sure of what its true limits are in this state...'
Even after dozens of summons, Alexander still struggled to translate Duel Monsters statistics into real-world measurements as they clearly weren't direct representations of physical strength or durability, not exactly.
One observation, however, had become increasingly difficult to ignore, Levels mattered.
Repeated experiments suggested that monsters sharing identical Attack or Defence values still displayed noticeably different capabilities if their Levels differed.
Higher-Level monsters moved faster, hit harder and endured more punishment. It was almost as though their Levels amplified every other statistic.
An interesting mystery, but one for another day.
For now, Big Shield Gardna only needed to accomplish one objective, buy time.
Sooner or later Blade's mind would recover, or whoever had shouted from the alley would arrive and help them.
Then a gunshot shattered the night.
The sharp crack reverberated between the surrounding buildings.
Blade reacted instantly as he abandoned his assault without hesitation, twisting with reflexes that bordered on the inhuman; he spun toward the sound while bringing his sword up in one fluid motion.
The incoming bullet struck the blade.
Ping!
The projectile ricocheted away in a shower of sparks before burying itself harmlessly inside a nearby brick wall.
Blade's glowing eyes snapped toward the alley where two figures emerged from the darkness, and Alexander's did the same.
The first appeared almost completely ordinary.
A man perhaps in his early thirties, brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a pair of Khaki trousers, a white dress shirt beneath a weathered trench coat, a striped necktie hung slightly crooked around his collar as though he'd long since stopped caring about appearances.
The pistol in his hand still smoked from the shot he'd fired.
He looked less like a warrior and more like an overworked detective or private investigator who'd accidentally wandered into a supernatural war.
The second figure made Alexander blink, then blink again.
Standing beside the detective was Blade.
Another Blade.
The same height, the same muscular build, the same black tactical clothing, the same sunglasses despite the middle of the night, even the sword resting in his hand appeared identical.
Alexander stared and muttered, "You've got to be kidding me..."
Fragments of old memories resurfaced.
Late-night internet discussions, comic readers arguing over convoluted crossover events, entire forum threads dedicated to explaining which version of a character someone was currently reading.
Clones, evil duplicates, alternate realities.
Alexander slowly rubbed his forehead and complained, thinking about the scattered information in his mind, "Damned Marvel and its fucking clones..."
Apparently, today was one of those stories.
The newly arrived Blade wasted no time.
The instant his eyes landed on his duplicate, he exploded forward.
The clone answered immediately.
Neither hesitated nor spoke.
Their swords met in the middle of the street with enough force to send sparks spraying in every direction.
Clang!
Both men rebounded, then charged again.
This time their movements accelerated into something almost impossible to follow.
Steel flashed beneath the streetlights.
Their blades collided again and again in rapid succession.
High slash. Low cut. Horizontal sweep. Reverse grip stab. Each exchange lasted barely a heartbeat before flowing into the next.
Alexander's enhanced perception allowed him to track portions of the duel, but barely and even then, his eyes occasionally lost them as they darted across the road with explosive bursts of speed.
To anyone else, the fight would've resembled little more than two black blurs colliding amidst constant flashes of silver.
Roland quietly stepped beside Alexander.
His eyes remained fixed upon the duel as he observed, "They're identical... The way they move is the same too..."
Alexander nodded and commented, "They're mirroring each other."
Every attack met the exact counter, every feint was anticipated, every dodge occurred before the strike fully developed.
Neither combatant gained so much as an inch.
The detective lowered his pistol.
His expression remained remarkably calm despite witnessing two identical vampire hunters attempting to carve each other apart.
Instead of firing again, he simply watched, waiting for the perfect opportunity to act.
Alexander noticed it immediately.
He wasn't looking for an opening to shoot; he was waiting for something specific.
Alexander also noticed that the detective seemed able to completely follow the two Blades' movement, which meant that there was a lot more hidden behind his apparently regular appearance.
The Blades crashed shoulder-first into one another before breaking apart.
One swung low; the other vaulted over the strike, planting a foot against a nearby wall before launching himself back into the fight.
Their blades locked, their muscles strained before they both shoved simultaneously and the deadlock shattered.
One Blade drove an elbow toward the other's jaw.
The second twisted just enough to lessen the impact before retaliating with a spinning kick that slammed into his opponent's ribs.
Neither slowed, neither spoke, and neither even seemed capable of surprise.
Watching them felt almost surreal.
It wasn't simply that they possessed equal skill, but they possessed identical instincts.
Alexander could almost predict their next exchange.
Whenever one committed to an attack, the other had already begun responding.
It was like watching someone fight their own reflection.
Steel screamed as another clash sent sparks scattering across the pavement.
The duel drifted farther down the street, making the storefront windows rattle under the repeated impacts.
Chunks of asphalt erupted whenever one of them changed direction with explosive force.
A parked car received an accidental kick during one exchange, and its entire side panel crumpled inward as though struck by a speeding truck.
Roland quietly exhaled, "This is truly remarkable..."
Alexander silently agreed.
He hadn't witnessed many powerful combatants since arriving in this world, but he was pretty sure that few could display this degree of technical mastery.
This wasn't overwhelming strength or flashy supernatural abilities, but it was pure skill refined to an almost frightening degree.
Then everything changed.
The two Blades collided once more.
Their swords slid past one another, and their shoulders brushed.
Skin met skin only for an instant, barely long enough to notice, but both men froze.
Their expressions twisted simultaneously.
A low groan escaped each of them, making Alexander frown and mutter, "What is going on...?"
The answer appeared immediately.
The point where their arms had touched rippled as their flesh began flowing together as though both bodies had suddenly forgotten where one ended, and the other began.
Muscle merged into muscle, skin fused with skin.
The sight was profoundly unnatural and disturbing.
One Blade tried wrenching himself backwards, and the other did the same, but neither succeeded.
Instead, the distortion spread farther up their arms.
Veins bulged beneath their skin, bones shifted beneath flesh with sickening cracks.
Both men grimaced in obvious agony.
The detective finally moved, and his calm expression vanished as he exclaimed, "No!"
He sprinted forward.
Alexander didn't understand what he was seeing, but he didn't need to, as nothing about it looked remotely beneficial, so he commanded, "Big Shield Gardna! Separate them!"
The armoured giant obeyed instantly.
Rather than drawing its sword, it lowered its enormous shield and, with a thunderous step that shook the pavement, the knight charged.
The shield slammed directly between the two trapped figures.
Boom!
The impact resembled a battering ram striking castle gates.
The fused bodies tore apart violently, with the merged flesh tearing off each other, leaving a bloody wound behind.
Both Blades were hurled in opposite directions.
The grotesque merging ceased instantly as each crashed onto the pavement before scrambling back to one knee, breathing heavily.
For the first time since the fight began, their movements looked sluggish, disoriented.
The detective had clearly been waiting for exactly this moment.
He covered the remaining distance in less than a second, showing the same supernatural speed as both Blades.
The pistol disappeared back into his coat and his free hand produced a sharpened wooden stake.
The clone looked up just in time to see him, but it was too late.
The detective drove the stake forward with every ounce of strength he possessed.
Thunk!
Wood pierced flesh.
The sharpened tip buried itself deep within the clone's chest, and the false Blade let out a guttural scream unlike anything human.
His entire body convulsed violently.
Cracks of crimson light spread beneath his skin, then his flesh began collapsing inward, quickly turning into ash.
The process accelerated rapidly.
His face disintegrated first, then his arms, his torso, his legs and within moments, the duplicate had completely crumbled away.
A gust of wind swept through the street.
Grey ash scattered across the asphalt before disappearing into the darkness.
Silence returned.
Alexander slowly released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.
Big Shield Gardna remained standing like an iron wall before him, shield still planted firmly against the ground.
The surviving Blade stayed crouched for several seconds, breathing heavily as though recovering from something far more exhausting than the battle itself, but Alexander noticed that the bloody torn flesh was already mending.
The detective straightened slowly, still gripping the stake.
His eyes shifted between Alexander, Roland and the towering armoured knight; neither of them had bothered explaining.
An awkward silence settled over the street.
Alexander looked from the drifting ashes to the surviving Blade, then finally toward the detective before he sighed and said, "Haa... Well... This has certainly been one memorable way to spend a summer evening."
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