Akiza lay down on my bed, staring at the card held in her hands without expression… Earthbound God Wayta. Having formed a contract with Akiza, the card had appeared on the top of her deck, ready to be used at a moment's notice.
After she'd exhausted herself crying into my arms, I helped her back to the dorm. I had tried to help her back to her dorm room, but she'd only held onto me and refused. I wasn't a dense anime protagonist, so I realised what she wanted was to stay in my dorm room.
Right now, Akiza was the most vulnerable she'd been in years, and thus she wanted to stay with me because I made her feel safe… Plus, she had admitted that her answer to my confession was 'Yes,' but the energies of the Underworld had affected her mind. With Wayta now joining her, her mind was much clearer.
So, she probably wouldn't be a yandere… Probably.
I offered her a glass of water. "Here," I told her. "You should drink plenty of water after you cry a lot."
"… Thank you," she whispered as she took the glass and sipped it slowly before she set it beside the bed. "… All this time…" She whispered. "My powers… To think they came from that Dragon Mark… I'd suspected, but…"
"They didn't come from the Dragon Mark," I corrected her. "They were enhanced by the Dragon Mark. The Crimson Dragon is also an Aztec God known as Quetzalcoatl, though they also go by the name Ultimaya Tzolkin. The five signer marks contain the Crimson Dragon's powers… In other words, having that mark makes you one-fifth god. You had psychic powers from the start, but the Mark- with the power of a god- greatly enhanced them beyond what you would normally have."
"I see…" She clenched the sheets.
"Ah, that reminds me," I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the drill-like hair curler. "This is for you. One Psychic Suppression Device, as you wanted."
"… Can you… Help me put it on?" She asked. "I wouldn't know how to do so."
'Lie,' my instincts told me…. But still, I wasn't dumb enough to call that out. Instead, I gently helped Akiza roll the bangs out of her face, situating the PSD in her hair comfortably… A few more adjustments here and there, and her hair would be a dead ringer for Akiza as she would be a few months from now.
"It looks good on you," I told her with a smile.
She blushed warmly and glanced away. "So… This will really work?" She asked. "It will suppress my powers?"
I nodded. "Should do so a good deal, though I'm not sure how much. After all, your powers have been enhanced by the fact you are a signer and now also by your Dark Signer powers. Wayta can restrain your Dark Signer powers now that you two are connected, but your Signer powers are up in the air. Still, at least, it should greatly suppress the amount of damage you do. Where before you were destroying everything, now you should only leave light marks."
She nodded slowly, still blushing and not looking at me. "That's… Something, at least… What are we going to do about the Signers?"
"Nothing."
She turned her head to look at me in confusion. "… Nothing? But… Then… Why am I a Dark Signer?"
I hummed and rubbed my chin. "To explain this, I should explain about the Hierarchy of the Earthbound Gods. Tez, do you mind if I do this?"
The small Jaguar shrugged from his place on my desk with a book in front of him. "By all means, go ahead. I'm more interested in this book right now. Thanks for letting me stretch my legs, by the way."
I just chuckled and focused back on Akiza. "So, the hierarchy of the Earthbound Gods is simple. First, you have the leader, Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipoca is the direct rival of the Crimson Dragon, having powers on par with Quetzalcoatl. After Tezcatlipoca are his four generals: Wiraqocha Rasca, the Condor. Wayta, the Flower. Hatun Sacha, the Tree. And Scar-Red Nova, the Snake.
"Now, Wiraqocha Rasca commands a direct subordinate in Uru, the Spider. Uru then commands Ccapac Apu, the Giant. Aslla Piscu, the Hummingbird. Cusillu, the Monkey. Ccarayhua, the Lizard. And finally, Chacu Challuhua, the killer whale. The other Earthbound Generals have their own Earthbound God subordinates; however, they are irrelevant for now."
"Right…" Akiza nodded slowly as she listened to me.
"Now, Tezcatlipoca is a figure to be worshipped in the eyes of Scar-Red Nova, Wayta, and Hatun Sacha, given he is a God who desires to be the Sun, they look up to him as all giving life."
"As they damn well should!"
"See, the thing is, Wiraqocha Rasca disagrees with that. He desires to be the Sun instead of Tezcatlipoca. To that end, he led a rebellion against Tezcatlipoca several times with his Earthbound God subordinates, however he failed every time. He constantly tries to convince the other generals to turn against Tezcatlipoca but failed every time. In the end, the insubordination eventually led to the Earthbound Gods being sealed away by the Signers and Quetzalcoatl.
"While sealed away, Tezcatlipoca calmed down. He still hates Quetzalcoatl, but he has no desire to continue a millennia long feud given he can no longer fulfil his objective of becoming the sun anyway. Likewise, the other three Earthbound God generals will all follow Tezcatlipoca's lead and leave the signers be, as will their subordinates. It is Wiraqocha Rasca who wants to stir up trouble and continue the millennia old feud and drag his own subordinates into it."
"Then… Is there any point to this mark?" Akiza asked in pure confusion.
"The mark has several points to it," Tez snorted.
Akiza slowly looked at him. "… I've been meaning to ask this, but do you also see a very cute cat sitting on your desk, reading a book, and talking?"
Tez looked insulted, and I just laughed in amusement.
"What?" She furrowed her brow. "What's so funny?"
I smiled. "Tez, you can take this one. Seems Wayta ended up awakening her ability to see and communicate with spirits."
"Cutting into my reading time… You bastard…"
"Just explain to her about the mark, Tez. You were so eager to do it when I was younger, so you can do it now."
He just huffed and turned to Akiza. "Fine. Listen well…"
I tuned him out as Tez began to explain about the powers a Dark Signer had, silently opening the chatroom.
Black Sun: Anyone still here?
Deviluke Princess: Just me, I think!
I quickly swapped over to private messages with Lala, I wouldn't want to have a talk out in the open for everyone to see when it was just her and I.
Black Sun: Sorry for vanishing suddenly, I was rather abruptly called into a pretty intense Duel. I would have live streamed it, but it was a fairly private affair.
Deviluke Princess: Oh, no problem! I was a little worried, but how dangerous can a world where you play card games be?
Black Sun: More dangerous than you'd like, Lala. Duelling really is everything in this world… Debt, war, everything can be fought off with nothing but Duelling. In my time, there are also people who are called Psychic Duellists, able to make their cards real.
Deviluke Princess: … Okay, now I can see why it's a problem. Were you up against a Psychic Duellist?
Black Sun: Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be fine. The duelist in question is actually a good person, she's just been through a list in her life that has her a bit closed off.
Deviluke Princess: Oh, it's a girl? Is she pretty?
Black Sun: Absolutely beautiful.
Deviluke Princess: Do you plan to marry her?
Black Sun: I don't know her that well, maybe in the future if things go in that direction.
Deviluke Princess: Lucky, I wouldn't mind marrying you, Yuno.
Wait what?
Black Sun: I'm… Flattered, but why?
Deviluke Princess: Firstly, because you're treating me like a person, not just like I'm my daddy's daughter. Secondly, because if I married you, then I could go to your dimension and there's no way daddy and force me to marry any of those gross husband candidates!
Black Sun: Do you even love me like that, Lala?
Deviluke Princess: Hm… I don't really know, but I wouldn't say no if you asked me!
This girl… I covered my face behind a book to hide my red face… What the fuck, Lala!? Don't say things like that, I'm very sexually pent up and having such a willing girl is like kryptonite for me!
I peeked over the top of the book and looked at Akiza's smooth, soft thighs…
'… God damn it.'
Black Sun: I'll think about it, Lala… Once I do some research on if Harems are legal in my world or not.
I'd already done the research actually but, you know… Better safe than sorry, as they say.
Deviluke Princess: Okay! Do you plan to confess to any of the other girls?
Black Sun: We'll see how things go. Keep this quiet, okay?
Deviluke Princess: Will do! I should get some sleep, or Mama will get angry at me. See you later, Yuno!
Black Sun: See you, Lala.
"- And that's what the mark does," Tez finished explaining with the perfect timing.
"… So," Akiza spoke. "In short, the mark allows me to make the power of my cards real with more force than a regular psychic duellist, create flaming barriers that prevent people from leaving or interfering in duels, create Dark Synchro monsters and Dark Tuner monsters, and can also develop other abilities down the line?"
"Precisely," Tez nodded. "A good example would be Uru's current user, he is capable of creating small spiders that can brainwash people and bestow 'fake' Dark Signer powers, allowing them to use Dark Synchro monsters and Dark Tuners. However, should that person lose in a duel, then they will lose their mark along with their Dark Synchro and Dark Tuner. In both yours and Yuno's case, you developed the ability to communicate with Duel Spirits, like me."
"Then…" She reached into her deck and pulled out Black Rose Dragon. "Will I be able to…?"
"I can't say one way or the other," Tez told her honestly. "The thing about Black Rose Dragon is that they are one of the Signer Dragons, direct subordinates of the Crimson Dragon. The fact you are now a Dark Signer might mean they don't want to speak with you… However, Moonlight and Blood Rose should talk to you without a problem, though that's only a theory."
Indeed… Moonlight and Blood Rose were technically different forms of Black Rose Dragon; however, they were created by the Chatroom. So, they likely had separate duel spirits to Black Rose Dragon, though I wasn't sure.
"There's also the matter of the cards being able to manifest outside of a duel," Tez told her. "Cards manifesting is very finicky, you never know if a strong card will manifest, or if a weaker one will. I know an Ojama Trio that could manifest rather easily… It all depends on the bond a duelist has with their cards. The more powerfully you bond with a card, the more likely it can manifest. Of course, some cards are also shaken by betrayal and the ruined bond can cause them to manifest… Some can manifest through sheer force of will, others by sheer force of power… You never know how a card can manifest its spirit in the real world."
I hummed… That would explain the 'Reject Well' in GX. There were a huge amount of Duel Spirits within that well due to being 'Weak,' however they still existed despite not being as powerful as Burstinatrix- who did have a Duel Spirit, but we only really saw her spirit in action during the 'Maiden in Love' duel.
A sudden thought occurred as I snapped my gaze to Akiza. "Hey, Akiza?"
She looked at me, still semi lost in thought. "What is it, Yuno?"
"Is there some people that idiot duelists dump their 'weak' cards at the academy?" I asked her.
"A place they dump their weak cards…" She murmured. "Are you talking about the Reject Shack? I've sometimes heard people mentioning how their 'weak' or 'useless' cards are dumped there… I hear even a Professor dumps some of his more 'useless' cards there."
Tez immediately whirled his eyes to me. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
I grinned at him slowly. "Plenty of Duel Spirits, desperate for a home… Ripe for recruitment…~"
Akiza blinked before her eyes widened as she stared at me. "… You're evil."
"You love it."