In the distant, lightless wastes, an ancient castle towered in the night. A blood moon hung high, a baleful red shrouding heaven and earth. Huge black stones stacked into age-worn walls, scuffed and scarred everywhere.
This was the vampires' castle.
Once, this had been the "Vampire Kingdom," the very place depicted on that card art. But after years of war, even that once-mighty empire had reached its twilight, leaving only this jet-black bastion behind.
Blood-moon light fell through the lattice onto a carpet like dried gore. A pale girl sat on a shadowed chair. Blood nobles in finery bowed low upon the red carpet before her seat.
"The Cursed Baron has not returned?"
the girl in the dark asked softly.
"No, Your Highness," one of the bloodborn said. "It has been more than two weeks. He likely..."
He didn't finish, but his tone wasn't hopeful.
The girl pondered for a moment.
"...The Cursed Baron is among our most capable commanders," she murmured. "Perhaps..."
"Yes, Your Highness. But we still must prepare for the worst."
the bloodborn said.
"Word is the Supreme King's army has transferred forces this way. They could attack any time. I think we have to plan assuming the Baron will not return."
The girl sighed lightly.
"Very well. Then let's leave it at that."
She waved weakly.
"I'm tired and need to rest. If there's nothing else urgent, you may go. The rest we'll discuss next time."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The vampire rose and left the great hall.
The girl sat quietly a moment in the dark, then stood and walked out.
She wore a black, Lolita-style dress, layers of ruffles like a dark rose swaying in the night. Her face was extraordinarily pale, like fine porcelain under first snow, an untainted purity. Even so bloodless, her rare beauty and delicate features showed through.
She went down into the castle's depths.
This was a place of death—the catacombs beneath the imperial fortress. The once-noble clansmen and brave warriors rested here, or else their Duel Disks—if there was nothing left of them to bury.
The girl came to an empty coffin and knelt, her long fingers picking up stones and stacking them.
A grave marker.
She was building a tombstone for a bloodborn who perhaps had once again failed to return.
The girl sighed softly.
The vampires called her "Your Highness" and would pay any price to fight for her. So many clansmen depended on her, hoping she could lead them out of peril and restore their glory.
But what could she do?
No one could face the Supreme King. Many had tried, some far stronger than she; all had failed.
This place being overrun by the King's army was only a matter of time. And she had no idea what to do.
She knelt and stacked stones in silence until footsteps sounded outside.
"Y-Your Highness!"
A vampire rushed down in a panic.
The girl rose without expression. "What is it?"
"T-the Supreme King's army!"
The bloodborn was out of breath, flustered.
"They're here!"
Her heart sank.
So the rumored reinforcements had arrived?
She nodded to show she understood. Then she stood, brushed the dust from her black skirt, and walked out with measured steps.
Outside the castle, the shouts of battle already shook the sky.
Vampires and armored soldiery were locked in brutal melee. Birds and drakes wheeled in the air, spitting flame and breath, ravaging the battlefield.
The remaining vampire captains had all manifested Duel Disks and rushed out, each pairing off with a Supreme King commander to decide victory by Duel.
This way of fighting looked less blood-soaked than the close-quarters carnage elsewhere, but it was no less deadly. Every card played gambled a life; a single misstep meant annihilation, the fallen sometimes scattering to ash on the spot with nothing left to bury.
The girl in black climbed the walls, looked down from above, and saw rivers of blood, bones strewn everywhere—battle raging, grim and fierce.
Her face was calm, but as she turned her arm formed a Duel Disk. She was ready to leap down and fight in person.
But before she could advance, she paused. She'd noticed something.
A commotion had erupted at the rear of the Supreme King's forces.
At first it was shouts from the soldiers, drowned out by the chaos. Then a beam of white light flitted through the ranks like a butterfly, blasting spirits skyward in its wake, and only then drew eyes.
The girl blinked, focusing hard to make it out: it seemed to be a spirit as well.
Some kind of spellcaster.
A white-clad spellcaster, glaringly out of place on this dark, blood-reeking field. White robes left flickers as they flashed by; everywhere the staff's energy thundered out, each strike detonating clusters of Supreme King soldiers.
The girl's eyes widened.
That looked like an ally?
But she didn't remember any allied mage of such power.
And that wasn't all. Heaven and earth suddenly shifted, as if the blood moon were being cleaved by sword aura. Blades of force ripped the air and rolled over the Supreme King's army.
The rank and file had never seen anything like it, and they broke into shouts and panic. The rifts torn by sword energy were like scars in space, carving through the formation and dropping soldiers by the dozen.
A warrior in full armor, sword and shield in hand, descended wreathed in chaos, like a god. Wherever he landed, a no-man's-land appeared; all spirits around him fell back in terror, worshiping like before a deity.
On the battlements, the girl watched, shocked and delighted.
Spirits this powerful were vanishingly rare across the dimension—where had such mighty helpers fallen from the sky?
"Make way!"
A figure stepped from the Supreme King's ranks, and the soldiers hurriedly opened a path. An armored demon warrior, long sword in one hand, Duel Disk on the other, his face savage.
The white spellcaster and the warrior—of course, Silent Magician and Black Luster Soldier—descended left and right and came to ground on either side.
Kira strolled forward unhurriedly, Jaden at his back. Jaden glanced around at the blood-soaked field and murmured, "So this is a spirit war..."
The demon barked, "You aren't vampires, but you are Duelists. Who are you? Do you dare stand in the way of General Zure under the Supreme King!?"
Zure?
Kira looked him up and down—and suddenly remembered.
Zure, Knight of Dark World—Level 4, 1800 ATK. In the anime he was a garrison commander overseeing a prison camp. Jaden struggled against him until the local resistance leader, "Freed the Brave Wanderer," sacrificed himself to become a card and intervened, turning the tide.
Kira narrowed his eyes at the Dark World demon.
Not bad. This guy actually got himself promoted to general?
PS: Bonus chapter at 100 PS