#once upon a duelist

[aberooski]

Till then, Sleeping Beauty...

Sleep on.

#no longer gatekeeping this piece #I couldn't NOT draw this shot from the film I mean come on aksksksk #I was gonna do some panels and include this with those but it's taking forever and I decided to leave this piece separate #still gonna try and do some panels though #but look at him 🥺 sleepy boy 🥺 #chazz princeton #jun manjoume #yugioh #ygo #yugioh gx #ygo gx #sleeping beauty #fanart #my art <3 #once upon a duelist #abby attempts to draw

[chazz-is-a-zelda-fan]

Did someone order OUAD 2 crumbs 👀

^ MY LIVE GENUINE REACTION

ABBY YOU SPOIL ME SO

#LEXI’S RAPIER IS SO FUCKING COOL GODDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #ABBY ONCE AGAIN NEVER FAILING #FAVORITE MUTUAL RIGHT HERE 😤 #mech asks #aberooski #once upon a duelist #once upon a duelist 2 / once upon a winter #alexis rhodes #asuka tenjoin #YEHAHAHAGAHHHGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💥💥💥💥💥

[yuellii]

in the eyes of divine punishment

𝐈𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇 they devoted their life to a system you came to betray

feat. neuvillette, clorinde, childe ( separately )

note. reader’s gender unspecified, angst

NEUVILLETTE.

The people of Fontaine have never seen a downpour quite like this one, just as the reserved seats of the court have never seen the Chief Justice Neuvillette act so irrationally like today.

To deter every piece of evidence, to dismiss any accurate claims—they marked the words and actions of a manipulator he did not even intend to be. And yet, it was all so rational to him. To his own justified, lawful senses, you were completely innocent. You did not deserve this baseless conviction that sent you to trial, and you were certainly not guilty.

But when you could not even hold valid evidence to defend yourself, his constant dismissal of your prosecutor began to look so obviously biased.

“Wahh, I’ve never seen the Chief Justice act like this before!”

“I know right?! What a show!”

A show? To all these people, his lover being convicted of a crime ( one that he was so sure you did not commit ) was still a show to them? The anguish he was feeling just seeing you on the stand below him was still a show?

And throughout this whole ‘show’, even as you were swearing truth, you did not look him in the eyes even once. This was so obvious to not only the spectators, but even the Hydro Archon herself that this lack of eye contact was a sign of guilt—a sign that you could not even look the Monsieur in his eyes out of shame for what you committed.

But even so, even after all these signs pointing at your full fault, he was still in denial.

“Pardon my rudeness, Monsieur,” the prosecutor called to him, clearly frustrated much like the rest of the courtroom was, “but I’ve given my whole case and I have clearly refuted all my points now, I think it’s time for the verdict.”

Neuvillette cleared his throat. “It is not over until I say it is,” he glared at the man. “I do not believe there is sufficient enough evidence to—”

“No, no, I think you’ve dragged this out long enough,” Furina yawned. The Chief Justice paused, looking up to see the Archon sitting in boredom with her head resting atop her hand. “Don’t you hear the people, Neuvillette?” she raised her voice, almost as if calling upon the audience in hopes they would agree with her. And for once, the Monsieur feels this is the most frustrated he has even been with her. He may not forgive her this time for the childishness of her deeds; A childishness that will send his love into injustice.

“It’s time for the verdict,” Furina announced, “even though it may not be an outcome you will enjoy.” She sat upwards, looking at the Chief Justice straight in the eyes. “But the Oratrice… The Oratrice is never wrong.”

“So be it,” Neuvillette declared through gritted teeth. And as the blue light circled the courtroom, he spoke as the secondary judge, “I rule the defendant… Not guilty.” His verdict left his lips like a plea, all in sweet, desperate denial.

But the Oratrice Mecanique told otherwise.

Guilty.

Thunderstorms began to cloud across Fontaine.

CLORINDE.

“You aren’t worried about the murder conviction?” Navia questioned, eyes searching all across Clorinde’s face for any signs of distress or any look that pleaded for help.

The Champion Duelist simply replied, “Not at all.” Navia was surprised, to say the least, that it felt like her afternoon tea companion here could not care any less about the charges being pressed against you. “I know the trial will go smoothly,” Clorinde explained. “I was there personally to witness the events of what actually happened.”

“Oh!” Navia realized, suddenly feeling a bit guilty that she assumed anything otherwise. “Well that changes everything! Guess you don’t need my help, then.”

Clorinde only nodded. It was as simple as that: You would never murder someone. She knew it, you knew it, Navia knew it, everyone who was going to watch this trial probably knew it, too. These faulty charges against you were nothing but arrogant misunderstandings from the other party, and it was already foreseen that you were likely to win.

So now, why were you here, standing before the court, calling for a duel to prove your innocence instead of a trial?

“I object!”

“Clorinde, please do not disrupt the process of the proceedings.”

“But Monsieur—”

“By laws of the court,” Neuvillette commands, “This duel is allowed to take place.”

And time was a blur until the moment she stood in front of you in battle. She took pride in being a Champion Duelist, she really did—and you knew of such pride. But this was the first time she truly felt like an animal in a cage, as if she was a lion only tamed by the Gods to kill flesh and blood.

This felt like the ring of a gladiator where you were sentenced to death, only difference being it was against the blade of your lover’s sword. And such a sword was one that you had touched before, one that you had held with open ears as she told you countless of stories of her duels. Of her executions, of her devotion to justice and honor—and now those same ideals would be clashing down on your bloody shoulders.

“You can surrender now,” she practically pleaded, watching as you fell to your knees. She felt sick, knowing she had to perform under the eyes of the Gods. And she was just about ready to throw up from the way the citizens of Fontaine cheered at her like this was some show. She didn’t want to hear this cheering, like it was a good thing she was forcing herself to fight you. “Please, please just surrender now.”

But her heart hurt the longer you continued to pick yourself up from the dirt, prepared to die by her hands.

CHILDE.

“And then?” you smiled, absentmindedly tracing the veins at the back of his hand with your finger.

“And then, we’ll start a family together.” He sounded so excited, much in a way that he has every step of his future with you all figured out. There was a certain type of innocence that lingered in his voice when he spoke like this.

You laughed through your ever-growing grin, looking at him, “A family?” It sounded incredulous. “With me, an orphan of the wretched House of Hearth?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed. That was when he took the moment to close his eyes and press his forehead against yours, beginning to whisper the sweet promises of a future life together. And in this position, you could not see the reflection of death in his eyes, nor the ghost of bloodstains under his fingernails. Here, he was no fatuus, he was your lover.

Those were things Ajax selfishly ignored then, and ignored even now when it was too late.

Perhaps he forgot the true meaning of being a fatuus, because he chose to ignore the possibility that his only stability would be threatened by the very God he pledged his devoted allegiance to. The very God that no longer believed in love.

And now, here he stood in her divinity, the floor of ice below his shoes feeling colder than he remembered. Beside him stood the Knave, whom he kept glancing at, for he wished that she would show just an ounce of emotion in these moments. He clung onto impossibility, such as the beliefs that maybe this meeting wasn not real, and maybe the Tsaritsa was lying about you being a traitor.

He wanted to deny it all, even after he knew very well just how much you despised being tied to the House of Hearth. You hated being a fatuus all this time, yet continued to love a Harbinger like him—and your love was perhaps what blind-sighted him. Your love was so warm and welcoming, much unlike the cold bite of “love” his God gave.

“Arlecchino.” He spat her name out darkly once the doors closed behind them. “Let us forgo this mission.”

“Oh?” she almost grinned. A smile that never quite reached her eyes—one that looked like the smirk of a maniac. “So our target means something to you?”

“I will do anything you ask of me just to keep this person alive,” he promised, still attempting to hide just how important you were to him. But that demeaning upturn of amusement in her lips made him more and more desperate. “Please, I mean anything. Just don’t kill—”

“I take traitors of my orphanage very seriously, you know,” she smiled, looking down to inspect her glove so nonchalantly as if the tiny dust that laid atop it was more interesting than her fellow Harbinger’s pleading. “Punishment has always been the system I ran,” she said as she began to turn away. “And, it’s always been the system Her Beloved Majesty preferred.”

The door shut, and he was on his feet in an instant. He had to get to you—he had to finally realize that his own peer and his own trusted God showed no mercy to you. Even if you were his family, even if you were his light; Snezhnaya did not let go of traitors. Ajax learned to love you above and beyond the organization he pledged his life to, but he was also foolish enough to think they would never threaten you.

But as he stood here now, seeing your eyes wide open as you laid in your own blood, he felt that your fingertips were already as cold as the Tsaritsa’s love.

#neuvillette x reader #clorinde x reader #childe x reader #neuvillette imagines #neuvillette x you #ajax x reader #tartaglia x reader #genshin imagines #genshin x reader #genshin angst

[emberwritesinsight]

(Ramble below, not very structured)

I'm watching episode 9 again and losing my mind over the scene where Saionji fucking kidnaps Anthy because. I forgot how actually upset Anthy is?

Like. The way Anthy is fucking shouting as Saionji drags her up to the arena. The way she tries to physically stop him from getting in! What the fuck!

The way he just bats her out of the way and we get a shot of her from behind, kneeling on the ground with a hand to her face, but we don't see her face. That's... not normal! Most of the time when Anthy gets slapped in the early series, we get a shot of her afterwards with a bruise.

Here, we don't see her face. But we can see that she's shaking, and the first-watch assumption would be that she's crying, but... I'm not inclined to view it that way given everything that happens after.

The way I read it, Anthy is pissed.

The next time we see Saionji, he's face down in the water. How did he get there? We don't see. On a first viewing, one might just assume that's a negative reaction the arena has to being opened at an inappropriate time- along with all the crazy shit going on inside the arena once Utena gets there. But given Anthy is later shown to have more control over what the arena does than she lets on, and noticeably does her flashiest magic (the sword pull, the transformations) in or on her way to the arena, I think Anthy is behind almost all of that. And I'd say she's also behind the Saionji-almost-drowning bit. You guys might remember the half-joking drawing I made of Anthy, uh, dragging Saionji into the water by his hair, and while she might not have gotten as hands-on about it as that drawing suggests, I still think she's responsible.

So, like... why?

Why does this piss her off so much? I mean, sure, Saionji absolutely has it coming, but Anthy's been through worse. She clearly doesn't like Saionji and messes with him whenever possible, but to attempt murder and then set up an elaborate illusion designed to upset him as much as possible is... a little extreme. I don't think she even goes that far with Nanami, unless you consider the elephants to be legit murder attempts (which I do not- I think that was Anthy scaring Nanami, not trying to kill her, because I can't believe Nanami would survive that many encounters with elephants that actually wanted her dead).

I think the answer is that, for all the shit she takes from the duelists, Saionji is one of the only ones who breaks this many rules. Not only does he mistreat her when they're engaged- something she's used to, but that seems to be at least frowned upon, if not outlawed (given Touga felt the need to call a "stop hitting your girlfriend" meeting in episode 1)- he mistreats her afterwards. He refuses to let her go, he acts as if she still owes him something. And then he goes and pulls this. He kidnaps her, takes her to the arena without a duel scheduled, and tries to enter the arena- all things that are against the rules of this stupid game that Anthy, however much she knows it is a stupid game, lives her whole life around. And he tells her End of the World is responsible, which Anthy knows isn't true, because if Akio were planning something this batshit, she'd know about it! Of course she's angry, this goes well beyond the threshold of nonsense her job usually entails!

I don't know if she was aware of Touga's plan to play the hero for Utena and get Saionji expelled- if so, she obviously wasn't aware of all of it. The freakout on the way up to the arena is too intense for me to read it as anything but genuine. She's shaking with effort trying to stop Saionji from opening the gate. Things do fall perfectly into place for Touga to get between Saionji's sword and a defenseless Utena, but I honestly think Touga's plan may have been to just...

1) Impersonate End of the World and tell Saionji the castle is coming down, this will incentivize him to go up there and break the rules.

2) Tip Utena off that Saionji has kidnapped Anthy.

3) The castle doesn't come down, upsetting Saionji and heating up his inevitable confrontation with Utena enough that he tries to kill her and Touga can step in at the perfect moment.

4) Profit.

I don't think he knew Anthy was going to Do That. For one, the plan was to get Saionji expelled, not kill him- Anthy's stunt there could have ruined the entire plan if Utena hadn't dragged Saionji out of the water. And Touga is drinking the "Rose Bride doesn't have feelings" juice. Evidently, he doesn't put two and two together after this, because he's still beating that drum in episode eleven!

I don't think Akio knew much about this either. Touga is telling him about it over the phone, so Touga didn't tell him, and Anthy didn't know, so she couldn't have either. I think he probably got woken up in the middle of the night by all the chaos and had to dial Touga up after the fact to ask him what the fuck was going on.

#revolutionary girl utena #shoujo kakumei utena #rgu #sku #anthy himemiya #himemiya anthy #kyouichi saionji #saionji kyouichi #touga kiryuu #kiryuu touga #akio ohtori #ohtori akio #utena spoilers

[oliver-quick-ens-my-pulse]

In the Moment

dark!Sebastian x f!reader

Summary - Combining “I feel like if MC used unforgivables in front of Sebastian he would probably be proud or wildly turned on or both lol" and "after reading that Subastion fic, can I possibly request a dom Sebastian fic?”

Word Count - 1,740

Warnings - 18+ smut, dark!sebastian, violence, blood

A/N - Okay I think this one was worth the wait. Not SUPER dark Seb, but should be quite enjoyable

You ended up dragging Sebastian to a pretty unsavory part of the woods in search of some poachers. When you heard about them capturing puffskeins it made you sick. They were one of the most innocent creatures you had seen and it infuriated you.

You were angry on your trek through the woods making quick work of any dugbogs or spiders that had chosen the wrong day to test you. They were aggressive and you knew they'd fight until they had you fatally injured so it didn't bother you to harm them.

Sebastian followed closely, whining the whole way, but at least he had agreed to accompany you. You crept through bushes carefully when you began to hear shouting. You looked at Sebastian and grinned; you had finally found the camp they'd been hiding the poor little fluffballs.

You were a good duelist and Sebastian knew that, the two of you together felt practically unstoppable. That combined with the fact that you both knew unforgivable's certainly gave you a leg up and anyone in your way very little chance of making an escape.

You didn't feel the need to hide any longer and drew your wand as you stalked over to a couple of poachers in the camp. They were busying themselves securing cages and yelling at the creatures to quiet their cries. You cleared your throat which made them jump back, wands at the ready.

They laughed upon seeing you in your Hogwarts robes.

"It's just a kid. Just scare them away," one of them said, turning back around to completely ignored you. A nasty sneer was on the remaining poacher's face as he chuckled at you.

"Come on. You don't really know what you're doing so we'll be nice and let ya' off with a warning this once." He was weary of you, but clearly not very afraid.

You glanced back to Sebastian when trying to decide what you wanted to do. You were enraged at what they were doing to innocent creatures, abusing them, killing them. Your anger boiled over when they dared to underestimate you. That was something you were sick of.

You barely thought before the words left your lips angrily, "Crucio!"

You were so calm and collected despite the nature of what you had just done. A red light shot out from your wand and right into the unsuspecting poacher that had threatened you. The other poacher whipped around to see his partner on the ground writhing and groaning in pain.

You could see the fear in his eyes when they met yours. You could feel the magic coursing through you where you stood, swirling your wand around to exaggerate the poacher's pain even more. As Sebastian watched you he cursed to himself. You looked angelic doing something that was so taboo. The surge from your wand had your robes whipping around your body. The look on your face was one of sheer determination. In the midst of the torture, you spared a glance at Sebastian where you sent him a devilish smile that had him tugging at the tight crotch of his pants.

Your trance with the spell was broken when the other poacher screamed at you, begging you to stop and they would just leave and give you whatever you wanted. As you released the spell you heaved forward and dropped to your own knees with a gasp. You watch the lucky poacher pick his friend up off of the ground where he lay panting and still squirming.

You didn't process anything they said as they rushed off to get far away from you, tossing a set of keys in your direction. Sebastian had intended to jump in and help you, but you just hadn't needed it. He rushed forward now to kneel down beside you.

"Y/N? Are you, are you okay?" His voice was soft, but raspy with the lust he was having a hard time containing.

As you let the world come back into focus around you, you turned to look at him, "The puffskeins. Please let them out." He sent a soft smile towards you that you barely registered. He stood to grab the keys and quickly free the innocent creatures to find their way homes. He took his time like he knew you would and placed each one on the ground to roll away on their own.

You stood up, feeling free from your daze as you watch them roll away happily into the fields. Sebastian made his way back over to you and placed a warm hand on your cheek.

"You were incredible." His voice was low and his eyes were locked with yours. You could see his pupils were wide and his eyelids heavy.

"Let me worship you after that. You've earned it." He weaves an arm around your waist, pressing against your lower back to bring you closer to him. Your noses were touching as you breathed heavily, never breaking eye contact with him. You nodded as much as the small space between you allowed and he dragged your face into his.

His lips met yours hungrily with wet and needy kisses. He slips his tongue past your lips to explore every inch of your mouth. You drop your wand and cling to him, adrenaline and desire running through you as you grasp at his robes. He presses his teeth into your lip hard, leaving a trickle of blood down them.

He pulled back from you to toss them away and yank yours off, throwing them into the same pile. He looks you up and down while he loosens his tie and the first few buttons of his blouse.

"Are you going to stand there or be a good girl and rid yourself of all that cloth in my way? When I see you standing there so strong in front to of the poachers, every fiber in me wants to make you beg. You need to beg me to make you fall apart. You can't be so tough all the time can you?"

You shiver at his words, wholeheartedly believing him. That he would bring you to pieces whether you gave him permission or not. His gaze was heated as he gestured for you to take your clothes off, so you obey him, looking around nervously. "Relax, we're alone. You really fucked them up," he groaned and palmed himself through his trousers, drawing your eyes to the wet patch that was on them, "Although if you wanted to make them watch, I'm sure you could. You could do anything Y/N."

Sebastian stepped close to you while you worked at unfastening your shirt, skirt already at your ankles. You really didn't want to upset him. He stepped forward and grabbed your jaw, slipping his thumb into your mouth and dragging the mix of spittle and blood down your chin.

"You're so good at those curses. I have the most insatiable urge to knock you down a peg. You could do anything, but you'll never be a match for me." His gaze was sultry, eyes trailing down to your camisole and knickers you still had on.

Just like that it was like a switch flipped. His hands were on you rough and clawing at your clothes, popping the rest of the buttons on your blouse to toss it aside. The only thing keeping your camisole intact was that you lifted your arms so he could tear it off.

He dives into your neck, sucking spots that you know are going to leave a mark. You cry out when he sinks his teeth into your sensitive flesh, meanwhile, he tugs your undergarments up until you're so uncomfortable you squirm with how they're pressing into your bundle of nerves.

"You're much too slow," he mutters. He makes his way over your breasts, licking and biting the soft flesh and stiff peaks. You struggle to balance as he slinks down your body, continuing his assault by leaving bitemarks and bruises in his wake.

He drags your underwear down as he falls on his knees. He drags his nose across your soft patch of hair stopping just short of where he knows you need him most. He breathes in deeply and looks up at you, leaving goosebumps behind on your skin as he trails his fingers over your legs.

"You smell delicious and you're soaking wet," he pulls on your legs, making you stand with them spread wide, "You loved using that magic and making them suffer. You love being out here where they could hear me fucking you senseless after you just about killed them."

He lets out a moan of his own before licking a slow, wide stripe up your cunt to taste you. You take a tight grasp on his overgrown hair and let out a whine. He laughs and it sends hot air and vibrations against you that makes you clutch him even tighter.

Deciding that he's toyed with you enough, he takes a firm hold on your backside and buries his face against you. He spreads your juices up to your clit before he starts tracing fast and heavy circles up against it. He slips one of his hands around while you groan and clutch his head between your thighs, inserting two aggressive fingers into your wetness.

He thrusts them in and out of you, timing it expertly with his mouth until you feel the warm pit building in your stomach. You call out his name while he fucks you relentlessly, adding another finger to feel you stretch and squeeze against him. When he feels your thighs quaking he helps to hold you steady as you cum on his face, gyrating your hips against him to helplessly hold onto the feeling.

He pulls away from your sensitive button to use big swipes of his tongue to clean your cum where it's dripping from your lips and down your thighs. When he's content with licking you clean, he stands up and pulls your skirt and bloomers with him.

He puts his arms around your waist for support as he takes in your dazed and heated expression. You whimper and lean into his chest at how your bottoms that he pulled up still rub against your sensitive spot. He pulls you into a complete hug, reveling in the way your bare breasts feel even through his shirt.

"That's my girl, now let's get you dressed okay?"

#sebastian sallow #hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow smut #hogwarts legacy smut #sebastian sallow x reader #sebastian sallow x mc #hogwarts legaxy x reader #hogwarts legacy x mc

[animeisfornerdz]

Yugi Moto Headcanons

Synopsis - Headcanons for our cute Yugi Moto.

Warnings - SFW.

Notes - All characters are 18+!

Word Count - 1.5k.

[Caffeinate Me]

: ̗̀➛ You first meet Yugi at his Grandfather’s Game Shop.

: ̗̀➛ You were a new duelist looking for a set of cards to start your journey.

: ̗̀➛ Yugi had never seen you around before. You didn’t go to his university and when he was in school, he hadn’t seen you there either. Nevertheless, his mouth became dry and his face flushed the second you walked through the door. 

: ̗̀➛ You explained to Yugi your situation. The tri-colour haired male had offered you help to create a formidable deck. He picked out all sorts of monster, spells and trap cards. 

: ̗̀➛ “Thank you so much Mr….” You trailed off, realising you hadn’t gotten his name. 

: ̗̀➛ “Moto. Yugi Moto,” he said proudly. 

: ̗̀➛ You went pale. THE King Of Games?! 

: ̗̀➛ Yugi couldn’t help but feel his heart beat faster as your lips curved up to offer him a shy smile. 

: ̗̀➛ “What’s your name?” He asked, wanting to keep you there for a few minutes longer. 

: ̗̀➛ “Y/N,” you replied. 

: ̗̀➛ “It’s nice to meet you Y/N,” Yugi smiled and offered out his hand for you to shake. 

: ̗̀➛ From that day on, Yugi was seeing you everywhere. It was like he couldn’t escape you both in his mind and in reality. 

: ̗̀➛ He told his friends about you, the beautiful woman that had come into his Grandfather’s shop in search of the perfect deck. Of course Yugi’s friends continuously encouraged him to ask you out the next time he saw you. 

: ̗̀➛ Yugi was unsure of what to do. He wanted to ask you out, he really did, but he was afraid of rejection. 

: ̗̀➛ The next time Yugi saw you was, once again, in his Grandfather’s Game Shop. 

: ̗̀➛ You walked in in a huff, looking distressed. Yugi became immediately worried upon seeing your distressed expression. “Y/N… What’s wrong?” He asked as he made his way to the front of the counter. 

: ̗̀➛ “I can’t play this stupid game!” You groaned, throwing your cards on the floor in a pile. 

: ̗̀➛ Yugi was slightly taken back by your… tantrum. 

: ̗̀➛ “You can. Everyone can. The trick is to believe in the heart of the cards!” Yugi replied. 

: ̗̀➛ “The heart of the what?” You asked, crinkling your nose up in confusion. 

: ̗̀➛ “The heart of the cards!” Yugi said, pausing before continuing. “As long as you believe in your cards, and have faith in them, you can never truly lose.” 

: ̗̀➛ You stared at Yugi as if he had three heads. You watched as he slowly bent down and scooped up your cards into a neat little pile, passing them to you with a gentle smile on his face. 

: ̗̀➛ “I can teach you,” Yugi offered. 

: ̗̀➛ You were shocked. 

: ̗̀➛ “You? The King Of Games? Teach me? A nobody?” 

: ̗̀➛ You couldn’t help but laugh slightly out of surprise, but when you looked at Yugi and saw a serious expression on his face, you halted the laughter immediately. 

: ̗̀➛ “I guess it couldn’t hurt…” You mumbled, shuffling your feet on the floor. 

: ̗̀➛ “Great. We’ll start tomorrow.” 

: ̗̀➛ The next day, at noon, you met Yugi at the Game Shop. He started by teaching you the basics of the game, what sorts of monsters did what, what spells and traps did what etc etc. You were listening intently, making mental note of all the things Yugi was saying to you. From that day on, the two of you became inseparable. 

: ̗̀➛ The next few weeks flew by so quickly, it was as if you had just blinked. With Yugi’s teachings you were becoming increasingly better at the game of Duel Monsters. By no means were you an expert, but you were getting better. 

: ̗̀➛ “That was a great game! Well done!” Yugi encouraged. He felt his breath hitch in his throat as you offered him a warm smile in return. 

: ̗̀➛ You see, over the last few weeks, Yugi had developed feelings for you and more than just the initial crush he had on you when you had first walked into the Game Shop. He was falling in love with you. You had gotten to learn all about him and in turn, he had gotten to learn all about you.

: ̗̀➛ His friends words constantly echoed in his head: “ask her out Yug’! What’s the worst that could happen?” So, Yugi took the plunge. 

: ̗̀➛ “Say Y/N…” he said, watching as you placed your deck of cards in your pocket and hand him the duel disk he so kindly lent you. You looked at him and tilted your head to the side as if to say ‘yes’. “Would you… Maybe… Like to accompany me to dinner? Tonight?” 

: ̗̀➛ You were surprised to say the least but didn’t think of it as anything more than a friendly dinner. “Sure,” you smiled.  

: ̗̀➛ Yugi was shocked at your willingness to have dinner with him, but tried to keep it cool. He watched as you left the Game Shop and immediately began preparing for the evening. He booked a reservation at his favourite restaurant and dressed up all fancy for you. 

: ̗̀➛ When you turned up at the Game Shop at 7pm, like you had agreed, Yugi was breath taken by your appearance. He always thought you were beautiful but there was something about tonight… He couldn’t put his finger on it, you looked even more stunning than usual. 

: ̗̀➛ When you arrived at the restaurant, Yugi immediately found a candle-lit table in the corner of the room and led you to it, pulling out the chair from the table and offering you a seat. 

: ̗̀➛ You blushed as he did this, a gesture you had never had from anybody before.

: ̗̀➛ Throughout the night, he ordered you some of his favourite foods and you just talked about anything and everything. You learnt even more about him, about how he got so good at card games, his family life… everything. 

: ̗̀➛ Yugi found himself falling further and further in love with you as the night went on. 

: ̗̀➛ Eventually, the two of you left the restaurant and Yugi walked you home. 

: ̗̀➛ When you reached your home, Yugi took your hand in his. “I had fun with you tonight,” he stuttered. “We should do it again.” 

: ̗̀➛ You grinned, your heart fluttering against your chest at the thought of dining with him again. You nodded excitedly. 

: ̗̀➛ “Can I… Can I kiss you?” He asked. His eyes widened as soon as the words left his lips, but before he could take it back you pressed your lips to his firmly. 

: ̗̀➛ Immediately, Yugi closed his eyes, letting himself fall further into the moment. His hands rubbed your forearms comfortingly and you hummed into the kiss. 

: ̗̀➛ When you pulled away, you looked into Yugi’s eyes and bit your lip. “I liked that,” you smiled. 

: ̗̀➛ He laughed. “I liked that too.” 

: ̗̀➛ You said goodnight and walked into your home with a racing heart and red face. 

: ̗̀➛ The next few weeks were filled with dates and surprises from Yugi but your Duel Monsters training never stopped. In fact, he seemingly pushed you harder, but this time would give you kisses as rewards. 

: ̗̀➛ Yugi introduces you to his friends a week after your first date. His heart is just so full of love that he has to introduce you to the people he cares about the most in the world. 

: ̗̀➛ His friends immediately become your friends. You click with them so well, it was as if you had known them all your whole life. 

: ̗̀➛ News got out about you dating the King Of Games and soon enough, you both become the ‘Duel Monsters power couple’. Even though you were nowhere near as good as Yugi, wherever his name went, yours did too. 

: ̗̀➛ His Grandfather absolutely adores you. He also teaches you a thing or two about Duel Monsters. 

: ̗̀➛ You move in with Yugi and his Grandfather a few months into your relationship. It was Yugi’s idea, but you were more than willing to agree. You just wanted to be around him. 

: ̗̀➛ Yugi proposes to you early on too. He has never met someone he had been in love with before, and he never wanted to ever again. You’re the woman of his dreams and he doesn’t want to let you go. 

: ̗̀➛ You get pregnant before you get married. You end up having a baby boy and Yugi wants to call him Solomon, after his Grandfather. You agree, but end up calling him ‘Sol’ for short. 

: ̗̀➛ Having a baby is NOT easy, so you and Yugi focus on raising baby Sol before anything. You decide to get married when Solomon is five years old. 

: ̗̀➛ The ceremony is lovely, filled with both of your friends and family.

: ̗̀➛ Afterwards, you have a party that ends late into the night. 

: ̗̀➛ Yugi and yourself head back to a hotel, with Yugi’s Grandfather taking care of your son. 

: ̗̀➛ You and Yugi go on to have two more children, of which you get to name. 

: ̗̀➛ You live happily ever after with the King Of Games.

#yugioh #yugioh x reader #yugioh duel monsters #yugioh duel monsters x reader #yu-gi-oh! #yu-gi-oh! x reader #yami yugi #yugi moto #yugi moto x reader #yugi muto #yugi muto x reader #pharaoh atem #pharaoh atem x reader #yugi moto headcanons #yugi moto headcanon #yugi moto headcannons #yugi moto headcannon #yugi mutou #yugi mutou x reader #joey wheeler #yami yugi x reader #atem #atem x reader

[subjectnamemissing]

The first set of duels all involve seeking a return to a comfortable stagnation or projection. The character has left a state that they wish to return to. The second set all involve seeking to reject the current surrounding world for one that matches their desires. The third set of duels is finally closest to the truth of what 'Revolutionizing the world' is - seeking to prove a change exists in the perception of the duelists - that a level of maturity has been reached and the duelist has grown up - but this change only occurs upon the duelist losing the duel. Without the loss all the third duel accomplishes is the completion of a Rotation on the Revolution. The duelists seek ‘adulthood’ in the belief that doing so will grant them the power to continue to exist unchanged even in new circumstances. Revolution has two meanings within the narrative - a break from stagnant conditions or states, and the completion of a cycle that returns to the start - like a carousel’s spin.

I think that the power to Revolutionize the World that all the characters fight for in Revolutionary Girl Utena is primarily a power to change oneself and break free of the eternal revolution offered by Ohtari and embodied by Akio. Part 1/2 - Mikage & the Black Rose Duelists, Saoinji, Miki, and Juri.

Nanami post link

Black Rose

Mikage in the Black Rose arc keeps trying to kill the Rose Bride and win the power of Dios, but he fails every time since every duelist he chooses is attempting to Reject the world and revolutionize it based upon changing other people. A miracle achieved though sacrificing other people - they pull their swords from others and bear the rose crests of others.

Mikage and the duelists are working on an entirely flawed premise - so each duel ends with another corpse in the crematorium and another chick that failed to break their shell and a return to status quo. Each person dueling is attempting to seek a revolution entirely defined by the perceptions or actions of others - Kaene wants Anthy’s judgement of her (perceived or not) gone. Wakaba wants others to look at her as special (especially Saionji). Kozue wants to protect Miki's innocence, but she also keeps wanting to taint it - her sweet love towards her sibling has turned curdled and she also wants to return to the 'Sunlit Garden'- so everyone who can taint it needs to go. Shiori wants to 'Win' over Juri because she can't believe in Juri's feelings in their clash with her abysmal self-worth and she can't accept her own feelings towards Juri. Tsuwabuki wants to be perceived as an adult and grow up already - though he isn't sure what it entails. Keiko wants to know Touga, and perhaps it is a plain desire common to most of Ohtori, but it’s not one that can be fulfilled while she is the lowest girl on the totem pole and Nanomi is in the way. Mikage himself seeks connection but the person he wants to connect to is terminally ill - so in the ultimate conclusion of this theme of rejecting the world he is seeking Eternity in these memories and reliving the past literally - he is a trapped ghost in a burned down building. The one person rejected is the Onion Prince boy whose basal confession is that he believes the problem is in him - not others.

Saionji

Saionji wants his status symbol back and to have something special that his 'friend' Touga doesn't have and Utena confronts him in revenge for her friend Wakaba first and revenge for Anthy's treatment once she is already committed - later episodes make it clear Wakaba still loves Saionji so it is doubtful that she would have wanted the duel in her honor. As Saoinji scoffingly points out - Utena is the archetypical prince protecting the honor of princesses here. Saionji's 'revolution' is related primarily to his status in the system - without Anthy as his rose bride he is no longer special - just an average upperclassman. His second duel is much the same because despite his belief that he has changed - he utterly fails to articulate 'how' and no other character can even notice how or if he is different. He still seeks to possess the Rose Bride as a status symbol of being 'an Adult' and gaining something that designates him as special - most specifically in regard to Touga. He is the only 2nd time duelist that comes without their own Rose Bride. He's not fighting with his own power/strength of will at all. He's repeating lines said by Touga in the first set of duels, Saioinji is an imitation of an imitation, and it's not very surprising he missed the memo on the change in duel format.

But he seems to have found the route start for the process of growing anyways after being beaten again. Refuting Touga in his desire to be like Akio and accurately pointing out the central premise of Ohtari. He repeats with Touga there is no such thing as True Friendship- but it is still evident that his relationship with Touga only improves again after they fail to complete their revolutions on Akio’s stage.

Miki

Miki wants to recapture his “sunlight garden” through Anthy. He is seeking a return to a state which was simple and joyful for him and believes if he can possess Anthy then he can return to that state. Of course, this simple state in his memory doesn't exist. He loses the duels both times because his illusion of how things were was shattered - first by realizing Anthy was cheering for Utena - she was not an empty vessel for his fantasy, second by realizing that both his sister and Anthy had elements of 'adulthood' - he thinks that he is ready to 'get dirty to get what he wants' in regards to maturing his relationship with Anthy and finally the stability and strength to make his place in the world secure. Both he and Kozue wants to have the strength to return to the Sunlight Garden, but only Kozue seems prepared to grab the power to hold the illusion together - in which case she chose an excellent model. Akio is a professional in the art of maintaining an illusion.

Miki ultimately seeks to return to simpler times because he feels estranged in the present - a chick without a home.

The problem is that his Sunlight Garden is a fragile thing since it is only a facade. Kozue seeks to grant her brother the power of 'Revolution' and take him to the 'world of adulthood' but his sword is still a 'child's sword'. Realizing that he can't return to the past he sought the ability to create a comfortable present - but he can't follow-through with the 'adulthood' embodied by Akio and complete his revolution on the carousel. Perhaps his Revolution requires him to stop trying to fit himself to the dichotomy of either a powerful prince ‘who takes what he want’ or an innocent and pure child ‘who has what’s his taken’ since no such thing as a 'pure prince' who exists without subjecting others or getting subjugated. Perhaps hope exists, he does know a friend or two who also don't fit comfortably into the defined archetypes of princess or prince.

Juri

I understand Juri's issue in regard to her personal coffin - but I'm not actually sure the motivations behind her duels with Utena or what she is hoping to achieve. Juri's issue is that she doesn't believe in miracles (Shiori returning her feelings) but she really wants to believe in miracles (She can't give up her feelings for Shiori anyways). Her issue with miracles is "Believe in miracles and they will know your feelings" In this context, her duel with Utena is triggered by Utena telling how her Rose Crest links her to her 'Prince'. The parallel between miracles is the power to bring about connections - Juri challenges Utena to show her proof that her miracle - she will be led to her prince through her ring - is real while the camera focuses straight on Juri's locket - linking the two symbols. Juri believes there is no hope of her feelings or her being accepted if she communicates them to Shiori.

If she wins, she can continue to deny miracles exist while secretly hoping they exist - being engaged to the Rose Bride who is said to grant miracles - quietly locked into believing her feelings can’t be expressed. Losing - she still refuses to say out loud she believes in miracles - but it is still clear she is less hostile to the idea they can happen.

Juri's second duel starts with coercion - her anguish on seeing Shiori's humiliation and obsession with Ruka/Juri is outweighing her anguish on the uncrossable distance between Juri's feelings and Shiori despite their reciprocity. Ruka seems to love Juri and knows Juri loves Shiori and that Shiori can't and won't reciprocate with her issues, Juri loves Shiori but will neither reach out nor give up, Shiori loves Juri but refuses to believe that she is worthy so she must make Juri hate her. Juri and Ruka seem to share the idea - it's fine if they hate me as long as they are free from this toxic debasement that they are trapped in. Juri's growth hinges on accepting she shouldn't sacrifice herself for the sake of Shiori's miracle - love doesn't justify abuse. It is only by losing Shiori’s locket and letting her feelings (and fears) lay bare that Juri can break away in a new direction from the interruption into her cycle instead of a repeat of her past misfortune with Shiori.

It seems that Ruka succeeds in his goal of letting Juri move on from her obsession with Shiori - though to what degree he intended anything is ambiguous since he goes and dies afterwards. Juri can accept letting Shiori leave her locket and accept it doesn’t need to require her suffering to love Shiori. Unrequited (or believed to be) love can be left to grow wistful - instead of a constant thorn in the heart. Juri has been given a direction to go for when she is ready to Revolutionize her world. She can still love Shiori, but she can't keep letting the rose parasite use its venom.

#revolutionary girl utena #proofread later #feel free to add commentary or evidence #feeling very literary analysis today #rgu #RGU meta #Mikage Souji #utena tenjou #juri arisugawa #saionji kyouichi

[adracat]

The Cycles of GWitch

This notion has been brewing in my head since I wrote my analysis on GWitch's Cinematic Rhythm. With the second cour nearly finished I can confidently say my suspicions were correct.

When we look at its wealth of influences from The Tempest, Utena, previous Gundam, Norse and now Arthurian myth the truest pattern is Cycles. More distinctly, how the past connects to the present and future.

The Tempest

The most blatant cycle is something we as a society are deeply familiar with. Revenge. It's a base and consuming thing, as we see from Prospera and also her namesake Prospero. The story goes the sorcerer Prospero was once the Duke of Milan until his brother with help from the King of Naples, usurps him. He flees to an isle with his young daughter Miranda and takes a fairy/spirit, Arial, and an island native, Caliban, as his servants.

For years Prospero was consumed by hate and the idea of revenge. However, after he commands Arial to sink the king's ship Miranda falls in love with Prince Ferdinand at first glimpse. And he loves her in turn. Prospero then relinquishes his revenge once he recognizes Ferdinand's love is true and reconciles with King Alonso and Antonio. For its loyal service, the spirit Arial is set free. The cycle of revenge in this story is broken.

Revolutionary Girl Utena

The cycle of Utena is not immediately made clear. The show keeps to the pretense of being innocuous until well into its runtime. But then we're introduced to the Black Rose Duelists, and swiftly afterward the school's headmaster and Anthy's brother, Akio Ohtori. A former prince who styles himself as The End of the World.

Abuse, filial obligation, the horrifying reality of womanhood beneath the yoke of patriarchal systems. These cycles are grounded and are hidden by a veneer of childhood innocence and fairytale mythos. The Prince was the savior to humanity, but was selfishly hidden by a witch. This witch is therefore punished eternally for her sins, pierced by the Swords of Human Hatred. She accepts this role only as someone who loves her brother and wants to protect him. She is branded a witch by the world. But as the show says, if you're not a princess you must be a witch. That's the truth of the Rose Bride. And in the end, all girls are like the rose bride; something we're witnessing now with Miorine.

The cycle Akio implements is to groom a champion with the ideals of princehood, the champion to quest for eternity with the Rose Bride's temptation and guidance, then using the champion's sword to bash down the Rose Gate in the vain hope of regaining his princehood. It's a cycle that has repeated for countless unknown years. And all the while weaponizing his sister's suffering. But just like The Tempest, the Rose Cycle is broken by love. The unfettered and earnest love between Utena and Anthy grants the witch the courage to escape her stagnant coffin.

Ragnarok and Arthurian

The Ragnarok Cycle is a series of myths that depict the birth, reign, and death of the Norse gods. I have an ongoing series of analysis where I discussed gwitch's usage here, and here. More I'm sure will follow. But as dire as it sounds, Ragnarok isn't just about the end of the world and its many gods. It itself is a continuous cycle. The gods will return and so will the world. It's a story of renewal.

The same can be said of the Arthurian Cycle. The tales of King Arthur and uniting Britain are end-capped with a messianic promise that the King shall one day return to rule Britain. Hope, despite the tragedy that follows King Arthur upon Camlann. The fact GWitch is now harking to Arthurian with Suletta in Arthur's role (and possibly Miorine as The Lady of The Lake) is intriguing. But the bones for this twist were there from the start.

Suletta, akin to Arthur, is a child orchestrated by a 'gentle magician' to receive a peerless 'sword'. And it's through Aerial's might she becomes engaged to Miorine, a 'King's daughter. Now, it appears she's to wield Calibarn or Caliburn; a direct link to King Arthur. Whether it will go smoothly is another matter. But the reference remains interesting and again reiterates the theme of cycles.

A Hopeful Note

The ultimate take away from these references is clear in my opinion. It's no coincidence that at the forefront is a positive message that not all cycles are terrible or absolute. They can be broken with love. Gwitch is deeply humanist when you consider everything it's pulling from and I hope this settles a few doubts. Cour 2 is incredibly hopeful, even with the fraught ongoings among the cast. Our protagonist is embodying this message the clearest. Doing something for gain leads to misery. Yet a helping hand costs nothing and connects us all in a cycle itself.

#cycles can be beautiful or tragic #but they're ultimately a sign of life #g witch #g witch spoilers #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #gundam witch from mercury #rgu spoilers #the tempest #norse mythology #arthurian mythology #revolutionary girl utena #analysis and speculation

[valorant-drabbles]

Hi! Can I request an Jett x gn!reader?

Reader is Iso’s radiant older sibling, and they keep it a secret they are siblings. Reader joined the protocol at same time as Jett. Reader has similar abilities to Iso.

So Iso just joined the protocol and reader is sharing headphones with him and listening to music with him in the kitchen and cooking with him. Jett also sees them training together a lot. Jett (not dating reader yet) gets jealous because reader is cooking and training with someone else.

Thank you!

So Sorry I've been MIA. Being sick really sucks the motivation out of you. But I hope I've made up for it! Enjoy!

Gender neutral reader!

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: Mild Cursing

Radiant Jealousy

Reader x Jett

The unstoppable duo. That's what the younger agents of the protocol had started to call your team. The team consisting of Jett; the swift, air-riding daredevil... and yourself. The terrifying, defensive master of the battlefield. Together, your abilities meshed perfectly- your ability to counter bullets with your shield when timed correctly, as well as your ability to teleport out of trouble before the enemies' very eyes... only for you to be replaced with Jett, who's always ready to deal with the agents you teleported her to. It was definitely advantageous. You were able to swap the place of yourself with any one of your teammates if they needed a quick escape; and it proved extremely valuable many, many times.

Any mission with the two of you was bound to be an adventure, and often left the other duelists on your team scrambling for kills to make up for how many you and Jett had managed to get together. As expected, there were a few sore losers who dreaded being teamed with this unstoppable duo; namely Yoru, Neon, and even Phoenix on a bad day. Occasional jealousy would brew, but at the end of the day, as long as everybody survived, and as long as the mission resulted in a success... no one could really complain too much.

On a day like any other, the protocol found itself welcoming their newest agent, hailing from China; Iso. The Dead Lilac. Known for his skill with swift assassinations, cleaning up loose ends, and appearing virtually unstoppable from the outside view, And today, that man stood before all the other agents, as Brimstone gave his usual speech regarding the welcoming of new team members.

"Everyone, this young man is Iso. I expect all of you to be courteous towards him, and make him feel right at home."

Brimstone simply gestured to the male, who appeared to have an earbud in, listening to music. Jett couldn't help but let out a slight huff, only to raise her hand.

"Hey, don't we have a rule against wearing earbuds n'stuff during meetings and whatever?" Jett's voice piped up from the crowd of agents, who all exchanged similar nods of agreement.

Upon hearing this, Iso simply plucked the earbud from his ear, and stuffed it into his pocket without much of a fight. After all, it was his first day; getting off on the wrong foot with everybody for something so small wouldn't be the best.

You, however, currently standing beside Jett, jabbed her in the side with your elbow, and gave her a scolding look. "Don't single him out like that. How's he supposed to know? It's his first day!" Narrowing your eyes at your partner, Jett feels a slight flush of embarrassment rush to her cheeks.

"Ah- s... sorry." She apologized gently, though she clearly meant the apology more towards you, not to much towards Iso. But he didn't appear to mind. Brimstone cleared his throat, redirecting attention to himself once more.

"We do have rules like that for a reason, yes. Though we have discovered that Iso is able to preform just as well- perhaps even better- when he's listening to music. So, we've allowed him to bend that rule, as long as it doesn't cause distraction during missions. If any of you wish to get a pass to do the same, you will have to pass a few tests that Viper and myself have designed... just to ensure that you won't get yourself killed in the field if you aren't able to hear the enemy behind you."

Brimstone's eyes had met a few other pairs of eyes within the crowd of agents... mostly those who had proven they weren't able to multitask in such a way in the past. And in short, those agents were the reason Brimstone had initially administered the ban on music on missions in the first place.

"Y/N." Brimstone called you out from the crowd. "I'm going to ask you to show Iso around the headquarters. The training hall, his room, you know the drill."

You nodded towards him as you were instructed to show the newbie around. At the opportunity, Jett's eyes lit up with excitement. Hell yeah, her duo was given a big responsibility! She was so proud. "I'll tag along with you guys! Plus, I'd love the chance to spar with you, Iso!" She'd beamed, only to be cut off from approaching by Viper.

"Jett. Last time you were in charge of showing somebody around, you went so fast that they ended up getting lost for a week. And anytime they asked for directions, you accused them of not paying attention during your tour." Viper had raised an eyebrow disapprovingly, her tone proving to be rather... irritated. More so than usual.

From the crowd of agents, Gekko kicked at the floor with a quiet huff. "... she talks so fast, she may as well be speaking another language." He muttered, mostly to himself. You gave the poor guy a sympathetic look over your shoulder, before turning your attention to your eager duo partner, hand on her shoulder in reassurance.

"I'll be honest, J... Tours aren't your strong suit. But once Iso is more settled, I'm sure he'd be happy to spar with you." You shot her a smile, reassuring Jett despite her mild disappointment at being rejected. Sighing, she simply crossed her arms across her chest, and stepped back into the line of agents. "Fiiiine, do it your way. But if it takes longer than an hour, I'm hunting you down and helping, whether you want it or not!"

You couldn't help but smirk at Jett's impatience. It was always a trait you'd found quite endearing. Irritating at times, sure, but endearing nonetheless. You'd lost count of how many times Jett had gotten herself into a dangerous situation because she didn't want to wait for backup. She was always looking to prove herself, always eager for the opportunity to ace. It was a lot worse when you and her were fresh recruits. And you'd saved her ass dozens of times before she saw the merit in the two of you working together. You couldn't say you hated her impatience, because truthfully? It was the trait of hers that helped bring you two closer together. And it was always oddly cute to watch her bounce in place, twirling her knife in her hand as she was forced to wait.

"If that's settled... everyone is dismissed."

-------------

You'd been at the protocol for quite awhile; longer than most agents, actually. So the tour with Iso didn't take much time at all, much to Jett's relief. Jett who... may or may not had been following you and Iso from a distance. You hadn't noticed her initially, but once you did, decided not to embarrass her in front of the new recruit, and let her follow you like a puppy.

Though the tour did indeed only take an hour, Iso had quite a few questions regarding some of the agents, and how the training facilities worked... so, you decided to dedicate the rest of the day to answering any and all of Iso's questions. You even showed him around the kitchen, so he'd know where everything was if he ever needed to make himself something to eat.

Suffice to say... Jett... didn't like that. At all.

Jett was basically the in-house cook, and only trusted a few select people to help her if offered. You were one of those people. Hell, she'd let you take over cooking if she was sick, and have faith you'd do her dishes justice.

And there she was, glaring daggers from around the corner at Iso. Who was taking notes on where Jett kept the kettle, strainer, spices... Even though usually Jett could appreciate someone taking kitchen care seriously, she couldn't figure out why seeing Iso there with you in the kitchen made her skin crawl.

Maybe it was because, aside from training, the kitchen was where you and Jett spent most of your time. Even if it was just being sat on the counter, drinking coffee late into the night, because insomnia haunts most of the younger agents. And seeing you hop up onto the counter, offering to make Iso some tea how he likes it... Ugh. She hated it, she hated it, she hated it!

"Whatever." Dismissively, Jett had let out a stubborn huff of irritation, and headed towards the training hall. Training was always a good way of getting her mind off of things... though you were often on her mind if you weren't by her side training as well. Okay, so maybe you were always on her mind. She couldn't help it! She always just figured that was the cost of having a kick-ass duo; always worrying, thinking about how to improve your guys' performance... wondering why you were so damn chummy with Iso-

God. Jett needed to let off some steam before she imploded.

------

The next few hours of her free time was spent perfecting her knife throws, as well as some general aerobatic moves that you had been brainstormed for her. Ways to use her radiant power more without causing too much destruction. Last thing the protocol needed was a tornado within its walls.

Though the hours passed mindlessly, Jett still couldn't figure out why the hell she was so agitated by Iso's mere existence. She was always hyped when a new duelist joined their ranks, to the point where she'd try and take them under her wing if they needed help discovering their fighting style. She took a lot of pride in her ability to help her fellow agents, and yet...

As if summoned by the mere thought, Iso happened to enter the training hall, you following by his side, explaining one thing or another. Jett wasn't sure. She hadn't been close enough to hear your conversation- but she didn't like it.

"Oh- you finally here for that spar?" She'd flashed a grin in the direction of Iso. She was itching to put him in his place- though that thought alone was quite a strange one for her. Put him in his place? He hadn't done anything-... had he?

Iso himself looked quite surprised to see Jett in the hall, and had held his hands up in a faux surrender, showing he had no interest in sparring. "Oh, you were serious-- I mean, we can totally do that another time. But Y/N was going to train with me. To help me figure out how to best use my abilities in combat, maybe using them in combination with someone else's abilities......"

Iso's voice had quickly been drowned out by Jett's own thoughts. You... were going to train with Iso? What, alone? Doing what she usually did with her duelists? Finding his fighting style?

You could see the displeased look on Jett's face, as she wasn't the best at masking her feelings for too long. Flashing your partner a nervous smile, you approached Jett. "I know Iso's abilities pretty well myself, so finding his style probably won't take too long- but we can train elsewhere if you're busy here-?" You'd offered quietly, not wanting to further upset your duo. But it was a bit too late for that.

Grabbing your arm, Jett forcefully pulled you towards the door. "Get some target practice in while I have a chat with your 'trainer'." She'd growled towards Iso, who looked more confused than anything. But he didn't question further, and definitely didn't want to witness an angry Jett in action- so he'd grabbed a gun and started shooting some targets to warm up.

Dragging, dragging, dragging on; You couldn't exactly do much to escape Jett's grasp- her upper body strength was impressive for someone of her size. "Jett-- Jett!" You call her name, trying to get her to stop dragging you, but to no avail. She didn't stop until she knew you two were completely alone. In an empty hallway.

"Jett, what the hell is up with you today? You're being more of a jerk than usual." You scolded in a hushed tone once Jett had finally let go of you, moving to fold your arms over your chest. Your body language was enough for Jett to know you were beyond irritated, but you were holding it together for her sake.

Jett just turned to glare at you, fists clutched as she struggled for a few moments. Trying to find the words to articulate how she was feeling- Feelings were difficult for her to explain most of the time. So before she could open her mouth, you held your hand up to stop her. "And I'm not going to listen if you start yelling."

God, she wanted to punch you for saying that. But it was a boundary you'd set with her after the first few arguments you two had. Things would just escalate and escalate, and neither of you would listen. Talking over each other so one of you could be heard. And even if she was angry, Jett always respected your boundaries. Which meant in this case that she wasn't going to shout.

"Right. Right right right right right." Jett exhaled deeply, and began to shake her hands in a bit of a stim. Shake the anger out, that's what she often did. And more often than not, it didn't help too much. It only subsided how much she wanted to punch things. But it would at least get her through the conversation.

"You're kind of... how can I put this lightly... driving me crazy. In a bad way." Jett articulated slowly, though was quick to see your displeasure from the look in your eyes once she'd said it. Huffing, she continued. "You're, like... being all nice n' shit to Iso, which is fine or whatever... But you were crossing some lines."

"... I'm sorry, how the hell was I crossing lines? I was showing Iso around, like Brim told me to?" You furrowed your eyebrows slightly in confusion, not knowing if you should still be irritated or not. What was going on in her head...?

"Okay, uh, example. You were showing Iso around the kitchen. My kitchen. You didn't think to ask me if I wanted to show him around the kitchen at least? Show where I hide the good flour?" Jett urged, though you couldn't help but snicker slightly.

"Jett. It's the Protocol's kitchen. And it's pretty small. There's not much to really show him. There just wasn't enough to show to justify bringing you in."

"Fine! Okay, that's fine. Just don't cook any of our meals with him, and we're fine. See? I'm being reasonable!" She had a forced smile on her face, but it was quite clear she was struggling to keep her composure. It felt like she was jumping all over the place with her logic, and she'd just started.

"Another example! You... were going to train with him."

"... Jett. I train with everybody." You shot her down almost immediately, to which you could only raise an eyebrow in mild amusement. She was really grasping at straws here for excuses to be angry, and none of them were really... viable?

"But you said, and I QUOTE-- … okay, I can't remember exactly what you said, but you mentioned something about helping Iso figure out how to use his abilities in combat." Her teal eyes bore into yours, and there, finally, you could sees a glimmer of the real problem.

Conflicted. Hesitant. Envious.

"That's my thing. No, Not just my thing. It's our thing. You were the one who inspired me to figure out unique ways to use my radiant powers in combination with other peoples' abilities. To figure out my fighting style, and helping others find theirs! That's how we became a duo! And sure, I took credit for it a lot of the time... but you were the reason I started helping people in the first place! To the point even Viper trusted me to help recruits figure out their style!" She'd began to pace back and forth as she spoke, another mild stim. If she kept her body moving in some way, it helped her thoughts flow a lot smoother.

"So why-" Jett suddenly turned to you, pinning you to the wall with both her hands on either side of your head. "Why did you try to do it without me? Were you going to... I don't know? Be his duo? The way we do things is really, really efficient, it doesn't need to change! So... Don't you dare think for a second that you're replacing me for that-- that..." Her voice trailed off, as she noticed a smirk slowly rest on your features. "Wh... What the hell are you making that face for?"

"You're jealous."

Those two words were enough to make Jett fly back a few feet, as if it physically impacted her, blasting her away from you dramatically. And as the realization slowly dawned on her, Jett's face slowly grew a bright red shade. That... would explain a lot about how she'd been feeling. She gripped her own shirt, eyes locked on the floor, suddenly all out of things to say. Rendered genuinely speechless.

"Wh... What am I jealous about?" She asked after a few moments, looking towards you for answers. Jett really didn't know why she was jealous. And you couldn't help but find that... oddly adorable, despite how scared she looked with this information out in the open.

"I don't know if I can answer that for you, J." You admitted with a slight smile, slowly approaching as if she were a startled dear in a beartrap. "But... If I had to guess, you're jealous that... I'm spending all this time with Iso, doing all the stuff you and I usually do?"

Jett's gaze remained glued to the floor tiles, hands stuck to her side. The burning feeling on her face wouldn't go away. She was completely embarrassed. Something so simple... made her upset? Groaning, she covered her face with her hands, turning away from you to hide her shame further. "M... Maybe. I think that... isn't too far off." She didn't want to admit it... though she kind of had to if she wanted you to know why she was upset.

"Jett..." Your smile softens on your face as you take a few steps towards her, raising your hand to hold her cheek. Your thumb caresses her cheek as her eyes flick towards yours. "You're an idiot. You really think I'd replace you like that? After our years of experience together?" The question caused Jett to gaze down at the ground again, taking a moment to clear her throat a bit to find some kind of rebuttal.

"You were just... I don't know. You got along really well with Iso, and clicked pretty fast." She let out a soft sigh, absentmindedly leaning against the hand to her cheek, almost affectionately. You couldn't help but compare her to a cat in that moment.

"Of course we get along well. He's my little brother. Showing him around was the best way to help him feel acclimated, after all-"

Jett felt her thoughts grind to a halt.

"Your... brother?"

You could see the mix of realization, embarrassment, and relief in her eyes. It would've made you laugh at how cute it was, but decided that, for Jett's sake, you'd hold back.

"Yeah. I told you my little brother would be joining the protocol a few months back. Did you forget, or were you not paying attention?" You raise an eyebrow in sheer amusement, as you watch Jett's expression freeze and then scramble to find an answer, to which, she couldn't find one.

"I... I am so sorry, Y/N. I completely forgot." She whispered, grabbing both of your hands within her own, holding them tight. "I'm such an idiot- and I was going to yell at you over this? Please, please, please forgive me!" Jett practically pleaded, to which you couldn't resist laughing anymore.

This precious idiot, you thought. You let out a content sigh, squeezing Jett's hands for a moment as you take a step closer. "Drill this into your head, okay, dummy? You're irreplaceable. Nobody is ever going to take the place in my heart that belongs to you."

Before Jett could even consider thinking too much into your words, you'd leant forward and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. From such a quick action, you could swear she was about to float off or launch into the air like a rocket. Frozen, but shaking.

"Jett?" You called out softly with a slight grin across your face, the cogs in her brain whirling, trying to catch up with what was happening. And the second everything clicked, Jett got the biggest, goofiest smile on her face as she proceeded to grab your face and pepper it with as many little kisses as she could before you'd push her away, laughter filling the hollow halls.

You promised Jett to spend the rest of the evening with her after training with Iso, to make up for the time she demanded back.

And fell asleep, wrapped in blankets, watching movies on your laptop. The following days, the other agents swore they'd never seen Jett so happy.

#valorant #valorant fanfiction #valorant agents #valorant jett #valorant x reader #valorant x you

[it-happened-one-fic]

A Little Crazy - Childe

Author Notes: Yet another fic that teaches why one should be careful about what they listen to while writing. This fic is set in Fontaine because I am having fun exploring the new nation. I was listening to "Don't Blame Me" by Taylor Swift while writing this and that most certainly bled into the fic. As per usual, Reader is gender-neutral. I hope you enjoy!

Type: Gender-neutral reader/ fluff with a touch of angst/ romantic

Word count: 1838

Trigger Warning: Mentions of violence against treasure hoarders/ Reader is briefly held hostage but there is very little detail (again, treasure hoarders)

Childe knew better than to go and get attached to people in other countries. He was only in Fontaine to handle some issues relating to the Northland bank. 

It was true that he made friends most everywhere he went, but that was as far as he would let it go. He was a member of the Fatui, and at the end of the day, he was only in the land of justice on business.

But even with that rule that he typically held sacred, Childe didn’t think he could’ve ever been prepared for the absolute storm that was you. And it wasn’t even that you were innately devastating in how you behaved. You weren’t someone who threw yourself into dangerous situations, nor were you some sort of individual built solely for seducing those that might be useful to you.

No, you were just perfectly tailored to destroy Childe and make it so that he broke almost every rule in his book. 

Most people were wary of Fatui, and you had been as well to start with. But he’d whittled away at you, simply intending to make friends just to make life in Fontaine easier. And in doing so, he’d lost control and slipped in a little too deep as you warmed to him. 

You were genuinely kind and trusting, laughing good-naturedly at his jokes, shaking your head at his light-hearted flirting, and honestly accepting him. You knew perfectly well that he enjoyed a fight. You’d witnessed some of his duels, but you didn’t judge. You’d just shrugged and declared, “Different strokes for different folks,” and that was that.

And that nonchalant acceptance, paired with genuine kindness and a willingness to not judge him solely as a member of the Fatui, was probably what had done Childe in.

Because it was true, Childe had flirted around in the past. A good number of his coworkers had frowned upon such behavior, but if they could see him now, he knew they would all be saying that he’d at long last gone too far this time.

And he had. What he felt for you wasn’t mere attraction, and you were more than just a friend. No, he’d stepped over the line this time and fallen in love.

The worst part of it all was that he hadn’t even realized that was the case until today.

It had started as a fairly normal day during which he was going to spar against one of Fontaine’s champion duelists. He’d slipped into the street you worked on with a wide smile. Fully prepared to invite you along and brag about his upcoming victory, only to find some of your coworkers speaking in hushed tones about how horrible it all was.

Fontaine people were typically theatrical so to see such genuine, hushed horror was odd. It had caught the ginger-haired Harbinger’s attention immediately and had him heading over to see what it was all about.

And then he’d heard your name.

It was then that something within him had snapped, and he’d been staring down your coworkers, who looked up at him in raw fear. The usually cheerful and charming Childe was gone and replaced by someone who actually befitted the terrifying title of ‘Harbinger of Snezhnaya.’

He’d only had to ask once to learn that you’d been out with your coworkers on some sort of business when you’d been attacked. The treasure hoarders had knocked you out and given your coworkers a threat.

Pay up, or you were never going to be seen on Fontaine’s ever-clean streets again.

Childe’s hands had flexed at his sides as your friends had rambled on about how they’d already informed officials and you were being searched for but that there had been a warning that it would be difficult. 

The mecha didn’t work well in all areas of Fontaine’s rolling countryside. They would do what they could, but you were still very much in danger.

Childe barely had the patience to wait for the location of where you’d been taken before he’d turned on his heel and taken off. His red scarf swaying behind him like a trail of blood as he walked purposefully towards the wilds of Fontaine.

Childe’s eyes were often a flat blue, but any who drifted too close to the Harbinger in this moment would be greeted with a chill that rivaled the hoarfrost of Snezhnaya. Some might even say that one could feel the crackle of electricity around him, but Childe himself couldn’t say. He didn’t have anything on his mind except finding you and those treasure hoarders.

And find them he did. It hadn’t been hard. Most groups like treasure hoarders thought the same way, and Childe was used to finding others who didn’t necessarily want to be found. The life of a Harbinger had taught him a great many skills. Hunting was only one of them.

He hesitated before attacking, though. Instead looking for your form amongst the hoarder’s numbers, and when he did spot you, he felt every muscle within his body freeze.

You were only just coming to. Blinking blearily before your eyes shot open ,and you were scrambling to sit up as you looked around. 

But Childe did not see fear take over; instead, he saw something harden in your gaze as you looked around. Seemingly realizing your situation very quickly, even as one of the men walked over.

You were grasped roughly by your chin and forced to look up at him, and for a second, fear flashed through your wide eyes as the man began to speak. No doubt, explaining your situation.

Childe’s hands clenched once more as he crouched just a little bit lower as the man pulled you roughly to your feet. Evidently displeased with something you said. You wriggled slightly, unable to free your bound wrist, before you were thrown harshly to the ground.

And that was enough. That was all it took for Childe to feel that snapping sensation again before he dove out from his cover.

There were astonished shouts all around as he appeared in the treasure hoarders midst before cursed words were shouted.

“Must be the officials! Get ready, boys!” The man who’d grabbed you yelled as he turned to face Childe.

Behind him, Childe could see you setting up again. Your eyes widening once more as you registered the Harbinger’s presence. And for a brief second, Childe was relieved until he noted the smudged red on your temple.

Electricity flickered to life in his gloved hands as a spear formed, a hollow grin appearing on Childe’s face as his cold gaze flickered towards the men that faced him.

“Officials? Oh no,” His voice was a low, menacing tone. Causing the treasure hoarders to pause even as he continued, “I’m far worse than that. Because there are no rules here that will keep me from making sure you live just long enough to regret even laying eyes on them.”

 The spear in his hands twirled, light as could be, as he entered a fighting stance. That grin still on his face, “I can’t promise anything after that, though.” 

With only those words, he dashed forward, swirling like a tempest among these new foes. And they were in no way prepared for the absolute devastation he wrecked on them. In his wake, there was only chaos and defeated enemies. 

He hadn’t known how far he was willing to go for you, but it hardly seemed like this was the limit. After all, Childe was a person who loved the thrill of a fight, but that was hardly the purpose of his aggression here.

It was clear, however, that he had indeed gone too far in falling for you. Because even if he was largely harmless towards you, Childe knew he was these treasure hoarders worst nightmare come to life.

And Childe also realized he didn’t care if he got hurt right now. No, he whirled about, heedless of the bleeding scratches on his face where the treasure hoarders had gotten a few lucky strikes. This wasn’t a fight for the sake of thrills or to strengthen himself. This was a fight purely to wreak havoc on the people who’d threatened you.

It wasn’t until all of the treasure hoarders fled or fallen that Childe wondered exactly what he’d looked like just then. No doubt like a complete psychopath. Childe always enjoyed a fight, but there was something about that moment where he’d completely lost himself merely at the sight of blood on your person.

And as he turned to look at where you stared up at him, he could practically feel his gaze soften. Wondering, even as he knelt before you and his weapons disappeared from existence, if you were frightened of him now. 

“Are you hurt?” Your only answer to his soft words was to shake your head slowly. Either unaware of the injury to your head or uncaring. Childe didn’t know which it was, but all he felt was regret as he took in your frozen form. 

Reaching over, he unbound your wrists easily. Murmuring even as he slipped the ropes from your scraped wrists, “Don’t blame me, Solnyshko.”

You were silent for a brief moment, and Childe found he couldn’t quite look you in the eye. Almost like he was afraid of what he might see there.

He felt one of your hands grasp his sleeve, almost as if you were attempting to confirm his presence before you spoke. 

Your voice was painfully soft, and somehow it gave him the courage he needed to face you. Only to see you looking at him with an expression akin to worry as you spoke, “I don't... But you should’ve been more careful.”

You were frowning, eyes trained on the scratch on his cheek that he could feel was slowly oozing blood, “You got hurt.”

It was enough to pull a startled but relieved laugh out of him. The ridiculousness of the fact that you were worried about him in a situation like this. You were the one who’d been kidnapped, not him. But he couldn’t bring himself to fear much of anything outside of relief as he gazed at you.

 Your expression was one of surprise as Childe found himself cupping your face gently and shaking his head as he spoke, “Careless of me… I must have gone a little crazy when I saw what was going on.”

He watched you silently, relief continuing to flood his person as he eyed you. Completely lucid despite your head injury and blessedly unafraid of him as you gazed back at him. Worry rather than fear in your eyes.

His hand slid back so that he was cupping your head as he pulled you just a little bit closer, causing your eyes to widen again before he spoke again. His voice even more hushed than it had been before as he surrendered to his own feelings, “But love does make us a little crazy… If it doesn't, you haven’t done it right.”

*Solnyshko is the transliteration of Солнышко which means “Sun” according to Google Translate

#Genshin impact x reader #Childe x reader #Genshin impact imagines #gender neutral reader #Childe #harbinger #fatui #genshi impact #Fontaine #mentions of violence #it's against treasure hoarders #plus this is Childe so..... #Childe x you #Childe x y/n #Genshin impact x you #Genshin impact x y/n #Tartaglia #tartaglia x you #tartaglia x y/n #tartaglia x reader #ajax x reader #ajax x you #I am once more wishing Childe didn't have so many names #mywritings #fanfiction #fluff with some angst #romantic #it-happened-one-fic #bit of Russian curtesy of Google Translate

[genshin-impact-updates]

"Duel! The Summoners' Summit!" Version 3.7 Update Details

Dear Travelers,

Below are the details of the Version 3.7 update "Duel! The Summoners' Summit!" and the update compensation.

〓Compensation Details〓

Maintenance Compensation: Primogems ×300 (60 Primogems per hour the servers are down)

Issue Fix Compensation: Primogems ×300 (please refer to the relevant compensation mail for more details)

〓Scope of Compensation〓

Maintenance Compensation: Travelers who reach Adventure Rank 5 or above before 2023/05/24 06:00 (UTC+8).

Please claim before the end of Version 3.7.

Issue Fix Compensation: Travelers who reach Adventure Rank 5 or above before 2023/05/24 06:00 (UTC+8).

Please claim the compensation mail before 2023/05/27 06:00 (UTC+8).

Our developers will distribute compensation to Travelers via in-game mail within 5 hours after the update maintenance is finished. The mail will expire after 30 days, so don't forget to claim the attached compensation in time.

〓Update Schedule〓

Update maintenance begins 2023/05/24 06:00 (UTC+8) and is estimated to take 5 hours.

〓How to Update Game Client〓

PC: Close the game, open the Genshin Impact Launcher, and click Update.

iOS: Open the App Store and tap Update.

Android: Open the game and follow the directions on-screen.

PS5™ and PS4™: Highlight Genshin Impact from the Home Screen, press the OPTIONS button and select "Check for Update."

Please do not hesitate to contact Customer Service if you encounter any issues installing the new version. We will do our very best to resolve the issue.

〓Update Details〓

I. New Character

4-Star Character "Cat Upon the Eaves" Kirara (Dendro)

◇ Vision: Dendro

◇ Weapon: Sword

◇ A courier for Komaniya Express, a delivery company in Inazuma. A nekomata who loves her job and human society.

◆ Elemental Skill "Meow-teor Kick"

◆ Kirara can deal AoE Dendro DMG while also temporarily applying Dendro to herself, creating the Shield of Safe Transport. When obtaining a new Shield of Safe Transport, the Shields will be stacked, and the duration will be reset. Holding the Elemental Skill will have Kirara enter the Urgent Neko Parcel state. When in this state, Kirara's movement speed, climbing speed, and jumping power are all increased, and her Stamina Consumption from climbing is increased. She will deal Dendro DMG to opponents she crashes into.

◆ Elemental Burst "Secret Art: Surprise Dispatch"

◆ Kirara uses the Special Delivery Package on opponents, dealing AoE Dendro DMG. After the Special Delivery Package explodes, it will split up into many Cat Grass Cardamoms that will explode either upon contact with opponents or after a period of time, dealing Dendro DMG.

II. New Equipment

New Weapon

Ibis Piercer (4-Star Bow)

The character's Elemental Mastery will increase by 40 within 6s after Charged Attacks hit opponents. Max 2 stacks. This effect can be triggered once every 0.5s.

◆ Ibis Piercer (Bow) and its refinement materials can be redeemed in the "Duel! The Summoners' Summit!" event.

III. New Main Story

1. New Story Quest

Yoimiya's Story Quest - Carassius Auratus Chapter: Act II "Star-Pickers' Passage"

Permanently available after the Version 3.7 update

◆ Quest Unlock Criteria

• Reach Adventure Rank 40 or above

• Complete Archon Quest Chapter III: Act V "Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises"

• Complete Raiden Shogun's Story Quest - Imperatrix Umbrosa Chapter: Act II "Transient Dreams"

• Complete World Quest "The World of Aranara" from Aranyaka: Part II "Dream Nursery"

2. New Hangout Event:

Hangout Event: Kaveh - Act I "The Pendulum of Weal and Woe"

Permanently available after the Version 3.7 update

◆ Quest Unlock Criteria

• Reach Adventure Rank 40 or above

• Complete Archon Quest Chapter III: Act V "Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises"

• Complete Alhaitham's Story Quest - Vultur Volans Chapter: Act I "The Illusions of the Mob"

IV. New Genius Invokation TCG Update

1. New Cards and Duelists

◆ New Character Cards: Venti, Zhongli, Raiden Shogun, Nahida, Shenhe, Tartaglia, Amber, Hu Tao, Yae Miko, Xiao, and their corresponding Talent Cards.

◆ New Character Cards: Cryo Cicin Mage, Abyss Lector: Fathomless Flames, Electro Hypostasis, and their corresponding Talent Cards. Their Tavern Challenges have also been added.

◆ Numerous Action Cards have been added which can be purchased from Prince at The Cat's Tail.

◆ New invitation duels and Guest Challenges added to the Player List.

◆ Added 20 new Open World Players. Reach Player Level 9 to unlock 10 new Open World Players, and reach Player Level 10 to unlock the other 10 Open World Players.

2. The Forge Realm's Temper

When the "The Forge Realm's Temper" event is open, you can select stages to challenge.

In each stage, you can configure the difficulty of different parameters. Adjustable parameters include: stage difficulty, the health of opponents, and the number of rounds to complete the challenge within.

Each set of parameters has corresponding points that will be obtained for completing the challenge.

After completing the challenge, points will be obtained based on the difficulty selected for each parameter. The best score obtained for each stage will be recorded, and will allow you to claim rewards that correspond to certain scores.

3. Arena of Champions

◇ Unlock Criteria: Unlocks when Player Level reaches 4

The Arena of Champions will open on the 1st and the 16th of each month. Challenge records from previous seasons will be cleared at the start of each new season.

Players will be matched with opponents of appropriate skill at the start of each challenge.

Obtain 5 victories to complete an Arena of Champions challenge attempt. 3 defeats will result in a failed challenge attempt.

If your challenge is successful, the Character Cards in the deck used will be recorded in the Character Honors record for that season.

Up to 9 records can be saved for the Arena of Champions. After 9 records have been saved, saving a new record will delete a previous saved record, beginning with the oldest.

Up to 10 records can be saved for challenge decks. After 10 records have been saved, saving a new record will delete an old record, beginning with the deck record with the fewest victories or the oldest record.

◇ Genius Invokation TCG Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 32 or above

• Complete the Archon Quest "Song of the Dragon and Freedom"

V. Other Additions

New Recipe:

○ Kirara's specialty: "Energizing Bento"

New Achievements added to the "Memories of the Heart" category

New Namecards:

"Kirara: Neko Box": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Kirara

"Travel Notes: Secrets": Reward obtained via the BP system

Added some prompts for loading screens.

Added Set 23 of "Paimon's Paintings" chat emojis.

Added Gadget Quickswap Function: After adding Gadgets to the Quickswap Menu, hold the Gadget icon to quickswap Gadgets. The Quickswap Menu can contain 4 Gadgets.

Spiral Abyss

Floor 11 Ley Line Disorders changed to:

• All party members' Normal Attack DMG increased by 50%.

Updated the monster lineup on Floor 11 of the Spiral Abyss.

Updated the monster lineup on Floor 12 of the Spiral Abyss.

Starting from the first time that the Lunar Phase refreshes after updating to Version 3.7, the three Lunar Phases will be as follows:

Phase I:

Drumming Moon

After the character's Normal Attack hits an opponent, this opponent will be afflicted with a Sign of Snaring. After 3s, the Sign will be removed, dealing True DMG to this opponent. After a character's Normal Attack hits an opponent with a Sign of Snaring, the DMG dealt by the Sign's removal will be increased. This DMG can be increased for no more than 9 times.

Phase II:

Potent Moon

After the active character's Normal Attacks hit opponents, the DMG dealt by this character will increase by 12% for 2s. This effect can stack up to 5 times. Each stack's duration is counted independently. This effect can be triggered once every 0.05s. This effect will be canceled when the character leaves the field.

Phase III:

Willowy Moon

After the character's Normal Attack hits an opponent, the Physical or Elemental RES of this opponent will decrease by 6% for 2s, matching the Attribute of that attack. This can stack up to 6 times. RES decreases of different types can co-exist, and their stacks and timers will be independent of each other.

〓Adjustments & Optimizations〓

● Genius Invokation TCG

Optimizes the icons generated by Normal Attack "Frostflake Arrow" of Character Card "Ganyu" and Combat Status "Sparks 'n' Splash" of Character Card "Klee."

Optimizes the defeat menu presentation in Genius Invokation TCG.

Optimizes certain description texts and punctuation in Genius Invokation TCG.

Changes the status name "Normal State" of the card "Winged Dendroshroom" to "Aerial Superiority" in Genius Invokation TCG challenge.

Optimizes the effects described of Combat Status "Inspiration Field" for the Character Card "Bennett" in Genius Invokation TCG: After Bennett equips "Grand Expectation," the DMG increase requirements of "Inspiration Field" will be changed from "If this character has at least 7 HP" to being always active. The description of the "Inspiration Field" created by Bennett with "Grand Expectation" equipped is different from one created by Bennett with "Grand Expectation" unequipped.

Adjusts the effects of the Talent Card "Undivided Heart" used by Character Card "Ganyu" in Genius Invokation TCG: Ganyu will no longer get the +1 Cryo DMG effect after equipping this card.

Adjusts the number of charges required and DMG dealt by the Elemental Burst of Character Card "Ganyu" in Genius Invokation TCG: The number of charges has been increased from 2 to 3 and the Cryo DMG dealt has been increased from 1 to 2. The other effects of this Character Card remain unchanged.

Adjusts Elemental Skill Hydro DMG dealt by the Character Card "Fatui Mirror Maiden" in Genius Invokation TCG: "Deals 3 Hydro DMG..." is now adjusted to "Deals 2 Hydro DMG...".

Adjusts the effect and description for Summon "Ushi" summoned by the Character Card "Arataki Itto": "When your active character receives DMG, Arataki Itto gains Superlative Superstrength" is now "When your character takes DMG, Arataki Itto gains Superlative Superstrength."

Adjusts Event Card "Send Off" in Genius Invokation TCG: "Choose one Summon on the opposing side and destroy it" is now "Choose one Summon on the opposing side and cause it to lose usages by 2."

Adjusts the effect of the Equipment Card "Lithic Spear" in Genius Invokation TCG: Now even defeated characters will be included in the calculations.

When your Character Cards include "Maguu Kenki," all non-Cryo Elemental Dice will be used first for Elemental Tuning and playing your hand in Genius Invokation TCG.

Adds rules and descriptions relating to concepts such as "Defeated," "Food," "Calculation Order," "Charged Attack," and "Plunging Attack" for Genius Invokation TCG.

Adjusts the description detailing "Charged Attack" in Genius Invokation TCG. After the update, the description is as follows: Before your Action Phase, should the total number of your Elemental Dice be even, your Normal Attack will be considered a Charged Attack.

Adjusts the "Other Rules" tab in Genius Invokation TCG Rules into the "Other Rules" and "Special Entry" tabs.

Invitation Duels will now take place in the all new Invitation Duel Room for Genius Invokation TCG.

● Audio

Optimizes the sound effects for character footsteps when they walk across different surfaces.

Optimizes the sound performance of certain quest NPCs.

Optimizes the English, Korean, and Japanese voice-overs for certain characters along with the English and Japanese voice-overs for certain quests.

Adjusts the Korean voice-over related to certain items.

Optimizes the music switching performance when skipping the cutscene animations of Trounce Domain "The Realm of Beginnings."

● System

In the "Adventurer Handbook," "Commissions" and "Embattle" tabs now support pushing the right gyroscope on the controller to view more of the text.

Upgrades the background blur function in the "Paimon Menu > Take Photo" system.

Adds voice lines of the Elemental Skills of "Sprout of Rebirth" Collei (Dendro), "Treasure of Dream Garden" Dori (Electro), and "Admonishing Instruction" Alhaitham (Dendro) in their "Profile / Voice-Over" pages.

〓Bug Fixes〓

● Genius Invokation TCG

Fixes an issue in Genius Invokation TCG whereby when Keqing is Frozen and a Lightning Stiletto is used to switch the active character to Keqing, her skill could be abnormally used.

Fixed an issue in Genius Invokation TCG in which equipping the Talent Card "Grand Expectation" to "Bennett" would result in bonus damage being erroneously applied to his Elemental Burst if his own Inspiration Field was already active and Bennett's HP was less than 7.

● Enemies

Fixes an issue under certain circumstances whereby when challenging the boss Shouki no Kami, the Prodigal, the Neo Akasha Terminal is rendered unable to attack as normal.

Fixes an issue whereby under certain circumstances, there was a chance that the boss "Iniquitous Baptist" would abnormally enter a paralyzed state when only a single Elemental Shield had been broken.

Fixes an issue of erroneous display when defeating the boss "Guardian of Apep's Oasis" in Co-Op Mode.

Fixes an issue whereby the enemy "Ruin Drake's" head might abnormally change directions when Ruin Drake is in a Frozen state.

Fixes an issue whereby when an Anemo Specter was defeated, there would be a small chance that the DMG AoE was not in line with its displayed special effects.

● Quests

Fixes an issue with certain Archon Quests whereby there were issues with abnormal color display of elements on clothing for NPC Aether and NPC Lumine.

Fixes an issue regarding the absent voice-overs for certain NPCs in Gavireh Lajavard after completing the World Quest "Khvarena of Good and Evil."

● Characters

Fixes an issue whereby the Stormeye created by Venti's Elemental Burst can abnormally be destroyed by the boss Guardian of Apep's Oasis's aftershocks of the apocalypse attack.

Fixes an issue under certain circumstances whereby there is a small chance that after "Eons Adrift" Wanderer (Anemo) uses his Elemental Skill, he will abnormally contact other Elements or be unable to properly contact Hydro.

Fixes an issue whereby when "Verdant Strider" Tighnari (Dendro) uses his Elemental Burst, the in-game camera can have a small chance of working abnormally when playing on PlayStation®.

Fixes an issue whereby when "Coordinates of Clear Frost" Mika (Cryo) performs his Charged Attack, should the attack be canceled with a sprint, the special effect for a hit being made will be triggered.

Fixes an issue whereby in some cases, when a character switches outfits, you will be unable to switch over to said character.

Fixes an issue whereby in some cases, after a character defeats an opponent through Elemental Reactions, when they run into the same opponent again, animations of the opponent being defeated will be abnormally displayed.

Fixes an issue whereby Lisa's pupils are displayed abnormally after changing into her outfit "A Sobriquet Under Shade."

Fixes an issue whereby after Ganyu unleashes an Elemental Burst, some special effects within a certain AoE will abnormally appear to be transparent.

Fixes an issue whereby in Version 3.6 when Gorou uses his Elemental Skill, relevant special effects on the ground would display abnormally.

Fixes an issue whereby, under certain circumstances, if Baizhu is interrupted while casting a Charged Attack, his next Charged Attack would have a chance to trigger the interrupted Charged Attack as an extra hit.

Fixes an issue when in the Open World while Co-Op Mode is active, after teammates teleport elsewhere, some characters' effects that should affect other party members are still abnormally effective even from a vast distance away.

● System

Fixes an issue whereby the description texts of some items in "Archive > Materials" were not fully displayed.

Fixes an issue of abnormal display of weapon type in the character details page under certain circumstances.

Fixes an issue whereby under certain circumstances, while conducting the Mystic Offering, there was a chance that the crafted Artifacts would be abnormally selected as the next batch of materials.

Fixes an issue whereby the Shortcut Wheel could be opened abnormally while taking photos.

Fixes an issue in the Characters > Talents page whereby pupils of "Chivalric Blossom" Noelle (Geo) abnormally quiver.

Fixes an issue whereby there is a chance that an abnormal progress calculation might occur to the Achievement "Performance May Decline in Low Temperatures."

Fixes an issue whereby the Achievement "Deja Vu!" could not be accomplished. Travelers who encountered this problem can retry the challenge after the update to obtain said Achievement.

Fixes an issue of the absence of special effects of the weapon "Staff of Homa" when the Graphic Quality is set as "Lowest."

● Audio

Fixes issues with the "Character" interface in which the voice-overs for certain characters cannot be exited and aren't interrupted as normal when switching between characters.

Fixes an issue of missing sound effects in some objects.

● Other

Fixes an issue whereby when using an Android device to play the game, after some characters use their Elemental Skills or Elemental Bursts, the visuals will start flickering.

Fixes an issue whereby starting the game on certain Android devices causes abnormal sounds to trigger.

Fixes an issue in Co-Op mode whereby there is a chance of encountering abnormal challenge totals when the host player is engaging in the "Percussive Prancing Mushrooms" World Challenge in the "Realm of Farakhkert."

Fixes an issue whereby in certain situations, Hydro applications on characters or opponents will not clear as normal.

Fixes an issue whereby the tail model of Tent Tortoise (Wildlife) would display abnormally.

Fixes a text error in the item "Ancient Journal."

Fixes an issue with the description text of Baizhu's Passive Talent "All Things Are of the Earth" for Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, German, English, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Turkish, and Italian.

Text before: "Aggravate and Spread reaction DMG dealt by these characters will be increased by 0.8%."

Text after: "And will increase the DMG Bonus provided by Aggravate and Spread by 0.8%."

Fixes some text errors in 15 languages and optimizes text. (Note: Related in-game functions have not changed. Travelers can view the changes in different languages by going to the Paimon Menu > Settings > Language and changing the Game Language.)

Text-related fixes and optimizations in English include:

◆ Optimizes descriptions related to characters in Artifact cards in Genius Invokation TCG.

◆ Optimizes instances of terms "Candace: Grey Heron" to "Candace: Gray Heron," "Tamanooya's Casket" to "Tamakushi Casket," "Nakatani" to "Fujita," and "Eiko" to "Etsuko."

◆ Optimizes the description of Dehya's specialty "Goldflame Tajine."

◆ Optimizes consistency regarding descriptions of characters' talents that produce different effects depending on whether used by tapping/pressing or holding.

◆ Optimizes text of Mika's Character Story 4.

◆ Optimizes descriptions of certain emojis.

◆ Optimizes description of Skyward Pride's effect.

◆ Optimizes some lines in the Story Quest "Lotos Somno Chapter: Act I."

◆ Optimizes some of Mona and Noelle's lines in the Serenitea Pot.

◆ Optimizes some of Paimon's lines in the Archon Quest "Caribert" and the Story Quest "Leo Minor Chapter: Act I."

◆ Optimizes some of Tighnari's voice-overs and Archon Quest lines.

◆ Optimizes Qiqi's idle voice-over.

*This is a work of fiction and is not related to any actual people, events, groups, or organizations.

"PlayStation", "PS5", "PS4", "DualSense", "DUALSHOCK" are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

#genshin impact #genshin impact updates #genshin impact news #official #genshin impact 3.7 #this is from a hot minute ago but that's what they just added lol

[aberooski]

WIP I'm very proud of :3

#I've actually got all of the flat colors done but the uncolored version is really giving coloring book page akskksks #huge fan of the nondescript people actually #they're so goofy ✋😭 #yugioh gx #ygo gx #yugioh gx fanfiction #once upon a duelist #chazz princeton #jun manjoume #atticus rhodes #fubuki tenjoin #stormshipping #abby attempts to draw #abby after dark #sleeping beauty

[chazz-is-a-zelda-fan]

i have to do shit tomorrow but messy sword of revealing light atticus sketch

@aberooski :)

#i’m fucked up over once upon a duelist #ygo #yugioh #yugioh gx #ygo gx #atticus rhodes #fubuki tenjoin #once upon a duelist #yugioh gx fanfiction #art by mech #wip

[stormcr0w]

Confrontation! Devan (OC) and Bakura! Atop the Kaiba Corp Blimp, The Spirit of the Millennium Ring reveals himself once more. Searching for answers, Devan confronts Bakura, demanding that he reveal his true identity. Since Duelist Kingdom, Bakura's dark persona has constantly referred to Devan as "brother," much to Devan's confusion. The Spirit of the Ring still holds memories of the ancient past and vaguely explains how they once shared a brotherly bond, torn apart when the Pharaoh created the seven Millennium Items. Bakura attempts to mislead Devan by twisting the truth, attempting to convince Devan to join his cause, as he still longs for the comradery they once shared. Regardless, Bakura will not let anyone stand in the way of delivering his revenge upon the Pharaoh.

Just a little interaction I wanted to draw - I really love the drama of two souls, once brothers, now facing each other from opposite sides of a conflict. It's gonna make for a tragic finale!

#yugioh #oc #ygo #yu-gi-oh! #original character #ygo oc #yugioh oc #yugioh duel monsters #duel monsters #ygo dm #bakura #yami bakura #millennium ring #spirit of the ring #yugioh dm #yu gi oh duel monsters #yugioh dm oc #yugioh ocs #ygo ocs

[speaker-of-the-void-cats]

"When he reached a displacement of eight he told us he was dead."

"He sees the wolves have formed up around him. Eight of them."

"The greatest gaiaforms of our solar system are eight in number—or, if you prefer, [N]ine—but asteroids and minor planets have them too. And in their sidereal generosity, these gaiaforms will protect us, if we ask them."

Fist of Eight Moons

"Only in the Ascendant Plane—where a well-defended idea is a reality—do these moons, in this small way, still exist."

"Eight Barons and an Awoken prince - and only one of you. I so dislike betting on the underdog… But you are resourceful…"

"The man turned to his left and saw a familiar, weathered face staring up at the eight Barons of the Tangled Shore."

[...]

"’Sundance’ appears to be the victim of a single, catastrophic wound from a Devourer Bullet, modified to fire from a Scorn launcher. Projectile classified as ontological.”

“Define Devourer Bullet.”

“Payload matches the ballistics of a Weapon of Sorrow or a comparable Hive implement.”

"We are all pinched silhouettes impaled on the twitching of infinitely long spiderlegs."

"You must reckon with yourself. Can you see the path ahead?

Do you know the shape of your trial?"

Auseklis

Ogdoad

Guñelve

Arevakhach

Schläfli

Compass rose

Isotoxal | edge transitive

Eightfold Path

The Star of Lakshmi

The Star of Ishtar

The morning star

First light of the new dawn

Venus

[Consult Cryptarchy's pre-Golden Age stacks for more information]

"Is it a simple answer? Perhaps none who serve you have the capacity to grasp your vision. And so, rather than waste more of your time and attention on explaining something they will never hold, it is enough that they act as you will. The Witch and her Hive carving single-mindedness out of the cloth of the universe, that whispering Nightmare seeking the fullest gamut of existence, the Upender destroying all differentiation. Shadows on the wall.

In this case, it would be hubris to think I have understood your work, that I alone among your Disciples have grasped what purpose it is we serve. All of us must see darkly reflected.

But there is relief in simplification. There is kindness in winnowing. So then, why is this proliferation permitted?

The shadows, showing the truth by their casting. [...]

There: I have resolved the conflict within my thoughts, and I am at peace again. Once more, I am only your violence and nothing more.

The Final Shape will realize us as we strive."

—Unknown Disciple of the Witness, Inspiral

Who am I?

Call me Coyote. Call me mantis, serpent, Cagn, Anansi, call me Sri-cleans-his-brother's-stomach. Call me the grandmaster of semiosis, the jeweler's hammer which gilds the signal, a purposeful mob none of whose members know its purpose, the infinite regress of enigmas, a self-questioning answer, the word not spoken, black ice, cataract of mimes, the ache and fever of overthought while bedridden with illness, the intolerable thorn of frustrated inquisition, gray regret at the end of a fruitless day, the thing which is unlike your beloved but arbitrarily recalls your beloved to agonizing effect, architrave of the no-window, needle driven in flush with skin so that desperate fingers cannot pull it out, sweet petal, unmemorable, crystal death, the provably improvable.

Here at the center, I lie to you the truth. You have everything you need to know it, but I will give you a clue, as the duelist gives warning before she draws. The answer you seek to the Dreaming City is simple, not complex.

In primordial space, timeless creatures made waves. These waves created us and the others. Waves were the battles, and the battles were waves. Fleeing all W'rkncacnter, Yrro and Pthia settled upon Lh'owon. They brought the S'pht, servants who began to shape the deserts of Lh'owon into marsh and sea, rivers and forests. They made sisters for Lh'owon to protect and maintain the paradise. When the W'rkncacnter came, Pthia was killed, and Yrro in anger, flung the W'rkncacnter into the sun. The sun burned them, but they swam on its surface.

Marathon 2, Six Thousand Feet Under terminal: ax1-40^23<094.95.28.85>

Oryx went down into his throne world. He went out into the abyss, and with each step he read one of his tablets, so that they became like stones beneath his feet. He went out and he created an altar and he prepared an unborn ogre. He called on the Deep, saying: I can see you in the sky. You are the waves, which are battles, and the battles are the waves. Come into this vessel I have prepared for you. And it arrived, the Deep Itself.

Books of Sorrow

XXXI: battle made waves

Verse 4:1 — battle made waves

#trace the vermicular path #follow the daito rabbit #destiny the game #destiny #destiny 2 #destiny2 #destinythegame #destiny lore #the traveler #Ishtar Collective #destiny speculation #the veil #the witness #the numbers mason what do they mean #crashing my scion tc into the witness at 100mph #macrocosm #eight points

[linkspooky]

Yu Gi Oh GX and Alchemy: The Albedo

A continuation of my previous post taking a deep dive into the alchemy symbolism in Yu Gi Oh GX. Yu-Gi-Oh Gx Season 2: Society of Light Saga introduces several new ideas at once into the spinoff's storyline. Tarot Symbolism, a battle in the universe between creation and destruction which flips the usual symbolism by making the light / white coded force the light of destruction which is in opposition to the righteous darkness, and the Neo-Spacians to Judai's deck. While these ideas may seem all jumbled they actually connect back to alchemy (and Jung) and continue Judai's arc as an apprentice alchemist.

THE LIGHT OF DESTRUCTION

The main antagonist is Saio Takuma, a host of the Light of Destruction a universal force of destruction that wants to bleach the world white. In case you couldn't pick up on the subtle color symbolism there, the second season corresponds to the second phase of alchemy Albedo, symbolized by water and the color white.

The goal of alchemy is to create eternal life by creating the philosopher's stone which creates a ripple effect affecting the entire world, as above, so below. However, Alchemy is more about the process than the end result, mixing metals together through different stages again and again to purify them, the same way Judai fuses new heroes for different situations in his duels. That process is Black -> White -> Yellow -> Red.

After the nigredo stage where the stone is boiled and putrefied until the solution turns back, in the alcbedo stages is a purification referred to as albutio - the washing away of impurities. This phrase is conerned with "bringing light and clarity to the prima materia (The first Matter). The first matter being the starting material that eventually gets turned into the philosopher's stone.

As mentioned above the antagonist for this season Saio Takuma host to the Light of Destruction takes this step of the process too far by seeking to bleach the planet entirely and wipe out all life. Considering the villain is called The Light of Destruction and the main villainous force is The White Dorm this season is RIFE with color symbolism.

A trend I've noticed for villains in both the first and second stages is that they threaten to trap Judai and the main characters in that stage. In Nigredo, by dueling the Seven Stars in Yami no Games Judai risks being trapped in the darkness. When duelists lose to Saio Takuma or one of his possessed victims, they are purified completely of all individuality and join his cult. Alchemy is a violent process... in order for a union to occur these opposing forces must clash with one another.

“Looke well upon these two Dragons for they are the true principles of the beginning of the Philosophy…. the wingless dragon is sulphur because it never flies away from the fire. The winged serpent is quicksilver… these two must be united.” Their union, however, is “a most violent and bloody copulation.”

Which is why GX chooses to represent these alchemical steps as antagonistic forces, because alchemy requires two opposites to continually clash (chemical wedding fire and water, earth and air etc. etc.), and just like in alchemy in real life you must sometimes clash with someone who's your total opposite in order to more closely understand yourself.

Vs. EDO PHOENIX

Judai starts to drown in these waters of self-reflection after he faces, and loses to the first shadow archetype the anime throws at him Edo Phoenix. We'll cover Edo more later on in this post, but Jung considers the shadow to be the repressed, unseen part of the psyche. Edo represents the shadow of Judai in a lot of ways, most obvious he's the dark-hero to Judai's idealsitic hero. He's the only other hero archetype user in the anime, but unlike Judai's super sentai and ultraman inspired elemental heroes, his Destiny Heroes are all based off of anti-heroes in british pulp fiction (such as Jekyll and Hyde). In fact Destiny Hero Double Dude, clearly based of Jekyll and Hyde is the quickest explanation for the relationship between a man and his shadow.

"With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.” -Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Jung divides personality into a split consciousness model, the persona which is the mask we wear in our everyday life to face the world, and the shadow which consists of everything hidden under the mask that we don't show to the world.

Jung equates each stage of alchemy into different archetypes of the unconscious.

Nigredo - The Shadow

Albedo - Anima and Animus

The Wise old Man

Rubedo - The Self (Indviduation)

A duel with Edo Phoenix for Jason is much like his confrontation with Darkness / Fubuki a deep dive into the Nigredo stage, except this time for Judai the duel is personal because Edo has things to say. He's here to call out Judai Yuki (or Shmaden Shmuki in the dub). Fubuki really wasn't a personal foe for Judai (yes he's Asuka's brother, but Judai didn't know that at the time) he just represented the first time Judai had to duel with stakes on the line instead of just for fun.

Edo has a few things to say on judai Yuki, someone who so far has been talked about over and over again as having a "pure" heart for dueling. Edo is the first to suggest (and other characters will follow up on this later) that dueling for nothing more than pure enjoyment might not be a good thing. Edo also specifically uses a deck that has been touched by Sartorius's darkness during his first duel with Judai, to further the Nigredo symbolism.

Judai and Edo mirror each other all throughout the first part of the duel. Edo shows that he can create different fusion monsters using the exact same elemental heroes as Judai as material - when he fuses featherman and burst lady he creates destiny hero phoenix guy. There's a bit of symbolism here starting with his name - Edo Phoenix. Phoenixes are traditionally considered the "ying" to the "yang" in chinese alchemy. Destiny Hero Phoenix Guy is made from the same materials as FlameWingman, which features the head of a dragon as one of its arms. Phoenix Guy's effect is that it can't be destroyed in battle by monsters with the same attack - when it clashes with Flame Wingman it can't be destroyed much like it's impossible to destroy the shadow part of your personality.

Edo's callout to Judai is similiarly something that cannot be something that can be ignored or dismissed, it must be reoncicled with.

This is fun to you? Don't make me laugh, Judai! There's nothing fun at all about the fate of heroes who have to fight. The weight of the crosses that heroes bear, the suffering and hatred they endure. Can you even fathom that, Judai? Suffering and hatred? Those are the strengths that support a hero! People like you, who only see heroes as cool or inspirational make me sick. I actually need them - I need real heroes so that I can live!

Once again this callout of Judai's behavior is echoed again and again in season 3 because this show has good foreshadowing - but Edo is specifically calling out Judai's shallowness, Judai admires heroes like a child watching television without acknowledging the hurt and suffering that heroes go through. Edo needs to believe the fact that heroes and justice both exist in order to live, because he's still grieving the loss of his father at a young age and he copes by telling himself he's on a dark hero who will solve his father's unsolved murder and avenge him.

Judai is also similiarly adopting a mask of being a hero in order to cope with a lonely childhood marked by tragedy, it's just he chooses a different mask. Edo pretends to be a dark hero, and Judai a carefree pure-hearted Shonen hero. When confronted with the similarity between himself and Edo, Judai loses the duel and immediately after Nigredo we see Albedo - Judai's cards all dyed white.

THE WASHING OF THE MUD

Albedo is sometimes referred to as the "washing of the mud" the constant process of scrubbing the soul after the soul has been putrefied and its darkest contents brought to the surface in Nigredo.

Altogether, the divine water possessed the power of transformation. It transformed the nigredo into the albedo through the miraculous ‘washing’ (ablutio); it animated inert matter, made the dead to rise again, and therefore possessed the virtue of the baptismal water in the ecclesiastical rite.      - C.G. Jung, Alchemical Studies, CW 13, par. 89

Similarly in Yu-Gi-Oh Gx, after a crash course in Nigredo brought to him by his darker half Edo, the dark hero to his pure-hearted shonen boy protagonist - unable to see his cards anymore Judai leaves Duel Academy Island for the sea. Not only is this a direct parallel to Manjoume's journey in Season 1 (losing to a dragon (Misawa's water dragon) -> going to the sea -> washing up on North Academy a tundra that's all ice and rebuilding his deck from scratch.

Each of Judai's friends along with being characters in their own right also represents stages in alchemy, Manjoume who wears black is nigredo and similiarly experiences most character development in season one, Asuka who wears white is albedo and serves as his anima counterpart (more on that later), Misawa and Kenzan both wear yellow for citrinitas and guide him with wisdom (Kenzan is the only one not swayed by Saio's mind control, Misawa appears to Judai when he's lost in the desert dimmension in season 3 as a wiseman).

Manjoume represents Nigredo so of course, Judai parallels him after enduring his own Nigredo stage through his collision with Edo. Of course you might ask if last season was Nigredo then why is Judai going through it again you might ask. Well, Alchemy is a process of continual death and reverse, dissolving and coagulating over and over to refine into a purer material. It's not really a one and done thing. Symbolizing this, the one who hands Judai his defeat that sends him soul searching is Edo Phoenix, once again Phoenixes are important to Alchemy because they too dissolve into ash and die only to be born again.

Saio also draws the death card diagonally, neither upright or reversed to symbolize how Judai is actually going to experience both, he must endure a symbolic death first in order to be reborn. The Death Card isn't so much about permanent death, but rather the death of old ideas that's required for change.

Judai wakes up on a beach after traveling on a boat out to see (similiar to Manjoume), not only does this symbolize the "washing of the mud" referred to above, but water is also the element associated with Albedo. Judai first sees a flaming meteor and when it strikes him he's transported to a beach on an alien planet, Fire (Nigredo) -> Water (Albedo). The first Neo-Spacian Judai encounters is a water attribute monster to, Neo Spacian Aqua Dolphin. In fact, just like the elemental heroes all Neo Spacians are marked by their associated element because they too represent the mixing of elements Judai uses i his deck to perform alchemy. Aqua Dolphin, Air hummingbird, Grand Mole, and Flare Scarab.

When he wakes up on the beach the first thing Judai assumes is that he has died (symbolic death). Then he asks if he's in heaven or hell, only to find he's on an alien planet. There's a special significance to Judai's new "Neo-Spacian" cards being associated with the universe, and "Neos-Space". It's not just that Neos himself is a reference to Ultraman. It all ties back thta fundamental rule of Alchemy: As above, so below.

Quod est superius est sicut quod inferius, et quod inferius est sicut quod est superius. That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above.

Everything in the universe came from one material which divided again and again and differentiated, and therefore everything is connected. The microcosm (the small world, the human being, the miniature universe) is connected to and affects the macrocosm (the great world, the universe as a whole). If everything is connected then the changes you make and the actions you take will inevitably radiate out into the world.

You could say thatlight and dark use our universe as their battlefield. Put a different way, consider it a world where good and evil duel perpetually. The universe was a world of gentle darkness - one which nurtured life. However, this universe is on the verge of ruin by the Light of Destruction. We have searched for someone who is able to fight that light with the power of righteous darkness... and we happened to find you.

In terms of Yu-Gi-Oh GX, the basic worldbuilding and lore is that the universe was first one substance and then it divided into two forces the gentle darkness that nurtured creation and the light of destruction which destroyed. Balance between these two forces must be maintained, but when the light of destruction gains an edge the Neo-Spacians appeared before Judai to call him to protect Neos-Space with the power of the gentle darkness.

In other words, Judai facing Saio on earth (the small world) will radiate out and prevent the destruction of Neos space in this battle between universal forces (the great world). Judai saves the universe by playing card games, it sounds silly but symbolically it just means that once again that you're connected to the world around you moreso than you realize and your actions will inevitably have a ripple effect and effect the world and people around you. Judai symbolically saves theuniverse by beating Saiou in a duel, but in the world of human beings his actions save both Saiou and Edo's friendship.

In GX worldbuilding terms as well, Neos-Space is an alternate dimmension one of twelve inhabited by duel spirits who are real, sentient creatures who's powers are called upon with the magical cards. When Judai saves his world, he also saves Neos Space because their two worlds are connected.

A lot of shows have "the fight between the forces of light and darkness never end" but GX reframes the never-ending fight as the process of alchemical refinement. It also flips the traidtional light and dark associated symbolism so light represents destruction and Judai needs to tap into the power of darkness in order to fight it.

Furthermore, Judai harnessing his iner darkness is Jungian symbolism. As stated above, Jung divided personality into perona, shadow and the further into anima and animus. A person goes through the process of individuation in order to grow up into a well-rounded human being, and this process requires incorporating all the different parts of your personality into your ego. The pure-hearted Judai however, has a dark shadow and we'll learn in season 3 part of that shadow consists of the memories of Yubel he repressed when he abandoned Yubel. However, because Yu Gi Oh GX is a series with bad pacing but excellent foreshadowing - Judai flashes back to his childhood when he notices something is missing and he can't remember the reason why he's been dueling.

Why else would Edo's challenge to Judai disturb him so much if there wasn't something missing, something he's not quite remembering about the reason he started dueling something hidden in darkness.

The origin story we eventually get for Judai in season 3 is actually give to us slowly over time in three parts - because Judai himself takes that log to remember it due to his repressed memories. In season 1 he remembers that at one point he was able to hear the voices and card spirits when he was younger, but somehow lost that ability for a long time until he met winged Kuriboh. In season 2 - Judai remembers the Kaiba Corp contest that launched a satellite into space where his drawings of Neos and the Neos Spacian were eventually infused with the power of darkness. By recalling his memories and remembering that part of his childhood he gains the powers of the Neo-Spacians (having done the work of exploring his shadows).

However, Judai's origin story is only 2/3rds complete and the last missing piece will come with Yubel's introduction in season 3 who serves as Judai's literal shadow.

Judai doesn't completely integrate his shadow here, but once again alchemy is a process, so he'll have to do more work later. However, he's confronted his shadow enough to make the difference during his rematch with Edo.

VS ED - A NEW POWER! AQUA NEOS

I'm skipping Manjoume's duel with Saio, because I'm putting all the tarot stuff in another post. Which gives us more time to talk about Edo, Edo's flashback shows his first meeting with Saio in the rain. Saio the leader of the white dorm, white, rain/water, all symbols of Albedo.

Edo also represents Albedo, he dresses in a silver grey / white suit, his hair is similarly silver and gets bleached white at one point, his closest connection to any character is to Saio, his defeat of Judai starts the alchemy process for Judai, and his defeat of Kaiser Ryo sends him spiraling into reverse alchemy (more of that later).

Now back to Judai - before facing Edo he has to claim the rest of the Neos Spacians from the elemental plains where they reside, such as going to a magma pit to claim flare scarab. Fire, wind, water, earth, elements, alchemy....(kronk voice) it's all coming together.

Anyway, Judai worries all of his friends by telling them about how he was abducted by space aliens and the duel begins. This time Edo is the one who loses and it all has to do with the work Judai has done confronting his past which Edo has not. The biggest foiling point between the two of them is that Edo and Judai's hero worship comes from their inner child. Their desire to be a hero is childish and immature, as neither really knows what being a hero is yet, but also pure.

Aster: Judai, are you... that happy to be showing off your heroes? Still, I won't stand for any heroes unburdened by destiny! Judai: Listen... What happened to your dad was really sad. But... doesn't it just pump you up to meet some new heroes? You would know, wouldn't you? I bet your dad did - he must've made your D heroes so that seeing them would make you feel happy, not sad!

It's a collision of opposites once again, Judai looks too much into the light but here Edo's been stewing in his own dark feelings of mourning his father, and a desire for revenge for so long he's forgotten happy memories of his father.

Edo's not wrong that heroes have to carry burdens, it's more foreshadowing for lessons that Judai has to learn in Season 3 but there's a difference between carrying your burdens and drowning because of them. Later on in the Saio portion of the fight it's shown that Edo's time has stopped completely just like his signature card the clocktower, Edo is still a child, the same way Judai is still a child.

Edo who isn't aware of that yet loses to Judai who's at least recovered some memories of his childhood. In this instance Judai is the catalyst which makes Edo change.

Of course Judai's arc pretty much stops here, as I said Judai's characterized by stagnation through the first two series. That's not to say he doesn't change at all, in Season 1 we get the speech where Daitokuji asks him what he's gained over a year and Judai says he's gained friends. Not only does he have friends, but it's the season where he first takes up the burden of dueling with his life on the line to save other people so he can protect those friendships. Which seems like standard shonen fair but is deconstructed in season 3.

Season 2 is where Judai is first seriously questioned on his lack of reason for fighting, and his lack of any burdens. While Judai doesn't really change because of this question, his lack of change is indicative of something missing in him.

Arguably, a lot of problematic behaviors of Judai's in Season 3 start in Season 2, they're just not immediately called attention to. We'll talk about them now in the White Arc.

The White Dorm

Alchemy is heavily associated with color symbolism, Albedo is symbolized with the color white so of course one of the main antagonistic forces this season is the white dorm.

I'll touch more on Manjoume's role as the main head of the cult for most of the season in my upcoming tarot post, but Judai's friends being integrated into the white dorm means they are experiencing Albedo right alongside of him. However, in this case they experience a dissolution. Each of his friends dissolves entirely and experiences a death of personality, making them puppets for Saio / The Light.

In each duel, Manjoume, Bastion and Misawa the Light preys upon one flaw in their personality. For Manjoume it's his inferiority complex and his desire to beat Judai (a rivalry he takes much more seriously than Judai), for Asuka it's her emotions that people are constantly telling her to calm down so she can conform into a more feminine role, for Misawa it's the fact everyone in the school just decided to start ignoring him after they found out he was a furry.

(On a more serious note a lot of people think the show dropped Misawa's arc entirely, but I'd argue there is a three season arc there and that it mirrors Judai's. In season 1 Misawa is an obsessive perfectionist duelist considered one of the two rivals to Judai, and like many students there doesn't think of much of his future but becoming a pro duelist. However, the encounter with Tanya shakes him by waking him up to a desire for love in his life and Tanya disapepars. In season 2, Misawa's failed to live up to his potential as one of the higher ranking duelists in the show and kind of washes out like Hell Kaiser Ryo did when he figures out he wasn't as great as everyone at the school told him he was. Saio compounds on this by ignoring him, which on top of his friends all deciding to ignore him makes him vulnerable to being recruited to a cult. Misawa's the only one who joins willingly if you think about it, which shows how unloved he feels in season 2.)

Aster's speech on the matter is revealing in regards to the loneliness Misawa feels.

Misawa doesn't actually want to get better - he just wants those around him to see him as being good. Being a true duelist is lonesome. Even without attention from others, they'd just follow their own path with faith in their deck and tactics. Results and praise just come after the fact, but Misawa is different. All that lies deep in his heart is an idiotic elitist desire for the ability to be noticed by others. It worries you does it not? It pains you does it not? That others will not acknowledge you. In the end he'll lose faith in himself. Something like that can't become a true duelist.

There is a reason for this brief tangent with Misawa in the Judai's friends section, in that the friend group's collective decision to ignore Misawa probably because they assumed he was an elite duelist who could take care of himself shows that their friendship is not as strong as it seems.

The cracks are already starting to show in Season 2. Not only does everyone collectively neglect Misawa, but Judai as a whole lets each of his friends be taken by the light, and he's either not around or doesn't lift a finger to stop it. Asuka and Manjoume spend weeks being brainwashed and Judai feels no urgency to reach out to them and fix it. This is even something commented upon by Judai himself when he finally goes to face Manjoume.

What this means in alchemy terms is that these bonds are broken, and reforged by necessity in order to be forged into healthier friendships. Judai's friends experience a dissolution in season 2, and Season 3, before he's able to forge a much stronger connection in Season 4.

Judai's friends who are dyed white also each represent a personal flaw of Judai's that he needs to be cleansed of. For Manjoume, it's Manjoume's general stagnation which Judai reflects because Judai is a stagnant character for the first two seasons. Part of the reason Judai is stagnant is because of the codependent friendships he forms with others, Judai and Manjoume are characters who both struggle to stand on their own two feet.

As mentioned above, Judai is also someone who tends to have his emotional needs neglected by others the same way Misawa was because everyone assumes Judai can take care of himself.

THE WHITE QUEEN

The last and probably most important is Asuka who I've mentioned in my last post is an anima, or a female Judai. Now, I'll elaborate on that point.

The Anima and Animus are what Jung terms "Sygzy" a term used y Jung to mean the union of opposites. Similiar to the Taijitu or Yin and Yang symbol. The feminine Yin and Masculine Yang each tcontain a taenite, a dot that represents the yin (feminine) within the yang (masculine) and vice versa.

What it means essentially is that every single person is a collection of what we traditionally consider "masucline" and "feminine" traits. Of course those definitions depend on culture, but gender is like money. Yes, Gender is completely made up, but I can say things are masculine and feminine and you'll know what that means the same way that money is made up but I have to pay five dollars for my boba tea.

Of course Gender isn't split down a male / female dynamic either but this is really old psychological framework we're working with.

Even Jung however as old was onto something when he observed that the way men are socialized especially growing up (with gender roles being as rigid as they are) leads to them having underdeveloped or even suppressed feminine traits.

Jung believed a male’s sensitivity is often lesser or repressed, and therefore considered the anima (the unconscious feminine side) to be one of their strongest sides. Ergo, men are more likely to repress their feminine sides, and at the same time the only way to develop those sides is to seek out femininity and interact with it. That sounds like basic rules of human interactions, the only way you can learn to have healthy relationships to other people and how to show your emotions in healthy ways is by interacting with people. 

Which is where the chemical wedding comes in. The Sygzy is the union of opposites fanima and animus) formed by a chemical wedding between the two.

Men usually progress through four stages when it comes to integrating their anima (in other words they mature in the way they perceive and relate to the women in their life). These are represented by four archetypes, reoccurring characters and symbols in fiction. Jung believed the reasons archetypes kept showing up in different stories is because they symolized something deep within our own subconscious.

These four archetypes are:

Eve (mother)

Helen (romantic interest)

Mary (religious devotion)

Sophia (wisdom, guide to inner life).

Asuka serves as Judai's anima for the first two seasons, and vice versa, but I'd argue they never pass the first two stages.

My reasons for arguing this is number one, Judai and Asuka only have two duels against each other in season one and two. Number two, Jung marks Albedo as the stage of integrating your Anima. Asuka wears primarily white, she's basically female Judai sharing his love of card games, and their final duel happens in season 2.

Judai doesn't view Asuka as amother figure per se, but when he first meets her he is a child as their first duel takes place in the third episode. So she is someone who 1) nurtured his growth, and 2) could have been a possible romantic interest for the first two seasons.

I think Judai and Asuka's two duels however are an example of a chemical wedding that turns out to be non-romantic. As Asuka is basically replaced as Judai's potential love interest by Yubel or arguably Johan too. Also the fact that they are basically set up to be love interests only to have that set up subverted is the point here.

The strongest connection between Judai and Asuka, and the reason they serve as each other's anima and animus for a time is thatthey both don't really fit into the roles society assigns them. Especially their gender roles, Judai is a subversion of the hot-blooded shonen boy protagonist and Asuka a subversion of the female lead character always being the love interest.

As stated in my previous meta, Asuka is very like Judai in the fact that her first love is dueling. Therefore she doesn't fit into the mould of what a lot of people consider to be feminine, despite being the 'queen' of obelisk blue. This post goes into a lot more detail on the relationship between Asuka and Gender.

Asuka seems to be written as a response, or maybe even a correction of Anzu Mazaki from the first anime. A character who while important, suffered from what many consider to be female shonen character syndrome they mainly exist to be an emotional support to the protagonist and lack flaws / ambitions of their own. I guess the english word for it would be chickification.

Here let me cite the scholarly resource known as Tvtropes:

You have an Action Girl, who may also be One of the Boys. She rocks. But she's probably the only female in the main cast, or at very least, the most openly tomboyish in the female cast. And it doesn't seem to be playing well with the 18-35 male demographic. So the writers, either on their own or because of Executive Meddling, soften her tough edge. Gradually, the Action Girl starts seeing significantly less action. She exchanges her armor for outfits that show off her figure. Her plotlines become increasingly centered around romance, dating, and fears that she isn't married yet. She gets easily turned into a Damsel in Distress by the same villains she would have handily thwarted previously just so the male characters can save her. The character who was once comfortable and competent has been Chickified.  This is about maturity being equated with passivity, with "girls/women can't", rather than just learning to make wise choices or cope with challenges.

To simplify, the predominant trend in Shonen manga is that men are allowed to be active characters with agency, and female characters are always reduced in agency and independence, usually defined by their relationship to a male character to the point where femininity goes hand in hand with passivity.

The main problem with this is it doesn't allow female characters to have thoughts and feelings of their own, outside of either the roles they play to the men in their lives, or just them being reduced to their gender, in the friend group they're just "the chick." A lot of manga authors even admit to throwing in female characters just to have a female character without really thinking of their role in the story.

Asuka is a deconstruciton of both the way female characters are treated in this gnre, and also she as a girl has to deal with the expectations to perform femininity from everyone around her.

Asuka is feminine, she's considered the "pride of the Blue Girls", at the beginning of the show she's well-respected, popular with the girls and also incredibly detached and bored. She basically extorts a duel out of Judai just to find a challenge. It's easy to see where this dissatisfaction comes from, not only is duel academy weird about women, a lot of the men Asuka is forced to interact with reduce her to her gender.

A common Asuka filler / solo episode usually follows this formula, "A man with a crush on Asuka challenges her to a duel with a condition that she'll date him or is otherwise trying to coerce her into doing something else she's uncomfortable with."

A nice subversion to this formula is early on in the dub where Judai and Tennis Guy compete to be Asuka's "fiance" only for him not to know what that even means, and Asuka to just say it means "friend."

Which just might be what makes Judai so unique to the point where Asuka starts to consider him a romantic possibility, because he is the one exception, the person who only ever regarded her as a duelist first and a girl second. As Asuka is feminine, but she exists in a world where she's not allowed to be feminine and still retain her activity and agency at the same time.

Manjoume and his two duels against Asuka could be seen as a metaphor for the way the world, and especially boys in Asuka's life impose femininity on her and expect her to conform to gender roles / their gendered expectations of her. Manjoume duels her twice, both duels resemble chemical weddings of a sort with the goal of getting Asuka to accept his feelings towards her.

When he beats her in the second duel look what Asuka's basically reduced two, the queen at his side, the second in command of the white dorm, and most of all, the elegant, refined, cold-hearted girl. She has ceded all agency due to the fact she's being mind controlled, she's also lost all of her emotions to the point where everyone describes her as being "like ice" in order to conform to a role given to her by a man.

When Judai and Asuka duel a second time, it is another chemical wedding, and one necessary for Asuka's development as a character but it's decidedly non-romantic. It's also a re-creation of this Splendor Solaris plate, a meeting of the solar king and lunar queen.

Judai: The sun will rise high in the sky! So open your eyes already! Asuka: Impossible, right now I am my true self. There's no need for me to awake. Judai: Then, I'll have to force you awake. I attack White Night Dragon with Flare, Neos. Let everyone's fiery feelings reach her! Melt it! Melt Asuka's frozen heart! Burn it to ash!

The episodes are called "A White Night Duel" associating Asuka the queen of the obelisk dorm with night time, and the moon. The first duel with Judai and Asuka took place in the moonlight as well, and it took place on water.

The duel also marks them as a pair of elemental opposites. Asuka's brother Fubuki uses snow character in his name. Asuka's swapped out her cyberladies deck for an all-ice deck.

Judai's commonly associated with the sun. Before this Fubuki stated that Judai was riling her up and igniting her flaming spirit. His winning the duel is using Flare Neos a fire attribute monster to defeat the "White Night Dragon".

So Asuka's in a state where she's finally been forced to conform to everyone's expectations as a girl, and given up the struggle of trying to be herself and as a result all of her emotions have shut down. Judai manages to excite those feelings inside of her once again by reaching out to her, not as a love interest might (this duel is way, way different from the way he tries to save Johan from Yubel's possession) but as a duel rival would by trying to reignite their rivalry.

Judai doesn't even say that it's his burning feelings that reach her, but rather everyone's. Manjoume and Fubuki try to reach out to Asuka in the duel by giving Judai cards to play, as a love interest, and a brother, but they both also have trouble seeing Asuka for who she really is from time to time which is why their cards don't work. Judai reaches her because he's not trying to be a love interest in this duel, or anything other than a friend.

This duel I believe solidifies what they are to each other, which is why Judai integrates Asuka as part of his anima and they have no further duels after this.

As to what Asuka exactly provides to Judai after going on this long rant about how Judai and Asuka's friendship is unique - well, Judai doesn't really conform to gender roles either.

If Asuka is the typical girl in Shonen Manga given more depths, and burdened by the expectations everyone holds towards girls around her, Judai too suffers from those expectations. The manga reaches a point where Judai is just expected to be the pure-hearted shonen hero who tackles everyone's problems.

Judai isn't allowed to be vulnerable or feminine because a lot of masculine roles get pushed onto him, he has to be Sho and Kenzan's big brother, he has to be the protector of everyone, he has to be the leader because he's the best duelist. In late season 3 he's forced into the role of being king by Yubel's manipulations.

On top of that there's the subtext that Judai doesn't conform to heterosexual and cisgendered norms, like is two other possible love interests are Johan a dude, and Yubel a nobinary dragon. His Jungian shadow is also yubel, a nonbinary dragon so what does that exactly say in regards to Judai and his own gender.

Asuka even builds up one sided feelings towards Judai that could be seen as the typical shonen main character guy and girl relationship that happens in almost every manga - except Asuka lets go of those eventually, because in letting go of that she gives Judai what he really needs a friend.

Asuka and Judai's friendship is important because they both don't fit in with what everyone else expects them to do, and want to be seen for their skills as duelists first before their gender. That's what they give each other through their chemical wedding and having gained and solified Asuka's friendship, Judai integrates his anime and moves to the next step of alchemical refinement.

HELL KAISER RYO / NIHILIXIR

So I'm going to address Hell Kaiser in one go, because I love him and also he represents an example of reverse alchemy or the nihilixir. Usually death and rebirth is a good thing and necessary for alcemical refinement, but sometimes instead the process makes you degrade into something impure, descending into baser instincts.

The transformation Hell Kaiser undergoes in season 2 and onwards is an example of something which resembles alchemy (for instance you could say his descent to the underground dueling arena, and his climb back to the pro leagues resmebles the drowning king where the king simultaneously drowns and rises) however instead of the death and rebirth leading to a more refined version of himself he just gets worse.

The catalyst for this arc is of course Edo Phoenix, but also a very true to life problem of a kid who's always been told he was going to be number one, going out into the world and finding out he's a small fish in a big pond. I'm going to steal Kate's post here because she's my Daitokuji-sensei. Here they use Salem from RWBY as an example of reverse alchemy, mainly the inability of an immortal character to grieve and accept death means they cannot move forward and instead move backwards and experience nothing but negative character development.

It's not just that Hell Kaiser lost to Edo Phoenix (a symbol of death and rebirth), it's that he can't accept the loss specifically because he's been told all of his life he's a winner. Hell Kaiser is such a perfectionist (he even told Judai that he thought his perfectionist tendencies held him back from true growth whereas Judai represented limitless potential) that he cannot accept or cope with the fact that he lost. He can't see that he might not have been as good as everyone always told him he was, and he starts to spiral.

So Hell Kaiser experiences a journey where he descends to the underworld (underground duels) and comes back, hence the name Hell Kaiser because he's been to hell and back but he doesn't change as a result of that journey. It's a false rebirth, rather than becoming something new he just doubled down on who he was before.

I don't care how, but I want to win and defeat you. I get it now, I finally do. I've lied to myself ever since my match with Ed... I duel by respecting my opponent. I thought winning or losing wouldn't matter if I did that, but I was wrong. I thirst for it - for victory! ANd if I have to steal victory from your hands, I will!

Hell Kaiser's original philosophy is a "respectful duel" which is just a duel where you try to understand your opponent and what they're thinking. However, after his duel with Edo his perfectionist tendencies win out against his desire to understand his opponents and he becomes obsessed with victory.

If Salem goes in alchemy in reverse because she won't accept grief, Ryo goes through reverse alchemy because he won't accept the prospect of losing or that he might be wrong. Alchemy is also primarily about changing into a new substance, a person who won't admit they're wrong and doubles down can't change.

Ryo goes one step back in alchemy by changing his outfit from white (albedo) to black (nigredo). Everyone treats this as a big change / rebirth from him, but in their duels against him Fubuki his rival, and Sho his brother both say the opposite.

Fubuki calls upon the darkness to try to match Hell Kaiser's deck with his red eyes deck, believing that Kaiser must be lost in darkness or otherwise be possessed to be acting the way he is.

Only to have it confirmed twice this isn't the case, Ryo hasn't changed. He's stayed the same person he was at season one and his so called dark turn is actually character regression because he refuses to adapt to new circumstances. Even the way he's depicted in fire is once again, a reference to nigredo because he's taking one step back while everyone else is in the albedo stage.

Of course being obsessed with winning seems like it's not the worst thing in the world, until Ryo's obsession with chasing the thrill of victory leads to him not only nearly killing his little brother with the same electrodes he was shocked with in the underground arena (remember in season one where he lost a duel on purpose to camula to protect Sho's soul) and then in season 3 developing a heart condition because he kept using the electrodes during underground duels.

Ryo also descends into death by embracing the cyberdarks deck, a deck which primarily uses graveyard effects to make his monsters stronger. Nihilixir comes from resisting change, loss, grief all of these things which are inherent to life, and therefore leading to stagnation and death.

I spent so long on this section because one - this is GX's primary example of negative character development, but also because this too mirrors eventual growth Judai will have in season 3. Ryo is a foil and rival to Judai, and there will reach a point where Judai too much like Ryo rejects grief, and doubles down on power, becoming obsessed with victory. Judai goes through some major character regression before he can grow again.

EDO PHOENIX

This post, much like GX Season 2 has put off Edo's character development for long enough. Judai and Edo for all of their differences have one thing in common that they're both trapped in their childhood.

They are both lonely children who leaned on stories of heroes in order to comfort them. Edo believes in dark heroes that would avenge the death of his father, Judai believes in heroes who save others. They both play hero to cope, Edo plays a hero on a quest of revenge, and Judai plays hero to all of his friends, taking on their burdens as his own.

If anything a lot of cracks in Judai's behavior show in season 2 and become a problem in season 3 because he failed to address or fix them. Neglecting his friends his friends until they all get brainwashed and become victims of the main villain? Happens again in season 3. Judai being told he can't keep dueling for fun and will have to eventually accept responsibility? Happens in season 3. Judai realizing being a hero means carrying brudens that might crush you? Happens in season 3.

Saio is kind of a silly villain, he's possessed by evil space rays that made him try to use a satellite to destroy the earth. However, symbolically with the light of destruction as a force of too much light that wants to wipe out the dark I think the season achieve a lot in Jungian terms. There's an entire monologue in the Manjoume vs Judai duel episodes about how the light of destruction wants to banish all shadows, which is evil, and blocks the light.

Calmly close in your eyes a pure-white sun shining in the sky as it iluminates a flat-pure white land. Let us assume that something now sticks out on the land. It creates an evil - darkness. Which is evil and blocks out the light. We must take all those who bring forth the darkness... and eliminate them until they are no more!

This and many monologues from the white dorm / saiou hint that maybe, purity.... is a little bit bad. Alchemy is a process of balance by two opposing forces meeting in a chemical reaction, but the light just wants to bleach everything.

This season if anything sets up the idea that purity isn't that great... after all the light monologues about wanting to wipe out shadow, but it's impossible to get rid of your shadow in a Jungian sense.

So we have the start of the purity = bad symbolism, right next to Judai who is a character who's still constantly being lauded for his "purity" his "pure childlike heart" and so on and so forth.

Now is Judai pure because he's confronted the darkness, and come out on the other side of it, or is he pure because he's just... not even looking at or acknowledging the dark. After all Judai's shadow isn't here, Judai's shadow is Yubel and Yubel doesn't turn up until season 3.

Yu-Gi-Oh GX season 2 is paced badly, but there's also something to be said about the way it's structured. Judai basically remains a passive character all throughout, the only time he journeyed to find something is when his cards were bleached white. Judai only ever responds. Judai's friends are kidnapped and he goes to save them.

There's a scene where Judai is sitting in his room with Kenzan and Sho, and then someone walks in and says "Judai, I need you to save the world, someone is going to use a death ray satellite in order to wipe out humanity." And Judai's response is appropriately: "What?"

Which once again, bad pacing because the main character is almost entirely uninvolved in the conflict, but it also sets up the idea that Judai is once again the designated hero. Does he seek out and try to solve problems, or does he just end up getting problems dumped into his lap?

Of course this parallels him with Edo, someone who not only wants to be a hero (to the point where he dresses up and beats up thieves), sees himself as a person on a heoric quest for revenge, but is obsessed with the concept of Destiny and the idea that he must be a special, chosen hero.

The plot takes these two characters, one who is actively trying to be a hero, and one who is just forced by circustmances and his friends into the role of hero and then suggests they are the same.

The introduction of the DD episodes, and the duel against DD and Bloo-D establish that Edo's quest for revenge was pointless from the beginning. The person who killed his father has always been - right next to him, watching him flail around in the dark.

Believe in your D-Heroes power over the future all you want, but the time within you has been paused this entire time. From the moment your father died... you haven't changed at all - you haven't grown up at all. You're the same kid you were back then.

If Edo, the proffesional duelist, who puts on all these airs about maturity and constantly lambasts Judai for not understanding the sacrifices that heros make, the burdens they care and the responsibilities they have is just a child - then what does that say about Judai?

Edo Phoenix, the character that's supposed to represent the phoenix, death and rebirth is a character that's been stagnant all along just like Judai. Death is a part of alchemy, but as I went to great lengths to establish with Ryo's section, in alchemy stagnancy is DEATH.

DD possessed and corrupted by the light, spouts words that are eerily similiar to what Edo says.

Self-interest? Not quite. I wanted to know ehther or not I was the chosen one. Just look at history - all the greats who seized power would always commits some number of crimes. In killing your father, I became great myself - and I proved my status as a chosen one.

DD rants about being a chosen one, but what does being a chosen one mean? He's possessed by the light who saps him of all free will just like Saiou. Season 2 constantly talks about destiny and destined heroes, and for the longest time I thought it was just speaking lipservice. That typical "We the heroes can change destiny if we just believe enough" until I remembered my favorite Jung quote.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will rule your life and you will call it Fate.” CG JUNG

Edo's obsession with destiny comes from not wanting to confront his past and his inner wounded child. If he believes he's a chosen hero on a quest for revenge, he doesn't have to confront what DD pointed out that he's still the grieving child who lost his father.

Since Edo ignores the unconscious, he is for most of the story a pawn in some way or another. He's a pawn to Saio believing and following his prophecies, he's a pawn to DD who killed his father never once suspecting him. The other characters who refuse to make the unconscious conscious become pawns of fate as well.

DD becomes split seeing himself in the mirror, before the voice of the Bloo-D card whispers to him and controls him. Saio becomes split as well between the version of himself Edo grew up with, and the one completely possessed by the avatar of destruction. Saio makes a case for being helpless to destiny since he was just possessed by evil space rays, but even Saio admits while ranting that he always hated the fact that people shunned him for having supernatural powers.

So purity = bad. Not acknowledging your shadow = being controlled by fate.

Then we have our willfully ignorant hero Judai who shows up to save the day as always.

Edo is the one who's actually gone through the process of alchemy and change in order to face this duel against Saio. Edo confronted DD, on a boat which burst into flames (fire) on top of the ocean (water). He basically speedran through Nigredo. He even killed his father in order to move forward through time again.

Edo also having gotten his revenge in the most empty way possible (not only does he find out his adoptive father was using him all along, and that his quest for revenge was pointless because the culrpit was right next to him, but also he has to kill his father's soul trapped in the card in order to win the duel) has no realized that his desire isn't to get revenge or even to defeat evil but to save Saio.

I'm sorry, Ed... I didn't mean to drag you into this. What are you talking about? You're my friend aren't you. [...] It's not fate I'm believing in. It's you, Saiou!"

He realizes this while finding Saiou's soul trapped in a recreation of their memories where they first met, when Saiou offered him an umbrella under the rain. Rain = water = albedo and Saio is wearing white, alright I'll stop now. The rain also scrubs clean his soul as Saio lets go of anger, and frustration and revenge ideas he had tied up into his dark intrepretation of heroism and focus on a friend.

My point is in order to duel against the light of destruction and try to reclaim Saiuo's soul, Edo gives up the satellite key and puts the world at risk in order to save one friend.

Edo Phoenix has finally experienced a death (the death of his father and adoptive father in flames, and the death of his original purpose of revenge) and rebirth. His new purpose becomes not to be the hero, but to hold out the umbrella and shelter Saiou from the rain the same way Saiou did in the past.

He also puts emphasis on his desire to connect with Saiou, and that being more important than any destiny or fate. Edo is trying to connect and collide with others again, and is finally starting to grow and change.

When Judai steps in he has practically no emotional investment, besides you know, not wanting Edo to die, and not wanting the world to get destroyed by a death laser because he lives there. Edo abandons the idea of being a hero, lets that dissolve and does something genuinely heroic in saving a person. Judai plays the hero again, but because he has no personal connection to Saio, practically everything he says about friendship, allies and fate is lipservice.

Edo is propelled by circumstances he thinks are fate the entire time when it's really just him failing to make conscious of the unconscious. However, he confronts his darkest self and then gains the ability to choose - and then confronts Saio by choice. Judai is still being thrust into the position of hero by destiny by the end of Season 2.

Judai ends season 2 not having changed. Since stagnation is death in any alchemy themed show, the show does not frame this as a good thing. Saio uses his ability to show Judai his future in episode 103 in an effort to intimidate him into giving up hope and accepting destiny.

After all this you still try to defy my wheel of fortune? In that case, I shall use my ability of foresight. You shall wallow in despair, and detest your own fate.

Saio not only shows Judai a preview of what will happen in Season 3 when Duel Academy gets teleported to another dimmension, he gets confronted with... bum, bum, bum HIS SHADOW!

Everyone say hi to Yubel!

A horrifying vision which Judai responds to with more lip-service. "I think our fates can be changed!" That's typically what the hero says in this situation.

However, you could also see this as another instance of Judai being forced to look at his shadow, only to choose to look away again. Because he looks away and fails to make the unconscious, conscious, everything that Saio and this vision predicts more or less comes to pass.

So Saio screams a lot about destruction, how inevitably everything will be destroyed in this duel, and it seems like generic doomsday villain stuff but it's right. Destruction is inevitable. Judai has a similair vision to the one Saio showed him in season two, at the beginning of season three of all of his friends dissolving into sand, a symbol of dissolution and that vision comes to pass too.

Death, and destruction are part of life, and alchemy is a process of accepting these things in order to dissolve and be reborn into something stronger.

Solve et Coagula (dissolve and coagulate) except Judai through two seasons, doesn't dissolve, and therefore doesn't come together and change into something stronger.

Judai is like peter pan a boy without his shadow, and without the ability to integrate his shadow he can't grow up. Which leads directly into all of his difficulty into season 3. Judai has a pure heart, but how does a pure heart that's never been dirtied (nigredo) and then scrubbed clean (albedo) know how to handle it when it starts to loser its purity? What about all of Judai's friends who value him for his purity and never look at his flaws, how can they cope with that fact when he starts those how those flaws?

As I said Ryo has a lot to do with Judai's season 3 arc by demonstrating the dangers of resisting change. Ryo becames unable to accept any loss and needs to always win. What happens when the invincible main character of the story Judai, the invincible ero starts to lose and doesn't know how to cope with the loss?

I'm sure he'll handle it much better than Ryo did. (I'm just kidding, he doesn't.)

Anyway, to the five Yu Gi Oh fans who read all this look forward to the second part of this post where I describe tarot symbolism.

#ygo gx #yu gi oh gx #judai yuki #edo phoenix #asuka tenjoin #hell kaiser ryo #yu gi oh #ygx meta #ygo meta