You didn't disappoint. I'm honestly curious what the plan was for the original version of the story, not that I doubt the quality here but if this is a change I'd be interested to know how dramatic of a change it is.
I was half-expecting Rio to outright kill him. Seriously.
You nailed the tension, the description of the duel and the cards, all of it. I'll admit I'm not a big fan of custom cards but Zexal in particular does suit them given how uniquely narrow its format is (trash heap decks can't really cut it anymore, but the virtual non-existence of the other summoning methods makes slotting in cards difficult, and the power scaling is remarkably delicate), and you use them well--augmenting what is already there, and making extremely limited decks scriptable in more than linear fashion (I think I'll bite the bullet and do that for Droite as an Arc-V legacy character, as much as Digital Bugs would be an appropriate choice).
Sorry for rambling. Once again I love this story and how much care you're taking to actually do something with the Barian/Astran (as I have taken to calling beings of Astral world given that Astral himself makes calling them "Astrals" odd) lore rather than the anime's cheap setpiecing.
Durbe's grief is the heart of the Barian pov for ke, pun intended. I also really want to know what happened to Vector because if he set up the plot with Dr. Faker before vanishing as I got the impression happened, he couldn't have done that and then gotten himself caught in the trap that did in Nasch and Merag, the timelines don't add up. Unless the Faker plan has been gestating that long, I suppose building the secret facilities would take a while.
I'm going to have to 50% cite/credit, 50% avoid stepping on your toes if or when I write my own Zexal story because this is such an inspiration. I already had a basis, but you're getting the gears working overtime. I also forgot the bit about Astral and Barian Worlds both being in decline, thank you for reminding me.
If you don't mind me asking you for advice about my stuff in the comments of your own fic, do you have any suggestions for how I might implement the Numeron Code if the Numbers are created things? I was thinking just that they control Chaos and the absence of 1 is enough to disrupt that "admin" access, as it were. I just don't want to deal with the headache of something like the canon Code, the relationship of which to the Numbers in canon I never quite figured out given the Galaxy-Eyes barged into the plot like Seto Kaiba.
P.S. I'm sorry, again. I speak of my own ideas only because you do so much to spark them.
P.P.S. Is First Chaos canon to Ice Queen Cometh, and in that vein are you and Donjusticia planning on continuing it/waiting until Ice Queen Cometh is past a certain point ti do so?
P.P.P.S. I completely forgot Don was the author of the "Bracelet Girls Dark Signers" fic, saw it eay back and it didn't strike my fancy but the premise did stick with me.
Comment on Ice Queen Cometh
EthanKironus on Chapter 16 Tue 08 Jul 2025 09:28AM UTC
Last Edited Tue 08 Jul 2025 09:35AM UTC
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