The duel ended.
The monsters' images slowly dissipated. The Supreme King's armor had cracked open at some point, looking battered beyond repair.
Even taking a direct 3000 ATK hit, the Supreme King hadn't retreated a single step. Even with shattered armor and a pierced body, he didn't make a sound, standing firm on the field.
The three "great" entities watched the final result and expressed their amazement.
Among them, a dragon of unknowable light-years in length was the first to leave.
It had come to this era, this dimension, this space, drawn by Super Polymerization's power. At this moment of creation and finality, it found everything here fascinating. But after witnessing both duelists' Super Polymerization, it grew dissatisfied with its own "creation."
Although its power to "unify all things" and make "souls pendulate" could even grant its "chosen ones" Super Polymerization, the power of that Super Polymerization was far too meager.
After watching this duel, it genuinely believed its creation was imperfect. It had lost interest in everything else.
If before the duel, it might have questioned Hikaru about killing Akaba. But given how things stood, it no longer mattered.
Someone else would naturally fill his place.
More urgently, it wanted to use this duel's inspiration to create something new.
So its figure was the first to dissolve, returning to the starry sky.
"Hmm..."
The enormous goddess rested her chin, appraising the duelists.
Honestly, they were strong.
But perhaps due to their power being dispersed, they didn't inspire the same awe as the "Numeron power" she yearned for.
Still...
This duel's performance was genuinely impressive.
A pity.
Based on this duel's outcome, even with Darkness constantly eyeing the humans of their dimension, Hikaru and Jaden likely wouldn't experience "despair."
Recruiting them seemed impossible.
Fortunately...
The preparations she had made after leaving the Synchro Dimension still had secondary applications.
Her lips curled as she observed Hikaru's condition once more.
The Synchro Dimension... if that place remained sealed, things would proceed naturally.
But now, that dimension was known to countless worlds. Besides the native gods, more entities would go there to "pioneer."
She looked forward to it. Her carefully prepared "reserves" would surely produce wonderful reactions in the Synchro Dimension's grand melee.
When that time came, she eagerly anticipated Hikaru's reaction.
Of course...
Only if they survived that long.
Although Super Polymerization's power was truly formidable, dueling wasn't inevitable. Even the most powerful cards, if never played, would ultimately fail to achieve their purpose.
Darkness...
She glanced at Darkness, then her figure slowly dissolved.
After witnessing Hikaru's potential and Jaden's uniqueness, Darkness would surely prepare early too.
Could the humans of that world survive?
Darkness studied the space meticulously for a long time, then silently departed.
Tierra noticed the peering gazes had vanished, but crimson still engulfed the entire space. Everything was scarlet, making her frown.
What exactly was this so-called "mastermind" that destroyed the spirit world doing?
What strange power lurked within this red light?
The new cards in Hikaru's Deck were probably bestowed by the red light.
Yet she hadn't noticed it happening at all.
No.
Thinking carefully, even Hikaru hadn't expected unfamiliar cards suddenly appearing in his Deck.
As she pondered this, the light slowly began to fade.
But unlike the other "great entities" whose figures dissolved into shadow or dispersed as light from this isolated space, this eerie "red light" moved upward like a flashlight beam. Color returned to the space. Where the red light still lingered, only red existed, but the areas it left looked as though the light had never been there.
As the light faded, the building, the space, everything gradually returned to normal.
Finally, Hikaru and the others fully reverted to their original state.
And at that moment...
"Urgh..."
THUD.
Almost instantly, the Supreme King, who hadn't flinched from a direct 3000 ATK blow, suddenly clutched his forehead and dropped to his knees.
"AAAAHHH!"
The Supreme King screamed in agony. He grabbed his own throat, squeezing with all his might, as if trying to force the pain to stop.
"What's wrong?" Tierra and Hikaru asked simultaneously.
But then Hikaru's pupils shook. His body trembled slightly, then he felt his entire being dismantled and reassembled at the molecular level.
He tried to endure the pain, but limbs, brain, torso, heart, stomach, liver, blood vessels, bones, blood, platelets, white blood cells...
In that instant, he felt his body being frantically torn apart and reconstructed simultaneously. As though billions upon trillions of needles were piercing and shredding him all at once.
"Ngh..."
He collapsed. Tierra immediately reached out, catching him in her arms.
Hikaru's body was terrifyingly hot. The Winda body she was using was almost instantly scalded. Massive amounts of steam rose from her frame as mechanical components melted into molten copper.
What was happening?!
Not knowing what to do, she summoned several Grey Demons, pooling their purgatorial fire, calling forth floods and tidal waves, desperately trying to cool Hikaru down.
Meanwhile, the Supreme King had completely lost control. He lay on the ground clutching his head. The horrific pain made him want to kill his current self just to stop it.
Fortunately...
At that critical moment, he remembered his identity, remembered his existence.
The next instant, the shattered armor fully dissolved. The black miasma thinned to mist. Then "he" shakily stood up again.
"Wh-what happened?" Jaden clutched his throat, feeling his entire body limp. He barely managed to stand.
But it seemed the pain only resided in the "Supreme King's" consciousness and didn't affect Jaden's body directly. So Jaden's pain was mostly from the Supreme King's self-inflicted attempts to fight pain with pain.
Jaden looked at Hikaru with concern.
Then Hikaru...
Hikaru's eyes began turning red.
More precisely.
In Hikaru's original eyes, within the reflection of his pupils, red consumed his entire world.
The boundless red slowly contracted, slowly receded, then transformed into an enormous canvas. Upon it, a tail slowly extended outward.
Hikaru's breathing grew more rapid.
Zoom out.
Hikaru saw stars.
Zoom out.
Hikaru saw galaxies.
Zoom out.
Hikaru saw countless galaxies merging together, the universe operating alongside that tail.
Zoom out.
Countless universes piled together, forming a crimson cluster of universes. Within each, ecosystems and all manner of intelligent life seemed to exist.
Zoom out.
Beings whose bodies contained entire universes, existences that could sublimate universes themselves. These entities passed by that towering, boundless silhouette like insects, unaware it was right beside them.
ZOOM OUT!!
Upon the crimson foundation, Hikaru finally saw its tail, its scales.
Zoom out!
Zoom out!
As Hikaru's vision continued expanding, his mind crumbled further. He couldn't even process information of this magnitude, losing all capacity to respond.
Until...
Finally.
He saw it. A silver-white dragon of unimaginable, incomprehensible vastness.
And then.
A crimson eye met his gaze, then casually glanced away, looking elsewhere. And wherever it looked was engulfed in red!
...
Hikaru jolted awake.
Where am I?
He came to.
Tierra and Jaden were looking at him with worry. Tierra held him, constantly trying to heal him. Jaden was frowning, attempting to call Hikaru's consciousness back.
Hikaru waved his hand, signaling he was fine. Then he looked to the side, at the clock.
About half an hour?
He'd lost consciousness for half an hour?
What had just happened to him?
He tried hard to recall, but couldn't remember what he had "seen" at all. Just thinking about it made his brain feel like it would explode.
"Stop trying to remember!" Tierra spoke up immediately.
Hikaru took a deep breath and nodded.
He rubbed his forehead. With Tierra's support, he found a chair and sat down, drinking water and taking painkillers, trying to recover.
After roughly another hundred and ten minutes, Jaden also breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed the "Supreme King" in his mental world had calmed down too.
Hikaru's expression was grave.
Was the duration... linked to the "damage"?
Hikaru clutched his chest.
The rapid healing and intense mental focus during the duel weren't free after all. Did you have to "pay it back" after the duel ended?
Tierra directed Satan to massage Hikaru's head. After resting a while, he felt mostly recovered.
That Red Light was definitely not some benevolent entity. Truly worthy of being the "mastermind" that destroyed the spirit world...
Indeed, everything Professor Banner and those spirits had said was reasonable.
He and the Supreme King had merely dueled under that light and suffered this much pain. How much agony must the dimensions and spirits that were directly "attacked" have endured?
But...
As Hikaru began thinking about the pain and the mastermind's identity, he instinctively discarded all his previous theories.
He really needed to improve his mental resistance. Otherwise, he had no way to find the Red Light's location...
While thinking, he picked up his Deck. The instant he did, something felt off.
The sensation from his cards... was more distinct?
Could he directly sense the top card of his Deck now?
He silently drew the card and glanced at it. Instant Fusion, as expected.
His spirit power had increased?!
Why?
He was bewildered.
He hadn't trained his spirit power recently. He'd been entirely focused on preparing against Darkness.
Moreover, his spirit power was already quite high. The higher the level, the harder it was to improve. Yet now, he seemed to have reached Level 9 spirit compatibility?
With Tierra's assistance, he'd be approaching Level 10!
Why was this happening?
He was genuinely confused.
Could it be that "light"?
No...
While bathed in the light, he hadn't felt his power growing. Otherwise, wouldn't he have drawn Super Polymerization on his first try?
Then it grew... after the light departed?
Could it be...
Hikaru recalled his recent "pain."
His eyes widened. He quickly flipped through his Deck, checking the cards inside.
There.
Still there!
Spenta, the Magistus Sealer. Crowley, the Gifted Magistus.
Not only were they still there, there were even more!
Aiwass, the Magistus Spell Spirit!
This card definitely wasn't in his Deck during the duel!
Hikaru examined the card, then also pulled out Contrast HERO Chaos.
He recognized Aiwass, but Spenta was truly his first time seeing it. Based on its appearance, it might be a character from the "Magistus" manga series, but he wasn't very familiar.
As for Contrast HERO Chaos, it was the card he had fused using Super Polymerization. Perhaps due to Jaden's power and the Supreme King's power, the Contrast HERO he had created was extremely stable. Unlike Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer last time, which had been fragmented, this card was nearly flawless, with only minor imperfections that might need a bit more duel energy to complete.
But what about those other cards?
The Magistus cards were completely, genuinely present in his Deck now. There was even an extra Aiwass that appeared from nowhere!
Even absorbing a portion of the Supreme King's Super Polymerization power couldn't instantly complete a Fusion Monster!
He hadn't even contributed any materials.
No.
Perhaps the "materials" Hikaru had paid weren't what he thought.
Hikaru looked at his hands. In his mind, an image surfaced of a boundless eye.
Could it be...
That red light.
It hadn't inserted cards into their Decks.
It had forcibly, using its power through a method that Hikaru, the spectators, and even Super Polymerization couldn't observe, forcibly "accelerated the growth" of both duelists!
Precisely because the power increase was forced, after the duel ended, when the light departed and the mental support and physical restoration left, they suffered that much pain!
Because they had been forcibly "elevated."
But... as long as they survived it, this "gift" was the genuine article.
Hikaru more or less understood now.
No wonder...
Why the Red Light was so dangerous to the spirit world, yet Professor Banner and others had told Hikaru that countless spirits were willing to serve that Red Light...
Mental anguish? Cognitive derangement? Physical pain? Death?
Compared to all that, what could be more exciting than growing stronger for free?
...
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