The glass doors of the Leo Corporation headquarters parted with a silent, pressurized hiss.
Himika Akaba led the way, her heels clicking sharply against the polished marble floor of the private elevator lobby. Reiji and Ryoho followed just a step behind. The biometric bands on Ryoho's forearms finally pulsed a stable, cool blue as his vitals settled back into a safe threshold.
The elevator didn't go up to the executive suites. Instead, Reiji swiped a black clearance card, sending the capsule plunging deep into the subterranean levels of the facility—the heart of Leo Corporation's secret cross-dimensional research.
# Underground Lab: Sector 0
The doors slid open to reveal a massive, sterile chamber flooded with stark white fluorescent light. Giant monitors lined the walls, scrolling through endless strings of green code and energy spikes labeled [XYZ] and [FUSION].
In the center of the room stood a massive, reinforced glass cylinder filled with a dense, shimmering fluid. Cables as thick as a man's arm snaked from the ceiling, anchoring directly into the top of the tank.
Inside the fluid stood a figure.
"Behold," Himika said, her voice echoing slightly in the vast room as she stepped up to the glass. "The culmination of our fight."
Ryoho stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the figure. It looked like a young boy, completely motionless, but his skin had a faint, synthetic sheen under the lab lights. His face was entirely blank—devoid of expression, warmth, or even malice. Around his left wrist, a heavy, metallic Duel Disk was locked onto his forearm, pulsing with a dark, rhythmic glow.
"A duelist?" Reiji asked, adjusting his glasses as he looked over the data stream on a nearby console. "Are you programming him?"
"This is just a kid, Mother," Ryo said. "Or are you planning to train him?"
"More than that," Himika replied with a sharp smile. "A vessel built strictly to endure the crushing physical feedback of high-level Dimensional waves and summoning. No human heart to fail under pressure. No emotions to cloud tactical choices. He doesn't duel for smiles, and he doesn't duel for pride. He is a perfect weapon."
"What happened to him?" Ryo and Reiji asked simultaneously.
"Nothing special," Himika chuckled. "Just the normal things going on in the world. He was in a far-away, ruined small country. It was torn apart by warfare and constant terrorist attacks. Everyone caught alive there faced a fate worse than death. Under those extreme circumstances, he drifted... or rather, reprogrammed his mind to survive. He learned to obey and do whatever he is told, adapting to whatever harsh environment surrounded him.
"With such a tool, with such perfect obedience, we can make him one of the greatest duelists in no time. He truly is a sponge, ready to absorb whatever we drown him in. I was just about to leave my trip abroad when I heard the news that the terrorists and aggressors had been caught and arrested. The foreign invaders were forced to halt; they knew that if they didn't, a much greater power would descend to serve justice.
"It truly was fortunate timing. Out of all the refugees who were saved, I saw him, and it took just one look. He was completely silent, showing zero signs of panic, crying, or terror. His survival instinct had entirely overridden his personality, reducing his emotional baseline to absolute zero. He was alive, but his 'self' was gone.
"A completely blank slate, waiting to be written with whatever we choose. Isn't that wonderful? We just acquired the greatest, most obedient tool. It's a pity there was no one else like him. But don't worry about a public scandal or paperwork—I have officially signed the papers for his adoption. He will be an Akaba as well. And you two know what that means, right?"
#The Ultimate Testing Unit
Ryoho placed a hand against the cold glass of the tank. The boy inside didn't blink, but the Duel Disk on his arm whirred to life, a digital interface flashing across his blank visor.
SYSTEM STATUS: ONLINE
TARGET ACQUISITION: ACTIVE
DIMENSIONAL SYNC: 87.4%
SUBJECT NO. 00: RILEY
EMOTIONAL STATUS: VACANT / ABSOLUTE ZERO
"His brain processing can simulate thousands of turn permutations in a microsecond," Ryo noted, his voice flat but impressed. "If we deploy him during the Maiami Championship, he can act as the perfect anchor to trace the energy signatures of any intruders. If those Xyz users appear, it will force them to unleash their full power."
"Exactly," Himika nodded. "But the problem is, he cannot duel without understanding." Her smile vanished. "No matter how adaptive he is, no matter how deeply he obeys us, it means nothing if he cannot comprehend dueling and the experience that only comes from real battle. He has to feel it first. Even as we speak, he can hear us, but he isn't reacting—as if he already knows what fate awaits him. And yet he isn't responding or reacting, a certainly robot with no heart, or rather, a doll only to be moved by string atteched to it.
"We will let Yuya Sakaki run around with his little miracles for now. He is a useful distraction. But when the tournament begins, the world will see what true power looks like."
"A machine without heart... a doll, huh? This isn't gonna be good or helpful. I am pretty sure." Reiji looked directly to eye to eye to that person. "I can see spark, a very little grimmer of light in his eyes. He isn't what mother tells. And she isn't gonna like it, if she finds out."
Reiji turned away from the tank, looking at the main dimensional monitor where a map of four fractured realities slowly began to align.
"Everything is set," Reiji declared coldly. "Let the duelists play their games. We will be ready for the war."
# Reiji's Office
A few days later.
"Reiji, we still haven't found anything regarding Marco's disappearance. Those three kids—especially Masumi—are becoming a real pain," Ryo said, looking through the paperwork on the desk. "A sudden string of attacks... I've been keeping up with the news even when I'm away. Someone is targeting Fusion users. Connecting this to past events, I can say with confidence that it's that Xyz user. I can understand holding a grudge against Fusion, but turning people into cards..." He flipped over a card that trapped a man's face inside its frame. "I'm certain those three are doing their own investigating, and they're going to walk straight into a swamp."
"Hm," Reiji nodded. "I am well aware. But we can neither trace nor capture him yet. If we can figure out how his Duel Disk functions, we can stop him from sealing people into cards, and perhaps even find a reliable way to travel to another dimension." He gazed out the glass wall at the Maiami skyline. "We have yet to directly monitor or interfere with the Xyz Dimension, but at this point, it is certain that this duelist harbors a deep hatred for Fusion. We have Academia and that man's work to thank for that.
"Our enemy is the same, but we can't be sure if he will cooperate with us... and we won't know for certain until we speak to him in person."
"Speaking of people," Ryo said, leaning back onto a couch. "Any news on whether Yuya Sakaki can qualify for the Maiami Championship?"
"Yes. With his current point standing, he doesn't qualify. I offered him a special entry ticket—a personal LDS invitation—but he refused it. He is determined to duel other competitors to earn the required win rate on his own."
"That sounds exactly like him," Ryo observed, closing his eyes to relax. "And what about the other two? The two boys you sent personal LDS Championship invitations to?"
"Razz and Vance," Reiji replied. "When Koundri mentioned meeting two boys in a certain village, it immediately piqued my interest. I admit I was a bit skeptical at the time and naive, but I wanted to verify what had caught her attention. We tracked them down after a long search. From what I've gathered, the rumors about them are legitimate. I invited them to expand our team."
"The Lancers, huh?" Ryo muttered. "I still don't agree with excluding the Senior Youth duelists. They are far more experienced than the Junior Youth candidates you're recruiting..."
"Perhaps," Reiji countered, "but we cannot dismiss how rapidly a younger duelist can evolve and develop when placed in the right environment. We cannot predict everything, but we can eliminate the worst possibilities."
"What exactly do you want from Razz and Vance? Surely you wouldn't go to such lengths just to secure two ordinary duelists. What makes them so special?"
Reiji allowed a small smile to slip through. "You will find out soon enough. The Championship begins in a few days, after all." His expression instantly hardened. "Which means our operation to bring an end to all of this will also begin."
"Have you been tracking the anomalies in the Fusion energy grid?" Ryo asked after a brief silence. "The energy levels aren't quite off the charts yet, but they are significantly higher than normal. And it's concentrated all over Maiami."
"Yes, I am monitoring it closely. That is precisely why we are keeping tabs Shiunin Sora."
"Sora, huh?"
"Ryo, did you notice anything unusual or abnormal surrounding him while you were at the Youshow Duel School?"
"Nothing beyond the fact that he can fusion summon. He mentioned once that he comes from a place where Fusion Summoning is common knowledge—that even children can do it. But nothing remarkable beyond that. His true physical capabilities and full dueling skills remain unknown to me."
"Then we will have to wait and see."
It was a frustrating deadlock—a position where neither of them could act directly. All they could do was sit in their comfortable chairs, wait for the pieces to move, and adjust their strategies and plans accordingly.
Suddenly, the landline phone on Reiji's desk rang. He picked it up and put it on speaker. Nakajima's frantic voice cut through the room.
"President! We just picked up Xyz energy readings! It's happening right now at the seaport! There are no surveillance cameras in that blind spot, and no LDS staff are nearby—except for Masumi Kotsu from the Fusion course! There are other energy signatures present, but none match anyone in our database!"
"We could contact Masumi, but risking a leak regarding the carded victims is too dangerous," Reiji reasoned.
"Where is Ryo-sama?! He can reach the harbor in time!" Nakajima shouted.
"Don't worry," Reiji said, small smile forming on his face. "The moment you mentioned Xyz energy, he took off. Just for a split second, I saw a dangerous smile forming on his face with excitement. It doesn't matter how bleak the situation looks—he will get there, and he will capture whoever is causing this trouble."
"Understood, President!"
The line went dead. By the time the call ended, Ryo was already clear of the LDS headquarters, sprinting down the moonlit streets toward the harbor.
# Forrest of Maiami
It was all dense and dark trees.
Nothing, not even sound of birds.
A sudden, blinding blue light erupted.
A boy with injuries all over his body, trying to walk came into view. He was having hard time with his current state.
"I have to..." He muttered, with low energy. "I have to tell them. I have to stop this, again. Why... all this is happening again. I will sto—" his destination, Maiami City came into his vision, far away. Even with his state, a sudden energy came in him. He tried to rush there, to get there as soon as possible. But a sudden, blinding blue light erupted again and the boy had disappeared.