Raging flames rolled. In the enormous cavern, magma swallowed the already-scarce ground. Throughout the entire cavern, places one could stand were growing fewer and fewer. But Jack Atlas still stood on a boulder, without being affected in the slightest.
Beside him, Carly Nagisa, her body reddened from the high heat, clasped her hands tightly at her chest, praying for Jack's duel.
At this very moment, the situation was quite bad for Jack.
Because on Red Nova's field stood, plainly, a "Red Nova Dragon"!
Red Nova Dragon. Level 12, DARK Attribute, Dragon-Type. ATK 6500!
Red Nova had, through Graveyard-piling maneuvers, raised Red Nova Dragon's ATK by 3000.
And on Jack's field, there was only the most ordinary Red Dragon Archfiend!
"Do you see, Jack Atlas." In the middle of the duel, Red Nova didn't forget to boast about its might. "For you, Red Nova Dragon requires all your effort to gather Red Dragon Archfiend and two Tuners to Synchro. For me, it's just a monster that can appear from activating an effect!"
It picked up a card in one hand. That card burned with raging fire, just like itself.
Earthbound Immortal Red Nova!
During my or the opponent's Main Phase, banish this card from my hand or Graveyard to activate. From my hand or face-up cards on my field, send 1 "Earthbound" monster or Red Dragon Archfiend to the Graveyard. After that, I can choose 1 of the following effects to apply.
From my Deck or Extra Deck, Special Summon 1 "Earthbound" monster!
From my Extra Deck, Special Summon 1 Red Nova Dragon, treated as a Synchro Summon!
"Freely commanding the Earthbound Immortals, and also able to manipulate Red Nova Dragon..." Sweat dripped slowly from Jack's forehead. But he himself showed not a shred of fear.
Red Nova truly deserved to call itself the strongest Earthbound Immortal, the leader of the Earthbound Immortals. It could easily control any Earthbound Immortal. Similarly, Red Dragon Archfiend's power did indeed originate from it. This proved that as a "Synchro God," it was no mere pretender.
"But... Red Nova, even so, those Earthbound Immortals have never been convinced of you. Even though you share a common enemy."
Jack pointed at Red Nova: "A very simple fact is, even you have no way to command all the Earthbound Immortals!"
"Nonsense. Even if they can resist me for a time, they cannot resist me forever. Because I am the Earthbound Immortals' hope!"
"Hmph, is that really so?" The corners of Jack's mouth turned up. "I learned from Hikaru, you cannot command Earthbound Servant Geo Grasha! Because it must be Fusion Summoned to appear, and you have never accepted this point! So no matter how the ages turn, all you can do is imprison it, and you cannot make it acknowledge that you are the leader of the Earthbound Immortals!"
"...Fusion-using bastard scum!!"
"Your power certainly influences the Earthbound Immortals and Red Dragon Archfiend. But Red Dragon Archfiend is also a kinsman of the Crimson Dragon. It too carries the Crimson Dragon's power. Now..."
Jack placed his hand on top of his Deck. He closed his eyes, settled his spirit, and spoke to himself, to the world.
Crimson Dragon, grant me power. Let me end this eons-long hatred!
Suddenly...
A dragon's roar echoed throughout the entire cavern. Carly, who had been feeling the burning pain, actually felt somewhat cool. Red Nova's massive head widened its eyes and roared: "Crimson Dragon!!"
Crimson Dragon!
It came!
Bringing its permission, bringing its acknowledgment of Jack, bringing its willingness to reconcile with Red Nova, it appeared!
"My turn, draw."
The card flashed with golden light. That was...
Majestic Dragon!
Time to bring it out!
"When this card is drawn, I can reveal this card to my opponent to activate. Special Summon it from my hand. If a Level 8 or higher Dragon Synchro Monster exists on my field, I can also Special Summon 1 Level 1 Dragon monster from my Deck!"
Jack opened his Deck, chose a Level 1 Dragon from within, then Special Summoned it.
Next, naturally, Synchro Summon!
Level 1 Majestic Dragon, Level 1 Samsara Dragon, and Level 8 Red Dragon Archfiend Tune!
"Ground into ultimate solitary light, become the true overlord that illuminates the earth!
Bloom in radiance! Synchro Summon!
Grand soul, Savior Demon Dragon!"
The Archfiend began to grow larger. The Crimson Dragon's power surged into it more and more. Its demonic aspects grew fewer and fewer. Four holy wings spread out behind it.
The savior dragon appearing for the first time in this world, Majestic Red Dragon!
Majestic Red Dragon. Level 10, DARK Attribute, Dragon-Type. ATK 4000.
"ATK 4000... Crimson Dragon, you bastard. But my Red Nova Dragon's ATK is still higher!"
"Majestic Red Dragon's effect. Once per turn, target 1 monster on the opponent's field, negate its effects, and this card's ATK increases by that monster's ATK."
"Ugh..."
The savior's fire-light burned from the demonic dragon's body. This dragon circled and danced through the cavern, and Red Nova Dragon lost its ability, returning to 3500 ATK.
Meanwhile, Majestic Red Dragon's ATK reached 10500!
"Da... damn it..."
Red Nova felt its head spinning.
"If it were the true form of Red Nova Dragon..."
The true "Red Nova Dragon" and the Red Nova Dragon in Jack's hand were different. The one Jack currently used had: "When the opponent's monster declares an attack, target that one monster to activate. Banish this card on the field, that attack is negated."
But that was a "budget version." Last time, in order to persuade Jack, Red Nova hadn't given him the full power of the card, but had let him take it and "enjoy" first. When he felt it wasn't strong enough, he would naturally come find it like he was doing now, to exchange for more power.
By that time, Red Nova Dragon would naturally unlock: "Once per opponent's turn, banish this card from the field. On the turn this effect is activated, the attack of 1 monster is negated."
It looked like a similar effect, but was completely different to use. If it were the complete Red Nova Dragon, right now it could banish it, then let Majestic Red Dragon swing through empty space!
But...
It couldn't be done!
It felt dizzy.
Last time. Last time was like this too!
When Leo Akaba dueled Hikaru, because it was so anxious to revive, the Earthbound Immortals Leo Akaba used were all weakened versions. And it was precisely at that moment that Hikaru had seized the opportunity, exploiting the trait of "when Earthbound Immortals share names, prioritize destroying the non-turn-player's Earthbound Immortal," to instantly destroy the Earthbound Immortal!
Everything, as if a cycle, appeared before it once more.
"Battle, Red Nova!"
"With Majestic Red Dragon, attack Red Nova Dragon! Return to being under the king's banner, my dragon!"
"Ultimate Authority Suppression!"
Majestic Red Dragon spread its four wings, like an angel, illuminating the entire cavern brightly.
"You can't even beat me, this single duelist of the Crimson Dragon, and yet you want to beat the Crimson Dragon. Go back and learn from the beginning like a proper student!"
Boom!!
Red Nova, LP: 4000 → 0.
The duel ended. Red Nova's body was embedded in the massive cavern's rock wall. It stared blankly there for a long while, without the slightest reaction.
Jack Atlas was like a cruel executioner, cutting open its everything layer by layer. Now, it had to, and could only, admit one thing.
That was...
It was inferior to the Crimson Dragon.
"Ugh... Aaaaaaaaah!!!!!"
It had lost.
Lost cleanly and completely.
A tear of the divine dropped from the corner of its eye. The whole god screamed, its voice even carrying to other regions, like an air-raid siren, refusing to dissipate for a long time.
For a long while, there was no reply from Red Nova. Only, slowly, it dissipated into the magma. Then, countless flame-lights from all directions merged into Jack's Deck. He opened his Deck, watched card after card shrouded in flames, watched many brand-new cards, his eyes growing wider and wider.
Although he didn't speak, the result was obvious!
Red Nova had thoroughly entrusted its share of "Synchro" to Jack!
It had been... persuaded by Jack!
And seeing this scene, Carly Nagisa also excitedly threw herself onto him, cheering.
Their trip had succeeded! And it was a massive success!
He celebrated with Carly for a while, then quickly took Carly to the hospital to have her properly stay in the hospital and not go out doing anything, then rushed back to base on his D-Wheel.
This time, he had absolute confidence. He would absolutely not hold Yusei back again.
He even resolved that, after everything was over, after Yusei had succeeded, he would settle a definitive win-loss with Yusei once more.
Only, when he returned to base, he found the whole base was busy.
"Jack? You're back?" Yusei noticed Jack's return. His tense face relaxed slightly, but he still looked very serious. "It's enough that you came back safely."
He didn't even ask what Jack had gone through.
"What happened? Why so tense?"
Jack realized that something extremely important for their Team 5D's was likely happening.
"Hikari's 'god,' is going to duel another 'god.'"
A duel between gods!?
Jack was shocked the first moment.
Generally speaking, gods wouldn't personally take the field. In most cases, agent duelists would duel on their behalf. Like his duel with Red Nova today, a big part of the reason was that Red Nova's chosen "agent" was him to begin with. So he'd had the chance to duel a god itself.
And now, a duel between god and god...
This was truly rare.
Right after that, he understood why this matter was especially important.
Because it concerned whether their Team 5D's would still have "Hikaru" as a member!
If Hikaru's god lost, then he might very well leave this team!
They didn't care what thoughts Hikaru's god had in guiding Hikaru. They cared more about their friend Hikaru. Yusei's long-held philosophy was "Synchro." If at this moment a teammate had to leave due to an accident, that would be truly hard for him to accept.
As for Hikaru's dueling itself, that was actually secondary. Even if Hikaru, from that point on, never participated in Team 5D's duels again, as long as he didn't leave the team, they could accept it.
Because they were companions, teammates, and moreover friends!
They very much did not want their friend to undergo change due to the "god."
But...
A duel between gods likely held many variations within it.
Jack realized this and hurried off with Yusei. They came to the base's enormous laboratory.
Hikaru had already left at this point. Jack didn't know where he'd gone, but the huge multi-screen display in the laboratory had already begun playing footage.
Hikaru was chatting about something with a green-haired girl who looked like a Gimmick Puppet. On the opposite bank across from them was a red-haired girl with her eyes closed.
Different from the "gods" of Jack's impression.
"Because it's an extremely important duel, I hoped Hikari would let us watch too." Yusei explained. "And besides, I really want to know how gods interact with each other."
As he spoke, he also told Jack that due to special circumstances, matters on their side had been told to Serena and the Fusion Dimension too. They were all watching the broadcast.
A war between god and god?
Jack nodded solemnly.
And in the faraway DT Spirit Dimension, separated from the Synchro Dimension by countless leagues, Hikaru also finished his last words with Tierra.
There actually wasn't much extra to say. Tierra told Hikaru only one thing: whatever happens, do not remind her. Even if she herself wanted to ask Hikaru, Hikaru was not to answer her. Otherwise she would not forgive Hikaru.
Hikaru rubbed the back of his head, knew that Tierra's words came from the heart, and nodded to show he understood.
Sophia could hear this. Similarly, she could understand Tierra's meaning too.
Before she came here to duel, she'd also told Declan Akaba that he could watch their duel and collect their data, but he was not permitted to influence their duel.
Because this was their dignity and belief.
Tierra slowly flew out and landed before Sophia. Just from the shockwave brought by their presence, the entire ground was swept clean. All the broken stones were shattered into powder and swept away to other locations.
Jack furrowed his brow. He very much wanted to ask what grievance these two goddesses had. He'd just persuaded Red Nova, and felt he'd grasped a tiny bit of a knack.
But upon hearing his suggestion, Hikaru directly shook his head.
Very similar, but not the same thing.
The Crimson Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend still had places where they could reconcile, because they were both "Synchro Gods" with quite a lot of common ground.
That was this world's characteristic.
But Tierra and Sophia could never reconcile.
Because their philosophies were different!
Tierra and Sophia stood opposite each other at more than ten meters apart. Sophia opened her eyes. Just as everyone thought the duel was about to begin, the two of them vanished from their positions instantly like comets and collided at the very center of the "dueling arena."
Red hair and green hair tangled together. After the two gods' brief collision, only a boom sounded. Centered on where the two collided, the earth split open, the atmosphere heaved.
Fierce winds swept. In a single instant, the clouds throughout the entire sky were blasted clean by the explosion caused by this collision. Looking out across tens of thousands of leagues, the sky no longer had a single scrap of cloud!
The next second, the two returned to their original positions. They even continued to retreat, backing off to a hundred meters apart, and only then stopped.
"Hmph."
"Heh."
The two spoke at the same time.
Everyone watching this duel was dumbfounded.
Even Serena, who thought she understood "Big Sister Tierra" very well, was thrown into a daze upon seeing that the two, before dueling, hadn't dueled but had first punched each other.
Wh-what, what was this?
Tierra shook her right hand. Behind her, the sky ignited with blue raging flames. A terrifying enormous shadow surfaced. And Sophia, seeing this, didn't yield in the slightest either. She opened her eyes, raised her left hand. White holy light entirely enveloped her back.
The entire DT world, in this instant, was split into two different "worlds"!
Countless native spirits, seeing this strange sky, couldn't help beginning to seek out the source of it all. Under fear and worry, they gradually locked onto this place. Some high-tier spirits instinctively halted, stopping outside the two's aura fields.
Tierra extended her right hand, tapped her forehead with her index finger, gently knocking twice. The corners of her mouth curled up: "It seems, even with the nourishment of this world's spirits, you're still not as fast as me. Laughable, considering you died later than I did."
Sophia hadn't died in the wars, but had dissipated in her long slumber through the passage of time. So her recovery effect was better than Tierra's.
But...
"56%!" Tierra opened her eyes. At this very moment, both eyes of this body of hers had been completely replaced by blue pupils.
"Tch... 44%..." Sophia cursed inwardly.
Although her recovery speed was faster, Tierra's first-mover advantage was too obvious. Tierra had basically completely revived, only one last step away. Sophia still fell far short.
So, when completely releasing her own power to seize this world's "territory," she'd only claimed 44%!
"Then... I go first!"
Tierra raised her left hand. The mechanical Duel Disk she'd personally crafted for this duel began to flash.
Sophia lightly stomped the ground. A small tree rose from within the earth, then transformed into a wooden Duel Disk. She took it in her hand.
"Let us use this new-era method of combat."
"Let's decide right and wrong one more time!"
"Duel!" x2.
The two of them shouted like humans did.
The next second, all the spirits across the entire planet almost simultaneously heard this cry!
The entire world, as if beneath this "duel" cry, began to evolve anew!
Mountains, rivers, grass, trees, streams. This dimension where all the various spirits contested for territory, at this moment, finally briefly grew "peaceful," precisely because of this abnormal sky, this abnormal world!
But this brief peace was precisely the starting point of another "war"!
Tierra, Source of Destruction, LP: 4000.
Sophia, Goddess of Rebirth, LP: 4000.