"Hahaha, hahaha!"
The Legendary Flame Lord laughed maniacally.
But Judai could sense pain in the laughter.
He wasn't so hurt that he couldn't stand up, and he quickly stood up.
A golden light flickered in his eyes.
No matter what the reason.
No matter how pitiable.
You should never attack or invade weaker beings!
Whether it's Akaba Leo or the Legendary Flame Lord before him, it doesn't matter!
Akaba Leo may have done it for profit, and this Flame Lord might be acting out of personal pain.
But placing your joy over slaughter and destruction is something Judai will never accept.
"I'm going to defeat you in this turn."
"Defeat me? You, a mere flickering candle in the wind?" The Legendary Flame Lord laughed loudly.
"My turn, draw a card—" Judai didn't say much more.
The reason was simple.
He had that confidence.
"Activate Spell Card, Polymerization." Judai took out two Monster Cards from his hand and showed them, "I will Polymerize Elemental Hero Bubbleman from my hand with Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin."
"This Hero will chill you to the bone!"
"Fusion Summon!"
"My Hero—LV 8, Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!"
Swish—
A bright white figure appeared on the field once more, but this time it's not glowing moss, but cold ice.
The freezing Hero appeared on Judai's side in the most standard Hero arrival pose.
Elemental Hero Absolute Zero, LV 8, Water Attribute, Warrior-Type, ATK 2500.
"A Monster I've never seen before…" The Flame Lord's expression was tense.
The ATK has already surpassed it!
"It's not over yet, I'm going to activate this card too, and show you the ultra-powerful fusion tactic I learned from Hikari—
Spell Card, Neos Fusion!"
Judai promptly activated the card: "This card allows me to send Fusion Materials decided for a Fusion Monster from my Deck, hand, or field to the Graveyard, and Special Summon two Monsters including [Elemental Hero Neos] as Fusion Material, ignoring Summoning conditions!
After activating this card, until the end of the turn, I'm unable to Special Summon."
"D-Deck Fusion?" the Flame Lord gritted his teeth.
By simplifying the fusion that requires gathering Fusion Materials, what can its Ritual Monster do!
"I send Elemental Hero Neos from my Deck and Neo-Spacian Grand Mole from my Deck to the Graveyard."
"Special Summon—Earth Attribute Neos, Elemental Hero Grand Neos!"
Unlike the shining Neos, this Neos appeared more robust, with the right hand's spear replaced by a sturdy drill.
Elemental Hero Grand Neos, LV 7, Earth Attribute, Warrior-Type, ATK 2500.
Due to the effect of Neo-Space, the ATK changed from 2500 to 3000.
"Damn, such a simple way to break through 3000 points again…" the Flame Lord gritted his teeth, muttering.
Judai looked at the Set Card.
His Set Card is Explosive.
It's a card that can recycle Normal Monster Elemental Hero and then destroy a Monster on the opponent's field with ATK lower than that Monster's.
At this moment, if he recovers Neos, he could directly destroy the Flame Lord.
However…
"Grand Neos' effect, once per turn, select 1 Monster on the opponent's field and return it to the hand!"
"Nebula Void!"
Grand Neos raises the drill, aiming at Flame Lord, and amidst an attraction, Flame Lord's figure is returned to its original position.
Unexpectedly…
Its expression darkened further.
Only two Monsters easily combined to yield 5500 ATK!
In its desperate defense of only 2400, only four cards achieved the reversal!
Judai slowly exhaled.
From the content of the Duel, really, the opponent wasn't too strong, not mentioning the Seal Duelists encountered in this dimension, even the past few Dimension Travels, this Flame Lord wasn't particularly strong.
But…
He just felt his heart blocked.
"Battle!"
However.
No matter what.
He must defeat the opponent!
Judai's loyal Spirits nodded, rushed forward, and with two attacks, brought Flame Lord's Life Points down to 0.
He clearly only had 200 Life Points left.
Even though he himself still had 5500 Life Points!
Why—
The Legendary Flame Lord struggled painfully.
"Alright, Flame Lord, I've won—" Judai turned back, "Tell me why you attacked here, and… you must compensate—"
"Compensate?" Flame Lord paused at Judai's words, "Hahaha—hahahahaha—"
"Flame Lord?"
Under the shocked gazes of Judai and many humans and Spirits present, all the surrounding light screens focused on it, and at the same time, black smoke rose from its body.
Then, violent flames rose from the ground.
"Flame Lord, what are you doing!!!" Judai was going to check on the Spirits' status, but seeing the situation, he rushed out, trying to stop Flame Lord.
"Big brother! Don't go over there!!"
Kenzan and Shou quickly stopped Judai.
"Haha… hahaha…" Flame Lord opened its eyes and knelt helplessly.
At the end, its eyes saw its past home, saw the slaughter it caused in this dimension, and saw… a pitch-black figure.
The flames burned out.
Shou and Kenzan also released Judai.
Judai staggered over, he bent down like kneeling, came before a card.
A card burned down to only a third, the whole body not visible.
The Legendary Flame Lord.
"I never wanted you to die—" Judai said painfully.
This is complete death.
He looked around.
The Spirit village, let alone the former prosperity, even a few beams not burnt to cinders were left, the whole village burned charred black, like a wasteland, with Judai standing in the center feeling the world absurd as a joke.
He held the card tightly.
"Judai, wait for me—"
A cloud of black air dissipated from the card, he jerked back but saw nothing.
Ultimately, he could only silently put the card burned to a piece into his chest under the silent support of two little brothers.
Those black air…
That light—
That light screen!!
And, that voice!
Was it coming to him?
Judai didn't know.
He turned to look at the Spirits.
At least…
At least… he saved these Spirits.
Luckily, there wouldn't be any complaints like "Why didn't you protect our home" or "Why fight that guy, wouldn't it have been better just to let him leave happily" from troublesome Spirits, afterward Judai and the others were treated like Heroes deserved.
A group of Spirits hadn't really welcomed many guests before, so they were very happy about the arrival, quickly forgetting the pain.
Although they had nothing to offer Judai and his group, as long as they were alive, they still had hope.
After all, the Spirits' lifespans are very long.
But, this treatment made Judai's heart feel increasingly conflicted.
He hadn't done his best.
Maybe he should have given it his all from the start?
Or perhaps, he shouldn't have taken two days off halfway, or else he could have arrived here before Flame Lord.
Perhaps…
Amidst these thoughts, Judai decided to help the Spirits rebuild their village first, then set off again.
And at this time—
"Ugh, can we finally pass through?" Tenjo Hikari stood in front of the train station, asking curiously.
"That's right!" the Kaiba Company employee at the train station nodded, "Tomorrow, this station will restart departures, able to reach directly to the rainforest or volcanic zone, please choose your destinations yourselves!"
Rainforest and volcanic zone…