The White Dragon flagship bled off speed.
The roar of the crowd rattled the very air, as if the world itself had been jarred awake. And then, as the result appeared, the noise cinched tight in everyone's throat.
"Semifinal, Match One, Amagi Hikaru versus Zane Truesdale. Winner: Amagi Hikaru!"
"Oh!!!"
"We did it!"
"Amagi Hikaru, the answer to Fusion!"
Duel Spirits, students, Fusion Army troopers, the Fusion Department, Hikaru's friends and hangers-on, everyone who had been watching exploded into cheers. Even among the Fusion Army, more than a few soldiers shouted on instinct before the scientists in charge of the feed killed the screen. The excitement refused to die.
"Hm, a Fusion dragon, huh?" Yuri stroked his chin, unbothered by the soldier beside him who still wore shock on his face. "Another duelist who's this devoted to Fusion. Interesting."
His eyes swept the trainees who hadn't yet calmed down, kids still replaying the duel in their heads.
Sora, one of the two Frightfur prodigies recognized alongside the Fusion Department's chair. Younger. Sharper. All in all, fascinating.
Hikaru had leaned hard on Frightfur/Fluffal lines today. That kid would learn a lot from it, maybe even spark new ideas.
Yuri smiled. His list of "prey" fell into order.
Watching Hikaru's duel had clarified his own Fusion creed. If Hikaru's Fusion was belief and soul, then his was desire and flesh.
He would turn everyone into cards, so everyone could be his friend.
Now.
He smiled at the Fusion Army soldier who'd dared contradict him, dared doubt him. He would start with him.
Light shimmered, soft, deadly.
As one of the final two "apostles" of the Light of Destruction, Yuri's ruin was purer even than the source. The Light of Destruction questioned why it existed; Yuri did not.
He only hungered to fuse everything.
Leo Akaba pressed two fingers to his temple after the duel.
Amagi Hikaru. Zane Truesdale.
Chronos's pupils were excellent.
Once, he'd thought Numbers might be enough to deal with them. Now? One of them had already taken Synchro into his hands; the other had mastered Xyz. Neither was power native to this world.
Aside from Yuri, there were precious few here who could meet them head-on.
He weighed options as a silken voice whispered in his ear.
He rubbed at the ache behind his brow. If he personally intervened, the Three Sacred Beasts might carry him to victory, but if Crowler found his moment, it could turn dangerous in a heartbeat.
He had too many threads to hold. He couldn't move alone.
And it wasn't only that strange ally from the Xyz Dimension; more importantly, there were contacts in the Synchro Dimension now as well.
Last time, he'd been unprepared, he'd underestimated the "supernatural" in other worlds. This time, he had Numbers and the Sacred Beasts ready. It still wasn't enough. He needed more, more power that bent the rules.
The device crowning his head, filling the wound and feeding the mind, hummed and calculated.
His Standard Dimension barely had any supernatural power. Before the raid, he'd assumed science could solve everything, only to discover he didn't hold the godlike trump at the end of that road, and he was countered in an instant.
But, that didn't matter.
He clenched his fists. A sickly darkness flashed in his eyes; black aura steamed off his shoulders; jagged sigils crawled across his skin, as if otherworldly beasts were quietly feeding on his life.
One counterpart from the Xyz Dimension was already in his grasp. Celina lived as a normal student at Amagi Hikaru's side. Next he would seize the Synchro counterpart, then the Standard one, and reunite them.
When the four were one again, Supreme King Z-ARC would return.
Then all that power would be his.
He would hold everything.
None of this, for now, was Hikaru's problem.
After the duel, he glanced down at the back of his right hand. Strange violet lines flickered to life, then vanished a heartbeat later.
"Tsk."
"Little Hikaru, they've locked onto you!" came Muddy Mudragon's worried voice.
Using that in front of so many humans had drawn the gaze of nasty gods.
Tierra took Hikaru's hand, peering closely, curious.
It was a grudge brand, a tracking curse. It did no harm, but from anywhere, the owner could find the marked one.
With Tierra's power, erasing it would be easy. Hikaru shook his head.
He refused.
It was… useful.
When he performed that Synchro Summon, he had felt it, the voice of the Crimson Dragon growing clearer. It was calling him.
When he first obtained Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon, he'd guessed this day would come. It was simply drawing near.
What did the Crimson Dragon want of him?
"What's wrong?" Zane had already stood, brushed himself off, and turned back to Hikaru.
"Nothing," Hikaru said, then thought better and added, "After the tournament, over summer break, I want to visit the Synchro Dimension."
"The Synchro Dimension, huh?" Zane, who'd already planned to pursue study in the Xyz Dimension, understood immediately.
Hikaru had managed Synchro and Xyz on his own, but to master them, you had to stand where they were born.
Zane didn't belabor it. He nodded.
Their friends, on the other hand, who had been about to congratulate Hikaru or console Zane, instantly changed tack: "You're actually going to the Synchro Dimension?"
"There isn't even a travel permit for Synchro!"
"Isn't that dangerous alone?"
Hikaru raised a hand to calm them and, by way of Another Dimension's travel program, explained he'd treat it like a summer practicum at most.
That only made them more curious about his connections.
A roar went up outside the airship.
"Hey, Hikaru! You were amazing!!"
It was Aromaseraphy Rosemary, and more Duel Spirits crowded around her, some Hikaru knew, Aromaseraphy Marjoram, some he'd never seen.
The blast radius of what Hikaru had just done, using Synchro to prove Fusion, was far larger than he'd imagined.