While the Heroes were busy finding a suitable opponent for Serena and preparing the Dueling Arena,
the world was still running as usual.
"Destiny" is elusive, yet eventually leads to the same end.
"Sigh... it's a pity. Our hopeful star, Marufuji Ryo, fell on the path of the top thirty-two."
The commentator's voice was still echoing from the broadcast, but Marufuji Ryo sat like a lost soul on the company's bench, his head down.
Lost again.
Ever since losing to Ed Phoenix, although he hadn't been completely defeated, his win rate had been declining lately.
Initially, it could be said to be an "unexpected loss," but now, no matter how much he deceived himself, he had to admit that he indeed "grew weaker."
Even though the company president repeatedly told him not to be too stressed, his overall image was still very good, and beneficial for the company's advertising value, so he shouldn't be too fixated on his duel loss to Ed Phoenix but should instead gather his spirits for the duels.
However, he wanted to ask the president for a leave to calm down again.
He could claim to have been targeted by those Professional Duelists, beaten by decks aimed at Machine-Type and Cyber Dragon, but he couldn't bring himself to use such an excuse.
Even when affected by the "Non-Fusion Area," Hikari could still summon Fusion Monsters through various means. Was it that just because he ate a little targeting, he couldn't win?
"Ryo."
"President!"
Marufuji Ryo noticed a middle-aged businessman coming over and quickly stood up.
"I've heard about it, you want to visit the academy?"
"...Yes, I think there are still many things I lack."
"But our company cannot accept that a graduate Professional Duelist, after a loss, would first think of finding their teacher."
"No, what I want to find is..."
"The public won't believe your words!"
Marufuji Ryo fell silent.
"Sigh—" The middle-aged businessman sighed.
He's not a kind-hearted person.
It's just that Marufuji Ryo still seemed to have value for extracting advertisement profits, so he just sighed, then reached into his pocket, took out a card: "Take this."
"What is this?"
"A pass to Domino City," the businessman said, "Our company is also venturing into dimension exploration recently. Marufuji, you have ample experience in Dimension Travel, and next, our company will also develop related business... Marufuji, I believe you will perform excellently in this area—and besides, if there are people you wanted to meet, you can meet them in Domino City, avoiding the boring paparazzi."
Marufuji Ryo finally showed a smile. Excited, he took the card, bowed to the businessman, and said loudly: "Thank you, President!"
"Hahaha, this is also for the growth of our company. Come on, Marufuji-kun, I have high hopes for you." He patted Marufuji Ryo on the shoulder, "You can adjust your mood there, then come back."
"Thank you!!" Marufuji Ryo regained his vigor completely.
After a round of screening and testing, Marufuji Ryo successfully passed the screening of the Kaiba Company's branch, and reached "Domino City" through Dimensional Teleportation.
Returning to this dimension once again, Marufuji Ryo's once dull heart couldn't help but slowly churn.
Ever since losing to Ed Phoenix, his doubt in himself had been growing stronger.
He often questioned his own self, why he duels, and why he became a Professional Duelist.
The world of adults is vastly different from the academy's, where there's no support from Professor Cronos, no understanding from Tenjo Hikari, no laughter from Judai, and he still has to worry about his brother. He's feeling unbearable every day, tossing and turning every night, unable to sleep.
He kept asking himself every day.
Is this truly what I want?
Is this really the duel I like?
He couldn't answer his own questions.
And now...
"Ha... hoo..." Domino City, located amidst numerous Broken Dimensions, is an Artificial Dimension, also a bridge between the X Dimension and their dimension. Last year, when Marufuji Ryo came here, it was still quite empty, but now, the number of people has increased significantly.
It even seems that some peculiar technologies that only the X Dimension can see are here.
He looked up, gazing at the simulated moonlight from the artificial sun, the sky showing a fleeting figure with wings, like an Angel.
He shielded his eyes with one hand, watched the sky for a bit, then lowered his head, shaking his tired hand a bit.
The X Dimension people have their uniqueness, too.
Before coming, he called Tenjo Hikari, but didn't get through, then called Manjome, only to find out that Tenjo Hikari was accompanying Serena to the Skyscraper. But his "holiday" time here is still long, so it doesn't matter.
Tenjo Hikari had advised him before, not to do things he didn't want to do in a duel, but he never understood why Tenjo Hikari said that, even to this day, he hadn't understood.
He found a card shop run by an X Dimension person.
Although last year he advised Tenjo Hikari not to buy Other Dimension People's card packs in Domino City because most of these packs were leftover from other dimensions, making it hard to find any Rare Cards.
But when he was alone, for leisure and sightseeing, he couldn't help buying some card packs while passing by card shops.
He randomly bought a few mixed card packs, cutting them one by one, casually putting the cards away while researching the cards, only to hear a "boom" as the shop's front door was blown open by a huge explosion.
What's happening!?
He turned to look at the card shop's entrance.
A massively muscular man wearing a spiked outfit knocked open the card shop door.
On his head was a strange round-shaped octopus hat, holding a thick stick in his right hand and a sack in his left. As soon as he entered, he smashed the store's glass display case with a loud bang, cursing loudly: "Put all the cards in here for me! Hurry up!"
"Wah!!" The shop owner was so frightened that he crawled under the table, trembling.
Marufuji Ryo was even a bit confused about the situation.
A robber?
Huh—
A robber??
Looks like an X Dimension person?
Is the X Dimension that war-torn?
As he thought about it, the strange person's head displayed a peculiar red Mark, and then, he started pounding on the surroundings with more force, shouting: "Hurry up, put all the cards in for me!"
"I don't know what's going on, but you also have a Duel Disk, right?" Marufuji Ryo took a big stride to stand in front of the counter, in front of the storeroom manager, stretched out his left hand to start up the Duel Disk, and at the same time, shuffled the Deck and cards into the Duel Disk.
A silver-white Mechanical Dragon silhouette floated behind him, the enormous Mechanical Dragon winding around in the card shop, glaring at the robber.
"Damn, damn, damn! How dare you obstruct me! I'm going to kill you and take all your cards!" He said, smashing another glass case, sending countless cards and glass shards flying everywhere.
The robber's mindset made Marufuji Ryo a bit dazed.
But anyway—
"Duel!!"
Frenzied Robber, LP: 4000.
Marufuji Ryo, LP: 4000.
As their duel began, a strange whistle sounded, then suddenly, the originally trembling manager stopped trembling, the cards and glass shards hit by the stick were bizarrely suspended in mid-air!
A figure landed outside the card shop, and when he landed, the mechanical wings on his body also fell off and transformed, turning into a small robot.
"Lord Kaito! We've been beaten to it!"
"I can see that!" The man who landed looked at the situation inside the store, glanced at that school uniform with nostalgia, and let out a muffled snort.
It's the Other Dimension People.
Did it implicate the unlucky Other Dimension People?
Thinking about the relationship between the two Parallel Cosmos, he let out a muffled snort again.
Whatever, I'll save him after he's lost.