At night, as usual, Hikaru Amagi was reorganizing his deck.
It had become a habit.
In the world of Duel Monsters, the possibilities were infinite. Even the strongest deck could be crushed by a pair of Book of Eclipse. And Hikaru's deck? His was true chaos—so unpredictable that even he couldn't guess what kind of duel it would bring next.
"Earlier, I activated Pot of Greed and it turned into Fusion Substitute... Then Monster Reborn got swapped for Fusion Recovery. I mean, sure, Fusion Recovery has its uses, but come on!" Hikaru grumbled as he shuffled through his cards—then suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Huh!? Wait—what?!"
He scrambled to recalculate, opened his backup card box, and carefully sorted through.
The odd mix of Normal Monsters gifted by the Malefic Alchemist, the random junk cards he'd bought back in Tsutono City—they'd all vanished. Fifteen, maybe twenty cards. All of it... gone.
And in their place—one single card.
DD Swirl Slime.
"You've gotta be kidding me! It actually printed that!?"
Hikaru stared, dumbfounded. "Wasn't Super Polymerization supposed to pull from my deck and my duels? What the hell kind of criteria pulled this out?"
It was a powerful card. If it was in your hand, you could immediately Fusion Summon a D/D/D Fusion Monster using monsters from your hand. Then, from the grave, you could banish it to Special Summon another D/D monster from your hand.
Yeah, it cost card advantage—but in this world, its effect was ridiculously good.
The issue?
This was his only D/D card.
And why now?
"Wait…" A chilling idea occurred to him.
Was it because he'd been clashing with Reiji Akaba all this time? Did Super Poly pick this up in response?
"Seriously… How many hidden rules are there?" Hikaru scratched his chin, trying to unravel it all.
Super Polymerization's scope was absurdly huge. And now it felt like it was adapting to him, reacting to his actions in ways even he didn't understand.
As he pondered, Hikaru realized something was off.
The room… was too dark.
"Master!"
"Lord Amagi!"
He heard the alarmed voices of his spirits.
In the next instant, he felt a familiar surge—Captain Prism Aura had attached himself to Hikaru's back, radiating light. Hikaru whipped around toward his spare card box.
Inside—ink-like shadows boiled and churned, streaked with glowing violet.
"What the hell is that?!"
He barely had time to process it before—
WHAM!
A shard of metal tore through the air, slamming into his shoulder. If not for Prism Aura's protection, it might've pierced straight through. Hikaru winced, but remained on his feet.
He glanced around. A wild, violet storm of metal fragments had erupted inside the room. The components of his alchemy setup—metal, wires, scrap—began swirling, fusing, assembling. He watched, stunned, as the chaos built itself into a mechanical puppet's hand… then an arcane staff… and finally, a petite, green-haired humanoid body formed from interlocking gears and forged plating.
She hovered there, joints clicking like a wind-up toy. Even her hair was visibly bolted into place.
El Shaddoll Winda.
"So that's it!" the Malefic Alchemist appeared beside Hikaru, wide-eyed. "Master! You already completed that card long ago—it simply didn't want to awaken!"
That made sense.
In this world, certain cards could actively reject their users—some even short-circuiting Duel Disks or striking their users with lightning. Only the most powerful spirits… or gods… could do such things.
"Wait—why can I see you now?" Hikaru suddenly realized, staring at the fully visible Alchemist.
"Your power was amplified by her emergence, Master!" replied Flame Sword and Darkfire—his spirits who were always by his side, though usually invisible. "Your connection to us has deepened!"
"But that doesn't explain this…" Darkfire frowned. "Your alchemy wasn't powerful enough to create a sentient spirit from scratch… So why—?"
"My fault, I fear," Prism Aura said gravely, gaze fixed on Winda. "She's from the same spirit world as I am. My presence must have drawn her attention."
That explained it.
Hikaru had always suspected something. There was no way his current alchemy could forge an autonomous Duel Spirit. It wasn't within his reach—not yet.
So this made more sense.
As the spirits traded information, Winda twisted her neck with a jerky motion. Her joints clicked unnaturally as she flexed her limbs, then turned to Prism Aura. Her expression was blank.
"…Long time, no see," she said.
Prism Aura shivered.
She turned to Hikaru. "Human… You, without permission, made… me—me—me—"
Her voice glitched. She slapped her head, twisted her throat joint—and then froze.
Her posture shifted. Her expression came alive. She smiled wide, eyes bright with eerie enthusiasm.
"Oh? Prism Aura?" She tilted her head, then turned to Hikaru, beaming with wild delight. "A human? I never expected to reach the human world again! Looks like I've got another shot at resurrection!"
No.
Something was wrong.
She wasn't Winda.
—No. She was Winda.
But…
Not the one he knew.
"…Tierra?" Hikaru asked carefully.
"You know my name?" she answered without surprise. "So, my divine name echoes even into other worlds. How delightful."
Hikaru's heart clenched.
Another "Darkness," huh?
Tierra, the Genesis Star.
One of the two primordial in the Duel Terminal universe.
If Darkness could create avatars… then so could Tierra. In Duel Terminal lore, Winda was Tierra's voice—a direct conduit. The only Shaddoll monster without puppet strings in her artwork.
Now it made sense.
Winda hadn't awakened because she'd been hijacked.
Hijacked by the god controlling her.
Tierra continued, voice silky with mirth. "Compared to the miserable lifeforms of my world… humans are quite endearing. Human, if you can find my world and help resurrect me, I shall gift you the name of Adam—the first man. You'll be the progenitor of all humanity in my reborn world. How's that sound?"
"No thanks," Hikaru replied flatly.
That's some "revive me and I'll make you a general" nonsense.
"She's my card now!" he shouted. "Winda is a symbol of Fusion!"
Tierra blinked, taken aback.
Few had ever dared speak to her like that.
"You know of me, and yet… you're not afraid?"
Hikaru smirked.
He knew all about the Spirit World now. Prism Aura had explained it to him in detail. In the current spirit era, the Duel Terminal saga was ancient history—prehistoric, practically myth. Tierra's original body had long since crumbled.
Probably fossilized into oil.
And to manifest power? She needed a vessel.
Even The Light of Destruction needed the three Egyptian cards. A single Winda card? That was barely a flicker.
If she tried anything, he still had Super Polymerization in reserve.
He reached for the card around his neck.
"Wait—stop!" Tierra raised her tiny puppet hands, panicked. "That body can't handle it! Are you really planning to go down with me? I'm already dead—I don't mind—but you'd be gone, too. Look, let's do this the new way. A proper duel. What do you say?"
She smiled.
"You wouldn't refuse that, would you?"
"You can duel?" Hikaru raised a brow.
"Er… not yet. But I can learn…" she mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.
"Heh." Hikaru laughed.
In this world, if you couldn't duel—you were just another Darkness waiting to be mocked.
"I have one condition."
"What?"
"Cards," he said. "Help me make cards. You can do that, right?"
"This body's weak. From what I saw in her memories, most Duel Spirits can't create cards on their own," Tierra admitted. "But with that artifact of yours… I might be able to."
"Don't peek at people's memories without asking!" Hikaru scolded. "Fine. Deal."
"I'm visiting the Spellcaster's Realm soon, and I've got a club—disciples to teach. You can observe."
"Excellent!" Tierra beamed.
Then her smile faltered.
Wait a second…
Wasn't she trying to resurrect herself?
Couldn't she have bartered card production for revival help?
She paused. Then sighed.
Besides—if this new world revolved around dueling, learning the game might be worthwhile.
She'd just groom Hikaru into her champion.
What's a hundred years, two hundred?
She could wait.