As Yumi continued making his way deeper into the facility, a shrill alarm suddenly echoed throughout the entire complex.
Heavy blast doors hidden within the walls started sliding shut one after another with loud metallic crashes, each one sealing off another section of the facility in an attempt to halt the intruder's advance.
The entire fortress instantly shifted into lockdown.
Yumi merely glanced at the closing doors with his usual calm expression.
"How troublesome."
With a small sigh, he didn't even bother slowing down.
"The Earth."
A massive figure materialized in front of him. Elemental HERO The Earth stepped forward without hesitation and punched through the first door in the path ahead.
The thick reinforced steel bent inward immediately before tearing apart under the overwhelming force, sending twisted chunks of metal flying across the hallway.
But when the next door slammed shut before them, The Earth simply moved on and punched through that one too, then the next, and the next after that, clearing a path forward with nothing but brute force and pure momentum.
Every obstacle Viper's security system placed in front of them lasted no more than a single punch before becoming little more than expensive scrap metal.
Yumi calmly walked behind his spirit with both hands tucked inside his pockets, his pace never changing even once, as though the heavily fortified security system surrounding him simply did not exist.
Meanwhile...
Inside the facility's control room...
Professor Viper watched the surveillance monitors with widening eyes. Watching his security system collapse one section after another made cold sweat slowly form across Viper's forehead.
Beside him, Yubel silently watched the same monitors.
She saw the towering figure of Elemental HERO The Earth smashing through every obstacle placed before his master, each swing of his massive fists carrying enough force to reduce reinforced steel into scrap.
For a brief moment... Yubel's expression softened.
"That HERO monster..."
Jaden...
Her Jaden loved HERO monsters. He always had.
Seeing such a powerful HERO standing faithfully before its master caused her heart to tremble with excitement.
It has to be him.
My Jaden.
There couldn't possibly be anyone else.
After all... Who else would command HERO monsters with such confidence?
Her thoughts became increasingly certain. The massive amount of Spirit Energy... The darkness in his heart... The HERO monsters... Everything fit together perfectly in her mind.
Surely... This had to be the Jaden she had spent so long searching for. Even if he looked slightly different from her memory, it doesn't matter.
Viper, naturally, had absolutely no idea what was going through Yubel's head.
Unable to see Duel Monster Spirits, all he could witness through the cameras was Yumi casually strolling down the hallway while reinforced blast doors continuously exploded apart for seemingly no reason.
"He truly is as powerful as the rumors say," Viper muttered under his breath.
Yubel's voice suddenly echoed directly inside his mind.
"He has awakened to his power."
Viper frowned slightly at that, but before he could question what she meant, a new figure stepped out from the corner of the room, drawing his attention at once.
Viper recognized him instantly. Adrian Gecko. One of the transfer students who had come to Duel Academy.
Earlier, while Jaden and the others had launched their frontal assault on the facility, Adrian had intentionally pretended to collapse from exhaustion after his duel, making himself appear too weak to continue.
Rather than joining the group... He had used them as the perfect distraction.
While everyone's attention remained focused on Jaden and the others, Adrian quietly slipped away and infiltrated the facility from another route, relying on his own athletic ability and physical training to sneak inside unnoticed.
It was also Adrian's tampering with the system that had caused the doors to shut down in the first place, forcing Yumi to rely on The Earth's raw strength to smash through them.
Then, without wasting any time, Adrian took off his shirt and revealed his impressively built, muscular frame, clearly intending to solve the situation through force instead of waiting around for a duel.
Though visibly annoyed by the intrusion, Viper responded by removing his own coat, revealing an even more intimidating body beneath it, his muscles bulging as veins stood out along his arms and chest.
There was no hesitation between the two men after that. Almost immediately, they charged at each other and collided in a direct physical fight, throwing punches and brute force at one another instead of using their Duel Disks.
At that moment, Yubel opened her eyes wider, and while she remained focused on the fight, her attention steadily shifted toward Yumi as he continued walking forward through the facility, his presence drawing closer with every passing second.
As the fight intensified, Adrian initially began to gain the upper hand, his speed and technique giving him enough of an edge to push Viper back, but then Viper relied on the power granted to him by Yubel and forced his strength to rise beyond what it should have been.
A tank containing Yubel and Spirit Energy suddenly glowed in response, and in the next instant a violent shockwave burst outward from it, blasting Adrian backward and sending him crashing into the nearby wall with enough force to leave behind a massive spiderweb-like crack in the metal surface.
"Wh-What is this?" Adrian growled through clenched teeth, struggling to push himself back up.
Viper smirked down at him.
"It seems the Gecko Conglomerate desires his power," he said, his tone full of confidence, "but you still do not understand the true power he possesses."
As the sound of Yumi breaking through more doors grew louder in the distance, Viper's expression shifted.
Then he turned his head slightly toward the source of the noise, as though finally confirming what he had already expected.
"It seems he is here."
Without hesitation, he reached for his purple coat, picked it up, and put it back on as he spoke, his tone growing colder and more dismissive with each word.
"I've already lost interest in you."
He adjusted the collar of his coat.
"He can finish you off instead."
Without another glance, Viper turned and walked out of the control room, heading toward the hallway where Yumi was steadily approaching.
The heavy door slowly slid shut behind him.
Leaving Adrian alone to be dealt with by the incomplete Yubel.
...
"Heh?" Yumi couldn't help but let out a small sound of surprise as he looked Viper up and down.
Instead of wearing an ordinary Duel Disk strapped to his arm like every other Duelist on the island, Viper was clad in what looked more like a suit of metallic armor. Thick mechanical plates wrapped around his body before seamlessly connecting into an oversized Duel Disk, making it look less like dueling equipment and more like a piece of military hardware designed for combat.
For a brief moment, Yumi could only stare at it.
"GX Duel Disks really are special," he murmured to himself under his breath, almost sounding impressed despite the situation.
The thing looked less like a dueling tool and more like the sort of equipment someone would wear if they were trying to look intimidating on purpose, which, honestly, made sense for someone like Viper.
"AIBO!!"
Jaden's voice suddenly rang out from behind him, loud and familiar enough to pull Yumi's attention back as he tilted his head slightly and looked over his shoulder.
Sure enough, Celina, Jaden, and the rest of their group were now rushing through the destroyed hallway Yumi had carved open earlier, their footsteps echoing against the damaged metal floor as they made their way toward him.
They were still some distance away, but they were clearly moving fast, and among them, Yumi could also spot Axel Brodie, who had apparently ended up joining their side at some point without him even noticing.
Watching them approach like that, and remembering how they had all placed their hope in him now that he was being treated as the strongest among them instead of Jaden, Yumi could not help but let out a small, somewhat helpless smile.
Naturally, if there was a boss standing in front of them, then it should be the strongest one who stepped forward to handle it.
That part made sense.
But when he looked into Jaden's eyes and then recalled what Viper actually was in the grand scheme of things, the smile on Yumi's face became a little more relaxed, a little more casual, because no matter how serious Viper was trying to make himself look, he was nothing more than a stepping stone, a mini-boss at best. Nothing special. Not someone Yumi felt any real need to personally take on when there was someone else right there who could do it just as well.
So, with that thought in mind, Yumi turned fully around, lifted a hand, and said with a grin, "Aibo, I've got other things to do. He's all yours!"
Jaden reacted instantly; his face immediately lit up with an excited grin.
"You got it!"
Without slowing down, he raised his own hand.
The two of them slapped palms together in a quick, confident high-five as they passed.
Neither of them needed another word. The moment their palms met, the responsibility silently changed hands.
Yumi casually handed the responsibility of taking down Viper over to Jaden, and the reaction from everyone else was immediate. Even the air seemed to freeze for a second as the people watching tried to process what had just happened.
"What is the meaning of this?" Viper demanded in a voice that was equal parts annoyance and anger, his expression twisting sharply as he stared at Yumi as though he had just been personally insulted.
He glared at Yumi with bloodshot eyes.
He had prepared for this moment.
Spent days putting every piece of his plan into motion. Preparing for this exact moment, setting up everything so that he could take down the biggest threat to his plan, the strongest Slifer Red, Yumi Uzushi, in what he had clearly envisioned as some sort of final one-on-one confrontation.
And yet, now that the moment had finally arrived...
Yumi had not only failed to take him seriously, but had outright decided that Viper was not even worth dealing with personally.
Instead, he had handed the job to Jaden Yuki, his supposed right-hand man, as though Viper were nothing more than a nuisance to be brushed aside.
It was not just insulting.
It was humiliating.
To be a mastermind who had built an entire scheme around luring someone into a decisive battle, only to have that target turn away at the last second and treat him like he was nothing but air...
That was the kind of thing that could make a man lose his mind.
"Isn't it obvious?" Yumi said with an easy smirk, already turning away from him and heading in the direction of the room where the injured Yubel was recovering. "I've got bigger fish to fry than some one-off villain like you."
Viper's eyes widened the instant he realized where Yumi was actually going.
"Don't you dare!" he roared, his voice rising sharply as he made to charge after him.
But before he could take even a single step, Jaden jumped in front of him, his expression suddenly serious in a way that made it clear he understood what this was.
"You aren't going anywhere!" Jaden shouted.
Seeing Viper panic so suddenly, Jaden didn't need anyone to explain what was happening.
Whatever Yumi intended to do... It had to be important. Important enough that the man who had acted like some untouchable mastermind only moments ago had completely lost his composure.
That alone was enough.
And once Jaden stepped forward, the others seemed to catch on as well.
One by one, they moved into place behind him, forming a small wall to block Viper's path and make sure he could not break through to follow Yumi.
Viper stared past them toward Yumi's retreating back.
His breathing became increasingly ragged.
The reason he had gone so far in the first place was because Yubel had promised him that, with enough Spirit Energy, she could help bring his dead son back.
Of course, that was a lie.
Yubel did not have that kind of power, nor did she actually intend to fulfill that promise, but Viper did not know that. He believed every word of it, and because he believed it, he had committed himself fully to the plan, convinced that he was working toward a future where he could have his son back.
He had already come this far.
He had already reached the final stage of his plan.
So if Yumi got to Yubel now and did something to her before Viper could finish what he had started, then everything he had done up to this point would become meaningless.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!"
With a furious roar, Viper lunged forward. Abandoning all composure, he charged straight toward the group, intending to bulldoze through them by force.
"Neos!"
Jaden shouted the moment Viper moved, and in response, Elemental HERO Neos appeared in front of him almost instantly, stepping into the path of the attack and tackling Viper back with enough force to stop his charge cold.
"YOU!?"
Viper nearly choked on his own rage when he realized that Jaden could actually summon a Duel Spirit to intercept him, because even if he could not see the spirit himself, he could certainly feel the difference in strength the instant Neos slammed into him and sent him stumbling backward.
There was no way his physical power alone could match that. Not against a Duel Monster Spirit as powerful as this one.
All Viper could do was grit his teeth, raise his Duel Disk, and glare at Jaden with an expression full of fury and desperation.
Jaden did the same, his stance straightening as his eyes locked onto Viper's.
For a brief moment, neither of them moved. Then, almost at the same time, they both shouted.
"DUEL!!"
[Jaden, 4000 LP]
[Viper, 4000 LP]
...
As Yumi continued ascending deeper into the hidden chamber where the injured Yubel was supposed to be recovering, the atmosphere around him gradually changed.
The further he walked, the quieter the facility became.
The constant hum of machinery faded into the background, replaced by an unnatural silence that hung heavily in the air.
His golden eyes calmly swept across the room, taking in every detail with caution.
Then his eyes stopped. Right in the center of the room stood a massive cylindrical tank. Or rather... What remained of one.
The reinforced glass was covered in enormous spiderweb-like cracks, several sections had shattered entirely, and whatever fluid had once filled the container had long since drained away, leaving only scattered puddles across the floor.
Most importantly... The tank was empty.
"What the?" His eyes widened slightly as he stared at the broken container. "That's not supposed to happen."
This wasn't part of the original story.
Yubel should still be inside that tank, slowly recovering while Viper gathered enough Spirit Energy to restore her.
Instead... The chamber was empty. The timeline had already changed. His gaze slowly left the ruined capsule and swept across the dark chamber once more.
Yumi's eyes narrowed before stopping on a corner swallowed by darkness.
"I know you're there."
For several seconds, a figure slowly stepped out from the shadows.
It was Adrian Gecko. At least... It looked like Adrian.
His expression was dull and lifeless, his grayish-yellow eyes lacking their usual intelligence as though someone had hollowed him out from the inside.
More importantly... His left hand looked completely different. The index finger and thumb no longer belonged to a human.
Instead, they had transformed into the familiar clawed fingers of Yubel herself.
"Seriously?" Yumi stared at the possessed Adrian for a moment before letting out a small, tired sigh.
He genuinely had no idea where this nameless extra had come from to get dragged into this mess.
AN: He doesn't remember Adrian.
The corners of Adrian's mouth slowly curled upward.
Except... It wasn't Adrian who was smiling. It was someone else.
"Hehehe..." A low, unsettling chuckle echoed throughout the chamber, carrying through the darkness with a softness that somehow made it even more uncomfortable to listen to.
Then...
"Hello..." The female voice lingered for a moment before becoming softer, more intimate. "...Jaden."
Yumi: "?"
Raye: "?"
Yumi slowly glanced over his shoulder.
There was no Jaden behind him.
He then turned back toward Yubel and pointed a finger at himself with complete disbelief.
"Me?"
Yubel's smile widened.
"My beloved."
Yumi: "..."
Raye: "..."
Yumi lowered his hand.
For a few seconds, he simply stared at her in silence, and at that point, he genuinely did not know what to say anymore. Even after all this, Yubel had still mistaken him for Jaden, just like seemingly everyone else had been doing lately, and the fact that this had become such a common problem only made the whole situation feel even more absurd.
Did everyone on this island need glasses?
Taking a slow breath, Yumi reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking again, this time with a little more patience than he actually felt.
"I'm Yumi," he said, pointing at himself again. "Yumi Uzushi."
Then he pointed behind him.
"Jaden Yuki is my aibo."
He paused briefly, then added in a more deliberate tone, "We are two completely different people."
Yubel merely laughed.
"Hehehe..."
This time, the dark, affectionate sound carried a strangely possessive edge, somehow managing to sound even more disturbing than before.
"So you're playing hard to get."
Yumi "..."
"Do you really think you can fool me?" she asked, stepping closer, her voice beginning to gain speed and intensity. "My beloved. Even if you changed your name... do you really think I wouldn't recognize you?"
Yumi & Raye: "Yes!"
"The overwhelming Spirit Energy... The darkness hidden inside your heart... The power to command Duel Monster Spirits as though they willingly follow your every word..." Her voice gradually became more excited. "You may be able to fool everyone else..."
"But not me."
Each sentence became louder. More frantic. More unhinged.
"I know it's you. I would recognize you anywhere."
Yumi closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, then another. Finally... He slowly opened them again. "Forget it."
He had tried. He genuinely had.
There was only so much explaining a person could do before accepting that the other side simply wasn't listening.
With a smooth motion, he raised his left arm.
Mechanical components unfolded with a familiar metallic sound, and his Duel Disk activated immediately, locking into place with the same crisp mechanical click he had heard countless times before.
"I'll just beat you up like every other female spirit after my body."
The instant those words left his mouth...
Yubel froze. Her eyes widened. A dangerous silence filled the chamber.
Then...
"...Other..."
Her smile slowly disappeared.
"...Female..."
The air around her suddenly became noticeably heavier.
"...Spirits...?"
"You know..." Another pause. "...Other female spirits?"
Then, all at once...
"YOU KNOW OTHER WOMEN!?" Yubel exploded.
Her furious scream echoed throughout the entire chamber as dark Spirit Energy burst outward like a violent storm, shaking the room hard enough to make pieces of broken glass slide across the floor.
"So you've been seeing other women behind my back!?"
Yumi immediately frowned. "I literally just met you."
But Yubel was no longer listening.
Ignoring him entirely, she angrily raised Adrian's left arm and activated the Duel Disk attached to it in one swift, sharp motion.
"Yo-"
She barely managed to get the first syllable out before Yumi cut her off without hesitation.
"DUEL!"
[Yumi, LP 4000]
[Yubel, LP 4000]