This is a story about a "hero."
Many years ago, Aster Phoenix was a bright-eyed child, full of dreams like many others. He admired heroes and fantasized about becoming a great Duelist.
For a time, he even dreamed of following in his father's footsteps, not as a Duelist, but as a card designer for Industrial Illusions.
Anyhow, everything changed that night.
That evening, when Aster returned home, it wasn't his father who greeted him… but his father's lifeless body on the ground.
Cards were scattered beside him. The windows were shattered. A frigid wind pierced Aster to the bone.
All that was left to him was his father's final creation, the HERO D series.
On that blurred, sorrowful rainy day, at his father's funeral, he met Sartorius and D.D. It was the start of something new… yet as if he'd been trapped in place ever since.
His life froze in that moment. It was as though time itself had been stabbed by a dagger, the clock hand refusing to tick forward.
His body, his dueling skill, his mind, they continued to grow. Yet… his heart remained stuck in that night.
He once tried relying on the police. Despite that, endless waiting left him disillusioned.
If the police couldn't find the killer… then he would do it himself!
With his father's legacy, the Destiny HEROes, he traveled the world disguised as a hero, punishing those who stole and robbed Duel Cards, all while searching for his father's murderer.
Using cards, he grew stronger and even earned Pegasus's praise.
Even so, that was never what he truly wanted.
Aster had stopped thinking about those things long ago.
He left KaibaCorp's station and found D.D. Though by the time he arrived, the Spirit village was engulfed in smoke and death.
Stealing the "Seal" wasn't enough. D.D used the power of cards to annihilate the village, along with the TV reporters and pro Duelists who had come with him.
With the Dark World invasion as cover, D.D had the chance to unleash his destructive urges.
By the time Aster arrived, D.D was laughing maniacally.
There was no need to hesitate anymore. No matter how unbelievable it seemed.
When cries and corpses lay before him, he no longer needed to think.
D.D had never been a kind or gentle man. His heart was filled with madness and destruction!
Even so, Aster instinctively shouted: "D.D!! What's the truth!?"
What he got in return was D.D's hysterical laughter, and the truth of that night.
Yes, on that day, D.D, his father's "friend," had heard the call of the cards. The power awakened his long-hidden greed. Jealousy of his father, lust for strength, he finally struck.
Friendship? A hollow social courtesy.
An adopted son? Watching Aster spin in circles daily nearly made him laugh aloud!
"Why? Hahaha, Isn't pursuing powerful cards every Duelist's instinct? Just like you, aren't you using Destiny HEROes others couldn't even wield!?"
"D.D!! Just for that reason!?" Aster roared.
He activated his Duel Disk and began the duel.
And in that instant!
The world around him changed. Everything vanished, the flames, the wails, D.D's maniacal laughter. All that remained was a vast white space.
He blinked.
"Aster."
Aster Phoenix whipped around.
There stood his closest friend, a weary, ghostly figure.
"Sartorius!?" Aster gasped. "Where is this? What did you do?"
Sartorius didn't let him speak further. He cut in directly:
"Aster, listen to me."
"Speak!" Trusting his only remaining friend, Aster forcibly pushed aside every doubt in his heart and nodded.
"Aster, listen. That card in D.D's hand… it's the card from years ago. The one that brought the Light of Destruction into our world for the first time."
As he spoke, Sartorius's image began to blur. "The Light of Destruction is stronger than we imagined. It's evolving faster than we anticipated!"
Still reeling from the revelation that his adoptive father killed his real one, Aster now had to process that this Light was growing even more powerful. His headache deepened.
He tried to calm down and listen.
According to Sartorius, the Light of Destruction is the source of all destructive urges, the root of madness and war in all living beings.
Originally, it only existed in their world. However, with the emergence of dimensional exploration, its power grew exponentially, amplified by countless other dimensions. Now, it was beginning to spread.
That's why its influence on humanity had become increasingly terrifying.
The "Ultimate D", the card D.D held, was the Light of Destruction's earliest vessel in the human world. Its power was raw and pure. If Aster's fate nourished it, and it returned to the Light's current host, the resulting power surge might birth an even more terrifying card.
"Aster, don't lose your head, don't,...zzzt....don't let the pain devour you."
Before Sartorius could finish, his form began to twist and flicker.
"Sartorius!?" Aster reached for him.
"No matter what you see, no matter what you do, don't let him control you!" Sartorius's voice faded as his body disappeared, leaving only an echo.
A moment later, Aster snapped back to reality.
D.D had summoned three low-level monsters and now stood laughing coldly.
Aster took a deep breath.
No matter what I see, I won't lose my head.
He was a calm Duelist. He'd endured loss and grief. Nothing could make him lose control.
"Tribute my three monsters for a Special Summon! Hahaha, Aster, behold your long-lost desire: Ultimate D!!"
"Special Summon, Destiny HERO - Plasma!"
Wounds burst open on the monsters. Their bodies split with agonized screams as their blood rose into the sky.
The blood of spirits and humans alike surged from every direction, forming a massive crimson sphere.
Then, the sphere exploded. A terrifying blood rain poured down over the village.
From it, a warrior with bat-like wings slowly emerged, demonic and terrifying. The blood swirled around him, darkening the sky and freezing even the boldest spirits.
The warrior spread his wings, raised his hand, and descended like the devil himself.
Plasma!
Aster clenched his jaw.
This was the most important card his father ever created.
In any case, since it had been stolen, he was ready to face it head-on.
This level of power…
"Aster…"
Suddenly, Aster's eyes widened.
Within Plasma's wings, in that endless sea of blood, he heard a voice. A familiar voice he could never forget.
"Aster!!" A figure emerged from within Plasma's body.
"Dad...Dad!?" Aster froze in disbelief.
"Hahaha, what a beautiful reunion," D.D laughed. "You didn't know, did you? Your father's soul has been trapped inside Plasma's body, suffering endlessly! Hahaha! Don't worry, I'll send you to join him!"
"D.D!!!" Aster's eyes burned with dark violet light. Shadows swirled around him, casting a deep darkness even upon his silver-white suit.
He could tell his father was trying to speak, but the evil force suppressed him, forcing him to writhe and scream in agony.
He couldn't convey his heart.
"D.D!! I won't forgive you!"
With those words, Aster cast aside all thoughts of Sartorius. Rage and sorrow snapped the last thread of his reason.
He couldn't think anymore.
In that blurred moment, he heard a sigh.
He felt like a child again. Trapped in that night. The night his father died before his eyes.
The chains of fate tightened around the tragic hero.
Thirty minutes later.
Aster stood before a village engulfed in flames, a single card in his hand.
D.D truly was once the world's strongest Pro Duelist.
Nevertheless, that was the past.
In the wind, D.D's maniacal laughter still seemed to echo.
Aster looked down at the card in his hand, "Destiny HERO - Plasma." It seemed to grin, mock, and sneer at him.
He felt blood from the card flowing into him, tainting the power of the heroes within him that once stood against darkness, allowing the darkness to take hold.
In the air, a faint voice still called to him, Sartorius's fading warning.
There was still a chance.
A chance to break the chains of fate.
The voice repeated that hope again and again.
But now…
Aster could no longer tell if that voice was his friend's… Or something more sinister, seductive, and false.
"The sun…"
...
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