The duel ended, the people of both teams left the track, and the opening ceremony's first duel officially concluded.
For the residents of the Synchro Dimension, especially the City's citizens, this duel was quite inspiring.
Along with the exchange between the upper and lower layers, the Grand President's taking office, and the large-scale visits of foreigners and inter-dimensional people, the City's people had gradually developed a sense of ownership, wanting to let people of other nations and other dimensions witness their splendor.
True, KING Jack Atlas still had quite high popularity in the City, but when it came down to it, Jack's tactic was actually quite standard: summon a monster with high enough ATK and have it stand there.
Yusei's duel this time was not like that.
In a single duel, through continuous Synchro, he summoned cards that resolved the board and secured victory.
What could be more fitting to prove the symbol of their Synchro Dimension?
Probably nothing!
This was the true core expression of Synchro!
It was precisely for this reason, plus the fact that Yusei had deliberately used the "Satellite Warrior" symbolizing the Downtown in the first duel, that this call grew even stronger.
Naturally, the number of Yusei's fans was also growing madly.
"In just a dozen-odd minutes, it's already over a million." Hikaru held a tablet, chatting with his teammates as he walked.
"Oh!" Crow took it over, a bit happy for Yusei too. "Yusei's popularity is growing at lightning speed. It feels like everyone is voting for him."
The two children watched on tiptoe. Crow bent down a bit to show them, which made the two kids rather happy too. Beside them, Akiza Izinski silently blessed Yusei, the smile on her face utterly impossible to hide.
"But there's one problem." Hikaru stroked his chin, a bit hesitant. "What exactly do these so-called die-hard fans represent?"
"Aren't they just die-hard fans?" Jack said casually.
"If it really were that concept, how could it possibly detect who's a die-hard fan? After all..." Hikaru took the computer, flipped through a couple of pages, and showed everyone. "The spectator platform has only one option, and that's voting. There's no such option as a die-hard vote."
The few of them suddenly looked at one another, growing puzzled too.
"That is to say... that's not a normal vote." Crow pondered. "It's probably... that guy using something to calculate or sense it?"
Hikaru nodded.
"Then it's definitely not die-hard fans." Jack said. "Believers?"
"Doesn't seem like it." Hikaru shook his head.
If they were believers, three-hundred-some was a bit too fast.
Jack caught on too and shrugged.
Indeed, if a single duel could make Yusei a god, that would be too fast.
"Then it's... people who approve of his philosophy?" Crow judged. "Only this is the most likely."
"But there are too few." Hikaru continued. "If they were believers, it'd be too many, but if they're people who approve of the philosophy, it's too few again. Over a million people, and so far only three hundred eighty. Counting us, counting Yusei's friends and students in the lower district, how could it be only three-hundred-some?"
The proportion was far too off.
He could understand that Yusei's philosophy wouldn't spread that simply, but even so, in a competition like the opening ceremony that global audiences could watch, it shouldn't be just three hundred.
You had to understand, this world had billions of humans!
"...Then it should be people who approve of the philosophy."
Unexpectedly, Yusei spoke up out of the blue.
Hikaru scratched the back of his head and said: "Yusei, believe it or not, if I gave a shout back in my place, there'd be at least tens of thousands of people who completely approve of me..."
And he was even understating it.
Because he'd defeated Darkness, Hikaru was practically a walking celebrity in his world. Many small vendors would instinctively give him low prices when they saw him. If he really displayed his philosophy and called for supporters in front of the whole world's people, he didn't dare imagine how large that number would be.
"Hahaha, of course I believe you." Yusei chuckled lightly. "But I'm different from you."
And the worlds were different too.
Yusei thought for a moment, then resolved to tell his teammates about this matter after all.
The first and most important point was that the worlds were different.
In the Fusion Dimension where Hikaru was, the "differences" between people actually weren't that large. But in their Synchro Dimension, the amount of "Synchro power" would determine the strength or weakness of a nation, of a piece of land.
The City was the most powerful city in this world precisely because of this.
People would instinctively grow close to or distance themselves from others based on Synchro-power factions.
This was the most difficult point about wanting to gain others' approval in this world.
And beyond this...
Yusei was a human of his own one-man faction!
Back when he'd made this resolution, Zone had once said:
"Choosing this path, all living things will doubt you. The God's Chosen who crave Synchro power, the madmen who deem themselves supreme and seek to rule the world, the fools who fancy themselves creating a 'peaceful' world, the doubters who don't understand you and don't believe a selfless person like you could exist, all will regard you as a great enemy. And you must make them believe you, make them set aside their disputes with one another?"
"So there was such a detail." One of Hikaru's questions was resolved.
As for worry?
Hikaru wasn't too worried about that.
"Interesting. This kind of challenging difficulty is the more meaningful kind!" Jack laughed heartily.
Along with his laughter, everyone met one another's eyes, then laughed along together too.
That's right.
Originally, hadn't they chosen to support Yusei together precisely because they wanted to overcome these problems one by one?
In that case, this kind of problem was nothing.
"In that case, I actually do have quite a bit of experience." On the other side, Hikaru thought for a moment and brightened up again.
Perhaps the Crimson Dragon had pulled him here partly for this reason too?
"Oh?"
"You should know, in our dimension some humans once formed an army and invaded the Xyz Dimension. Its name was precisely the 'Fusion army.' For a long stretch, in my dimension, Fusion was even treated as a mistake."
Yusei couldn't help his pupils contracting. He excitedly reached out to shake Hikaru's hand and said happily: "As expected, Hikari, getting to know you was an absolutely correct thing!"
Hikaru laughed and wasn't embarrassed by this kind of praise. Instead, he took the opportunity to have everyone find a place, located his Duel Disk, and dug out some of the recordings inside.
Fortunately, because Hikaru had an advertising partnership with the Scenery Company, and the Scenery Company had always devoted itself to promoting Hikaru, Hikaru had a lot of edited videos on hand, which could conveniently be taken out to watch.
Beside them, Tierra couldn't help laughing.
At the very start, Hikaru had been extremely embarrassed seeing this kind of video.
Later, when the Fusion department's students began playing the videos in the activities department, he'd already gone expressionless.
By now, Hikaru even dared to take them out himself to show others.
While Hikaru and the others studied the details within, Tierra would occasionally glance at the video's content, and occasionally gaze off at the duel on the duel field.
Among the next round's four duels, one was a Pendulum Dimension duel.
She gave a yawn, originally not very interested, when suddenly, on the arena, a brown-skinned girl used monsters to fuse out "Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond"!
Her movements abruptly froze.
"Hikaru."
?
Hikaru looked up at her.
To the side, the girl Luna also looked at this strange big sister in puzzlement.
She'd always assumed this was a spirit that had happened to pass by, never expecting it to speak up on its own initiative, and to know Mr. Amagi!
"That thing is real."
?
Hikaru grew even more puzzled.
He said sorry to his few teammates, let them watch on their own, then hurriedly left.
Yusei looked up but didn't mind. He needed to see how Hikari handled this kind of situation, but he couldn't restrict Hikari and have Hikari only help him. Hikari had come to this dimension perhaps with the Crimson Dragon's support and the Earthbound Immortals' support, but when it came down to it, Hikari had his own affairs after all.
He couldn't rely on Hikari's help for everything.
On the other side, Hikaru had already arrived at the spectator seats, watching the duel on the field.
The two duelists were a person he didn't recognize and the Pendulum Dimension's... Masumi Kotsu.
Hikaru still remembered her, and had also had a brief encounter with her in the Pendulum spectator seats once before.
Was there anything strange about this?
"My lord!" Beside him, White Crystal suddenly popped out and said, realizing belatedly, "That Brilliant Diamond is genuine!"
Genuine—
Hearing this phrase a second time, if Tierra's words earlier had been out of nowhere, then this time White Crystal's words were much clearer.
It meant... that was a genuine Brilliant Diamond from the "DT spirit world"!
Hikaru was a bit shocked.
In his impression, in the original "Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V," there had been all sorts of DT decks to begin with, so he hadn't paid too much attention to this aspect. Back when he'd seen those three including Masumi Kotsu, he hadn't had any particular reaction either.
But now, after Tierra and White Crystal's words, he understood.
It seemed the Pendulum Dimension had some inexplicable connection to the DT Dimension?
"But for Brilliant Diamond, that's actually..."
"No, that's not it." Tierra's expression gradually shifted from surprise to gloom. "It's her... it's absolutely her."
Her?
Hikaru looked at Tierra.
"That card didn't come into that girl's hands on its own. It was created out of thin air. No, copied out of thin air."
Hearing this, Hikaru completely grasped the situation.
It was the other star-creating god of the "DT planet," Sophia!
Tierra sensed her existence.
All sorts of emotions flashed across Tierra's face, so complex that Hikaru couldn't understand at all what she might be thinking right now. But after another while, her face instead flickered with an indescribable excitement.
"Wonderful—"
She felt a long-absent excitement.
A long-absent... nostalgia.
In this bewildering, brand-new, unfamiliar world, she had once again seen the possibility of her own blood sister's existence.
That kind of excitement was something an ordinary person couldn't understand.
But immediately after.
The excitement on her face transformed into impulse, transformed into anger, transformed into hatred.
Then, this impulse turned into action. Blue hellfire ignited on her body, and her form began to transform too.
Luna, who had been sneaking glances over this way, was so frightened she wanted to grab Yusei's hand.
"Tierra."
Hikaru called out to her.
She came to her senses, and the flames on her body gradually went out.
This let Luna breathe a sigh of relief too.
She'd thought the big sister and Mr. Amagi were quarreling.
Tierra rubbed her forehead.
She took two deep breaths.
She patted her head, and her body made creaking, cracking sounds.
"Got a bit worked up."
Hikaru could understand.
On the DT planet, there existed two gods: the star-creating god Sophia and the star-creating god Tierra. The two had clear divisions of labor and together created a great, beautiful planet.
But on one most crucial point, the two developed a disagreement.
Sophia wanted to create peaceful life close to nature; Tierra wanted orderly, scientific life.
For this reason, the two developed an irreconcilable conflict over the system of life's reincarnation.
A protracted war of gods broke out.
And the result of this protracted war of gods was that Tierra lost.
Her body was dismantled, her soul sealed, the reincarnation system she'd created taken apart, and she was sealed tightly by Sophia using the Ten Sefirot gems.
Of course, Tierra was no god to sit and wait for death, so before being sealed, she'd also created the "Genex" machines, awaiting the day she would see the light again.
From being as close as sisters, to regarding each other as enemies, to a genuine "dismemberment."
The hatred between the two could never be dissolved.
Perhaps Sophia, upon seeing her, could handle things calmly. After all, Sophia was the victorious side.
But Tierra, upon hearing her name, was absolutely unable to control her anger.
Fortunately, Hikaru's voice had woken her.
Now that she'd calmed down, she wasn't so impulsive.
Instead, Tierra began to consider other things.
First, having her reconcile with Sophia: that was impossible, don't even think about it.
Beating her, killing her, and even dismembering her, and finally brazenly moving the entire reincarnation system she'd created over there, could all be called minor matters, but remodeling the DT planet into this state, she could not bear it!
It just had to be that cyber flavor!
Such a great grudge absolutely could not go unavenged!
But on the other hand, if she really did fight, that was actually hard to say.
First, she wasn't certain whether Sophia had awakened before her or after her. If she simply fought, she really was a tiny bit weaker than Sophia. Truly just a tiny bit.
More than these, what she cared about more was whether, in this brand-new era, the other party would even "duel."
If she didn't duel, Tierra could fully win directly by relying on "external force," but that kind of victory was too uninteresting.
If she would duel, then what level was Sophia actually at?
Pretty timid.
She told Hikaru about part of her worries in a fairly roundabout way, briefly.
"This is simple."
Although Hikaru hadn't heard Tierra speak openly, with a bit of thought, he could guess seventy to eighty percent of the deeper meaning of those words she'd said.
After thinking it through, he understood.
Tierra was the typical kind of person who, having lost once or twice, gets timid on the third encounter and doesn't dare lose again.
Perfectly normal.
Rather, there shouldn't have been a first "gamble" to begin with.
But dueling was a separate matter.
"Tierra, a duelist doesn't fear failure."
"I'm no duelist."
"You already entered the competition."
"..."
"And you need to understand this." Hikaru raised a finger and said, "When it comes down to it, failing once isn't frightening. What's frightening is conceding after you've lost. Failure along the way is certainly something that makes one feel regret and fear, but as long as you ultimately win, then no one will consider your failures along the way to be failures. They're the cornerstone of victory!"
Tierra nodded along incessantly.
That's right.
They were no longer the them of back then, and the DT planet had long since ceased to be the DT planet of back then. In this brand-new era, perhaps they could meet again, but in fact, they might also only have this one final time to settle a winner.
If she won, then she would be the final victor!
Even the "eternal victor."
Hikaru thought about the situation and guessed that Sophia might also be in this dimension, and gradually came to roughly understand the main reason the Crimson Dragon had pulled him here again.
It seemed too many superfluous "gods" had joined the fray.
In that case...
Hikaru looked at the figures in the competition.
Let's first "find" the opponent.