The alien left howling.
It was a road of torment and despair. On this path, a simple alien from the stars personally experienced the feeling of watching death step by step approach, completely powerless.
With only one card left in hand—and the opponent knowing exactly what it was—he posed no threat. Unable to draw, it was like being tied to the stake, watching the flames pile up, rising higher and higher, inch by inch consuming him, and all he could do was watch helplessly.
Of course, while Lady Heat burned him for 400 LP per turn, the alien didn't actually die from burn damage.
If it were Kira, he might have just let his opponent slowly burn to death, 400 LP at a time, each turn.
But Jaden was too kind-hearted to watch someone suffer. After a few turns of burning, with the alien's LP low enough, he had Lady Heat finish off Candelato, and then Aqua Neos delivered the final blow, ending that vanguard of the Light of Destruction.
But even during those few turns of torment, the alien's mentality changed.
He went from cursing pointlessly ("no sportsmanship!"—like a kid who just learned the language, his insults weak and ineffective), to blaming everything—especially his "Light Incarnation," his ace, Candelato.
Why does my ace card stop me from drawing? What kind of card is this?
This might be the first time he's ever doubted his Light Incarnation. For a moment, he even thought: if Light's power is this stupid, maybe the darkness is better—look at them, with their hand destruction, clearing your hand in a blink.
What's the point of Light then?
He used to have no choice; now he wanted to join the dark side...
But darkness wouldn't let him. That shameless Elemental HERO Neos finished him off with a karate chop, taking his life and resentment together.
"Won!"
Jaden cheered, striking a pose.
"That was a fun duel!"
Alien: "@#%&"
He looked like he wanted to say something else, but didn't have the strength left.
"Aliens aren't so tough after all."
Jaden stood with hands on hips, excitedly looking at his new deck.
"Or maybe my new deck is just too strong? The deck of righteous cosmic heroes! It's like a dream come true—amazing!"
Kira pondered: probably both. The opponent wasn't strong, and Jaden's Neo Space deck—at least with these anime effects—was just too powerful.
No once-per-turn on Aqua Dolphin's hand destruction, Aqua Neos blowing up two cards per activation... In the whole Yu-Gi-Oh! card pool, that's top-tier hand destruction.
As soon as Jaden finished, the KaibaCorp people swarmed over.
Some took care of the alien's body, others surrounded the crashed alien spaceship. This was a real alien—even KaibaCorp had never caught one before. This wasn't just a duelist sensation, it was a world-shocking event.
After tonight, everyone would know humanity isn't alone in the universe. There is other life, other civilizations...
And they play cards.
This also proved Seto Kaiba's theory: no matter how different life is—language, culture—there is one thing that connects all beings in the universe.
Card Duel.
Only by dueling can we communicate with friends from the stars and make companions from the cosmos.
Only by dueling can we fight interstellar evil and repel invaders.
So naturally, Jaden became the center of attention, everyone surrounding him like a rare animal, afraid he'd run off.
Jaden couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the KaibaCorp researchers. They insisted on keeping him for research.
They soon confirmed, to their shock, that Jaden had received a whole new set of spirit cards.
The deck he got from the falling ball of light—from little monsters to aces, even humble Dandylion—not a single card wasn't a spirit.
And the one called Neos, its energy readings left everyone dumbfounded.
By spirit standards, it was absolutely legendary.
And they'd only seen the tip of the iceberg. More potential than power.
Neos, like the original Dark Magician, is a late-bloomer spirit. At first glance, it's just a 7-star 2500 ATK monster, easily outclassed by Summoned Skull, but that's just appearance.
A spirit's true strength isn't just in its card form. Like Atem's Dark Magician, with a dozen dedicated support spells and traps, fusions, transformations—Neos, as the M78 official, is just as formidable. (Ultraman reference. Here, Neos keep getting called as Ultraman.)
Neos' alternate forms are among the best of any protagonist's ace monster. It can adapt its form to the environment and enemy to maximize effectiveness.
Put simply, it's easier to print new cards.
Often, anime "big monsters" seem pointless to card players, but that's because their effects are locked in and may not fit the environment.
But in the anime, it's the other way around.
Anime protagonists often face unique situations, and the card is created specifically as the optimal solution for that duel—sometimes so overpowered that even the characters and bosses end up on the card art.
So for the anime protagonists, their aces are always the best solution for the given situation.
But for card players, trying to find an environment that suits the card is hard.
But for anime duel kings, they never look for the environment for the card—they create the card for the environment.
Neos is the prime example of such potential. He can truly "switch forms to adapt," not just in theory.
Kira followed the busy researchers through the blockade and over to the crashed alien spaceship.
"Light of Destruction..." Kira murmured.
This is just the beginning.
The war between Dark and Light is only just beginning.