Kiryu sneered for a while, glancing over at Tenjo Hikari and the other, but noticed neither had brought their D-wheels. Feeling bored, he said, "Ha... boring, not even a D-wheel?"
He mounted his D-wheel, sneering at Crow, "Crow, it's been so long I'm about to cry from the reunion, but you're not the one I'm looking for... Yusei, where the hell is he!"
His face showed a hint of anger, his entire face twisted beyond recognition, like a demon crawling out of hell: "I was resurrected for revenge against him, but where the hell did he go!"
"Kiryu..." Crow was worried.
"Humph, just wait, I will find him — as for this side, I'll leave it to you, Shinji!" Kiryu waved casually, then rode his D-wheel towards the Upper Area, disappearing from sight soon after.
"Shinji, what the hell is going on!" Crow watched Kiryu disappear, a thousand thoughts and memories rushing to his mind, but he suppressed them, instead asking what was most concerning to him now, "Did Kiryu give you those powers? That guy is completely abnormal now—and he was supposed to be dead anyway!"
"What's the point!" Shinji immediately retorted, "As long as we can defeat the Upper Area, it doesn't matter!"
"Moreover... don't you all know? Don't you know the world's despairing truth?"
"Despairing... truth?" Crow was bewildered by the chain of events.
Beside him, Tenjo Hikari quickly composed himself, preparing to hear what Shinji had to say.
"Synchro Summon, the way to summon in our world, and also the method we are proud of, completing Synchro with Monsters in the midst of the winds, making one feel free and joyful— but from the beginning, we were wrong!"
Shinji gritted his teeth, raising his left hand viciously: "From the start, [Synchro] wasn't a symbol of freedom."
"In the ancient past, in the distant past, when this world was being created..."
As Shinji spoke, Tenjo Hikari also finally understood some core truths of this dimension.
In the distant past, countless years ago, when the gods of this world were still cooperating, preparing to create a perfect world, their resonating powers created "Synchro."
The power of Synchro brought joy to all the gods, for they realized that Synchro could accomplish many things they previously couldn't.
Like traversing time, crossing dimensions, resetting life, and many other arduous challenges became easy with Synchro.
But soon, they disagreed.
Such tremendous power, why should I share it with others?
If I can monopolize this kind of power, wouldn't it be better?
That guy covets my Synchro particles, does he have some kind of scheme?
Why am I feeling greedy, I should be desireless, shouldn't I?
Originally, there were no differences among the gods, nor were there conflicts of interest, but with the birth of Synchro power, for the first time all gods... doubted.
They doubted themselves, doubted others, doubted the world.
"Thus... the battle of [The One] erupted."
"Red Dragon, Earthbound Immortal, Nordic God, Old Entity... all the gods engaged in an ultimate civil war. In the end, the victorious god seized all the [Synchro] power, becoming the world's rightful [True God] and [The One], while those who lost became evil gods, subordinates. Some were even slandered as archfiends, demons, reviled by humans."
"But this [The One] is unstable, after all, other gods were mostly sealed, or stripped of power, turning into mindless monsters, yet they are ultimately immortal.
Every five thousand years, the battle for the [Synchro Source] erupts once more."
Shinji raised his left hand, the Dark Mark glowed automatically: "I realize now, why this world, this dimension is so unjust, why no matter how hard we try, we can't get recognition from those upper-class people.
Because, we're descendants of the losing side, so we'll forever be like this, forever starving and suffering!"
Crow was overwhelmed, his worldview crumbling from Shinji's words, his mind a jumbled mess.
Isn't it wrong? Wasn't the history of this "City" because the Upper City area slowly gained capital, then gradually isolated the Lower City area?
Also, there was some connectivity between the upper and lower until the "Zero Reverse" incident happened, completely isolating the Upper Area from the Lower City...
It was never "predestined," was it?
Even someone as clever and keen as he was left bewildered by these random world secrets thrown at him.
"So, do you mean to sacrifice the lives of your fellow Lower City people to the Earthbound Immortal, then join forces with the Earthbound Immortal to take down the Red Dragon and change this dimension?"
Suddenly—
Crow heard a voice from beside him.
He looked over at Tenjo Hikari, suddenly a bit clearer in his mind.
At this moment, he remembered.
This person had appeared during the Friendship Cup before, F Dimension's Tenjo Hikari, the one who had contact with Yusei.
Then he remembered.
Someone said they saw Yusei save an Other Dimension person, now it seemed, Yusei must have saved him!
He shook his head, looked at Shinji, and said, "Shinji, is that true? Are you really going to sacrifice everyone in the Lower City, your friends, even the children, to the Earthbound Immortal?"
"Ah... it's a necessary sacrifice." Shinji's face darkened, "The Red Dragon is the current [The One], a single Earthbound Immortal can't match its power. Only by gathering the power of all Earthbound Immortals can we win. So we must sacrifice lives, and then awaken all the Earthbound Immortals, then..."
Crow stared at Shinji, like meeting a stranger for the first time.
"You... what are you talking about? What about the people who die?"
"It doesn't matter, if I succeed, I'll make the Earthbound Immortal create a world of justice for everyone, a world without division, without hierarchies! Even those who die now can be resurrected with the Earthbound Immortal's power — just like you saw with Kiryu! By then, we'll only keep the lower city's humans! Those from the Upper Area are enough to be the Earthbound Immortal's food!"
"Nonsense, is that kind of person still the same as before! That Kiryu just now, and the one in my memories are entirely different! Besides, aren't there innocent people in the Upper Area? The children in the Upper Area?"
Tenjo Hikari patted his shoulder, signaling Crow to calm down: "Crow, give it up, no matter what you say, this person won't listen."
Crow opened his mouth, falling into silence.
Indeed— just as Tenjo Hikari said, Shinji was someone who, once he fixed his mind on something, he'd stubbornly press forward towards that goal, never caring if it would be his end. As Shinji's friend, nobody knew that better than him.
"Duel," Tenjo Hikari raised his Duel Disk, "After all, in this world, there's no way to communicate everyone's heart through talk, right?
In that case— Duel with me, if I win, hand over your [Earthbound], that's the easiest way!"
Shinji looked at Tenjo Hikari's left hand, the dark red Dark Mark left him feeling uneasy.
However, he quickly sneered, "An Other Dimension person without a D-wheel, also wants to participate in our world's duel?"
He spread his hand saying: "Only Racing Duels— only Racing Duels using Geo on the ground can be accepted. Crow, and you, if you really want to stop me, keep up with my speed."
With that, he didn't bother entangling with Tenjo Hikari further, glaring hard at Crow, and drove off in his D-wheel, quickly leaving the scene.
At the same time, some distant police lights flashed, seeing this, Crow hurriedly called to Tenjo Hikari.
"Let's go quickly—"
Tenjo Hikari nodded, following Crow in running through alleys and rooftops, running until they were sure no police had spotted them, and Crow finally stopped.
"You're that F Dimension's Tenjo Hikari, right? Have you met Yusei before?"
Tenjo Hikari nodded.
Crow lightly nudged Tenjo Hikari's shoulder warmly, "Though I don't know why you're in this dimension, since you got Yusei's help and helped me, you're my friend."
Then he ruffled his hair, complaining: "Aah, those guys, not speaking human language one after another, it's really annoying...
Next time I meet them, I'll surely teach them a lesson."
He said so, but his face showed some sadness.
Fighting against friends and colleagues was really difficult for him.
"Ah— by the way, Tenjo, you're from the Other Dimension, so you don't have a D-wheel, right?
You have that strange mark, so you probably really need a D-wheel."
He suddenly smiled, pointing his thumb behind him, indicating his base: "Come, follow me, I happen to have a spare one here."