Chapter 65: The Emperor's Key
"You're making me stay?" Shun Kurosaki protested resentfully.
"This is the mission the Organization assigned you. Just cooperate," Yūga Hōzumi said, placating Shun. He couldn't help it; the other party's offer was too good to refuse.
"Why me? Can't Yuto do it?" Shun scoffed, crossing his arms.
"Yuto has other missions. I'll have to trouble you with this," Yūga Hōzumi dodged. He thought he'd have to be insane to let Yuto and Yuya operate together, especially with no bracelet-wielder nearby.
"Don't worry, once Heartland City's defenses are stable, I'll bring people to support you," Yūga Hōzumi said, patting Shun's shoulder.
Shun understood the importance of those two miniature card-making machines to the XYZ Dimension, especially now that its card factory was destroyed. So, he said no more and silently accepted the arrangement.
After their discussion, Reiji Akaba led Yuya and the others to the assembly hall, which hadn't yet been dismissed, and announced the formation of the Lancers to all the citizens.
The Lancers, originally meant to have nine members, had a very different lineup due to Yūga Hōzumi's intervention. The spy had been exposed, and the only girl had become Yūga Hōzumi's captive.
However, Hiyage, the ninja brother who should have died in this battle, survived thanks to Yūga Hōzumi's support.
Therefore, this time, the Lancers consisted of eight members.
Leader: Reiji Akaba
Leader's Younger Brother: Reira Akaba
Entertainment Duelist: Yuya Sakaki
External Support: Shun Kurosaki
Showmanship Creator: Sawatari Shingo
Steadfast Duelist: Gongenzaka
And the unassuming ninja twin brothers: Hiyage and Tsukikage
It was worth noting that throughout this process, even when faced with the cheers of the audience he once craved, Yuya Sakaki remained completely withdrawn. This made Yūga Hōzumi curious:
*Thanks to me, his mother already gave him that source of all evil—Smile World. So this time, what reason will he find to pull himself together?*
...
"So, when are you departing for the Synchro Dimension?" After everyone had dispersed, Yūga Hōzumi, who had been waiting for Reiji Akaba to return to his office, asked.
"The day after tomorrow. That spy is very tight-lipped; it'll take a bit more time to extract any useful information," Reiji Akaba replied. "By the way, do you have any ideas for the Pendulum Monster you asked me to create for you?"
"I almost forgot about that. Can you make this card?" Yūga Hōzumi pulled out a card sketch. Written prominently on it was—Entermage Fire Muffler.
"Entermage? Isn't that the spy's deck?" Reiji Akaba asked, puzzled.
"I thought his deck looked pretty useful, so I figured I'd take it for a spin," Yūga Hōzumi said with a smile. At his words, Serena, who had been standing silently behind him, immediately glared at him.
"You scoundrel, do you just like taking other people's decks?" Serena's chest heaved with anger, as her deck was also one that Yūga Hōzumi had "taken for a spin" after deciding it "looked pretty useful."
Yūga Hōzumi shrugged, neither confirming nor denying Serena's accusation. Taking people's decks was part of Duel Monsters. If you don't like it, don't play.
"Also, you have data backups of Yuya Sakaki's Performapal monsters here, right? Help me copy a few: Performapal Monkeyboard, Performapal Draw-Mite, Performapal Guitartle, Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, and Pendulum Sorcerer—give me a set of each," Yūga Hōzumi requested without the slightest hesitation.
Hearing this, Reiji Akaba mentally reviewed the effects of the cards Yūga Hōzumi had mentioned, then looked at the sketch in his hand. After pondering the potential combos, he said with a smile, "An interesting build."
*Interesting? That's only because this damn system is stopping me from getting Number 16: Shock Master. Otherwise, I'd summon three of them in one turn and see if you'd still be smiling then,* Yūga Hōzumi thought to himself.
Two hours later, the cards were delivered to Yūga Hōzumi, along with two other cards that possessed the power to traverse dimensions.
"Do a good job here, Lancer! The Organization will remember your contributions!" Before leaving, Yūga Hōzumi patted the shoulder of Shun, who had come to see them off. The gesture made Shun's face darken.
Without waiting for a reply, Yūga Hōzumi pulled Serena along, placed the cards into his duel disk, and with a flash of blue light, they both vanished from before Shun's eyes.
"Shun, be careful here," Yuto instructed before he departed.
"I don't need you to worry about me. You're the ones who need to be careful on the frontline," Shun snorted coldly.
"I won't fall until I defeat the Academy and rescue Ruri," Yuto said, activating his own dimensional travel card.
A moment later, the three of them returned to Heartland City. The instant they landed, the system's electronic voice began to chime incessantly in Yūga Hōzumi's mind.
[Main Quest: First Stage of Restoring the Glory of the XYZ Dimension - Complete]
[Quest Reward: Exclusive Path - The Emperor's Key]
[Number Monster Dream Ticket x1]
[Random XYZ Monster x10]
[Generic Spell/Trap Dream Ticket x5]
[Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray unlocked.]
[Exclusive Path Detected: The Emperor's Key. The shop's designated archetype lottery has unlocked the following archetypes: Zexal, Hope.]
[The Emperor's Key (Item Affinity: 25%) Charge: 100/100]
[Host's affinity with The Emperor's Key has reached 25%. Skill: Xyz Change ZEXAL (Stage 1) unlocked.]
[Xyz Change ZEXAL (Stage 1)]
[Consume all charge from The Emperor's Key to transform into ZEXAL form and gain the skill: Shining Draw.]
[Shining Draw: Before drawing, place one "Zexal" card from outside your Deck on top of your Deck.]
As the beeping continued in his mind, a golden pendant appeared around Yūga Hōzumi's neck.
"Where is this?" Serena, standing behind Yūga Hōzumi, asked in a daze as she looked at the surrounding rubble and ruins.
"Our homeworld. It looks like this, thanks to your Fusion Dimension," Yūga Hōzumi retorted irritably.
"How is that possible? As someone from the Academy, I've never heard that the Obelisk Force would do something like this!" Serena muttered to herself.
"Akaba Leo isn't stupid enough to go around advertising his own atrocities," Yūga Hōzumi said coldly. "Besides, didn't you always want to come to the frontlines? Then open your eyes and take a good look at what the battlefield is really like."
With that, Yūga Hōzumi found a scrapped car on a nearby street and pulled out a wrench.
He had no choice. The three of them had landed in an LDS Action Field, Starlight Amusement Park, which was the scenic inspiration for the futuristic Heartland City. It was still a long way from the Orion District; if they walked, they probably wouldn't arrive until the next day.
Meanwhile, in the Obelisk Force camp on the outskirts of the Orion District.
Obelisk Force minions in their blue uniforms were locked in a chaotic battle with a group of Duelists wearing red ribbons.
At the center of the battlefield, a gray-haired man in blue and a blond-haired man in white stood back-to-back, each facing their respective opponents—the camp's commander and his deputy.
"You've been lying in a hospital bed for so long, you haven't gotten rusty, have you?" The blond man in white was Kaito Tenjo, currently in his Photon Mode. He was staring at the opponent before him, but his words were for the person at his back.
"Are you kidding?" Back-to-back with Kaito was Sugihara Yo, who had only been cleared by the doctors to get out of bed two days ago. He was also staring intently at the monster on his opponent's field. "I can finish him this turn. How about you?"
"Then let's see who's faster," Kaito said with a smile, revealing a card. "If I control no monsters, I can Special Summon this card."
"Appear! Photon Slasher!"
"If a 'Photon' monster is on the field, this card can be Special Summoned from the hand."
"Appear! Photon Vanisher!"
"I overlay my two Level 4 monsters!"
"O warrior who bears the name of light! Descend now and build the gate for the Galaxy Dragon's arrival! Xyz Summon! Rank 4! Starliege Lord Galaxion!"
"I activate Starliege Lord Galaxion's effect! Once per turn, by detaching two materials, I can Special Summon one 'Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon' from my deck!"
The two golden orbs swirling around Starliege Lord Galaxion surged into Kaito's hand, one after the other, forming a massive spear. Kaito hurled it into the sky with all his might.
"O galaxy, shining in the darkness, become the light of hope and reside within my very soul! Incarnation of light, descend! Appear now, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"
A dragon's cry echoed through the air as the spear Kaito had thrown transformed into a radiant, colossal dragon. It slowly descended, its eyes swirling with entire galaxies as it roared relentlessly at the mechanical giant before it.
Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon ATK: 3000
(end of chapter)