Their simple minds could not fully understand what had happened. From their perspective, the queen ran to the other side, then the king ran to the other side, and then the king was gone.
The good news was that their ritual had succeeded. The bad news was that the priest had been sacrificed.
One thing was clear.
They could not afford to offend this human.
Yugen jumped down in front of them.
"All right. I have a few questions for you."
With Bone King gone, the remaining skeleton soldiers lost all threat. Yugen cleared the field in moments and brought the situation under control. The captured Spirit were freed, and after watching Bone King go from rage to death, they looked at him with open admiration and kept calling him a hero.
"Why does every Dimension have some kind of hero legend?" Yugen muttered. He wanted to say he was not a hero, at most a side product of one. Years of certain niche anime had left him with odd associations, and the word hero no longer felt as simple as slaying a dragon.
From the locals, Yugen quickly learned the background of this place. Bone King had risen from countless ordinary bones, fighting his way up to become king. He united the undead forces in the region and built an army, but his expansion threatened nearby towns and led to war with other races.
In the end, the bone army was defeated. After that, Bone King disappeared, and for a long time no one saw him again. Peace lasted until a black vortex appeared in the sky of this Dimension.
The power of the Dark God descended and set its sights on this Spirit Dimension. It chose two agents, granting them strength for conquest and revenge. One was the Bone King awakened from an unknown graveyard, and the other was a knight of some insect race.
With the power of Orichalcos, the agents were unstoppable across this land. No one had been able to defeat them. Until today.
Hearing this, Yugen could not help thinking that if this was the level of the vanguard the Dark God sent into this Dimension, it seemed a little underwhelming.
A dirt covered mage Spirit spoke up. "We have long heard that heroes from other worlds command the power of cards. They come from the Dimension of warriors and will defeat the Dark God to bring back the light."
Yugen considered this and guessed that in terms of Duel, outside Duelist were generally stronger than Spirit. Even if many Spirit possessed powerful abilities, they still needed skilled Duelist to draw out their full strength. A gifted Spirit was like an elite soldier, but even the best soldier needed a capable commander to win a war.
He asked about Judai Yuki, but unfortunately no one here had seen the red jacketed Jellyfish Hair. One of the Spirit invited him instead. "If the hero does not mind, please visit our town. It is the only settlement nearby. If you are looking for someone, that is the best place to start."
With no better idea for the moment, Yugen agreed to follow them. He was not too worried about Judai Yuki anyway. With Innate Card Affinity and the reincarnation of the strongest of twelve Dimension, even in a low level state he was not someone ordinary people could trouble.
After leaving the damp ground behind, Yugen realized they had been in a wet underground cavern all along. Outside the entrance, piles of bones were stacked high. They walked along a rough forest path, and as they neared the foot of the mountain, he caught sight of a massive statue below.
The statue stood dozens of meters tall in the middle of a lifeless village. It was shaped like a phoenix, every feather carved with fine detail, though time had worn its surface. The ancient body was covered in cracks like a Rift, and the surrounding houses and streets were overgrown with weeds and vines.
Even from a distance, it looked familiar. Yugen asked, "What is that?"
"It is an ancient site," the mage Spirit explained. "Long ago, a tribe that worshiped the Phoenix God lived there."
Phoenix God.
Yugen immediately thought of a famous monster from Yu-Gi-Oh! LV Series. The Phoenix God of Nephthys had once been strong, able to revive after being destroyed by effects and clear the back row, and had even been limited. Later, it developed into a full Deck theme.
"That was many years ago," the mage Spirit continued. "I only know the stories. The place has been abandoned for as long as anyone can remember."
"They say it was once a powerful tribe. The faithful who worshiped the Phoenix God guarded treasures passed down through generations. They could speak with the divine, receive its protection, and even call upon its manifestation."
"But no one knows what happened. Some say a disaster wiped them out. After that, the tribe vanished, leaving only the Ruins of the village and this forgotten statue."
A Spirit carrying an axe added, "If the tribe of the phoenix were still here, perhaps with their guardian's power and our alliance, we might have resisted the Dark God."
"Who can say," the mage sighed. "Perhaps the Dark God saw the phoenix's power as a threat and destroyed them first."
The Spirit fell silent.
As he descended the mountain, Yugen looked back once more at the giant phoenix statue. Though worn and dim with age, it still carried dignity and a sense of life. The eyes were carved especially vividly, as if they had watched countless sunrises and sunsets.
He decided to remember the place and come back before leaving. If nothing else, perhaps his handsome face and sunny personality might move the Phoenix God to wake up on the spot.
Or, failing that, he could return with Judai Yuki. If the Phoenix God would not give him face, surely it would show proper respect to Judai Yuki with Innate Card Affinity and the bearing of a true overlord.
They soon arrived at the town of the Spirit. When the townsfolk heard that the captured warriors had returned, they were overjoyed. After learning that the prophesied hero had defeated Bone King, they all looked at Yugen with awe and admiration.
He did not recognize a single one of them, and they seemed like ordinary civilians of the Spirit World. If turned into cards, most would probably be low level vanillas.
But when a blond Marauding Captain in armor stepped forward to greet him, Yugen recognized him at once.
Was that not the famous Marauding Captain?
Because it was such a commonly used monster card in the outside world, and he had seen it several times before, Yugen was sure he was not mistaken. The one standing before him really was Marauding Captain.
Or rather, it was that monster, just in a slightly different form. He still wore the same armor from the card art, but there was no sword in his hand. Over the armor he had tied a white apron, and on his head sat a chef's hat, giving him a strangely cheerful look.
So Marauding Captain apparently had a hidden identity as a cook besides charging into battle. Yugen's expression turned odd as he vaguely recalled seeing this outfit in some card illustration.
"I have already sent people to search for the companion you mentioned."