The duel ended. Syrus couldn't hold on and fell forward.
At this moment.
"Stand up straight."
Zane's voice reached his ears. As if with some magic, Syrus, who'd felt he'd completely lost his supporting strength, actually stood in place once more.
"Uh." Beside him, Eltanin, who should've long since left, was somewhat speechless in surprise.
Was this still that same man?
This.
Zane lightly walked a few steps forward. Looking at the younger brother who was much shorter than him, he slowly raised his hand.
Syrus instinctively closed his eyes and shrank his head slightly. The next second, Zane's hand lightly rested on his shoulder.
"You've grown up, Syrus. I'm proud of you."
Syrus suddenly widened his eyes and looked up at Zane. Though wearing a mask, he could see his brother's gratified look and unconcealed smile.
Just like how Syrus had doubted himself and even grown bewildered.
Zane actually had his own brand-new problems too.
From childhood to adulthood, he'd always been a perfect child.
He was smarter than his younger brother, matured earlier, got into dueling earlier, could teach his younger brother dueling, and had even passed down their family's heirloom Power Bond to his younger brother.
But thinking back, there was some confusion.
As a duelist, he had teachers, dojo masters, and countless fellow disciples he could exchange with, learn from, and complement each other.
But as an older brother, he had no experience at all.
No one was born a duelist, just as no parent or older sibling was born knowing how to be a good elder.
When Syrus was little, he saw Syrus duel someone who was bullying him. Then, getting carried away, he'd used Power Bond. So he'd stopped Syrus. Though he'd guided him on how to use Power Bond, he hadn't told him how to use Power Bond again.
Because he'd worried Syrus's level couldn't keep up with Jaden, he'd also told Syrus not to go adventure in other dimensions with Jaden, to prevent problems.
These details all became knots in Syrus's heart. These things Zane had seen as protective love were actually done quite badly. They weren't resolved until Duel Academy, with help from Jaden and many others.
He was indeed a perfect student. Even now many called him a perfect duelist. But as a person, he was still too young.
Even in life at Duel Academy, compared to looking after his younger brother, he actually paid more attention to Jaden Yuki and Hikaru.
Among them, Hikaru had made him feel talent far beyond ordinary people, even far beyond himself.
Also through contact with Hikaru, he gradually realized that what he thought was a "perfect duelist" wasn't perfect at all.
Consequences, costs, everything, even as an older brother, he was far less meticulous than Hikaru.
The result.
In places he couldn't see, his younger brother had grown to such a degree.
If not for worrying about him, wanting to "awaken" him, Syrus would definitely have recognized the real winning play. The result was that due to a slight error, he'd missed it.
But it was enough.
He was already a duelist who could stand on his own. Even at this age, Zane himself hadn't been as good as Syrus.
If so, then it was time to let the sky be vast for the bird to fly.
With the duel over, Atticus Rhodes and Misawa quickly surrounded Zane, grabbing him with all sorts of questions.
Like how come you didn't lose your memory, when did you remember, why didn't you contact your teachers and friends, and so on.
Zane was somewhat embarrassed but still forced the arrogance on his face. He said since he'd already joined the duel, everything else didn't matter.
He only respected victory!
Atticus Rhodes was so angry he laughed. He rolled up his sleeves, gaze not very friendly, muttering: "Zane, I see you need a lesson. Come, come, come. You want to win, right? Right now, immediately, duel! Let me tell you, I've also trained a lot recently and gained some new friends' support."
Just in terms of strength, Zane and Atticus Rhodes were about even.
But actually, if comparing energy, who was higher between Zane and Atticus was unknown.
This sounded strange, because Zane had at least obtained this world's exclusive deck. When dueling, he had Septentrion's bonus. Being stronger than Atticus Rhodes as an ordinary person should've been easy.
But it wasn't counted that way.
Ever since Hikaru, Jaden, and countless companions' efforts defeated Darkness, Atticus Rhodes had actually gained a brand-new liberation.
Just like E-Ra favored Hart and Yuto, not because their names both had "Yu," but because they could easily accept massive despair power.
And Atticus Rhodes was the natural synonym of darkness.
The darkness that had restricted Atticus Rhodes from using Red-Eyes Black Dragon was completely dead. From now on, Atticus Rhodes was genuinely the person with the most Red-Eyes Black Dragons in the whole world. He could use his deck at full power without hurting himself anymore.
Not only that. On the original foundation, the "Divine Bird's" blessing he'd received also became more powerful after that. In the Mountain dimension, he grew more famous. Even many spirits invited him to visit their dimensions.
Just in terms of dueling power, Atticus Rhodes had far surpassed his peers. Even Zane could only acknowledge himself as second.
If he said he wanted to fight, it definitely wouldn't just be dueling. He'd absolutely stage a full-on brawl.
"Ha, Atticus, I'm also looking forward to dueling you again." Zane heard Atticus's words and couldn't help laughing softly. "Since the GX tournament, I haven't had the chance to face you.
Now, it just so happens to be another chance."
Zane showed no fear at all. He looked straight at Atticus Rhodes, mouth rising. "If you want to participate so badly, then come try. I'll properly defeat you in the main competition!"
"You still want to participate in the WRGP?" Shay couldn't help asking.
"What, are you planning to give up halfway?" He asked back.
Shay hesitated for a moment, then snorted coldly.
Though they had their own matters, they'd already exchanged letters with Kite and the others through Hikaru. They weren't rushing to return to the Xyz Dimension right away. Because of this, with his personality, he wouldn't easily leave this kind of grand tournament.
As a duelist, you had to have steel spirit and iron will. How could you give up halfway!
On the other side, Misawa hesitated for a bit, then nodded.
No matter what, giving up halfway wasn't appropriate.
Also, duelists in the WRGP tournament had very high strength. He'd already been slacking for half a year. If he didn't properly take this chance to work hard, he'd fall further behind his classmates and friends.
Seeing that other teammates had no objections, Yuto sighed softly and didn't refuse either.
Also good.
Ruri hadn't left either. Looking at Ruri, she very likely wanted to watch all the duels. Since that was so, the longer they stayed here, the better.
"Brother?" Syrus still had some trouble accepting it.
The Duel Academy classmates' goal in coming to this dimension was to recover Misawa and Zane. Now they'd found both, but both were refusing to leave.
But after hesitating for a bit, he didn't dwell on it.
Duelists had to live out their convictions. This was perfectly normal. Since his brother wanted to participate, let him participate.
"I look forward to meeting you on the field, Syrus." Zane said one last thing.
After saying this, he turned to leave. He and the other teammates were in different rest rooms. He had to be responsible to the other team's "investors." It was time to go back.
He could also conveniently dodge Atticus Rhodes.
Even now, Atticus was quite dissatisfied with his behavior.
If he wanted to participate, then participate. What was the big deal? Why not report in to say he was safe beforehand?
Zane also didn't say he'd only remembered a couple days ago, and had spent these two days organizing memories and summarizing experiences, hadn't had time. For him, explaining this kind of thing was worse than not explaining. Better to simply stay silent.
"Wait a moment, Zane." Hikaru called out.
Zane stopped his steps and turned back toward Hikaru.
If it was Hikaru wanting to ask something, that was different.
Then he'd have time right away.
"During this time, did you see anything strange?"
Hikaru asked.
He believed with Zane's brain, he should be able to understand what he meant.
Zane heard this and pondered briefly. In his mind flashed that giant, dark-red giant.
"Mm."
He put it together.
Team 5D's?
He nodded. "Team 5D's goal is to connect everything, right?"
Hikaru responded. "Correct."
"Then it's simple."
He pointed at the dueling arena beside them. "This exchange duel has no drone recording. It wasn't broadcast to all audiences in this world. It's purely an exchange duel initiated by our dimension.
Hikaru, this should also be why your team's other members didn't come."
To put it bluntly, those who came here were all Fusion Dimension.
This was a Fusion Dimension matter. Though it was included as a small matter under the Synchro Dimension's major event, the essence wouldn't change.
Zane lifted his head slightly, then turned around. "In this month's time, you can indeed form connections with countless teams, even have many teams support you and directly withdraw in later duels.
But some things can't be stopped."
Zane was the one who knew the most in the City Hall team. He glanced at Yuto, Shay, and Misawa, then looked at Hikaru. "Hikaru, if you want to gain this team's acknowledgment, want to gain that great existence's permission to personally pay audience to him, you must complete the most important and most basic thing as a duelist."
"Victory?" Hikaru asked.
"Correct, Hikaru!"
Zane clenched his fist. His momentum climbed. A strange small whirlwind rose from thin air in the room. He looked at Hikaru, looked at the broadcast camera, then calmly said: "Whether it's philosophy or conviction, whether to save the world or for happiness, for children, for the future, for everything of everything.
To that existence, these are all just small branches.
As a duelist, before these countless branches, you must do one thing well.
That is, duel!"
He slightly narrowed his eyes. "What he wants to test is the basic talent as a duelist."
The most basic talent!
Setting aside all other factors, dueling always had to decide a winner and loser.
Not about philosophy, not about identity. If starting from a pure game perspective, a game had to have a winner and loser.
The half of the Crimson Dragon that had once affected Zane's memory didn't want to exchange with Team 5D's because they couldn't exchange with him yet!
Before everything of everything began, at the very least, they had to win!
"I see..."
Hikaru lowered his head, muttering to himself. "In other words, we must be the champions, right?"
Zane nodded.
Then he turned and left, saying nothing more.
Seeing him leave, Mokuba Kaiba, who'd watched the whole show but had been in low spirits because of his loss, finally spoke.
Since they'd found Zane and Misawa, Duel Academy wouldn't need to worry too much afterward. They could travel or play in this dimension at ease. As the Fusion Dimension team captain, he now had to go back and discuss with the other team members.
Syrus and Atticus Rhodes were startled. Atticus reacted quickly, hurriedly thanking Mokuba nonstop. He even occasionally said apologetic things, like how their side's performance hadn't been good and had affected the team's results.
Though this kind of talk didn't really make Mokuba happy, he was at least not as unhappy.
Finally participating in a tournament, only to lose right off the bat to someone from another dimension, he definitely wasn't very pleased.
Now that Duel Academy's search was finally over, he had to go back and properly discuss with Rex Raptor and those two from the Gravekeeper clan.
The dueling intensity was a bit high. He didn't seem able to go up.
Fortunately, before coming this time, he'd specifically said it was an exchange match. So the entire duel had no drone broadcasting externally. Only Fusion Dimension people could watch. Otherwise this duel would have directly disqualified the Fusion team.
Seeing Zane completely gone, Hikaru chatted with his other friends for a while, then looked at Misawa and couldn't help teasing him.
Like, how could Zane recover his memory by himself but you needed your brother to save you. Misawa's face turned like a tomato. He gave all kinds of reasons and excuses. The whole room filled with cheerful laughter.
But beyond this.
Hikaru was actually thinking about something else.
That was, the Negative Crimson Dragon was unexpectedly more approachable than he'd imagined.
He hadn't thought that after Zane recovered his memory, the Negative Crimson Dragon wouldn't do anything to him. Instead, he'd explained some details.
From Zane's responses, you could tell he actually knew this world's "One God" situation.
Clearly, though the Negative Crimson Dragon was the "negative Crimson Dragon," it seemed to still follow the basic form of the Synchro Dimension's gods: far friendlier to humans than humans imagined.
The Negative Crimson Dragon didn't seem to be the kind of god that wanted to destroy the world.
So there was a strange point.
Why, among the team of the City Hall that symbolized the true highest peak of the Synchro Dimension's City, was there not a single native of the Synchro Dimension?
Was it coincidence, or deliberately chosen?
He thought about it for two seconds, then directly gave up.
Forget it. Let Yusei and the others think about it. There weren't many things he had to do in this world anymore. He could take a bit of a break and do his own things.