At present, Hikaru had no legitimate way to summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. If he drew one, it could only serve as discard fodder.
The good news was that his current deck contained several reliable ways to discard cards, and since Alternative was a LIGHT-Attribute Dragon, it could still be used as Fusion material for other plays.
If nothing else, using it in a Fusion, say, to bring out El Shaddoll Construct, wouldn't be a total waste.
Still, now that he finally possessed it, Hikaru wanted to experiment with it properly someday.
When he first arrived in this world, his reliance on Fusion had come from necessity, a desperate measure. Part of it was simply that he couldn't stand the "Fusion Army" fanatics who insisted Fusion was outdated.
But as time passed and his Duels multiplied, he noticed something: his connection with his Duel Spirit deepened fastest when he truly believed in Fusion.
In the end, he stopped resisting and accepted it, fully committing himself to the path of Fusion.
That conviction was why he'd dared to request a Blue-Eyes White Dragon right under the watchful eyes of KaibaCorp's spiritual monitors.
And now, the results were astonishing.
Originally, he'd only wanted a single Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon, something to study through alchemical fusion, starting from its predecessor, Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon.Instead, the stone tablet had given him an entire set:three Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon and one Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon.
There was no way he wouldn't test them.
Besides, Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon was a monster worth admiration. Unaffected by targeting and immune to destruction by card effects, two layers of protection, plus a massive 4500 ATK.
Few monsters could ever defeat it in battle.
Since Alternative couldn't be directly summoned yet, Hikaru could only find a workaround, sending them to the Graveyard, then Fusing from there.
The simplest path, for now, would be: use Future Fusion to send three Alternatives and two other Dragons to the GY to Summon Five-Headed Dragon, then, from there, use Ultimate Fusion or Dragon's Mirror to bring out Blue-Eyes Alternative Ultimate Dragon directly.
It was crude, but effective.
More importantly, Five-Headed Dragon wasn't even that expensive in this world.
Despite its fearsome 5000 ATK, higher than Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and its fame across generations, the card was surprisingly common. Even Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and Zane Truesdale all owned copies.
It was a recognizable card, but not one many duelists actually used.
In fact, Hikaru recalled that in several old legends of Yugi Mutou, every Duelist who played Five-Headed Dragon had gone on to lose the Duel anyway.
Because of that superstition, the market was flooded with spare copies.
With his current resources, he could easily buy one the moment he left the temple.
He laughed quietly to himself.
Funny, he'd never even considered purchasing one before.Even though its Fusion requirement of "five Dragon monsters" could've saved him several deck slots, he'd simply ignored it because he'd never cared about the card.
"Leaving already?"
He turned. The shrine maiden was standing beside the tablet, her expression serene.
"Yes," Hikaru said, tucking his new cards away.
"Won't you leave a message?" she asked, gesturing to the tablet's base.
Carved into the stone beside it was Seto Kaiba's inscription.
"You could also inherit his position," she added. "Become the next challenger who guards the Trial."
"The trial…" Hikaru paused, then shook his head.
"There's no need for that."
He had no reason to stand in Kaiba's place.
Because Hikaru had already obtained the cards he wanted, and because what he received far exceeded anything he expected, he felt no desire to take more.
If he had reached this Dimension purely through his own power, perhaps he could have altered its laws.
But since Seto Kaiba himself had been the one to send him here, forcing a change would have been disrespectful.
In the future, if another Duelist managed to defeat Kaiba Man from ten years ago, they could rewrite the rules themselves.
Still, after thinking for a while, Hikaru accepted the small chisel that one of the attendants offered him, and carefully carved a short inscription onto a smaller stone tablet beside the massive one.
The shrine maiden leaned in and read aloud, smiling faintly.
"Do you wish for the blessing of Blue-Eyes?"
The lines he had carved expressed his wish to continue exploring Fusion smoothly and safely in the future.
"If that is your desire," the shrine maiden said gently, "then I believe your path will unfold without obstruction."
"Is that so?"
Hikaru took one of the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragons from his case and studied it under the temple light. There was nothing outwardly special about it, no glow, no change in its foil sheen.
Tierra, standing beside him, shrugged with a teasing grin.
"In simple terms, it just means your alchemy experiments won't explode as violently anymore."
"I see," Hikaru said with a quiet laugh.
This "tablet," he thought, was extraordinarily generous.
In fact, he suspected that if Kaiba, or rather, the existence of Kaiba's past and present selves, hadn't been tied to this Dimension, the first Duelist strong-willed enough to reach it might have been granted an entire Blue-Eyes deck outright.
That kind of generosity rivaled, maybe even surpassed, that of Mr. Koyo Hibiki.
He packed his cards carefully, turned toward the temple doors, and stepped out.
Beyond the Hall of Light, the realm was tranquil. Spirits roamed freely through the courtyards; Kaiba Man didn't restrain them, nor did he even appear.
Dragons played together in peace, a sight completely unlike the stricter Dimensions Hikaru had seen.
Even the Mountain Realm had guards standing in rigid silence.
Kaiba Man from ten years ago wasn't just a "gatekeeper" here; he was also the guardian of this world. As long as the Light endured, he would remain, silently watching over it.
Heh…
Hikaru rubbed the back of his neck, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"President Kaiba really is the kind of man whose actions never match his words."
He walked down the path leading out of the shrine. The world around him dimmed gradually, light fading to gray, then to deep shadow.
When he looked up again, an elevator stood before him, its doors gleaming with faint blue sigils.
He pressed the upward arrow. After a soft chime and a long pause, the air above him split open into a dimensional tunnel.Moments later, a capsule descended from the rift.
The return trip was smooth, free of interference or delay.When the capsule doors opened, uniformed KaibaCorp staff were already waiting. They guided him through the exit halls quietly and efficiently, without asking a single question.
No one asked whether Hikaru had succeeded.
No one asked if he had obtained the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Those were not questions they were allowed to ask. Nor were they things they needed to know.
Kaiba himself didn't particularly care about the outcome. If Hikaru truly succeeded, he would eventually see the results for himself.
After thanking the KaibaCorp staff, Hikaru stepped outside, pulled out his phone, and opened his contact list.
He called Funglow Company, intending to request help in procuring a copy of Five-Headed Dragon.
To his surprise, the company representative immediately replied,
"Oh, we already have one in stock. We can send it to you directly."
Hikaru blinked, then smiled faintly. That was convenient.
He had just pocketed his phone when,
"Hikaru!"
"Hmm?"
Hikaru turned toward the voice.
Leaning against a nearby wall, head lowered, was Chazz.
"Chazz? You're done over there already?"
Chazz didn't answer immediately. He simply flicked his wrist, tossing something toward Hikaru.
Instinctively, Hikaru caught it.
It was a small, sleek, high-tech device, metallic silver, with a compact drive port shaped like a data connector on top.
"What's this?" Hikaru asked, examining it.
"You're heading to the S-Dimension, right?" Chazz said with his usual confident smirk.
"That's an attachment module for the new Duel Disk prototypes. Once installed, you'll be able to link your Duel Disk to a Duel Runner or any other dimensional vehicle system."
He crossed his arms, grinning. "Even a genius like you can't learn to ride a Duel Runner in one or two days, right? And you definitely don't have time to get a proper license. With this, you can move freely and still Duel without worrying about logistics."
Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "Chazz… you didn't come all this way just to hand me this, did you?"
"Hmph…" Chazz coughed lightly, avoiding his gaze. "Of course I'm not helping for free."
He tapped his chest and said, "Even KaibaCorp doesn't have a full grasp of the S-Dimension yet. I don't know how you got clearance to go, but it's a golden opportunity. That module also records Duel data. When you come back, hand me the footage. Next semester, I'll use it to launch my commercial empire! Got it?"
He added more quietly, "In an emergency, that device can also transmit limited data back to this world."
Hikaru couldn't help laughing. "Ha...alright, alright. Thanks."
He lifted his left hand, extending his index and middle fingers in a playful salute.
"Don't worry. You'll get the data first, straight from the source."