"How about this!" one of the Security officers shouted proudly. "That's our standard-issue monster, its attack power is way higher than yours!"
He set one card face down. "I set one card and end my turn!"
The other officers leaned over to glance at the card he'd just set. Their lips curled into grim smiles.
'Perfect. That'll finish him.'
"My turn," Hikaru said, drawing his next card. He slid it smoothly into his Duel Disk.
"Not bad," he murmured to himself.
"Hey… that guy keeps using Fusion?" someone in the crowd whispered.
"Yeah… and with clothes like that, is he really from the Undercity?"
"Even his Duel Disk looks so ornate…"
As Hikaru drew, the purple crystal veins of his Duel Disk pulsed faintly with light. The watching citizens began to murmur uneasily.
The more they looked, the more wrong it seemed.
Their whispers spread, even catching the attention of the officers roughing up people nearby.
"Wait… doesn't he look familiar?"
"Yeah… I've seen that face before somewhere…"
Last year, when they'd last seen Hikaru, he'd been wearing a yellow Duel Academy uniform. Now, clad in alchemist battle garb, they didn't recognize him immediately.
But seeing him repeatedly use Fusion Summons in a world built on Synchro energy, it was only a matter of time before suspicion took root.
After all, this was the Synchro Dimension, where Fusion was all but extinct.
"I activate the Spell Card, Shaddoll Fusion! This card allows me to Fusion Summon using monsters from my hand or field. But since you control a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, I can also send Fusion Materials directly from my Deck to the Graveyard!"
"I send El Shaddoll Winda on my field and Cyber Pharos from my Deck to the Graveyard, Fusion Summon!"
"Fusion Summon! Level 8—El Shaddoll Construct!"
The ground trembled. A radiant, towering figure rose amid the shattered street. As the puppet strings receded, luminous wings unfolded from its back. When the giant descended, chunks of debris scattered and an old streetlight crumbled under its weight.
Hikaru frowned slightly at the collateral damage.
El Shaddoll Construct — Level 8 / LIGHT / Fairy / ATK 2800 / DEF 2500
"ATK 2800?!"
"How can someone from the Undercity summon something that powerful?!"
"Wait, an advanced Fusion monster like that down here?!"
At last, the officers began to realize something was wrong.
"Construct's effect activates! When this card is Special Summoned, I can send one 'Shaddoll' card from my Deck to the Graveyard. Also, the Winda I sent to the GY triggers its effect, when it's sent there, I can add one 'Shaddoll' Spell or Trap from my Graveyard to my hand.
I send Shaddoll Dragon to the Graveyard and add Shaddoll Fusion back to my hand."
"Then, Shaddoll Dragon's effect activates! When sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, I can target one Spell or Trap on the field and destroy it!"
Hikaru pointed to the officer's face-down card.
"Shatter it."
From the ground, a swarm of glowing puppet strings whipped outward, binding the set card. A spectral dragon rose, bit into it, and with a flash of light, the trap exploded into pieces.
"Blast Held by a Tribute, huh?" Hikaru said mildly. "Figures."
Then he raised his hand. "I activate the Continuous Spell, Flame Swordsrealm."
Flames erupted across the street, isolating the duelists from the terrified onlookers.
"This card lets me send one monster from my hand to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon Flame Swordsman! I send Kaitoptera from my hand, Fusion Summon!"
"Come forth, Flame Swordsman!"
A pillar of fire burst upward, and a warrior engulfed in red flames emerged, laughing heartily.
"Ha-ha! The S Dimension, I'm back again!"
Flame Swordsman — Level 5 / FIRE / Warrior / ATK 1800 / DEF 1600
"Flame Swordsman?" one officer scoffed. "You're using that fossil?!"
"Who even still runs that relic of a Fusion monster?" another sneered. "Guess he really is Undercity trash."
But among the crowd, one man froze.
The sight of that monster, Flame Swordsman, surrounded by puppet-like flames, sparked something in his memory.
"I… I've seen that before," he whispered.
"Yeah… on the big screens!" another citizen exclaimed.
Several Undercity citizens couldn't help but speak out.
"On the big screens?"
"Who in the Undercity ever gets shown on the big screens, aside from a few famous duelists?"
Seeing the crowd's reaction, one of the three Sector Security officers frowned, quickly lowering his head to tap into the Duel Disk's network search.
"Wait, why can't I find this guy's data."
"Hold up… now that I think about it, he does look familiar!"
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
'So much for extracting information quietly,' he thought. 'Guess I'll just wrap this up fast.'
"Battle! El Shaddoll Construct, attack Goyo Guardian!"
"Hah! They both have 2800 ATK! You're just gambling on damage recoil, huh?"
"No." Hikaru's voice was calm, almost cold. "When Construct battles a Special Summoned monster, that monster is destroyed without damage calculation."
"What?!"
The officer's face drained of color. Before he could react, Construct raised her hand. Threads of violet puppet-string light erupted from beneath Goyo Guardian's feet, binding his limbs tight. With a crackling roar, the enforcer's weapon shattered as countless wires tore his body apart into glowing fragments.
"Now," Hikaru continued, "Flame Swordsman, direct attack!"
The fiery warrior leapt forward, sweeping his blazing blade in a wide arc. The flames slashed across all three officers at once.
"Waaah!"
"Hot! It burns!"
Sector Security Trio LP: 4000 → 2200
Hikaru frowned slightly.
"Pathetic," one of them spat, still clutching his arm. "You won't be laughing next turn."
"Quick-Play Spell, El Shaddoll Fusion!" Hikaru declared. The image of El Shaddoll Winda reappeared on the field as shadow energy surged.
"This card lets me Fusion Summon during either player's turn. I fuse my El Shaddoll Construct and Flame Swordsman!"
He spread his hands, voice rising in ritual cadence."From flame and shadow, from sword and soul, Fusion Summon!Descend, El Shaddoll Grysta!"
A being of burning white crystal emerged, its body composed of molten stone threaded with red puppet lines.
El Shaddoll Grysta — Level 7 / FIRE / Rock / ATK 2450 / DEF 1950
"W-what?!"
"A Quick Fusion, on our turn?!"
"Hey, our phase hasn't even started yet!" one officer shouted, panic in his voice.
But Hikaru didn't have time to humor them. He'd let them share a single Life Point total for a reason, efficiency.
"Grysta, direct attack!"
The crystalline giant raised its fist. The red puppet strings flared, interweaving into a massive molten boulder. It plummeted from the heavens and struck the officers with a deafening impact.
"Waaahhh!"
"Ugh!"
"Ghh!"
Sector Security Trio LP: 2200 → 0
The duel ended instantly. Hikaru lowered his Duel Disk, expression puzzled.
All three officers collapsed, one dropping to his knees, another toppling backward, the third clinging weakly to a nearby patrol car for support.
Across the cracked pavement, eerie dark-blue sigils began glowing faintly. As Hikaru watched, the men's strength seemed to drain away, leaving them limp but breathing.
He knelt, checking pulses and breathing. "Alive," he murmured. "Good."
Then his gaze shifted to the sigil etched on his left hand.
It wasn't glowing.
So their collapse wasn't directly caused by his duel energy… or was it?
'Could it be that losing a duel here literally drains a person's life force?'
While he pondered, the wail of engines echoed nearby, reinforcements.
Several more patrol vehicles skidded to a stop, lights flashing. The new officers jumped out, drawing their firearms, each weapon loaded with cards in the magazine.
"Dangerous entity spotted! Requesting immediate backup!""Hostile duelist in the Undercity! Repeat, Undercity insurgent located!"
"Oh! I remember now!" one of the onlookers shouted. "He's that guy from the Friendship Cup, the one who yelled 'Fusion is the noblest form of Summoning!'"
Although few could recall Hikaru's name, his slogan had echoed through the S Dimension like nails on glass. It had been so arrogant, so alien, that everyone instantly recognized it the moment someone repeated the words.
"Oh, so he's that duelist from another dimension!"
"What?! An interdimensional invader?!"
"No wonder he's so damn hard to deal with!"
"Quick, notify Director Yeager! And Director Goodwin too!"
Realization rippled through the Sector Security officers: Hikaru wasn't just some rogue Undercity duelist, he was a dimensional traveler, a dangerous outsider who had somehow crossed into their world. They fumbled with their communicators, shouting reports to every superior they could reach.
Meanwhile, the three defeated officers who'd lost consciousness stirred weakly. Upon hearing that their opponent was an "interdimensional invader," they actually looked… relieved, before collapsing completely.
Losing to a low-class Undercity rat was humiliating, but losing to a powerful being from another dimension? That, at least, was excusable.
A low hum broke the air;
Vrooom!
Hikaru turned toward the sound just as a scarlet D-Wheel tore down the street, smashing through a police barricade in a burst of sparks. The rider leaned sharply, the machine's rear tire screeching as it swung wide to knock back the advancing officers.
The distinctive red chassis, the streamlined frame, and that crimson helmet.
Hikaru's eyes widened. That was Yusei Fudo!
"Hop on!" Yusei shouted over the roar of the engine.
Hikaru didn't hesitate. He vaulted onto the back seat in one motion.
Information could wait. Riding with Yusei was clearly the better move.
No need to overthink it!
As soon as Hikaru was aboard, Yusei twisted the throttle. The D-Wheel roared forward, streaking toward the patrol vehicles ahead. With a deft flick of his wrist, Yusei angled the machine, launching it up along the side of a crumbling building. The tires gripped the vertical surface for several surreal seconds before landing smoothly back onto a side street.
The pursuing officers revved their own police D-Wheels and gave chase, but Yusei, Champion of the Riding Duels and undisputed king of the lower city, knew every alley, every sharp turn. Within moments, he'd lost them, diving through a series of tunnels until they emerged in the dim light of an underground base.
Only after ensuring they weren't being followed did Yusei finally cut the engine and lift his visor.
"You're safe now," he said quietly.
Then, with a faint sigh, he added, "After you all left… during the Friendship Cup… Jack Atlas lost to me."
"After that," Yusei said grimly, "things took a very strange turn."
As he spoke, he handed Hikaru a thin stack of papers. Hikaru frowned, glancing from the documents to Yusei's face beneath the red helmet. After a moment's hesitation, he looked down and began to read.
According to the report, after Yusei's victory over Jack Atlas in the Friendship Cup, Yusei had officially become the new King.
But the nobles of the Upper City had already been displeased when a former slum-born duelist like Jack Atlas rose to power. And now, another commoner was to be crowned King, worse, a man from the Undercity who championed the poor? It was intolerable.
So the aristocrats retaliated. They began broadcasting Jack's past duel footage on every screen, mocking his defeats, spreading propaganda, and openly undermining the current Director of Security, Rex Goodwin. Through their influence, they effectively took control of the Security Bureau.
To make matters worse, Goodwin himself had reportedly caused some kind of disturbance in the Upper City. The nobles' hostility escalated; chaos followed.
And then, something else began happening.
All across the Undercity, strange lines started appearing on the ground, sigils etched in patterns like Nazca glyphs. They formed a massive circuit beneath the city, glowing faintly at night. Soon, people discovered that anyone who lost a Duel near one of those symbols would have their life force drained away, leaving them weak and unconscious.
For the desperate residents of the Undercity, this discovery became their salvation.
If a rebel defeated a Security officer in a Duel, the officer would collapse, drained of strength, and their Duel Disk, deck, and ID could be stolen. The Resistance hailed it as a divine gift, a weapon to fight back against oppression.
From then on, anti-Security uprisings exploded across the Undercity.
In response, the Bureau panicked. Security patrols swept the streets daily. Curfews were enforced. Civilians were ordered not to leave their homes.
"Things got that bad?" Hikaru muttered, eyebrows knitting.
Yusei lowered his gaze. Even through the helmet, Hikaru could feel the intensity of his stare, drawn toward the faint, dormant mark on Hikaru's left hand.
But instead of hostility, Yusei's voice was calm.
"This area is off-grid," he said. "No one from Security comes this deep underground. I don't know why you came here, Hikaru, but this world's problems are… complicated. And they're burning out of control."
He revved his D-Wheel lightly, the hum echoing in the tunnel.
"If you're not interested in getting involved, you can use this place as a base. It's safe enough to research whatever you came here for."
He paused, then tossed a small data chip across to Hikaru. "But if you do want to understand what's really going on, about the sigils, and the power behind them, go here."
Hikaru caught the chip and looked down. The holographic map projected from it showed a marker pulsing red.
"There's going to be a Resistance meeting," Yusei said. "That's where you'll get answers."
Hikaru nodded slowly. "Thanks."
Yusei gave a short nod in return. Then he twisted the throttle, and with a burst of engine fire, his D-Wheel shot forward, vanishing down the tunnel.
Hikaru watched the red light fade into the darkness.
"Resistance, huh…" he murmured.
In the original timeline, the Resistance of the Synchro Dimension had always been… loosely defined, little more than a rumor.
But if they were really using Earthbound god power, if those glyphs were the same kind of sigils he'd studied before, then someone out there must possess a Dark Signer mark.
Maybe it was worth finding out who.
...
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