He lost.
The old fiend noble had intended to maintain his dignified composure and "instruct" the younger generation from a victor's pedestal. Instead, he lost to Hikaru. Duke of Demise's aged face was somewhat hard to save.
But on second thought, as a spirit, a loss was a loss regardless of circumstances. Especially given how aggressively he had targeted Hikaru, the defeat warranted even greater acceptance.
So without the slightest hesitation, Duke of Demise handed over his true body card to Hikaru.
This made Hikaru quite happy.
After all, Duke of Demise's Fusion conditions were extremely lenient: just two Zombie-Type or Fiend-Type monsters.
And its effects were excellent too.
Setting aside the extra Normal Summon it granted while on the field, its battle destruction immunity made it better suited for going first than the Underworld Dragon. With it, Hikaru could also reconsider incorporating Vampire Fräulein components into his Deck.
After all, Fräulein had long been one of Hikaru's veteran defensive tools. Although its coverage wasn't as broad as Temperance's, it could also preserve a Fusion Material as a bonus. Their practical applications didn't completely overlap, making it worth reconsidering.
Of course.
Duke of Demise had one more crucial effect.
From the Graveyard, it could banish itself to target one Level 4 or higher Fiend or Zombie monster in the Graveyard and add it to the hand.
This effect was even more versatile.
On one hand, after being dealt with by the opponent, it could recover Fräulein or other monsters used as materials, providing further protection or Fusion opportunities.
On the other hand...
Under specific circumstances, this card could recover Tierra, Source of Destruction.
Hikaru had experimented with similar builds before. Before arriving in this world, he had considered using Curious to dump Tierra, then Duke of Demise to recover her for a flashy play.
Regardless of competitive viability, it was undeniably cool.
In short, whether for the "present" or the "future," Duke of Demise as a Fusion Monster held significant value for Hikaru's Deck composition. Something to genuinely look forward to.
On the other side, the Ghostrick Princess was a bit of a shame. Although she was a spirit, the Ghostrick Princess hadn't yet constructed her own card through spirit power.
Even Tierra found this curious.
In fact, this was Hikaru's first time encountering a case of "an entity that exists but hasn't yet birthed a card."
Still, in the Nexus dimension, there were many such peculiar spirit villages. After all, not every spirit was "qualified" to participate in dueling ceremonies. Some could only watch as spectators and carry on with their lives.
Regardless, since the "Ghostrick Princess" already existed, based on Hikaru's current understanding of the spirit world, a card wouldn't be far off. So he wasn't too concerned.
With the duel concluded, under the joint efforts of Hikaru and the Vampire Empire, a temporary dimensional corridor was constructed. The Duke and the spirits under his protection began gradually transferring to the Grand Cosmos Workshop dimension.
Seeing the brand-new world, seeing "planets" they could freely choose from, these spirits were quite excited, chattering among themselves. During this transfer, Vampire Fräulein also took the opportunity to observe the Grand Cosmos Workshop's conditions.
Before long, she confirmed that the Grand Cosmos Workshop's space was enormous, and moreover, it was linked to more than one dimension.
There was a dimension with a robot allied force, and another dimension filled with fiends, where Camula's former "superiors," the Sacred Beasts, resided.
This shocked Vampire Fräulein considerably, but alongside her surprise, she made her own judgment.
She spoke with Hikaru about wanting to fully link the Vampire Empire's dimension with Hikaru's "Grand Cosmos Workshop" dimension. That way, they could conduct spirit exchanges through convenient dimensional corridors, just like the Allied Forces Hangar and Frightfur Sanctuary.
This had several benefits. First, Hikaru wouldn't need to expend extra effort afterward. The vampire spirits would interact and even appear just like the Hangar's spirits, saving Hikaru time.
Second, with the Vampire Empire linked to the Grand Cosmos Dimension, Vampire Fräulein could assist Hikaru in duels through spirit support. Before this, Fräulein's card had often appeared when Hikaru's duels reached critical moments, but that relied solely on Hikaru's own management and dueling power. Through this method, Fräulein could appear whenever Hikaru needed her.
Although Fräulein wasn't an exceptionally high-ranking spirit, she was currently the "leader" of the entire Vampire Empire, possessing special power enhancements. If Hikaru truly needed her, she could definitely appear.
This was quite gratifying. After all, Hikaru certainly wanted his duels to be safer if possible.
The third and final point.
The last reason Fräulein gave.
As the Vampire Empire's interim leader, she had to acknowledge that their dimension was slowly heading toward collapse. Although the deterioration wasn't obvious, disaster would eventually come. So most of the vampire spirits remained sheltered within the Empire, using various methods to forcibly maintain its existence.
But the connection with the Grand Cosmos Workshop had caused a brief "equilibrium" to appear in the Vampire Empire. In other words, something within the Grand Cosmos was maintaining the "dimension's" existence.
This was also extremely important for the vampires, and the primary goal Fräulein most hoped to achieve through cooperation.
In return, if collaboration could be reached, the vampire spirits would essentially "liberate" themselves.
After all, although the vampires weren't particularly high-ranking spirits, their "seniority" ran deep. Each one had lived for who knows how many years. As a result, their "connections" were incredibly wide. It was just that they had been preoccupied maintaining their own dimension's existence and were too proud as nobles to seek help from spirits in other dimensions.
If cooperation could be established, they could free themselves and visit their old friends to swindle... to seek some support for Hikaru.
Setting everything else aside, these spirits, Duke of Demise included, all carried some degree of prestige in the "Zombie World." With their backing, Hikaru might not attract any particularly powerful spirits, but he could certainly gather a batch of spirit cards to bolster his system's numbers.
A massive win-win.
But it only treated the symptoms, not the cause.
After hearing them out, Hikaru understood that the "Philosopher's Stone" was likely what had produced the stabilizing effect.
But this would only ever be a "band-aid."
However, looking at it from the other direction, Hikaru realized something else.
The spirit dimensions were continuously collapsing. While most cases weren't very obvious, some, like the Vampire Empire, were strikingly apparent.
Whatever the mastermind behind it all was, it had caused the spirit dimensions to deteriorate. That was undeniable. So before investigating this mastermind, Hikaru also needed to find a way...
A way to "heal the dimensions."
If he could find such a method, he would undoubtedly attract swarms of spirits willing to seek cooperation with him, just as the vampires had.
But...
He had absolutely no idea how.
Hikaru couldn't even identify where the problem lay.
This wasn't something within his area of expertise.
"Heh heh heh... Hikaru, it seems you need the help of a God."
Inside the Workshop, after helping the Duke's group finish their relocation, Hikaru stood in silence, hand on his chin, pondering the connections between everything.
Seemingly reading Hikaru's confusion, Tierra laughed softly, spread her arms wide, and made her declaration.
Oh?
Oh!
She was right...