"Do you have a grudge against me?"
Come to think of it, not really.
Paradox was feeling a bit dazed. During this duel, at some point, it simply felt natural to him that this had become a personal vendetta. Only when Kira reminded him did he suddenly realize—right, this was actually their first time meeting.
In fact, Kira wasn't even his original mission target. Their encounter here was entirely outside of his plans, a complete accident. But this person's dueling was simply infuriating, and the dark powers he wielded radiated an evil aura. From his style, it just so happened that Kira was exactly the type of "underworld duelist" Paradox despised—those who easily strip others of their passion for dueling.
The future Paradox came from was destroyed precisely because all the world's dueling passion had been worn away. He instinctively disliked Kira. But now, with the duel over and his mind clear, he realized there was no evidence this person had anything to do with the ruined future.
Moreover, the question Kira had just asked was reasonable. If a single person could easily plunge an entire world's future into despair, then history would also have had duelists like Jaden Yuki or Yusei Fudo, who had the right heart and dedicated their lives to inspiring others with passion. Yet even so, the world was destroyed.
And as far as Paradox knew, there was no "Fujiki Kira" in the historical record, but Jaden and Yusei definitely existed.
Paradox let out a long sigh.
Deep down, he'd always known Kira was right. The destruction of their world had nothing to do with those who came before; searching for the mistakes of the ancients in history was just shifting blame.
The perpetual motion machine going out of control, the future destroyed—these were their generation's fault, not anyone else's. Infinite energy still couldn't satisfy humanity's ever-growing greed. Over generations, people had become increasingly lazy, unwilling to work or do anything, yet always wanting more.
A negative attitude and infinite demands eventually pushed the perpetual motion machine past a critical point, unleashing an irreparable disaster.
But even knowing this, what could he do?
Z-ONE had tried—truly tried. As the leader of the survivors, Z-ONE was accepted because he was the smartest and had sacrificed the most.
Under Z-ONE's leadership, they tried to guide people back to the right mindset, to calm the runaway perpetual motion machine. They worked hard, tried many times. But it was all too late.
If there had been any other choice, Paradox would never have taken such an extreme measure as "erasing Duel Monsters from history."
Others might not know this, but Kira understood clearly. He knew the 5D's antagonists weren't "evil"—they simply stood on the opposite side to the protagonists. Personally, Kira admired their sacrifices for their world's sake, which is why he spared Paradox's life.
In fact, if Kira hadn't used the Eraser's effect to send "Malefic World" to the graveyard, Paradox would have died even if Kira had shown mercy. In the original movie, Paradox dies at the hands of his own Malefic World. Though Yugi and Jaden could both make duel damage real, Kira believed they never intended to kill Paradox. The reason Paradox died after losing was likely the real damage inflicted by his own "Malefic World."
Sparing his life also made it easier to extract information. For example, Paradox mentioned Kira shouldn't exist in history, or that something was wrong with this timeline—there were still many mysteries.
Of course, he spared his life, but his "tools of crime" had to be confiscated.
So Kira directly inherited the full "Malefic" deck, including the top spirits from various times and dimensions that came with it.
For example: Cyber End Dragon, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Rainbow Dragon, and even Stardust Dragon, which shouldn't exist in this era.
There were even three copies of Blue-Eyes White Dragon—world-limited cards. Counting the Blue-Eyes he won off Kaiba in Duelist City GX, Kira now had four Blue-Eyes in total—one more than Kaiba himself.
However, while Paradox had three Blue-Eyes, he didn't have "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."
Kira guessed that the cards stolen from various timelines only existed in Malefic form if Paradox had developed that version. Whether a monster had a Malefic form was also a sign of whether Paradox could control it.
For instance, Paradox had created "Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon," meaning he'd mastered Blue-Eyes, but there was no "Malefic Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon," meaning he couldn't control that form.
But that wasn't a big issue. In the anime world, Fusion Monsters don't always require the card; as long as you have the right materials, the Fusion can be conjured from thin air. This could be considered a form of "card printing," but it's the simplest category.
Like in DM, when Yugi fused Kaiba's Ultimate Dragon with his own Black Luster Soldier to create Dragon Master Knight, then told Kaiba, "As long as you truly believe this monster exists, it exists." Or when the Supreme King could fuse any monster on the field to summon the matching Fusion Monster as needed—making cards on the spot.
It's not just fusion monsters; many spirit-based alternate forms are similar. Blue-Eyes White Dragon is the core of the Blue-Eyes deck—Kaiba's whole deck was built up from those three dragons, developing and printing each card one by one.
Now that he had all three, Kira could consider perfecting the entire Blue-Eyes deck.
Though in terms of being recognized by Blue-Eyes, deck synergy, or "fate power," he was nowhere near Kaiba's level, he did have one edge: he could foresee Blue-Eyes' future forms and knew what direction to take the deck.
Maybe he'd get a chance to bring Kaiba in to help print more Blue-Eyes variants—and maybe he could snag a couple for himself.
Aside from these powerful monsters from various times, the biggest gain was this card.
Kira looked at the trap card in his hand and couldn't help but smile like a farmer seeing a field of ripe leeks.
Skill Drain.
…