During Yusuke Fujiwara's death, Darkness didn't offer him even the slightest protection.
"Yusuke..." Atticus's face showed a trace of sadness, but he didn't blame Hikaru.
There was no reason to hold back.
If it were up to him to find a way to save his friend, he would naturally try. But right now, that wasn't an option for Hikaru.
Hikaru had successfully dealt with this "save-scumming" duelist, but felt no excitement.
Because...
Before him stood humanity's enemy!
Darkness!
Its true form had finally appeared!
Yet its entrance carried no killing intent. Instead, it... began to gently applaud.
Its clapping was crisp. Skeletal hands striking together, yet not grating.
Almost everyone was baffled by this gesture, exchanging confused glances.
"A splendid duel, Hikaru. Every third turn brought brilliant new variations. In the end, you even used cards obtained from the Light to deal with an indestructible Field Spell.
Truly full of wisdom and strategy."
The spectating duelists were even more bewildered. They never imagined this scene.
Darkness actually seemed to... appreciate Hikaru?
"Unfortunately, that is precisely why you must die." It spoke with a sigh.
With those words, the sky, the earth, the building, everything seemed to teeter on the brink of collapse.
"Why?!" Adrian couldn't hold back. He wanted answers more than anyone. "Why must you do this? What reason do you have to destroy humanity?"
Chazz also frowned, staring at Darkness.
He too wanted to know why Darkness was determined to destroy humanity.
Atticus wanted to know why Darkness had targeted him and Yusuke specifically. What quality did they possess that drew such attention?
Darkness turned to Adrian. "Foolish, humans."
"It is not I who destroys humanity. You humans destroy yourselves."
As it spoke, the skeletal wings behind it began to beat. Countless images appeared, displayed for everyone to see.
"Waging wars of aggression for national interests, not hesitating to bomb kindergartens and hospitals.
Destroying the environment without restraint for profit, causing climate change that endangers countless island communities.
For hatred, for history, for this reason or that, inventing powerful weapons and competing in an arms race.
The humans you've destroyed far outnumber anything I've done, wouldn't you say?
None of that was my doing."
The students' challenging expressions faded.
Only Chazz reacted first. "But that's still no justification for invading the human world and killing people! If you truly don't want to destroy humanity proactively, then just wait!"
"Indeed."
It admitted openly.
"Even without me, humanity will gradually march toward self-destruction through its own arrogance and hubris."
"Then you..."
"But in this infinite time, I discovered something unique about humanity."
Before it, countless images materialized. During wars of aggression, invaders committed unspeakable atrocities, yet countless brave souls risked certain death to resist.
In commercial society, leaking small secrets for enormous profit was commonplace, yet some still held to their principles, refusing to betray morality, righteousness, or ethics.
Someone crossed a collapsing mountain just to deliver a message. Someone survived on broken planks across the open sea to return to land.
People with conviction or beautiful character kept this terrible world spiraling upward.
"These humans' performances caught my eye. Even I must commend them."
Everyone was confused.
"Therefore, I must destroy these beautiful things."
"What nonsense!" Chazz erupted.
"If it's beautiful, why destroy it..." Atticus was utterly baffled.
"I am darkness. I am death. I am the opposite of all things. I am the world's law. I am the future of humanity's inevitable destruction. I am... Darkness.
Humans, this is only natural.
No matter how much I admire you, no matter how surprised I am, one fact remains unchanged.
Only when you are completely annihilated can I exist forever. Only when I am completely dead will you never go extinct.
This is the way of survival. There is no morality to speak of!"
Everyone was stunned by its blunt honesty.
They hadn't expected that Darkness, this entity of schemes and dirty tricks, would upon actually appearing be so straightforward, without any pretense.
Survival...
This time, Chazz had no retort.
If it were wolves eating rabbits, you could argue wolves could eat something else. But if only one side could exist, there was nothing to debate.
However, Darkness clearly wanted to continue talking. It raised its right hand. In its skeletal palm, floating images materialized.
"Human individuality is full of contradictions and chaos. Humans will inevitably destroy themselves through their own actions."
"Just as life goes from birth to death, humanity will eventually experience the process from genesis to prosperity to extinction. Just like the nations that fell throughout your history."
"But this process is neither certain nor fixed."
The images flickered with countless possibilities.
A world where humanity fell into biochemical apocalypse due to war, surviving by scavenging trash. A world where humans exploring the cosmos were captured as pets by insectoid aliens. A world where highly advanced AI turned humans into biological batteries and living computers.
Even a future where humanity's chaotic inner selves caused emotion-sensing perpetual motion machines to go berserk, destroying the human world. That existed in this dimension too.
But compared to all these bizarre "endings," total extinction was actually the rarest outcome.
In one corner of the images, crimson red light illuminated a planet. Its inhabitants began frantically pursuing power and purity, abandoning self and will, ultimately destroying themselves completely. Even the planet vanished.
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
That was...
"Through my observation, I discovered that although humanity repeatedly stumbles down foolish paths, there are always those who try again and again to correct these mistakes. Sometimes they fail. Sometimes they go down one path until the bitter end. But precisely because humanity has this trait, the future's possibilities remain so unstable."
I see.
If everything proceeded methodically, like Mr. T, then Darkness wouldn't need to consider any future possibilities. Because in that case, everything would be "locked in," "locked down," inevitably reaching the future Darkness desired.
So that's why it despised "individuality" so much?
Seemingly having come just to explain things to Hikaru and these humans, or perhaps to recover the power granted to Yusuke Fujiwara, after saying everything, Darkness's figure began to fade.
"Wait!" Adrian tried to stop it from leaving. "Don't go!"
He knew that a being like Darkness, possessing infinite power, capable of freely modifying human memories, only needed to hide in the shadows, slowly letting humans suffer under its power and go mad from the pressure to "win."
"It's fine, Adrian. That's enough." Hikaru stopped Adrian from rushing at Darkness.
That was enough.
Once Darkness revealed itself, the problem was essentially solved. Because it meant that Darkness, the "grim reaper" humanity could never reach, could finally be reached by them.
What remained was simply finding Darkness and defeating it.
Darkness watched Hikaru. Its figure gradually turned transparent, then vanished completely from human sight.
However, it had merely left the human world, not "Earth." It entered Earth's "reverse world," still observing Hikaru and the others.
After Mr. T and Yusuke Fujiwara were both defeated, it understood: the time for its personal appearance was approaching.
But before that, it still wanted to see how humans would overcome its obstacles, one by one.
Unconsciousness, seals, erased existence. Each was an absolute challenge for humanity.
If they couldn't overcome even these "challenges," how could they be worthy of the final "duel" against it?
It watched silently from its place, observing everything.
With its disappearance and Yusuke's death, nothing prevented Atticus from reuniting with them. Atticus could finally share his secrets from using Darkness's power with Hikaru.
Namely, the secret of "mental influence."
Hikaru quickly discovered that the students' comas weren't from illness. Their consciousness had fallen into the "reverse world." So by using specific methods to recall their consciousness, they could be awakened.
Using alchemy, he crafted soul-calling elixirs. After careful testing and Atticus bravely volunteering as a test subject, the production was completed quickly, successfully awakening the first comatose person.
Hikaru...
Darkness observed him.
From the very first time it saw Hikaru, it recognized him as a far better vessel than Atticus or Yusuke Fujiwara.
Because Hikaru's dueling was pure enough, his will unshakeable. He was like uncut jade, growing into a perfect gem under various forces. And the humans around him shone brightly under his radiance.
In the original world it had observed, no human could withstand its power. In the end, humanity would fall completely into coma and darkness. Aside from a handful, no other human could walk freely.
One Jesse. One Jaden. Nobody else.
Yet Hikaru had shattered its projections, enabling humanity to hold on under its power.
And not only that.
It looked east. Beyond the island, invisible to the humans here, an enormous ship was slowly approaching. Many people aboard were confused, unclear about why they were heading here.
Only the woman at the bow, looking more like a man, spoke with unwavering resolve: "Just listen to me. Master Adrian and I made a promise. We must find Duel Academy island."
Even having forgotten Duel Academy, even having lost related memories, this woman named Echo pressed forward with absolute determination. Because her heart was filled with fanatical, mad love for the human named "Adrian," love worth sacrificing herself for.
Even while amnesiac, this woman had set countless reminders to ensure she would find Adrian and fulfill the promise they made with Hikaru in the Forgotten Realm.
When they actually found "Duel Academy," the seal on the island would weaken, because humans had "noticed" this area.
This was yet another error that shouldn't have occurred.
In the original history it had observed...
Adrian, seeking to create an ideal world and obtain ultimate power, had sacrificed Echo. He activated "Exodia the Forbidden One" obtained from Yubel, becoming the "Lonely King." Then he became Yubel's nourishment and died completely.
Without those two humans, the people on Duel Academy island lost all means of contacting the outside world.
In that process, those two would even kill Aster Phoenix in a duel, letting a noble person die with regret.
But now, not only were they alive, they were actively working to save the academy.
All of this was because Hikaru had helped Aster Phoenix. Then Aster, in a chain of paying it forward, had saved others, who in turn gave back to Duel Academy.
Such examples were everywhere.
Without Hikaru, without his light shining on others and changing everything from its original course, by now, someone should have fallen into endless darkness, never to awaken. Someone should have resented Jaden as a "brother" because of battles in other dimensions. Someone should have paid the price of their soul to find proof of his existence...
But all of that had changed.
Hikaru.
While others talked about creation and struggle, he had already used his actions to accomplish what others dismissed as "empty slogans."
Even now, Jaden had defeated Viper and found Yubel, clearly intent on settling things once and for all with his own power. Originally, things would never have gone this way.
Under Hikaru's guidance, Jaden had become a resolute "hero."
Before long, Darkness witnessed Hikaru, amid cheers, break through yet another of its restrictions.
With help from the data provided by Zone, the human from another dimension, Hikaru successfully assisted Tierra in creating a large-scale helmet. With this helmet, memory modification could be resisted. Even a three-year-old child would be unaffected by Darkness's influence.
The only problem was its size.
But for Tierra, that was no issue.
She thumped her chest. "Minor problem. I'll start iterating right away. Give me a few days and I'll have it compact enough for you humans to mount directly on your Duel Disks!"
Meanwhile.
At the coastline, a massive impact exploded outward. An enormous ship had crashed directly into Darkness's sealing wall. Because it was a force from the "outside," affecting outsiders' memories, the seal itself began loosening!
All the accumulated efforts finally, in this moment, bore fruit, flowing back to everything within the academy.
Darkness watched silently. Countless wisps of black fog and cards flew to its surroundings. Those cards became pools of black sludge, then transformed into black-suited men. One after another, these men replicated like copy-paste, rapidly multiplying until they filled the entire reverse-world Duel Academy plaza.
Then the hillsides. Until the entire island was occupied by identical Mr. T's.
If an ordinary person stood here and saw this, the sheer density would probably make them scream.
Of course, for Darkness, this was of no consequence.
It simply pondered for a moment, contemplating what lay ahead.
It seemed...
The day of the final confrontation with humanity's hope was not far off.