The smoke in the eastern zone of volcano area cleared slowly, drifting across the blackened basalt in thin, grey, thick threads.
Vance walked with a measured, silent stride, adjusting his high collar against the heat. He didn't look back.
Behind a high, jagged rock, the mysterious boy watched him go, holding his breath so hard his chest burned.
At first, the boy saw only one blue-and-white uniformed soldier sprawled face down in the ash, his helmet cracked. Then another. Six. Twelve. Twenty Obelisk Force soldiers lay unconscious across the crater, their triple-bladed Duel Disks smoking and dead.
Near Vance's heel, one fallen soldier raised a trembling hand from the dirt, his visor cracked.
"...Monster..." the soldier rasped through his vocal synthesizer, before his arm collapsed limp onto the ground.
Vance never paused. He stepped over a shattered visor, his Duel Blade raduanting low, red light. Followed by the boy.
The mysterious boy stared, his breathing hitched in his throat. "He took down... an entire group by himself?"
Without warning, the boy's left eye flickered strand of red lightning—changing into a single, sharp pulse of bright cyan light.
No portal opened. No energy hummed. Out of pure, empty air, two glowing cards materialized between his fingers. The boy flinched, pulling his hand back as if burned, looking down at the blank, shimmering borders in his palm.
"...What?" He whispered, his voice trembling.
His eye turned normal.
Vance never turned around. Unaware of the strange, silent frequency that had just rippled through the air behind him, he continued walking toward the sector boundary.
...
High above the central city, every massive monitor across all stadiums arenas cut to black simultaneously.
The grandstands erupted into instant confusion. Thousands of spectators leaned over the railings, a wave of anxious murmurs sweeping through the seats.
Down in the announcer's booth, Nico Smiley clutched his headset, shouting into his internal line. "Control! Control, what's going on?!"
"You're a professional, Nico! Figure it out!" Nakajima's stressed voice barked over the ear-comm. "We're experiencing widespread drone and telemetry glitches across the Junior Youth sectors! Divert their attention now! Shift to the Junior Class matches!"
Nico took a deep breath, slapped a professional smile onto his face, and threw his arms wide into the spotlight.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Please, do not be alarmed!" Nico's voice boomed over the speakers, smooth and rehearsed. "It seems our camera drones are having a friendly little technical debate with our mainframe! While our top engineering team handles the minor hardware updates, we are jumping straight to the highly anticipated Junior Class Rounds!"
The giant stadium screens flickered back to life, replacing the dead feeds with bright, colorful contestant brackets. On the top row, front and center, was the quiet, stern face of Riley Akaba.
The crowd's panic receded, replaced by cheered speculation. The illusion held.
# Eastern Zone: Volcano Area
On a high basalt ridge overlooking the lava channels, Ryo sat with his legs dangling over the edge, tapping through his Duel Disk's screen.
It displayed real-time tracking nodes. Celina was currently engaged in a subtle maneuver with Dennis in Sector 3; Yuzu was also there; Tsukikage and Hikage were holding defensive perimeters nearby them, ready to protect Celina.
Ryo's finger hovered over a direct line to Yuto's cipher number.
"Should I call him in...?" Ryo thought, his eyes tracking the red threat indicators spreading through Sector 4. "No. If Yuto steps into this city right now, if he gets into eye of LDS monitor, Reiji or Shun, everything I've built falls apart. He has to stay forgotten."
He closed the terminal, stood up, and brushed the ash from his jacket. Below the ridge he stood upon, twenty more Obelisk Force soldiers lay unconscious in the dirt, their disks wiped clean.
# Northern Zone: Ancient Ruins
The wind felt heavy, carrying the bitter stench of burning metal.
Shun stood in front of Yuya, his Duel Disk raised, ready to confront a newly materialized wave of Obelisk Force soldiers. But before he could step forward, a small, familiar figure stepped out from the center.
"Sora?!" Yuya gasped, taking an eager step toward his friend. "Sora, where have you been?! What's going on here? Who are these people?!"
Sora didn't smile. He didn't look at Yuya with his usual bright, playful eyes. His expression was cold, stripped of all warmth.
"I don't have time to waste on you, Yuya," Sora said, his voice completely flat. He raised his arm, pointing a finger straight at Shun. "I'm only here for the Xyz refugee. I want my revenge."
"Sora, stop!" Yuya yelled, his voice cracking. "What is all this?!"
Before Sora could reply, three local duelists wearing heavy, ornate knight armor burst through the stone archway.
"Senior Class!" The lead knight shouted, drawing his deck blade. "Intruders, halt!"
The three knights charged forward, engaging the Obelisk Force soldiers in an immediate duel. Yuya tried to step in, activating his own Duel Disk to support them, but the soldiers executed their turns with horrifying, mechanical efficiency.
Within two turns, the knights' Life Points were wiped out.
"We surrender!" The lead knight gasped, falling to his knees. "The match is over—"
The Obelisk Force raised their Duel Disks. Beams of light struck the fallen duelists.
Yuya watched, his eyes wide, his throat locked, as the three young men broke apart into yellow particles, condensed into three glossy cards, and fluttered into the lead soldier's hand.
The world around Yuya went completely silent.
The sound of the wind, Sora's voice, the distant hum—all of it faded into a suffocating, ringing void.
Then, the memories hit him.
They were not his.
Yuya gripped his head with both hands, collapsing to his knees as towering skyscrapers crumbled into rubble before his eyes.
He saw green parks consumed by fire and turning into ash.
He heard thousands of screams, crying children, crumbling... and above it all, a horrific, echoing laughter—cruel, poisonous, and utterly devoid of mercy.
Inside the dark expanse of Yuya's mind, Yuto was curled into a ball, his arms wrapped tightly around his waist. He wasn't crying. He was shaking violently, his chest heaving, until the grief in his eyes burned away, leaving only a dark, bottomless abyss of absolute rage.
Yuya stood up.
His red eyes had turned dark. His posture changed—rigid, cold, and heavy.
"You..." Yuya whispered.
The voice was not Yuya's soft, expressive tone. The accent was sharper, darker, carrying the cold weight of a survivor who had lost everything.
"You brought that laughter here too."
The lead Obelisk Force soldier turned toward Yuya. "Target displaying abnormal energy signature. Engaging."
"I Pendulum summon with my current scale."
Three beams of light hit the stone floor. Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon appeared along with tow level 4 monsters.
"I create overly network. I Xyz summon using my two level 4 monsters."
A rageful galaxy was formed on ground, absorbing the two little monsters.
A dragon erupted from there, roaring with strength and raw power.
"Using my Pendulum effect of Xhiangsheng Magician." Yuto's voice echoed, cold and merciless. "I target Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon! Its Rank is treated as a Level! Dark Rebellion becomes a Level 4 monster."
"...Yuto?" Shun whispered, his voice cracking. As if his eyes were playing game with him.
The dark Xyz dragon roared as a arrow of light pierced it, its Rank 4 overlay markers transforming into Level 4 star-nodes.
"Then I activate the effect of Xiangke Magician!" Yuya's voice echoed, energetic and blood-thirsty. "I target any level monster and change it to a level of another monster on field, I choose Dark Rebellion and change it's level to level 7, same as Odd-eyes!
"I overlay the Level 7 Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and the Level 7 Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon!"
"Overlaying?!" Shun gasped, his eyes wide with shock. "An Xyz Monster... used as Xyz Material to Xyz summon?! Not rank up!?"
Yuya raised his hand toward the darkening sky, his dark eyes flashing with lethal intent.
"Dragon with dichromatic eyes! Resurrect from the deep darkness and scorch everything in your path with the pitch-black flames of wrath!"
A massive galaxy of dark crimson and purple fire blasted from the ground.
"Rank 7! Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon!"
The dragon burst from the flames. Snaked out from its metallic shoulders, its massive black wings lined with glowing blades, both of its eyes burning with an unholy light.
"When this card is Xyz Summoned using an Xyz Monster as material," Yuto growled, his hand pointing forward like a executioner's blade, declaring the effect and attacking everyone of Obelisk Force.
"What?!" The Obelisk soldiers synthesized in unison.
"SUPREME KING'S SWEEP!"
Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon swept its razor wings through the air. A shockwave of crimson energy tore through the amphitheater, instantly obliterating every Ancient Gear monster on the field.
The resulting explosion swept across the battle line, reducing all three soldiers' Life Points to zero in a single, devastating fraction of a second. The soldiers collapsed like ragdolls, their Duel Disks shattering against the stone floor.
# LDS
In the LDS Main Control Room, the door slid open with a metallic hiss.
Shingo Sawatari strutted inside, accompanied by two high-ranking city officials. His usual grin absent.
Reiji didn't turn around from the command console. "Sawatari Shingo. How did you gain access to this floor?"
"My papa's authority, of course!" Sawatari boasted, though his eyes darted nervously toward the rows of red warning screens. "Look, what is going on out there? The screens went dark as I was watching the duels?!"
Reiji turned slowly. His face was unreadable. He stepped toward his desk, unlocked a heavy metal briefcase, and pulled out a sleek, newly assembled deck from many decks.
He held it out to Sawatari.
Sawatari blinked, his cocky expression hesitating. "What's this?"
"A new Deck," Reiji said softly. "Customized for your duel profile. Sawatari... I am authorizing your immediate reentry into the Battle Royal."
Sawatari's mouth twitched into a sly, mischievous smirk. "A new Deck? From you directly? So... those weird guys who dropped into the field before the cameras cut out... this isn't part of the show, is it?"
Reiji remained silent.
"You want me to take them down," Sawatari said, his tone dropping its usual theatrical whining, replaced by a sharp, ambitious edge. "Is this the test?"
"If you can prove your utility on the field, take down as many of them as possible and save all the contestants," Reiji replied calmly, "you will earn a place in the Lancers, an LDS elite team. The choice is yours."
Sawatari snatched the deck from Reiji's hand with a confident grin. "Consider it taken care of." He turned on his heel and marched out of the control room. Along with those two officials.
Nakajima stepped up to Reiji's side, dripping with sweat. "President... is this wise? If the public finds out we sent an already eliminated contestant back out there—"
"The public's questions are our last concern," Reiji cut him off, staring back at the map where Odd-Eyes Rebellion's mass energy signature was slowly fading. "Right now, we defend Standard Dimension. And if Sawatari Shingo possesses the strength to help, he will be an asset."
# Northern Zone: Volcano Area
Three blocks away from the eastern arena perimeter, the streets were deserted.
Vance had left the mysterious boy near the alleyway behind an old, three-story game store.
"Stay here," Vance had instructed before disappearing into the mist. "Keep out of sight."
The boy squatted behind a row of industrial recycling bins, clutching his knees. But inside his pant pocket, the two newly formed cards began to pulse with a warm, steady rhythm.
It wasn't a sound. It was a pull.
Without realizing it, his legs moved on their own. He stood up, stepped out of the shadow of the alley, and pushed open the back door of the game store.
The shop was empty, the owner having arrived at stadium to watch duel. Long rows of glass cases and cardboard displays stretched through the dim light.
The boy walked slowly, as if guided by an invisible thread, straight to the far corner of the store.
On the bottom shelf of a black display rack sat a single, unopened box. It was a Structure Deck set—packaged in a sleek, pitch-black cardboard cover, bundled with a promotional, high-gloss white Duel Disk.
The boy stopped in front of it.
Inside his pocket, the two mysterious cards burst with a soft, cyan light, shining brightly through the fabric of his pants.
His hand reached out on its own, his fingers brushing against the cold plastic wrapping of the black box.
The white Duel Disk remained silent. The unopened deck remained ordinary.
Yet, as the boy's fingers closed around the box, the plastic wrapping around the Structure Deck split open by itself with a faint, crisp snap.
Deep within the card stock, the two unknown cards in his pocket pulsed once. Then twice.
With the silent game store witnessing this.