The duel ended.
At the moment Muddy Mudragon's Life Points reached zero, the entire cave was shaken by a violent tremor.
Rubble and stalactites fell from the sky, and suddenly, lines of patterns lit up on the ground. These patterns encircled the ground, slowly forming a shape, emitting a fluorescent glow.
Presumably, this was the reason why Muddy Mudragon couldn't leave.
Tenjo Hikari casually picked up the Netherworld Dragon from the Duel Disk, and the Netherworld Dragon began to fly around the entire cave.
Its dragon wings, resembling a skeleton at this moment, were like angel wings, completely eradicating the cold atmosphere on the ground.
After a while, the lines on the ground entirely disappeared, and everything returned to peace.
The Duel Dragon once again pummeled the Earthbound Immortal.
Although it didn't seem to be an Earthbound Immortal per se.
"Oh oh! What's that?" Muddy Mudragon flew up to Tenjo Hikari, curiously asking.
"It's the S Dimension's Duel Dragon." Tenjo Hikari held up the card in his hand, within which the fierce-looking dragon burped lightly and chuckled contentedly.
"Duel Dragon?" The students from the Fusion Department looked at each other in confusion; it was their first time hearing such a term.
"It's a unique concept from the S Dimension, representing the source of dueling in their world, I suppose?" Tenjo Hikari didn't explain much further, "It's the power of their world's Supreme God."
Supreme God, huh...
Several students exclaimed in amazement.
"The Red Dragon..." Muddy Mudragon landed in front of Tenjo Hikari, recalling as it spoke. The strange feeling earlier was clearly the Red Dragon's power shining on it once more.
So, it seized the opportunity to start telling its story to Tenjo Hikari and the young of its tribe.
Many years ago, when it was still full of energy and curious about everything.
At that time, the Spirit Realm was still a whole, making it not as difficult to travel to different human dimensions as it is now.
Back then, in pursuit of what it understood as fusion, it came to a bizarre dimension.
Just as it said, in that dimension, the human warriors didn't duel on the ground but rode horses, performing rituals around some kind of altar.
Later, it discovered that those humans weren't simply running around mindlessly; they were dueling on tracks designed with specific patterns.
And when it realized this, the Evil God appeared before it.
It was a god called Earthbound Immortal, possessing the ability to control life and death, capable of reviving the deceased.
"Huh?" Tierra, listening nearby, couldn't help but question.
Encountering the Cosmic God of destruction just a moment ago, and now meeting the Otherworld God of life and death?
"To my knowledge, that's only a small part of their ability." Tenjo Hikari didn't respond to Tierra but continued speaking.
Muddy Mudragon nodded, continuing to explain.
Indeed.
That's just a small part of the Earthbound Immortals' power.
They can even control time, and their greatest power isn't these extraordinary powers, but their mastery over the "Power of Synchro."
"..." Tierra no longer wanted to comment on such things.
Clearly, controlling time and altering life and death are more outrageous, but in the hearts of humans and Spirits, the power of duels always surpasses these.
"I was targeted by the Evil Gods, and just when I was about to become their prisoner, the Red Dragon appeared. Perhaps it sensed my inner thoughts and bestowed upon me the power of Synchro," Muddy Mudragon contemplated, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to escape so easily."
As a Monster of pure Fusion-Type lineage, obtaining the Power of Synchro through mere cultivation was impossible.
There wasn't that kind of opportunity or space.
It was the Red Dragon's power that allowed Muddy Mudragon to Synchro, giving its kind a new direction for evolution.
"So, you are the first Synchro Monster of the Swapmound Tribe?" Kagurazaka caught onto the detail.
Muddy Mudragon nodded.
"Wow..." The students marveled.
However, Tenjo Hikari wasn't that surprised.
He had encountered similar situations before; the Thunder Dragon Colossus was the first Thunder Dragon of the Thunder-Type.
They marveled at the Red Dragon's might and kindness, but in reality, these were just a small demonstration of the Red Dragon's divine power.
In the original work, the Red Dragon is almost an all-powerful entity capable of more than just reviving, time-stopping, and space-hopping as minor skills.
It possesses an invincible special ability—Time Jump.
It can grant Fudou Yusei the power to traverse time, letting him travel to times decades, even hundreds of years in the past, to seek assistance to defeat enemies.
It's worth noting, this was a power that the Future Group expended their entire lives to acquire, but for the Red Dragon, being a god, it was enough to accomplish such feats easily.
"Although the shadow-like force that follows me has been dealt with." Muddy Mudragon told Tenjo Hikari, "As long as I'm here, one day, you'll be targeted by those Earthbound Immortals."
"It doesn't matter." Tenjo Hikari looked at the Netherworld Dragon in his hand.
Ever since acquiring the Netherworld Dragon, Tenjo Hikari knew he'd never be able to unwind, having undoubtedly already become embroiled in the struggles of the Earthbound Immortals; it was only a matter of time.
However, Tenjo Hikari would not forsake any companion on the Path of Fusion.
Even in the duels, the appearances of the Netherworld Dragon became more frequent, possibly hinting to Tenjo Hikari that he would indeed have to head to the S Dimension.
But—
Before that, he couldn't just abandon everything and leave.
The Critical Point situation wasn't too dire, but it certainly wasn't reassuring either.
He didn't want to return from a trip to the Synchro Dimension to find this dimension already ruled by the Supreme King Army, with Yubel playing house with Judai.
"More importantly, what about your side?" Tenjo Hikari pointed to the Baby Mudragons and the other young Spirits around, "Are you really leaving here?"
"Haha—don't worry about that." Muddy Mudragon chuckled in response to Tenjo Hikari's words, "Over the years, the successor has long been chosen. They might even be wondering why I'm not already gone."
"Teacher, what are you saying!" In the group of Spirits, there was a rather robust Muddragon, bearing a strong resemblance to Muddy Mudragon but much smaller, raising a claw and shouting.
Muddy Mudragon had clearly wanted to venture out for a long time from being cooped up in one place. Tenjo Hikari rejoiced and shook hands with Muddy Mudragon.
Though a Synchro Monster, it's also an all-purpose Fusion Material and still located in the extra deck—a summonable Fusion Material at any time!
More importantly, Tenjo Hikari's control over Super Polymerization had grown stronger; previously, it could even be used in a proxy duel with Wave of Light, so now there was no fear of the "Universal Fusion Material" being haphazardly fused.