[Godwin, LP 0]
"How could... this happen..."
The last bit of his blood taken away by the burning effect of the Black Necklace, Godwin felt his body was continuously falling, falling...
Plummeting endlessly into a bottomless abyss.
Even now, looking at the Duel Disc showing his Life Points at zero, Godwin still found it incredible.
No, this can't be, it shouldn't be this way. He had already acquired the power of the Ultimate Earth-Bound God and became the strongest god. He abandoned everything as a human, even his life—he willingly died once, only this way could he become a Dark Signer and gain the power of the Earth-Bound God.
He sacrificed everything, reaching the pinnacle of despair and solitude. Because he believed only this way could he gain the ultimate power, become a complete god, and then use this strongest god's power to break fate.
The Red Dragon chooses five Dragon Sealers in the world to confront the Dark Markers selected by the "King of the Netherworld," who wants to destroy humanity. The legend says this is a fate that human beings have been endlessly cycling through since ancient times, and each cycle, innocent people are pulled in and become sacrifices.
Godwin and his brother were among them.
So he wanted to gain the powers of both the Red Dragon and the King of the Netherworld, thinking that with that power, he could reshape the entire world and break fate.
But now, even though he had obtained the strongest Earth-Bound God's power, he still lost. And ironically, technically, he should have lost due to his proud Earth-Bound God's effect.
The strongest ability of Earth-Bound God - Viracocha Raska is to directly reduce the opponent's Life Points to 1.
A grand reversal puzzle...
A goddamn grand reversal puzzle.
Would any decent person bring such a card!?
Godwin felt cold in his hands and feet, as if recalling the moment his life faded when he became a Dark Signer. Having died once, he could feel the passage of life and his own powerlessness more clearly.
Desperately looking at the boy who was calmly packing up the Duel Disc, still with that slightly eerie smile, as if he had just done something trivial.
The towering Earth-Bound God - Viracocha Raska appeared outside the window, absorbing a large amount of souls from the surrounding area during its appearance. Normally, seeing such a sight would scare anyone stiff.
But this person kept that expression all along, as if everything was under control... no, from the result, it seemed everything was indeed under his control.
Right, this boy obviously knew the effect of the Earth-Bound God from the start. This grand reversal puzzle tactic was clearly aimed at his Earth-Bound God from the beginning.
He had been waiting for him to summon the Earth-Bound God, waiting for him to reduce his Life Points to 1. At the moment he activated Viracocha Raska's effect, his defeat was already determined.
Of course, now that Godwin had been defeated and the Earth-Bound God had fallen, the souls absorbed during the duel were automatically released and returned. It was late at night, and many of those whose souls were taken were still dreaming, unaware of what had happened before being returned. They would likely wake up the next morning thinking they had a very abstract nightmare last night.
Godwin had completely lost his strength, his knees buckling and collapsing to the ground, looking up laboriously at Yugen, unable to restrain from asking: "Are you... really the will of the world sent to obstruct me?"
Once again, he profoundly felt the insignificance and powerlessness of a mere human before fate. Even having acquired divine power, nothing was changed.
"The world's will? Who knows, maybe." Yugen shrugged, "But I didn't lie. I come from another dimension, just passing by...
And had some questions to ask you."
"You want to ask where I really come from, don't you?" Godwin sighed, "Indeed, in this timeline, Rex Godwin is already dead.
You're sharp... though I don't know how you realized it.
I come from a slightly future time, a time where I should have been ended, where all of my plans had been completely destroyed."
Yugen asked, "By Yusei Fudo?"
Godwin nodded.
"For thousands, even tens of thousands of years, the Red Dragon and the King of the Netherworld have been opposing each other, constantly warring. I wanted to end this. My plan succeeded, I obtained the power of both the Red Dragon and the King of the Netherworld.
All the Dragon Seals and Dark Marks concentrated on me.
But then, Yusei Fudo and his companions came to stop me, and we had the ultimate Riding Duel."
"Then you lost," Yugen said.
Up to here, it sounds like the original plot of the 5DS anime. Yusei finally fired up the Red Dragon Card Printer, printed a freshly-inked "World-Saving Star Dragon," and sent Godwin and the Earth-Bound God directly to Paradise.
Here marks the end of the first phase of the 5DS storyline. It turns out that Yugen's previous speculations were correct, the Godwin before him came from a slightly distant future, a time where he had already been defeated by Yusei and others.
"But right after I was defeated, 'he' appeared."
Godwin said solemnly.
Yugen asked, "Who?"
Godwin just shook his head.
"I don't know. He never showed his face, I never saw what he really looked like," Godwin said. "After I failed, I felt I was in darkness, my consciousness almost fading away.
But then, that voice appeared. It told me this wasn't the end.
If I wanted, I could have a second chance, I could do it all over again. This time, everything would be different."
Yugen said, "And then you returned to the present?"
"No, to be more precise, it was about a week ago," Godwin said. "I killed the me in this timeline and took his place.
That voice told me I was doing it wrong. To overthrow this world and reshape everything, my methods were too gentle, too conservative. By eliminating all the Dragon Sealers and Dark Markers, it would ensure the world would be reshaped according to my wishes, ensuring Dragon Sealers and Dark Markers would never appear again."
Yugen pondered, "So it was that voice that instigated you."
Godwin had no clue about the true nature of that mysterious power, but Yugen had some guess.
When he first entered, he felt the aura from Godwin was somewhat familiar, likely the aura from the power left by the one who sent him through time. The Evil Gods said it was similar to the one who claimed to unseal them, perhaps it was the same person, or at least connected.
It seemed that guy really was busy, with a wide scope of business, causing trouble in more than just one world.
At this moment, urgent footsteps and a sharp voice were heard from outside the door.
"Officer! What just happened!?"