The finals moved into the second stage of the revival bracket. Yes, every duelist here had already lost once, but each still brought a distinctive edge to the table, so the matches never dragged.
After all, you almost never see duels this intense in everyday life.
That said, with the second wave of play-ins underway, so of the busier people in attendance naturally had their eyes on matters they considered more important.
For example: a certain man who'd been watching the entire tournant.
"Big brother, we've discovered a new Dinsion." Mokuba Kaiba patched through to Seto Kaiba, then stepped aside so staff could begin the briefing.
Kaiba stood in a tower lobby, facing a wall of glass and looking down on the grounds below.
Yes, Seto Kaiba had been on-site the whole ti, watching the finals in person.
He'd co as soon as he finished lighting a fire under Chazz Princeton.
He'd known about the Dark World incursion earlier. To him, that was no crisis; if anything, it was preferable.
How else are greenhouse-raised students supposed to beco real duelists without being tempered?
With no outside evil pressing in, they'd never learn to improve.
If they can't even hold the line against a band of Fiends, they're better off going ho and living as strays.
In truth, he'd been a little dissatisfied with how it all turned out.
Students like Amagi Hikaru, Jaden Yuki, and Zane Truesdale were simply too strong, so far beyond the average that only a handful ever faced any real danger.
It didn't matter.
He wouldn't waste ti observing students who couldn't seize an opportunity when it was handed to them.
At least the Dark World incident made for a solid report card. In his mind, anyone who showed up and acted during the crisis would get extra credit where it counted; people forget, but Seto Kaiba is one of Duel Academy's founders.
He usually left the daily running of each branch to its principal, but if he was physically present, he paid attention.
Just like Hikaru asking after a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Kaiba knew about it soon enough; he wasn't in this Dinsion just to feed a card habit.
Beyond Hikaru, Jaden, Zane, and a few others he'd already tagged, he'd also marked several promising new faces.
Atticus Rhodes, Axel Brodie, Jim "Crocodile" Cook, and Syrus Truesdale all looked good. Syrus was still a bit green, but he was the Kaiser's kid brother, there was talent there. Of the bunch, the one who surprised him most was Atticus.
A pleasant surprise.
The rest? Passable.
They were Duel Academy's students, after all, not duelists who had walked out of ordinary schools of their own will and fought against forces that defied explanation.
Kaiba didn't care about most things, but he did want to see more duelists with soul.
For now, though, it was ti to hear about that new Dinsion. He already knew Mokuba wasn't talking about a Spirit World, those "discoveries" popped up daily.
If Mokuba was calling him directly, then this had to be a human world.
"President, the Dinsion calls itself the Standard Dinsion," the staffer began.
'Standard?'
Kaiba's brow creased.
"It's a peculiar one," the man continued, shuffling papers. "They don't have our dinsional transit tech, but they seem aware it exists elsewhere, and they've got a protective system a bit like the Xyz Dinsion's. They also possess mature Solid Vision technology."
"Oh?" Kaiba's interest lifted.
KaibaCorp had been targeting Solid Vision in its recent R&D, and here this so-called Standard Dinsion was, already fielding a refined version.
"So of their people seem well-versed in other Dinsions. They not only call their own world the Standard Dinsion, but refer to us as the Fusion Dinsion, and they know about the Synchro Dinsion and the Xyz Dinsion as well."
"Ridiculous," Kaiba snorted.
They themselves had taken to calling the others X and S, just labels, the sa way the other two sotis called them the F Dinsion.
But naming a whole world after a summoning thod? Unqualified.
A Dinsion isn't defined by a single chanic. Even the Xyz and Synchro worlds can perform Fusion. If you're going to let cards stand for a Dinsion, then at least choose its most symbolic card, or so singular feature worthy of the na.
"If you absolutely had to label a whole world by cards, then ours should be the 'Egyptian God' Dinsion, and the S-Dinsion the 'Turbo Duel' Dinsion," Seto Kaiba said dryly. "If you're desperate for placeholders, try 'Transit Dinsion' or 'Perpetual-Motion Machine Dinsion.' But 'Xyz' and 'Synchro' as world nas? Idiotic."
A true Duelist should understand all possibilities.
"Furthermore, what about Ritual Summoning?"
"They're even more standoffish than the S-Dinsion," a staffer reported over Mokuba's link. "Communication is difficult."
"Heh. Then we take it slow. Sa as before, once we've built enough rapport, then we inform the public."
"Yes, sir."
"Anything else? Any summoning thod we haven't seen?"
"Uh… no. Their Dinsion studies Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz concurrently."
"Then 'Hybrid' would fit better." Kaiba waved it off. "Forget naming for now. We'll settle it when we open formal talks."
"Yes!"
The "official story" always said they had suddenly encountered another Dinsion, then began exchanges, then told the dia. Reality was never that simple.
Even Kaiba couldn't guarantee another human world was friendly.
Likewise;
The people of the Standard Dinsion couldn't be sure the outsiders were friendly, either.
Inside a vast laboratory, a tall, expressionless young man adjusted his glasses. A long red scarf fluttered at his neck.
His na was Declan Akaba.
Everyone knew the profile: Leo Akaba's son, president of Leo Corporation, founder of LDS, the Standard Dinsion's prodigy, ever preparing to resist his father's invasion.
Declan's face was grim.
He replayed his earlier exchange with the interdinsional visitors.
A company he'd never heard of: Kaiba Corporation.
His intel was thin. Aside from an experint years ago that accidentally dumped him into the Fusion Dinsion, he had almost never succeeded in crossing himself, so his knowledge was limited. He knew only that his father intended to launch the ARC-V Project to subjugate all Dinsions.
This world, after all, had been discovered by humans from elsewhere.
He was worried.
Because he'd been to the Fusion Dinsion, he knew what his own world lacked, sothing dangerous yet necessary: spirit power.
Their Solid Vision was highly advanced, but compared to the supernatural might of spirits, Solid Vision was unwieldy and far less destructive.
And although Leo Corp had pushed the populace to learn stronger techniques, Synchro, Fusion, Xyz, decades of imrsion in those arts had left other worlds far ahead. Their cards were stronger, and so was their power.
Even if KaibaCorp wasn't a militaristic evil like his father's, how could different Dinsions easily trust one another?
As the one privy to his world's secret, he had to prepare.
"How about it, mortal?"
As he sank into thought, a figure rippled into view on the polished glass before him.
A young mage with red twin-tails, staff in hand.
Had Amagi Hikaru been present, he would have recognized her at a glance: Gishki Emilia.
Declan didn't know the card, but he knew, more clearly still, that what stood before him wasn't a re card. It was sothing older, more elusive.
A god.
Emilia's voice held no emotion. She didn't seem to expect Declan Akaba to answer at all, only to wear a convenient shape while descending here to speak with him.
Declan stayed quiet for a ti.
A little over half a month ago, this deity had abruptly appeared in the Standard Dinsion. Their world seed "directly linked" to another, and because cards related to her existed here, she had manifested outright.
She approached Declan at once: she could grant power, in return, he would gather "all kinds of power" to help resurrect her.
Her conditions were many, and Declan happened to be the kind of human who could adapt to every summoning thod and every type of spirit power. So she had sought him out and chosen him as her "priest."
If he accepted, the deity would supply this Dinsion with cards saturated in spirit power. In exchange, he need only direct the duelists under him to collect diverse summoning energies for her.
On paper, it was a good bargain. What their world lacked most was the power of spirits.
And the drain she demanded, Duel Energy, would at worst tire a duelist, not endanger their life. Her influence was not a violent seizure but a slow pressure.
Even so… Declan could feel she was no benevolent or gentle god.
Agreeing would be to turn the humans of this world into her laborers, or worse, thralls, their power bled away without ever knowing.
But if he refused, what other choice did he have?
He pushed his glasses. The lenses flashed.
"I can promote the cards you provide across our Duel Disks," he said at last, voice low. "And I'll make it clear that learning stronger 'Duels' will cost more energy and effort."
A step back; no lies.
If people chose to beco workers with open eyes, if they understood that greater strength demands greater power and strain, then it was at least a cooperation on honest terms.
The deity offered no reply. Her image unraveled from the glass. As she faded, three sets of cards, wrapped in alternating black and white light, floated down out of the void and arrived in this world.
A Gem-Knight Fusion Deck.
An X-Saber Synchro Deck.
A Constellar Xyz Deck.
"One of each, hm—"
He pushed his glasses again. White glinted along the rim. He said nothing.
He still didn't know whether Yusho Sakaki had made it to the Fusion Dinsion using the dinsional device, or why there had been no contact since.
...
Stones Plzz
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