"Come now—show me, human from another dimension. Show me your Duel."
It could speak?
Hikaru Amagi raised an eyebrow.
"My turn. Draw."
Thankfully, his opponent wasn't initiating this world's trend of Turbo Duels—it was a standard Duel.
He couldn't tell what this thing was, and that meant his strongest skill—intelligence dueling—was off the table. But Hikaru didn't let it bother him.
He studied his hand, then raised a card. "I activate the Field Spell—Fusion Recycling Plant."
A mechanical hum filled the air. Countless drones whirred to life and began moving across the field, small metallic limbs adjusting unseen systems.
"Fusion Recycling Plant's effect activates. I discard one card to add a [Polymerization] Spell from my Deck or Graveyard to my hand. I add Fusion Substitute from my Deck to my hand."
He searched his Deck, then held up another card. "Normal Summon—Elemental HERO Prisma!"
A crystal-bodied warrior with wing-like shards of glass materialized, radiating refracted light.
"Once per turn: I reveal a Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck and send one of its listed Fusion Materials from my Deck to the Graveyard. Until the End Phase, Prisma's name becomes that monster's."
"I reveal Thunderstorm Fusion Dragon from my Extra Deck and send Thunder Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard."
"Oh? A universal Fusion material… quite powerful as a base." The Skull Knight watched the card resolve, nodding slightly. "Continue, human from another dimension."
He sounded calm. Too calm. Confident.
Hikaru frowned. He still couldn't get a read on him, but at this point, it didn't matter.
"I activate the Spell Card—Thunder Dragon Fusion!"
He flipped the card for his opponent to see.
"This lets me Fusion Summon a Thunder Fusion Monster using monsters from my field, Graveyard, or that are banished, returning them to the Deck."
Hikaru narrowed his eyes and raised his hand, clenching it into a fist that sparked with electricity.
"Transcending the limits of Fusion—Fusion Summon!"
Thunderstorm Fusion Dragon!
Boom!
A crack of lightning split the sky. From within the fog, a massive shadow emerged, dark and coiled, its body pulsing with electric fury.
Thunderstorm Fusion Dragon – Level 8 – DARK – Thunder-Type – ATK 2600
"Oho… now that's a monster with presence," the Skull Knight chuckled, still utterly unfazed.
"You sure seem confident," Hikaru said, watching him. "Though I'm not sure if that's courage—or the same arrogance the nobles always have."
"I activate the effect of Fusion Substitute from my Graveyard. I shuffle it into the Deck, then draw one card."
He drew, glanced at it, and set one card face-down.
"I set one card. Turn end."
"Heh heh heh…"
The Skull Knight laughed. Wisps of blue ghostly flame curled from between his skeletal teeth.
"My turn. Draw—"
Even as he spoke, his form suddenly loomed. To Hikaru's eyes, the knight's massive skull filled the air, looming as if to swallow him whole.
A chill of death seeped into his bones.
He clenched his jaw and bent slightly forward. The darkness surrounding the knight brought a visceral terror with it—fast to come, fast to vanish—but enough to confirm the danger.
Tiara, watching from nearby, suddenly clapped her hands with a sharp snap and summoned Infernal Machine – Satan.
The fiend appeared in a cloud of oily flame, its form towering behind Hikaru, pushing back the oppressive death aura with its own vile energy.
"Chkkhh… khhk…" The Skull Knight cackled—an unearthly rasp that twisted the air. Hikaru flinched; it was the first time he'd heard such a sound in reality.
"So… my days of observation were not wasted."
Hikaru's expression darkened. So he'd been right.
This thing had been watching him for days—waiting for the moment he'd be alone to strike.
"The darkness within you… it's even deeper than I expected. Not total, not pure, but wicked… wicked enough."
The Skull Knight's jaw creaked grotesquely with each word. Hikaru half expected it to fall off mid-sentence.
"Dark power…?"
He glanced at Tiara.
She simply shrugged.
She didn't operate by human notions of good and evil. Her actions back in her own world had been driven by divine duty. But to humans? Her powers—her creations—were unmistakably evil.
When Reiji Akaba had once been possessed by Shinrin the Divine, he'd said as much. Now with Satan on his side too, it was no surprise others saw Hikaru as the villain.
The Skull Knight clearly did. And that's why he'd come.
"My turn, human. Let me show you—Fusion of the Dead!"
…!?
What the hell?
Hikaru stared, stunned.
In Synchro World—a blend of 5D's and Arc-V logic—someone was using Fusion?
He blinked, stunned, as the Knight began his play.
"If my field is empty and you control a monster, I can Special Summon this card!"
"Come, my soldier!"
"Special Summon—Hellfire Lance Phantom – Ghoul Lancer!"
A skeletal warrior spun a barbed lance as it leapt into view.
Ghoul Lancer – Level 5 – DARK – Zombie – ATK 2000
Ghoul…?
Wait.
Suddenly, Hikaru understood.
There was only one duelist who used this deck—Roman Goodwin, Rex Goodwin's brother.
So it really was "Skull Knight." Not a spirit. Not a metaphor. The actual Roman.
But how?
He froze for a moment.
Everything so far had lined up with the 5D's anime. He'd been dealing with Yusei, Yugo, Rin—how was a manga-only character showing up?
Then he remembered.
This world's Chazz Princeton was Kaiba's apprentice.
Nothing was off the table.
"Next—Spell Card—Necro Fusion!"
He threw down a card depicting a dragon and a skeleton spinning in unison.
Hikaru's eyes widened.
"That card…!"
Necro Fusion! The original version! Not the watered-down TCG effect—it allowed Fusion Summoning using monsters from the field and from the Deck or Graveyard without restriction.
The full-fusion collector in Hikaru was instantly hyped.
"I fuse my Ghoul Lancer on the field with Necro Wyvern from my Deck!"
On the field, the skeleton erupted into bone splinters. From the Deck, a second set of remains spiraled into the air.
"Two souls of the dead—become one dragon of the underworld!"
Cracks spidered across the sky like glass shattering. A monstrous skeletal dragon pounded at the barrier from beyond.
"Break open the gates of the underworld!"
With a sickening crack, the dragon slammed its skull into the fabric of the world. A vortex opened—darkness tore reality apart.
Hikaru's breath caught. He staggered. Tiara furrowed her brow and lifted her arms—thousands of puppet strings erupted into the air, merging into Satan and enlarging his frame, shielding Hikaru from the soul-crushing pressure.
"Necro Fusion Summon—!"
Underworld Dragon – Necrodeath!