"Come. Show me your Duel, interdimensional human."
'It can talk?'
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
"My turn. Draw."
Thankfully, the opponent didn't insist on the Riding Duel format popular in this world, but initiated a standard Duel instead.
Though he couldn't identify what this thing was, and couldn't use his preferred "intel-based Duel" strategy, Hikaru wasn't particularly concerned.
He glanced at his hand and played a card, "I activate the Field Spell, Fusion Recycling Plant."
The sound of clanging filled the air. Swarms of drones hovered over the field, beginning their work.
"Fusion Recycling Plant's effect activates: by discarding a card from my hand, I can add one Polymerization from my Deck or Graveyard to my hand."
He discarded a card and added Fusion Substitute to his hand.
"Next, I Normal Summon, Elemental HERO Prisma."
A crystalline warrior with wing-like appendages materialized on Hikaru's field.
"Once per turn: I reveal a Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck, then send a Fusion Material listed on it from my Deck to the Graveyard. Prisma's name becomes that card's until the end of the turn.
I reveal Thunder Dragon Colossus and send Thunder Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard."
"Hmm… A universal Fusion material? That is quite powerful," the Skull Knight said, amused. "Proceed with your Duel, interdimensional human."
He seemed totally unfazed, confident, even.
Hikaru frowned. He still couldn't get a read on the opponent, but that was fine.
"I activate the Spell Card, Thunder Dragon Fusion!"
He flipped another card.
"This lets me return monsters from my field, Graveyard, or banished zone to the Deck to Fusion Summon a Thunder Fusion Monster!"
Squinting, Hikaru raised a clenched fist like lightning striking.
"Step into the realm of evolved Fusion, Fusion Summon!
"Thunder Dragon Colossus!"
BOOM!
Lightning crashed from above. A shadowy black dragon slowly emerged from the mist.
[Thunder Dragon Colossus] Level 8│DARK│Thunder│2600 ATK
"Oh ho...an imposing monster indeed," the Skull Knight said, unfazed.
"You seem awfully confident," Hikaru said, eyeing him. "But is it confidence... or the arrogance of a nobleman?
"I activate the effect of Metalfoes Fusion in the Graveyard: I shuffle it into the Deck to draw one card."
He drew and set a card.
"Set one. End turn."
"Ahhh..."
The Skull Knight chuckled, faint blue flames curling from his lips.
"My turn. Draw."
As he spoke, Hikaru saw his body suddenly swell. The skull face loomed directly in front of him, like it might devour him whole.
Hikaru crouched instinctively. A wave of death and darkness washed over him, sparking a fear he couldn't explain. It vanished as fast as it came, still, he now knew for sure: this opponent was no ordinary spirit.
Tierra clapped her hands sharply.
In a flash, she summoned Infernoid Pirmais.
The arrival of the demon gave Hikaru a protective buffer. The black demon burned with eerie flames, repelling much of the deathly aura.
The Skull Knight let out a bizarre "jeh-jeh" cackle. It was the first time Hikaru had ever heard such a chilling laugh in real life.
"As I suspected from days of watching..."
That confirmed Hikaru's suspicion.
This guy had been stalking him, waiting for him to be alone.
"The darkness in you is far greater than I imagined. It may lack that 'ultimate blackness,' but the evil power within, yes, it suits my criteria."
He laughed eerily again, jaw clicking so hard it seemed it might literally fall off.
'Evil power?'
Hikaru glanced at Tierra, who shrugged.
She didn't differentiate between good and evil. Her actions came from divine duty. However, to humans, her power and creations were clearly "evil."
Just like how Leo Akaba had sensed darkness when she possessed Kaname Kanbayashi, now with Infernoid Pirmais added to the mix, it was no wonder she and Hikaru looked like villains.
Apparently, the Skull Knight saw him as a user of dark interdimensional powers, and came specifically for that.
"My turn, human. Behold a Fusion of the dead."
'What?'
Hikaru thought he had misheard.
In the S-Dimension, in what was clearly a fusion of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and Arc-V, a Synchro-dominant world, this guy was using Fusion?
He froze.
The opponent was already moving.
"If my opponent controls a monster and I don't, I can Special Summon this!
"Come forth, my soldier!
"Special Summon, Ghost Lancer, the Underworld Spearman!"
A skeletal warrior spinning a spear leapt onto the field.
[Ghost Lancer, Spectral Flame Lancer] Level 5│DARK│Zombie│2000 ATK
'Ghost Lancer…'
'Wait.'
Hikaru suddenly realized who his opponent was.
There was only one person who used this Deck, Roman Goodwin!
The older brother of Rex Godwin!
So it was the Skull Knight. Not just a Duel Spirit.
'But... how!?'
Hikaru was stunned.
All his talks with Yusei and Yugo confirmed that this world was based on the 5D's anime.
So why was a manga-exclusive character here!?
Even so, he came to accept it…
Why not? This world's Chazz was Kaiba's disciple after all.
"Next, I activate the Spell Card, Ghost Fusion!"
He played a Spell card featuring a spinning skull and dragon.
Hikaru's eyes widened.
"This lets me fuse my on-field monster with a Zombie from my Graveyard or Deck!"
'No way, original Ghost Fusion!'
Hikaru's collector heart ignited.
"I fuse Ghost Lancer on the field with Ghost Wyvern, the Underworld Dragon from the Deck!"
The skeleton warrior and the deathly dragon transformed into swirling bones, rising into the air.
"With the souls of two departed, I summon a dragon from the underworld!"
The previously calm sky fractured like glass as a massive dragon with a skeletal face clawed at the air.
"Break open the gates of the underworld!"
The dragon rammed its skull into the sky, cracking it into a black vortex.
Hikaru felt short of breath. Tierra frowned and raised her hand, sending out strings to expand Pirmais's body, pushing back the oppressive aura.
"Ghost Fusion Summon!
"Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon!"
...
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