So It Was You!

When radiance filled the world, shadows always spread.

When evil ruled the world, radiance would rise again.

When a monster that was not among the dead seized power and carried out tyrannical rule through violence and selfish desire, a soul acknowledged by the Black Dragon fell into this world.

On a crimson battlefield where flames and blood intertwined, the black Holy Knight swore to Red-Eyes with his blade:

"I will save you—and this world."

Beneath a sky shrouded in miasma lay a field of crimson.

The world seemed unchanged. Under crushing pressure, heroes willing to resist fell one after another. Piled corpses had nearly formed mountains, while flowing blood merged into raging rivers, giving off a dense stench.

Yet such a place was the final refuge of those brave enough to resist the cruel tyranny and stand against the Necromancer King.

"New Domino City. What a tongue-twister of a name."

Hades—the former Pluto—merely sneered.

"Holy Knight, I want to see how long you can keep hiding!"

Beneath his hood, the depths of his scarlet eyes revealed the most primal malice. That thick, boiling hatred seemed impossible to suppress any longer, finally blooming from his shriveled fingertips.

"Go, Five-Headed Dragon. Flatten that place!"

Following that utterly primal and brutal command, the five-headed evil dragon spread its wings and flew into the sky.

"Elemental Burst."

Earth, fire, wind, water.

Four utterly different elements converged and mixed, ultimately triggering a violent explosion.

Boom.

And it signaled the arrival of war.

"The city is under attack."

"The city is under attack."

Amid violent tremors, emergency orders echoed throughout the city.

"All duelists, take your positions immediately."

"All duelists, take your positions immediately."

The once-bright lights had long since been replaced by warning lamps. Amid the crimson glow, a boy in white walked into the central control room with his hands behind his back, unhurried and calm.

Under normal circumstances, the people gathered here should have been elites of some kind. But this place could not be described by common sense.

Looking around, there was barely anyone taller than those intricate machines.

Just as the Big Five had once complained, this place was managed by children—children under ten years old.

"Noah, you're here."

"Mm."

Though he did not look much older than them, Noah patted their heads like an adult.

"You've worked hard."

He walked all the way to the central console.

"Miruko, how are things?"

At the question, the robot at the center raised its head, clear light reflecting in its eyes.

"All duelists are in position, and the Mecha Force has been fully activated. Sonia, Julian, and the others have sealed off the factories. I'm moving their sectors toward the center."

From that enormous mechanical body came a childlike, immature voice:

"Also, all the cards requested by the duelists have arrived."

"Then it looks like our efforts over all these years weren't wasted. Our stockpile should be a great help to them."

"But it seems we weren't able to help him."

Noah could not help but freeze.

"What do you mean?"

"He only requested ordinary cards like Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity. Neither the mech defense perimeter we developed nor the gear monsters I asked you to demonstrate appeared on his request list."

"I see..."

"Rather than accepting our help, he would rather take the risk of using those demons' cards. And during today's meeting, he clearly raised so many topics and left behind such obvious contradictions, yet he had no intention of continuing the conversation. Could it be because..."

"Don't overthink it."

Noah reached out and patted the lump of steel beside him.

"Even if he seems a little more cynical on the surface, he is still the person you once imagined him to be."

Facing the wildly flickering light in the robot's eyes, the boy in white curled his lips into a smile.

"I already felt it during the duel. Proud yet gentle, cold yet meticulous, every link connected to the next, as though everything was under his control. Even his every movement displayed elegance... I'm truly envious."

"Ah-choo!"

The inexplicable itch made Yu Ming cover his nose. The loud sound drew sideways glances from everyone nearby.

Even Keith could not help shifting several seats away and brushing himself off twice.

"What's wrong with you? You can still sneeze in a place like this?"

"I don't know. If dead people didn't get hungry or tired, I'd think I was getting sick from exhaustion."

He touched his nose, which did not even have any mucus, and after confirming that the strange itch had vanished, he began examining the cards in his hand again, gently rubbing them against his palm.

"But anyway."

"What?"

"I didn't expect you to be the one supporting me."

He looked toward the American beside him.

"Well, there was no helping it. I wanted to get an easier job too, but..."

Keith instinctively crossed his legs, but before he could lean back, a white Alliance robot stopped in front of them. An angry face appeared on the display screen that served as its head.

[○｀Д○]: "We will enter the launch trajectory in one minute. Please sit properly and fasten your seat belt."

"Tch, you think a robot can tell me what to do?"

If he had been facing an ordinary flight attendant, Keith's unruly behavior might have had some effect. After all, Americans loved that freedom of theirs.

Unfortunately, he was facing a robot.

It understood nothing about social etiquette. It only followed rules.

[○｀Д○]: "Please sit properly and fasten your seat belt."

Staring at the unchanged emoticon, Keith finally put his legs down.

After the Alliance robot left, the American had no interest in keeping up appearances after having his mood ruined. Once he honestly fastened his seat belt, he began sighing.

"In the end, everyone else's specialties are too obvious. Whether it's Mako's ocean deck or Nine-Tailed Fox's yokai deck, they're both easy targets. Only the great Keith is suitable for protecting you."

"True. You play Machine-types to begin with, so you don't stand out much on a battlefield."

"But are you really going to be okay?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Keith's suddenly lowered voice caught Yu Ming off guard.

Looking at the American, Yu Ming saw seriousness on that rough face. Behind his dark sunglasses was even a trace of concern... or perhaps doubt.

"I saw it earlier. There wasn't anything valuable among the supplies you requested from that Seto Kaiba kid. Are you really going to be okay like this?"

Looking at the seriousness on Keith's face, Yu Ming could not help glancing at the cards in his hand.

Well... how should he put it?

"Are you serious?"

"What else would I be?"

Keith rolled his eyes.

"I didn't see any of their mechs, nor did I see any other weapons..."

"No, most things here are Earth-attribute and Machine-type. Wouldn't I brick myself to death if I brought them out?"

"..."

Under Yu Ming's puzzled gaze, Keith simply stood there with his mouth open.

He looked as though he wanted to say something, but only made a strange sound.

"Brick?"

"Yeah."

"You?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Why don't you take a look at what you used to be?"

"A DARK-attribute trap-heavy beatdown deck."

"..."

Keith had looked like he wanted to complain about something, but in the end, his mouth merely twitched.

An awkward silence began to spread, until the announcement broke it.

"Launch Gate Three is ready."

"Forget it. If you win, everything you say is right. I can't be bothered with your ideas or your reasoning."

Glancing at the changing scenery around them, Keith came back to his senses and sat upright.

"But..."

"What now?"

"This war... this duel only has one chance. So it's never wrong to keep a few more tricks and tactics in reserve."

So that's why you DM anime people only ran one copy of every card and played little combos without any real core strategy?

"Also..."

"What else?"

"Thank you for being willing to step in during the battle against Five-Headed Dragon."

"Huh?"

What did he mean?

"The path ahead is clear. Prepare for launch."

"Oh, so you're the idiot who lost to those five morons?"

"Hey, you little brat..."

My relatives came over, so I was busy and couldn't update on time. I'm very sorry.

There might be another chapter tonight!

Well, as an aside:

Theoretically, because the original work was still in the early, vague stages of establishing its rules, while anime-original content closely followed the progression of the physical cards, only the characters in GX had the concept of a deck core.