Walking through the academy halls, Yumi couldn't help but notice that something felt off about the atmosphere surrounding the students. There was a certain tension in the air, and even the usual conversations seemed quieter than before. Still, he didn't pay it much mind for the moment.
Everyone had been on edge for the past few days. Being trapped in another world with barely enough food and water to go around was hardly an enjoyable experience. It was only natural that people were getting tired, frustrated, and increasingly desperate to return home.
On top of that, the others responsible for keeping order had apparently informed everyone about what Yumi had told them. While they were initially relieved to hear that there was a way to return to the real world, the uncertainty surrounding the plan had left many of them worried.
After all, there was no guarantee that it would actually work.
Eventually, Yumi and Celina made their way toward the front of the academy building, where the remnants of the spatial rift were located.
"To think our Duel would take place here."
Yumi murmured as he looked around.
Scattered across the area were seven enormous stone pillars, arranged in a massive circle. At the very center stood an empty pedestal, where three cards had once been sealed.
This was one of the strongest locations in the academy, where the remnants of the spatial rift could still be found. It was also the center of the Spirit Gate, the very place where the three Sacred Beasts had once been sealed before Yubel eventually took them.
Considering what they were trying to accomplish, there probably wasn't a more suitable place for their Duel.
"No need to worry about hurting me. I'm the Strongest, after all. I can handle it."
Yumi said with a confident smirk, seemingly more interested in reassuring Celina than anything else.
After all, the Spirit World wasn't like the ordinary human world. Here, a Duel wasn't always just a game. People and spirits alike could lose their lives if things went too far.
However, with Yumi's high level of control over spirits, he was confident that he could keep things under control. At the very least, he wasn't going to let Celina accidentally kill him during their Duel.
Of course, that wasn't exactly what Celina had been worried about.
If anything, she was more concerned about accidentally hurting Yumi herself. But after looking at his annoyingly confident face and hearing that irritating, dismissive tone of his, most of her earlier concern quickly began to disappear.
"One day, someone's going to beat you up for that attitude."
She couldn't help but remark.
Yumi simply responded with a grin, raising his Duel Disk as if her warning had fallen on deaf ears.
Celina let out a small sigh before doing the same. Both of them activated their Duel Disks and placed their respective Decks into the Deck slots.
The atmosphere around them gradually changed as they prepared to begin. Whatever uncertainty remained, there was no turning back now.
"DUEL!"
[Yumi, LP 4000]
[Celina, LP 4000]
"I'll go first. Draw!"
Celina drew her opening card, briefly shifting her gaze toward it before adding it to her hand. Her fingers moved through the cards she was holding as she considered her options, eventually settling on one.
"I activate the Spell Card, Pot of Greed! This lets me draw two cards!"
The Spell Card appeared on her field, and the familiar image of the smiling green pot materialized above it. Celina reached toward her Deck, placing her fingers on top of it, but before she could draw.
"I chain the activation! Ash Blossom's effect!"
Yumi revealed a card from his hand with a confident smirk before sending it to his Graveyard.
"By discarding this card, I can negate the activation of your Spell Card!"
The ground beside him shifted slightly. A moment later, a little dog girl popped her head out, wearing a cheeky smile as she looked toward the smiling pot on Celina's field.
Without wasting a second, she charged straight toward her target.
"Not happening!"
Celina immediately responded by pulling another card from her hand and placing it onto her Duel Disk.
"Quick-Play Spell, Called by the Grave! I banish your Ash Blossom to negate its effect!"
The moment the Spell Card activated, a green hand emerged from the ground. It grabbed the little dog girl by the neck before dragging her back beneath the earth, leaving her unable to reach her target.
Yumi watched the familiar scene play out and couldn't help but chuckle.
Even though this wasn't the first time he had seen it happen, it was still pretty funny.
He wasn't taking this Duel as seriously as he would a life-or-death match. To him, this was more like a personal training session for Celina, an opportunity for her to improve and gain more experience against someone stronger than herself.
After all, he wouldn't always be around to help his friends.
It was better for them to become strong enough to handle important Duels on their own rather than constantly relying on him to bail them out. He had never intended to become another Jaden, someone who had to deal with every major problem simply because his friends weren't strong enough to handle things themselves.
Originally, Yumi had wanted to leave most of that responsibility to Jaden. He would rather slack off, quietly grow stronger in the background, and avoid getting involved in every troublesome situation.
Unfortunately, the original script had gone up in flames because of his own actions.
And since he was the one who had helped break it, he had more or less convinced himself that it was his responsibility to step up and fix things.
Back on the field, Celina finally drew two cards from her Deck. She examined them briefly, adding one to her hand before raising the other.
"I Normal Summon Lunalight Gold Leo!"
A familiar, rather goofy-looking lion girl appeared on her field. With her arms spread out to either side, she performed a silly little dance, looking far more cheerful than one would expect from a monster entering a Duel.
[Lunalight Gold Leo, 600 ATK]
"Gold Leo's effect! When this card is Summoned, I can add a Lunalight monster from my Deck to my hand. However, I have to discard a card afterward!"
Celina quickly pulled out her Deck and began searching through it. After finding the card she wanted, she showed it before adding it to her hand.
"I'll add Lunalight Silver Hound to my hand!"
With her search complete, she immediately continued her play after sending a card to her grave.
"Now, I activate the Spell Card, Polymerization! I fuse Lunalight Gold Leo and Lunalight Silver Hound!"
A massive Fusion vortex opened behind her, its swirling energy drawing the attention of the monsters on her field. Celina raised the newly added Silver Hound card alongside Gold Leo's card, declaring the two Fusion Materials.
A hound girl appeared first, letting out a sharp roar as she stepped forward. However, before she could do anything else, the goofy lion girl accidentally crashed into her from behind.
The two were sent tumbling into the Fusion vortex together.
"The required materials are two Lunalight monsters!"
Celina clenched her right fist as the vortex began to glow brighter. A figure slowly emerged from within, stepping onto the field with graceful movements.
A purple-furred cat girl appeared, her black-stockinged feet gently touching the ground. Dressed in her eye-catching dancer attire, she spun around once before settling into a confident pose beside her Master.
"Fusion Summon! Lunalight Cat Dancer!"
[Lunalight Cat Dancer, 2400 ATK]
Looking at her signature monster standing proudly beside her, Celina smiled with satisfaction before raising her hand.
"And now, Lunalight Silver Hound's effect! When this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, I can Special Summon a Lunalight monster from my Deck!"
Her Graveyard zone began to glow, and the phantom image of Silver Hound appeared beside her. The hound girl lifted her head and let out a long howl that echoed toward the sky.
Celina pulled out her Deck once more, searching through it for the monster she wanted. After finding it, she placed the card onto her Duel Disk.
"Show yourself, Purple Butterfly!"
A new figure appeared beside Cat Dancer.
It was a humanoid butterfly girl with light purple skin, dressed in an elaborate outfit, with two enormous purple butterfly wings spread out behind her. She gently fluttered her wings as she took her place on the field.
[Lunalight Purple Butterfly, 1000 DEF]
With her monsters now gathered on the field, Celina raised the remaining three cards in her hand.
"I set three cards face-down!"
Three cards appeared behind her monsters, materializing as face-down cards before their images slowly faded away.
Celina lowered her arm and took a final look at her field.
"Turn end."
Both Yumi and Celina knew that the Lunalight archetype could have gone for a much more aggressive opening board. However, neither of them found Celina's defensive approach particularly strange.
After all, they had dueled each other countless times inside their dorm room. Celina had learned that, against someone like Yumi, being aggressive without having a way to stop him from making his plays was no different from barking without having any bite.
Yumi was exceptionally strong when it came to offense. Going on the offensive against him was only worthwhile if you could actually follow through with your attacks. If you couldn't, then there was little point in building an aggressive board just for the sake of it. In that situation, it was much safer to establish a solid defense and prepare for the next turn.
"Draw!"
Yumi drew his card, a smile slowly forming on his face as he looked at the Polymerization Spell he had just picked up.
Originally, when preparing for this Duel, Yumi had considered using a different Deck instead of one of his usual ones. He thought it would be more fun to try something new, especially after the past few days. Almost every Duel he had participated in recently had been tense, with some coming dangerously close to becoming life-or-death matches.
A change of pace sounded nice.
The only question was which Deck he should use.
He had plenty of options. More than enough, in fact. But rather than picking one at random, he wanted to use something a little more special.
And then, he remembered something.
Not far away, the Izinski brat had been glaring at him while feeding Wanko. The sight had given Yumi a small spark of inspiration.
The Izinski Family in this world was probably related to Akiza Izinski from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. GX and 5D's took place within the same timeline, after all. And judging by the Deck used by the current generation of the family, there seemed to be a connection between them.
Akiza Izinski, in the future, used a Black Rose Deck.
Meanwhile, the Izinski brat currently attending the academy used a Rose Angel Deck.
Despite being generations apart and having never met, perhaps the Izinski Family had always maintained an interest in the Rose Archetype. Or perhaps there was something deeper behind that connection, a bond that had been passed down through the generations.
Beautiful plants, concealing sharp thorns beneath their petals. From a distance, they looked lovely. But get too close, and those thorns would make themselves known.
So, what did that make Yumi?
Someone who had abandoned the Izinski name, despite originally being a part of that family.
The answer was simple...
Yumi raised the card he had just drawn.
"I activate Polymerization! Fusing Predaplant Lilizard and Predaplant Cordyceps from my hand!"
A Fusion vortex opened behind him. Two strange, plant-like creatures appeared beside each other, their bodies resembling an unsettling mixture of plants and monsters. Before either could make a move, the vortex pulled them in, drawing both creatures into its swirling depths.
"The Fusion Materials are two DARK monsters."
Yumi continued speaking, his smile never leaving his face.
This was his answer.
If the Izinski Family represented rose plants, using their natural beauty to conceal the thorns beneath as a defense mechanism, then what would Yumi represent after abandoning that name?
Something that didn't need to hide behind beautiful flowers or delicate petals. Instead, it would take the very qualities that made plants beautiful and twist them into something far more dangerous.
Something that could blend into nature, only to reveal its true nature when its prey came close.
The Fusion vortex suddenly erupted.
Thick, fleshy green plant fibers emerged first, their surfaces lined with ominous crimson orbs that glowed from within. Sharp purple claws stretched out from the creature's limbs, while a long tail ended in a blade-like tip. Two enormous plant-like maws, growing from its shoulders and four from its wings, slowly opened to reveal rows of sharp teeth and glistening saliva.
Its body had a distinctly draconic shape, with glowing green eyes staring out from beneath its monstrous features.
The creature finally emerged from the vortex and appeared on Yumi's side of the field. Its long body coiled around him, almost as though it were guarding its master, while its sharp gaze remained fixed on Celina.
For a brief moment, Celina found herself unable to move.
The monster's eyes were enough to make her entire body tense. Goosebumps ran along her arms as she met its gaze, and even her two Lunalight monsters seemed affected by its presence.
Cat Dancer and Purple Butterfly both took a cautious step back, moving closer to Celina as if instinctively trying to protect her from the creature.
Yumi looked rather pleased with the result.
"Fusion Summon. Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"
[Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, 2800 ATK]
Starving Venom Fusion Dragon and Lunalight Cat Dancer stared each other down, neither willing to back away.
Seeing the two monsters facing off like that, Yumi couldn't help but feel a little... nostalgic?
Maybe that wasn't quite the right word. He wasn't entirely sure how to describe the feeling just yet.
His decision to create the Predaplant and Starving Venom cards had been heavily inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, the anime version, not the manga.
After all, when Celina was first introduced in that story, the Yu-boy from her Fusion Dimension was none other than Yuri, a Duelist who used a Predaplant and Starving Venom Deck.
Since this world was already a bit of a mess, and there wasn't anyone named Yuri running around with Celina, Yumi thought it would be more interesting to take on that role himself.
That way, if he ever ended up traveling to another world again, he could casually use Yuri's identity and play the villain for a change. It would save him the trouble of pointing fingers at Yami Yumi, another identity he had gone out of his way to create to play the bad guy.
...Damn, he was really getting into the habit of collecting identities.
At this rate, he was like a ten-year-old collecting wild animals just to make them fight against other people's captured animals.
"Is your plan to make me throw up or something? Because if it is, I'll spit it right down your throat!" Celina snapped.
She couldn't help it. Looking at that thing felt like some kind of violation of her eyes.
Compared to Yumi's other monsters, which usually fell into the categories of cool, cute, sexy, seductive, downright badass, or waifu, the dragon standing before her looked like it had crawled straight out of a horror movie. And judging by the sounds coming from its body, it seemed determined to keep playing the part.
Even if Celina was a tomboy, she was still a girl at heart.
The sight of that grotesque dragon, combined with the unpleasant noises of flesh being torn and wet saliva dripping from its many mouths, was more than enough to make her want to stop the Duel, walk over to Yumi, and drop-kick him in the face.
Seriously, what kind of monster was that?!
"No, why would I do something like that?" Yumi replied casually, seemingly unfazed by her threat.
He genuinely understood what she was complaining about. It was fun to mess with her and see her reaction.
Of course, there was another reason why her reaction caught his attention.
The Celina in his world wasn't the same person as the Celina from ARC-V. Aside from their appearances, personalities, Decks, and a few other key details, they were fundamentally two different people who just happened to share quite a few similarities.
So, seeing her react to meeting Starving Venom Fusion Dragon for the first time was rather interesting.