Arcadia Movement.
A beautiful name for what claimed to be a Psychic training institute.
Its founder was a Psychic Duelist named Sayer, a man who could use telekinesis to make Duel Monsters physically manifest, inflicting real injuries through duels.
Hikaru watched as members of the Arcadia Movement handed out money to Satellite parents, guardians, and even gang leaders, then led groups of children away.
He quietly followed behind, wanting to see what this "institution" was really doing.
Could it be Akiza Izinski?
Although this world differed from the one he knew, the timeline seemed roughly the same. That meant at this point in time, Akiza was probably still part of the Arcadia Movement.
As a Signer, she might even be here now.
It was just a guess, but Hikaru figured there was no harm in checking.
So he silently followed them inside the Arcadia building.
At the same time, elsewhere, another pair, a man and a woman, had also infiltrated the Arcadia Movement.
Even though Jack had the legendary record of knocking out ten men with his fists, this time his opponents were Psychics. Even Jack wasn't arrogant enough to underestimate them. He stayed cautious beside Carly, observing this strange organization.
He'd never heard of a "Psychic Training Institute" before.All he knew was that Yusei had once dueled some kind of "witch" who used psychic powers, but Jack hadn't paid attention to the details.
Now that he was standing inside such a place, his curiosity was piqued.
Since they were sneaking in, they avoided the front entrance and the public halls, choosing a back route instead.
As they went deeper, they began to hear a man's voice.
Jack climbed up to a ventilation grate and looked down through it.
A sharply dressed man with slicked-back hair stood before a crowd of trainees, speaking passionately.
"My beloved members!
The world is about to undergo an unprecedented transformation!
The end of the world is coming!"
"Another nutcase preaching the apocalypse?" Carly muttered under her breath.
Cults and scam organizations always seemed to love talking about "the end of the world."
Carly hadn't investigated this one deeply, but she'd read plenty of similar cases, all just conmen trying to milk believers for money.
Jack, however, stayed unusually silent.
As a Signer, he knew all too well that what Sayer was saying wasn't exactly wrong.
The end of the world really was approaching.
No matter who won, the Signers or the Dark Signers, the victor's god would recreate the world in their own image.
The current world would be destroyed. That destruction was the so-called "end of the world."
But then Jack frowned, staring at Sayer's arm.
He had no Dark Sign or Dragon Mark, so how did he even know about these things?
He would find out soon enough.
"To survive the apocalypse, to build a new order after the world ends, for all of humanity who have suffered so long!
For every person who's gone hungry or cold, we of the Arcadia Movement have spent countless lives and finally created it!
Our ultimate weapon, the Telekinetic Executioner!
Our pride and our salvation!
Once we win the coming war, we will create a pure, spiritual world that will replace the gods of today, a new god born from humanity itself!
In that world, there will be no more hunger, no more pain, a perfect world of spirit and thought!"
"This guy's insane," Carly whispered.
Jack felt a bit disappointed.
He hadn't seen any Dark Signers, only a lunatic.
That made the whole trip feel pointless.
But just as the two of them were about to leave, the massive metal door behind Sayer slowly opened. A gigantic, silver-white mechanical demon with huge green wings rose into view before the Arcadia members.
The creature's body was covered in pipes that spread throughout the facility. As the monster appeared, countless cries, screams, and sobs echoed through the building.
"What the…?"
Carly nearly jumped to her feet, but Jack grabbed her hand and held her back.
Even without seeing where those pipes connected, just hearing those terrified, childlike screams made Carly's mind flash with every glowing headline she'd ever written:
"Arcadia Movement Sponsors Orphans from the Satellite, Wins 'Most Charitable Research Organization of the Year'!"
"Arcadia Partners with Security Bureau to Study Psychic Power and Prepare for Dimensional Threats!"
"Another Thirty Children Adopted – Who Is the Visionary Leader Behind Arcadia?"
Each headline replayed in her mind like a cruel joke. Now, the truth was painfully clear.
The people of the Arcadia Movement weren't taking children from the Satellite to train them as Psychic duelists. They were using them as batteries, draining their psychic energy to fuel this twisted "god" for their own ambitions.
Jack's face darkened. He silently drew his Duel Disk, ready to jump down and settle it right then and there. But before he could move...
Boom.
The front gate exploded open. In the smoke, a purple-clad figure stepped forward.
Hikaru Amagi.
Jack froze mid-motion.
"An outsider!?" one of the psychics shouted, panic spreading among them.
"Do not panic." Sayer calmly clapped his hands, soothing his students before stepping forward to face Hikaru.
"So, you must be the Duelist from another dimension, Hikaru Amagi. Tell me, are you here to witness our god?"
"God?" Hikaru's eyes glimmered faintly with purple light. "You call this thing a god? A wretched phantom built from the blood and suffering of children?"
"How narrow-minded, outsider." Sayer chuckled softly and shook his head. "A god is merely a being of immense power. If the 'One God' can call other failed gods demons or monsters, then why can we not call a demon our god as well?"
As he spoke, a cruel smile spread across his face.
A strange mark appeared on his forehead, different from both the Crimson Dragon's mark and the Dark Sign, yet somehow connected to both.
Hikaru narrowed his eyes slightly.
Tiera stood beside Hikaru, her tone serious even though her expression looked a bit strange.
"Hikaru, even if that man is talking nonsense, that card really is a god-level one. At least on par with the Sacred Beasts."
"Can something like that really create a god?" Hikaru asked quietly.
"Impossible. If that were true, with your alchemy skills you could have mass-produced monsters of that level already." Tiera shook her head immediately.
Capturing dozens or even hundreds of children just to power one card, if that were all it took to create a 'virtual god' capable of forming a new world, Hikaru could have done it himself long ago, and in bulk.
"I knew it," Hikaru narrowed his eyes. He could feel an enormous power coming from Sayer, and within that power, something familiar.
Darkness.
The end of the world. The extinction of humanity. That was the ultimate conclusion of the 5D's world's future timeline.
The embodiment of that doomed future, Darkness, was the result.
Now it all made sense. Everything that had happened since Hikaru arrived in this world was finally coming together.
But for now, there was one immediate priority, getting rid of the thing that disgusted him the most right in front of him.
Sayer raised his golden Duel Disk, the device's core spinning and glowing with multicolored light. A burst of invisible power shot toward Hikaru. Hikaru didn't even flinch.
The invisible blast tore past him, slamming into the massive iron gate behind. In just seconds, the gate bent inward, crumpled in half, and ended up full of holes.
To Hikaru, it was nothing more than a passing breeze that barely lifted a few strands of his hair.
"As expected of a Duelist from another dimension," Sayer said with calm confidence after seeing his attack have no effect. He remained as composed as ever, wearing the same polished smile.
"Well then." Sayer's gaze moved to Hikaru's left hand. "Heh, a genuine Signer's mark. Once I destroy you and cut off that left hand, our god of the virtual world will become even more complete."
"Duel!"
Sayer: LP 4000
Hikaru Amagi: LP 4000