The Divine Strike reverberated through the space, energy rampaging in the sealed stone chamber with no exit, indiscriminately destroying everything in its path...
...even the space itself.
[Dartz, LP 4200 → LP 0]
This mastermind was very clever, abandoning control and fleeing just before his LP hit zero.
It seems like Dartz hasn't been idle these ten thousand years, maybe even honing his skills at some point, he is indeed swift on his feet...
Luckily, he fled fast enough, or else taking a super-conductive wave from Osiris would have been too much even for him.
Dartz pondered the duel.
Through this card game, he felt like this Youyu was becoming more and more unfathomable.
Initially, Youyu was just a mystery with an unknown origin to him. After all, Doma has always controlled every corner of Earth's situation, knowing everyone and everything, nothing had ever been beyond their control.
But Youyu was a mystery to them. This person seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, with no background or history, using a Hero Deck that even Dartz had never heard of. Both he and his Hero Monsters had very mysterious backgrounds.
Then there were those seemingly related crazy duelists popping up all over the world, behaving erratically with no apparent pattern, yet giving off the impression of a special command system.
If it were just that, Youyu would only pose a moderate threat to Dartz, worth taking seriously and perhaps needing to be eliminated preemptively.
However, after this duel, Youyu's threat level in Dartz's eyes instantly skyrocketed by several levels.
Because he was shocked to find that this guy seemed to know him well!
His tactics, his deck, the history of Atlantis, the origin of Orichalcos, Youyu seemed to know all of this!
Bear in mind that Dartz had hardly mentioned any of these things to anyone. Especially his current deck—the ink on these freshly printed cards hadn't even dried! He never used this deck against anyone, so how could anyone know his tactics?
Yet during the duel, Youyu gave him the impression that he was fully aware of his build and strategy, as if specifically countering him to the end.
Was it a coincidence?
Or perhaps...
...was this guy just a socially-averse loner with a vendetta against society?
Could it be that he was actually the Duel King from the afterlife, sent to mess with the minds of those in the Mortal World...
In any case, the trouble Youyu caused him in the duel just now was undeniable. This caused Dartz, who was originally confident in his own strength, to waver slightly.
One way or another, he couldn't let this Duel King go unchecked anymore.
Next, even if resorting to unscrupulous means, taking hostages, or playing dirty tricks, he had to eliminate this Duel King.
After all, Dartz was never a righteous man to begin with. Dealing with Duel Kings who cheat and isolate themselves didn't require any sense of chivalry.
Besides playing cards, there were other ways to resolve issues, and underhanded tricks were Dartz's specialty.
Thinking this, Dartz estimated the attack from Osiris should be about finished, so he closed his eyes and tried reconnecting with his consciousness to probe the stone chamber's situation.
Then he was stunned.
He found that Youyu, along with the enormous Egyptian God by his side... had vanished.
He couldn't find where Youyu had gone.
...
Not just Dartz, even Youyu himself couldn't figure out where he had escaped to...
He didn't know how long he had been unconscious. He only felt a faint awareness as if something was calling him, and something soft was brushing his face back and forth.
Big, round, soft, and comfortable...
Youyu groggily opened his eyes, the first sight meeting him was the culprit—
—a fluffy and adorably cute Kuriboh.
"Kurri kurri!" Kuriboh said, rubbing against his face again.
Youyu agreed deeply. Though he couldn't understand what it meant, he felt Kuriboh was right...
...but why could he touch Kuriboh?
Although he always had Kuriboh's card, knowing well it harbored no residing spirit.
...and where was this place?
Youyu sat up, realizing he was sitting on a patch of grass.
Beside him stood perhaps the tallest, sturdiest tree he had ever seen, its shade covering the ground like a dark cloud.
Around him was an endless prairie, undulating mountains, and the distant peaks outlined like surging waves.
The sky was a strange, eerie gray, with a knife-like crack across the heavens, dividing the clouds as if sliced by a blade.
The last scene before unconsciousness quickly flashed back in Youyu's mind.
He remembered the duel with Dartz reaching the climax, commanding the attack of Osiris with over ten thousand attack points against Dartz—or rather, Dartz's Stand.
Originally, that hit should have been decisive, the duel was his to win.
Could it be that Dartz used some last sneaky trick to trap him?
Seems unlikely...
"Kurri!"
Kuriboh suddenly cried again, flying away from Youyu's side.
Youyu followed its direction and finally saw someone other than himself.
A little girl with silver hair, petite and barely reaching Youyu's waist, with clear blue eyes, a delicate nose, and slender lips tightly shut, almost transparent.
She wore a somewhat retro outfit with a tilted red hat atop her petite head.
Kuriboh flew straight over, nestling into her white, soft hands obediently, lying in her arms.
The girl blinked her big blue eyes innocently, looking at Youyu full of curiosity.
Feeling slightly awkward, Youyu raised a hand: "Um...hello?"
The girl stayed silent, still looking at him in this manner.
Only by seeing "Affection UP" above her head, could Youyu deduce she hadn't taken him for some weirdo...
Thinking it over, Youyu first asked his most pressing question: "Can you tell me, where is this place?"
The girl tilted her head thoughtfully, still said nothing. But her fair hand gently petted Kuriboh's head, as if stroking a cat.
Kuriboh: "Kurri kurri!"
Youyu guessed boldly that Kuriboh might have answered. Alas, he wasn't a Pharaoh or AIBO, never having mastered Kuriboh-speak, so he was clueless about what it said...
So he switched questions: "Then... can you tell me who you are?"
The silver-haired girl remained silent. Kuriboh spoke again: "Kurri kurri!"
Youyu: "..."
He felt like being lost abroad, trying to ask a passerby for directions but faced a language barrier.
You realize the importance of speaking a foreign language at such times...
Luckily, he wasn't completely alone.
The Dark Magician Girl suddenly appeared, landing beside him—amazingly seeming corporeal.
She said, "Master! I think I know!"
Appearing excited like an eager student ready to answer a teacher's question in class.
"Huh? You know where this is?"
"I think so!" Dark Magician Girl nodded, "This seems to be the Spirit Realm, the world where our Duel Monsters' spirits reside!"