# Chapter 68: Dragon Armor and Beast Armor
Yūga Hōzumi pondered for a moment, then swiftly redeemed Number 16: Shock Master from the row of Number Monsters in the System.
"Too bad it's only one card, otherwise this EMem deck would instantly become top-tier."
Afterward, Yūga Hōzumi opened the 10 free random Xyz Monsters.
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Abyss Dweller ×2]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Gem-Knight Pearl ×3]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Leviair the Sea Dragon]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Ghostrick Alucard]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Heroic Champion - Kusanagi]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Hardened Armed Dragon]
Of the 10 cards, aside from the three vanilla monsters that appeared again and the Hardened Armed Dragon, which Yūga Hōzumi couldn't figure out a use for, the rest were quite good.
"Rank 3s for Yuto, I'll keep one of the Abyss Dwellers for myself and give one to Yao, and the Galaxy-Eyes goes to Kite. Perfect," Yūga Hōzumi thought to himself as he exited the System Warehouse. As for the dream vouchers for generic Spells and Traps, he decided to save them for later.
Next, Yūga Hōzumi opened the shop interface and used his remaining 5000 Gold Coins for a 10-pull targeting the Zexal Weapon archetype.
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the SR card, ZW - Ascend Sage]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the UR card, Rank-Up-Magic - The Zexal Force]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the SR card, Astral Kuriboh]
"Huh? Is my luck with pulls this good today? One 10-pull for one UR and two SRs?" Yūga Hōzumi exclaimed in surprise, looking at the cards that appeared in his hand. "But what's the use of just giving me a Rank-Up-Magic? I don't have any of those Rank 5 or Rank 6 Utopia monsters!"
But before Yūga Hōzumi's words had even faded, the System's electronic voice rang out again:
[Detected that Host has acquired a Rank-Up-Magic, and Emperor's Key affinity has reached 25%. Dragon Armor Combination - Dragon King Utopia Ray and Beast Armor Combination - Lion Utopia Ray have been unlocked.]
"Two Utopia monsters, Beast King and Dragon King? The days of using disposable bodyguards are finally over!" Yūga Hōzumi exclaimed excitedly. "And is this why there were no other Utopia cards in the Number exchange list just now? Do I need to increase my Emperor's Key affinity to obtain Utopia's other forms?"
Putting away the cards, Yūga Hōzumi adjusted his deck, then turned his attention to the mission interface. With the first stage of the main quest complete, the mission for the second stage surfaced.
[Main Quest Second Stage: Liberate Oppressed Allies]
[Although the Host has gathered the remnants of the XYZ Dimension, you are still far from the goal of counterattacking the Fusion Dimension.]
[The Host urgently needs help from other dimensions. Although the Standard Dimension is already an ally and has sent representatives to the Synchro Dimension to seek assistance, will the high-and-mighty oppressors truly become a help in this war?]
[Mission Requirement: Lead the Revolutionary Army of the Synchro Dimension to victory and liberate the Synchro Dimension.]
"So, I still can't bypass the Synchro Dimension?" Yūga Hōzumi muttered to himself. "However, this mission's difficulty is way too high, isn't it? What deck did the strongest duelist in the Synchro Dimension's Revolutionary Army use again? Battlewasp?"
"Still, this mission will have to wait until I've overcome the current crisis."
…
"How ridiculous. The battlefield I longed for is actually like this. I actually wanted to become an accomplice to demons," Serena thought helplessly inside the church, looking up at the moonlight outside the window.
"Hey, Lianna, if we don't go back, Big Brother Allen will get angry again," a helpless voice sounded from a corner of the church.
"No way! Big Brother Allen would never get mad at me," a little girl said under the faint light of the church, sticking her tongue out at the small boy behind her.
"But every time you cause trouble, I'm the one who gets punished!" the small boy complained.
"Huh? Big sister, what are you doing here?" The little girl noticed Serena sitting alone on a church pew. She walked over and waved her small hand in front of Serena's eyes.
Serena looked at the little girl before her, whose worn clothes couldn't hide her cuteness.
"Big sister, is something making you unhappy?" the little girl asked curiously.
"Let's go. If we don't go back now, we'll really get in trouble!" The small boy pulled the little girl's hand, trying to get her away from this person he had never seen in the camp before.
"Brother, you're such a coward!" The little girl shook off her brother's hand. "Besides, this big sister doesn't look like a bad person."
"Big sister, do you want some milk candy? Whenever I was unhappy, Mommy would give me milk candy. I don't know where she went, but she left this bag of candy for me," the little girl said, carefully taking out a half-full bag of candy from her inner pocket and handing it to Serena. "Big Brother Allen said Mommy left this for me. When I'm unhappy, I eat one piece. When all the candy is gone, Mommy will come back."
"Although, for some reason, the more I eat, the more candy there is in the bag..." the little girl said with a troubled expression. "Big sister, can you help me? I miss my mommy."
Hearing this, Serena could no longer hold back. She hugged the little girl and choked out, "I... I'm sorry."
"Big sister..." The little girl was a little flustered. "Why are you crying, big sister? Did I say something wrong?"
"I'm not crying," Serena said, wiping her tears. She stood up and took the little girl's hand. "Where do you live? I'll take you back."
"Lianna, come down now. If you two keep running off, Aunt Yoko will be very worried." The church's main lights switched on. Allen, who had been asked by the orphanage's director to find the children, spoke with a helpless sigh.
But upon seeing Serena holding the two siblings' hands in the church, Allen's expression immediately changed. He rushed over, pulled the brother and sister away, and shielded them behind him.
"What do you want with these children?" Allen, who knew Serena's identity, shielded the two of them, his Duel Disk already activated on his arm.
"I..." Serena looked at Allen, who was on high alert as if facing a formidable enemy, and was at a loss for what to do.
"Big Brother Allen," the little girl behind Allen tugged at the corner of his shirt. "This big sister isn't a bad person."
"Lianna, be quiet," Allen said, turning to push the peeking little girl back behind him. He glared at Serena. "Don't think you can do whatever you want just because Yūga Hōzumi and the others aren't watching you."
Facing Allen's accusation, Serena's expression darkened. She whispered, "I... I'm sorry. I just wanted to take them home."
But Allen ignored her explanation. Seeing that Serena made no other moves, he snorted coldly, turned, and left with the two kids.
Serena sat back down where she was, holding her head, lost in thought.
…
(end of chapter)