The newly ascended Jason—half man, half Zorc, all god—stood in the ruins of his lab, darkness coiling around him like obedient serpents. Black fire pulsed under his skin, and his cracked sunglasses lay forgotten at his feet. His grin—the manic, unhinged one of someone who had tasted omnipotence and found it sweeter than any drug—stretched too far across his face.
Atem stood before him, one hand clenched around the Millennium Puzzle, the other trembling ever so slightly. Joey, Odion, Rebecca, and Connor flanked him, each struggling to stay upright as the pressure in the room shifted—thick, crushing, atmospheric.
Jason stepped forward, the floor reverberating with every footfall despite his light steps. Zorc's shadowy wings dragged behind him, leaving streaks of corruption on the floor that evaporated like smoke.
"You stand there," Jason said slowly, savoring every word, "faces twisted in fear, defiance, and confusion… yet pretending you have any hope left."
Connor glared, but Jason raised a finger toward him—almost lazily.
"And you, little one—don't even bother masking that calculation in your eyes. I can hear your thoughts forming like sparks in a broken machine."
Connor's jaw tightened, but he didn't break eye contact.
Jason's grin softened into something colder.
"You all know what I am now. You know the Items I carry. You know the Divine Beasts that answer to me. And you know your chances—mathematically and literally—almost amount to zero."
He spread his arms, shadowy wings unfurling behind him like a living eclipse.
"So I offer you mercy."
Joey snorted. "You? Mercy? Yeah, that's—"
Jason snapped his fingers.
Power rippled outward in a violent shockwave. Joey buckled, dropping to one knee with a strangled grunt. Atem moved to intervene, but Jason made a small, almost lazy flick of his wrist, and the invisible pressure froze Atem in place.
"You do not speak unless I permit it," Jason hissed, his voice layered with the twisted undertone of Zorc, a guttural echo vibrating beneath every word.
Then he turned back to Atem—calm, composed, almost gentle.
"One by one," Jason murmured, "I'll remove every obstacle from my path. Not by killing you—no. By sending you elsewhere. To worlds tailored for each of you. Better worlds. Worlds where your pain never existed in the first place." His smile sharpened. "The three of you are an unbearable inconvenience, and I won't gamble my plans when I can simply… relocate you."
Atem's eyes widened.
Jason caught the flicker in Atem's eyes and smirked, savoring the reaction as though he'd been waiting for it.
"Yes, Pharaoh," he murmured. "You first."
He raised the Millennium Eye. Its facets glimmered, and a slow, spiraling radiance unfolded—golden, warm, almost comforting in a way that felt dangerously out of place amid the suffocating darkness surrounding him.
Tendrils of light curled toward Atem, brushing over him like the memory of a long-lost embrace.
"What if," Jason whispered, stepping forward, "I sent you to a world… where Yugi Muto was alive?"
The glow brightened, washing the chamber in gold.
Atem went still—utterly, completely. As if the world had frozen around him.
Jason's smile widened. He had struck the nerve he wanted.
"What if the Duelist Exterminator never found him?" he continued softly, his tone laced with sickening sweetness. "What if Yugi opened his eyes every morning? What if you heard his laugh again… that soft, bright laugh that always pulled you back from the edge? What if he asked you questions like he used to? Showed you kindness the world did not? What if you never had to wake up with the crushing guilt of being the only one left in his body?"
Atem sucked in a breath—sharp, pained, involuntary.
Jason leaned in until Atem could feel his breath against his ear, the warmth of it contrasting violently with the cold terror seizing his chest.
"Say the word," Jason whispered, "and I will give you a new world with him."
Atem's hands trembled. The Millennium Puzzle shuddered in his grip as if reacting to his turmoil, golden surfaces vibrating with distress. He stared at the swirling light, eyes burning, expression torn apart. Every memory—Yugi's smile, his trust, his unwavering faith—rose like ghosts around him.
"Yugi…" Atem breathed, voice cracking. It was less a word and more a wound.
Jason smiled, slow and serpentine. "Just accept, Pharaoh. Accept, and you'll open your eyes beside him again. No battles. No blood. No grief. Just him."
The shadows at Jason's back twisted and writhed as if feeding on Atem's faltering resolve. Darkness gathered around Atem's shoulders in a creeping shroud, testing the cracks in his composure.
Behind him, his allies watched the scene unravel, horror stretching across their faces.
"Atem!" Rebecca cried, stepping forward before Duke grabbed her arm to stop her. Her voice broke with fear. "Don't let him fool you!"
"Don't listen to that bastard!" Joey shouted, forcing himself upright despite shaking legs, fury blazing through the lingering pain Jason's magic had left in him. "He's tryin' to screw with your head!"
Odion steadied himself, beads clattering softly from his attire as he took a defensive stance. "Pharaoh, do not trust the serpent's tongue!" he called, voice deep and commanding. "He seeks to exploit your heart!"
But Jason only tilted his head, his expression dripping with mock sympathy.
"They can shout all they like," he said quietly. "But they cannot give you what I can."
The golden glow pulsed once—tempting, warm, devastating.
Atem's eyes reflected it. And for a breath, for the smallest sliver of a second, he wavered.
Jason didn't spare the others a glance.
"Next," he said coolly, turning his gaze on Odion, "you."
The shadows shifted as if pleased, curling around Jason's boots and stretching toward Odion like eager serpents.
Odion's breath caught as the air around him flickered. Ghostlike images shimmered into existence—Marik standing tall and confident, Ishizu serene with her warm smile, their father alive and unbroken. The courtyard of their childhood home formed behind them, golden in the sun, untouched by tragedy.
They were all there.
They were all smiling at him.
Odion's entire body went rigid. His chest tightened as though someone had pressed a blade beneath his sternum.
"Imagine it," Jason murmured, stepping closer, voice velvety with false sympathy. "A world where your family never died. A world where my interference… never happened."
The visions grew clearer, more vibrant. Marik laughed—an honest, carefree sound Odion had not heard since childhood. Ishizu reached out, gentle and warm, her hand glowing with quiet affection.
Odion's fists clenched tremulously at his sides.
Jason's smile widened, predatory and knowing. "A world where you were simply… happy."
Darkness slid up Odion's forearms, coiling around him like inky chains. It tugged—not forcibly, but invitingly. Seductively. As if it knew exactly how to worm into the cracks of a loyal servant's heart.
Rebecca lunged and grabbed his shoulder. "Odion! No!" Her voice shook with fear. "Fight it!"
Odion blinked rapidly, eyes burning. His breath escaped in a rough, trembling exhale. The vision wavered slightly—as if his resistance strained the illusion—but it did not break.
Marik's smile flickered.
Ishizu's hand hovered, waiting.
Odion swallowed hard, jaw tightening until it hurt. His voice, when it finally emerged, was deeper than before—warmer than rage, colder than fear. A vow forged in grief.
"I will make you pay," he said, teeth bared, "for what you did to my family."
Jason's gaze slid past the others like they were already condemned—and landed on Connor.
"And finally," he murmured, voice curling into a slow smile, "you."
Connor didn't shrink back. Didn't stiffen. Didn't betray the smallest flicker of hesitation.
His expression hardened instantly—cold, controlled, and burning with a reined-in fury that made the air around him feel tighter.
Interesting, Jason's eyes seemed to say.
"No fear?" Jason asked quietly. "No longing?" He stepped closer, studying Connor as though he were some curious anomaly. "Not tempted, little one?"
Connor stared back, unmoved.
Jason's grin sharpened. He lifted a hand, and for a moment the shadows danced, as if preparing to sculpt a new illusion.
"What if," he began, drawing out the words like poison, "I sent you to a world with your adult body? A world where you were never isekai'd at all. Where your life was your own. Where you won the lottery, lived in comfort, free from the grind of teaching children and starting over from nothing."
The shadows swirled lazily, forming faint images—an older Connor in a well-furnished apartment, stacks of money, a life without fear, without loss.
Connor didn't flinch.
The illusion flickered as if offended.
Jason's smile wavered.
"No?" he pressed softly. "What if I restored everything you lost?"
Connor's answer cut through the air like a blade.
"You think I'd take anything from you?"
The line landed so abruptly that even the shadows hesitated. Jason's grin vanished, stripped away in a single instant.
Connor stepped forward, placing himself fully in Jason's line of sight. His eyes blazed with something far hotter than rage—moral fury, the kind that couldn't be bargained with.
"You murdered a child," he said, every word sharp enough to bleed. "You killed an innocent kid just to shove my soul into this body."
Atem's eyes widened in shock.
Joey stumbled a step. "Oh, hell no—"
Rebecca clapped a hand over her mouth, horrified.
Odion's jaw clenched hard enough to creak.
Jason blinked once—just once—before the smile slithered back across his face.
"Yes," he said lightly. "And?"
The casual cruelty in those two words sent a chill through the room.
But Connor did not waver. Not even slightly.
"I'm not letting you bury that truth," he said quietly. "I'm not going to let you 'isekai' me into some cozy fantasy world just so you can walk away from the consequences of what you've done." He raised his Duel Disk, the activation lights flickering to life with a sharp, electric snap.
"You're not sending me anywhere," he finished. "Not today."
A thick silence fell.
Jason inhaled slowly, almost thoughtfully, shadows pulling tight around him like an armored mantle. The Millennium Eye glinted, catching the dim light like a predator's gaze.
"Fascinating," he murmured, voice dropping into something darker, more primal. "You choose to spite me over your own life handed back to you. Everyone here chooses justice over their own personal paradise." His eyes narrowed with genuine interest. "How… unexpected."
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