Hikaru took his first step into the Dark World.
In the instant he arrived in this dimension, Hikaru carefully set up his defenses and readied his cards to guard against any attack that might come. But to his surprise, the spirits here, or rather the spirits nearby, didn't make a move against him.
After he stayed on guard for a little while, Tierra had already smoothly arrived in this dimension and began sizing up the surroundings.
"Looks like the danger level here is lower than the Branded dimension," Tierra said curiously.
She wasn't entirely clear on exactly how this was determined, but for now it seemed the Dark World's degree of chaos clearly wasn't as severe as the Branded dimension's.
Some spirits along the way, upon seeing Hikaru, would be surprised or reveal "greed," but quickly got hold of themselves.
Although Hikaru could also see a streak of red in this dimension's sky, and red gas often drifted up from the ground, clearly, compared to the chaos and disorder of the Branded dimension, this place was quite a bit better.
Directly above the Dark World was an enormous sun, but the light it shone wasn't very bright. The whole world was gray and gloomy, pitch black.
This was perhaps a sight only visible in the spirit world, where there was a sun yet not the slightest light.
There were all sorts of strange monsters along the way. Besides some of the more common DARK Attribute spirits, you could also see monsters like Turret Warrior, Paralyzing Mushroom, and Infinitrack Drag Shovel. Only, their bodies also bore the typical traits of a "red-light dimension," a twisted, tearing sensation appearing from time to time, but much more normal than the Despian Quaeritis Hikaru had seen before.
They looked more like they'd simply taken in some red-light power and were merely digesting it in this Dark World.
Because he'd observed it earlier with his robot experimenters, Hikaru wasn't surprised.
According to Hikaru's understanding of the Dark World, its ruler should theoretically be one of either "Diabolos, King of the Abyss" or "Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair." Considering this place had been affected by the red light, the spirits here were surely stronger than in an ordinary dimension, so it was very likely "Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair." But when Hikaru had investigated earlier, he hadn't seen many dragons, nor did he know who was actually in charge here.
Hikaru walked aimlessly through the Dark World for a while. Feeling that he couldn't find his way just by walking, he stopped a passing spirit, first apologized to it, then asked how to challenge the Dark World's "Ritual of Dueling."
"A human warrior?" The spirit he'd stopped was a very twisted-looking spirit, its body parts like a torn-apart woman, with wings on its head. It looked quite distorted and obscure. Even Hikaru couldn't immediately recall who it was.
Stopped by Hikaru, it had been a bit impatient at first, but upon observing that Hikaru was actually a human, it immediately took some interest.
According to it, this was a special dimension.
Originally, the Dark World was a special dimension where killing was done purely by force. But after the spirit dimension split, some "infected" spirits gradually gained the qualification to travel to this dimension. These spirits would occasionally come here to trade, or to share their "treatment" experiences.
Some higher-level spirits would offer materials here to help with "treatment," in exchange for the "ailments" on their bodies. Over time, this became a special dimension.
And "ailments" were the currency here.
It counted as a professional currency hunter, having already collected quite a few pathogens from elsewhere. It felt it would soon be able to evolve again, and so was very enthusiastic about this.
Then it opened its mouth to ask Hikaru whether the human world had that strange "light." Clearly, it was rather curious about the uncultivated land of the human world, wanting to be the first among the currency hunters to take the plunge.
After hearing this, Hikaru smiled and told it the human world had no "red light." Its expression instantly turned cold, and the female form on its body directly turned to liquid and flowed back into its body. Clearly, the earlier appearance had all been a disguise. Hearing that Hikaru had no useful intel, it lost interest in this human Hikaru.
Watching the spirit turn and leave without looking back, Hikaru finally remembered its name.
"Tindangle Angel..."
This was a genuinely obscure deck. If its user weren't the brother of the famous "blue-haired female passerby," Hikaru probably wouldn't even have remembered the deck's name.
Its answer, however, resolved many of Hikaru's questions.
The reason there were so many odd and curious spirits here was now clear.
As the saying goes, where there's demand there's a market. Clearly, because of the red light, a special dimension like the Dark World was something that, like a "black market" of the spirit world, would slowly come into being within the spirit world.
There would always be some spirits pursuing "red light" power who craved the blessing of the red light. But up to now, except for that duel between Hikaru and the Supreme King, the only time in Hikaru's memory that the light pierced through the entire spirit dimension and left behind a large amount of red-light power. Other times, it was clearly chance attention or sporadic blessings.
So, for spirits wanting to obtain powerful red-light power, either it was like the Branded dimension where the whole dimension was full of red-light power and one only had to devour others to gain stronger power, or else they had to find a dimension like this one and, through trade or other collection methods, gather more light to make themselves stronger.
The bad news was that, this way, a spirit driven mad might appear in this dimension at any moment, possibly triggering a riot in an instant. The good news was that, in pursuit of the red light, the spirits here were absolutely willing to do anything, so whether it was intel or cards, there were chances to make exchanges.
Speaking just of the organizational form here, it was actually not bad for Hikaru.
After all, whether in the Magician domain or in Hikaru's own Great Universe Workshop, when wanting to exchange things, it was always hard to obtain some especially rare or "Forbidden" items.
But here it didn't matter.
As long as you could provide light, they dared to bring out anything to trade.
Hikaru shook his head.
It was more like "gamblers"...
Hikaru actually didn't much like this place.
So the next question was...
Where exactly was the "Selfless Painting School's" body?
"It's a pity that lord didn't leave behind the slightest bit of information." Seeing Hikaru deep in thought on the spot, Captain White Crystal assumed Hikaru was stuck, and let out a sigh.
"That's not it." Hikaru shook his head. "Since the Selfless Painting School said just coming here would do, that means... as long as we come to the Dark World, we'll definitely be able to find its body parts."
"There's such a thing?" Flame Sword expressed his lack of understanding.
Tierra shook her head beside them, lamenting the obtuseness of these three knights under Hikaru. "Since the Selfless Painting School only said coming to this dimension would do, that means the Selfless Painting School's body must have something special about it.
Either it's big enough that just seeing it lets you realize that's the Selfless Painting School's body, or it's distinctive enough that just mentioning its name lets you immediately recognize it's a part of it."
"Considering... the Selfless Painting School itself is the very center point pierced by the red light, it's very likely its body is full of red light, enough, in this world, to..."
As Hikaru spoke, he suddenly realized something, and slowly raised his head to look at the "sun" in the sky.
It wasn't a sun!
It was an "eye"!
That red thing had never been a sun. It was a part of the "Selfless Painting School"!
"Human..."
The instant Hikaru looked at that "sun," suddenly, the entire Dark World became overcast with dark clouds. The dark clouds directly covered the whole sun, and amid rolling black smoke, a black dragon so massive it could rival the Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca that Hikaru had once encountered came flying from the horizon with a howl!
Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair!
It wasn't that it didn't exist in this world. It had merely... hidden itself, observing Hikaru from the shadows all along!
When it realized that Hikaru wasn't "blind under the lamp" and had discovered the most precious "treasure" hidden in this world, it came howling before Hikaru.
Hikaru looked at Diabolos.
The black body and red glowing patterns were all exactly as Hikaru remembered, but...
Beyond that, on Diabolos's body had grown many spider legs, along with some other terrifying limbs. Its head seemed a size larger, and the whole dragon looked utterly bloated, not at all as handsome and domineering as in Hikaru's memory.
It had devoured too much power that didn't belong to it, which was why it had grown so massive!
If the entire Dark World was a "black market," then it was the boss of this black market. Every trader would pay a tax to nourish its body, and on top of that, having occupied the body of a certain great existence, it became all the more massive and terrifying.
"Human, leave this place!!!" It howled again. Its voice held not only the roar of a dragon but also the sounds of mechanical currents and the rasping screech of insects.
Hikaru furrowed his brow, then took a deep breath. He spoke toward the giant dragon: "Diabolos, I was invited by the owner of that body to recover its body for it. Now, it's time to return it to its rightful owner!"
Diabolos roared all the more: "Return it to its rightful owner? Ridiculous! This is the sacred treasure of my Dark World. No other living being is permitted to lay a hand on it. If you don't withdraw now, then I'll let you experience the terror of darkness!"
Along with its roar, the spirits around it also closed in, surrounding him entirely as if looking at a dead man, staring fixedly at Hikaru.
Hikaru understood. To these spirits, the thing in the sky was not only the Dark World's "sacred treasure" but also a "bank," because it could provide ordinary spirits with an endless stream of red-light power!
"Taking it really isn't so simple after all..."
"Have these guys all gone mad?! Occupying someone else's body and still claiming to be its master?"
"My lord, be careful!"
The spirits here were far too madly obsessed with the red light. If Hikaru weren't a dueling "warrior," they'd probably rush up in an instant and tear him to shreds.
Seeing that both persuasion and threats were useless, Diabolos growled lowly.
"Fine, human. Since you want to die this badly."
It roared, and countless black ghosts around it floated up, transforming into a deep-green Duel Disk that nested onto its dragon claw.
Hikaru took a deep breath and gave his left hand a slight flick. The Duel Disk lit up automatically.
"Human, there's absolutely no way you can beat me." Diabolos opened its mouth.
"The duel hasn't even started yet." Hikaru retorted politely.
"Hoho ho... If you ask why..." It raised its left hand, and in the sky, that enormous eye let out a rumbling sound.
Hikaru saw a "tremor" arise across the sky of the entire Dark World!
Only then did Hikaru suddenly realize: he'd been wrong, it wasn't a "sun"!
The sky of the Dark World right now was entirely the "Selfless Painting School's" body!
No wonder it couldn't hide!
That massive body, amid a rumbling, turned into black streaming light, then became a card. Diabolos looked at that card as if gazing at a rare treasure, saying ceaselessly: "Ah, my darling, someone's come to covet you again... But don't worry, no one can defeat you."
As it spoke, its body and eyes turned even redder. A faint red light rose within it, then more limbs and distortions sprouted on its body.
It had been lured by the "Selfless Painting School's" power and had completely fallen into being a slave to power... gone mad!
"Let's begin, the Ritual of Dueling that drives off coveters!"
"Duel!"
Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair, LP: 4000.
Hikaru, LP: 4000.
"The first move goes to me, the guardian!" Diabolos didn't bother with any courtesy toward Hikaru, jumping straight into its own turn. "When I control no monsters on my field, this card can be Special Summoned."
A giant spider appeared on its field.
Mother Spider Splitter. Level 5, DARK Attribute, Insect-Type. ATK 0.
Hikaru was taken aback.
It didn't use the Dark World, nor its own related cards?
"Mother Spider Splitter's effect, activated by Tributing itself. From my hand or Deck, I Special Summon up to 3 Baby Spiders! Monsters Special Summoned by this effect become Level 5, and if used as material for an Xyz Summon, they can't be used except for the Xyz Summon of a DARK monster. After this effect activates, until the end of the turn, I can't Special Summon monsters that aren't Xyz Monsters from my Extra Deck."
Pop—
Mother Spider Splitter burst apart in an instant, and from its body flew out three small spiders.
Baby Spider. Level 3 → 5, DARK Attribute, Insect-Type. ATK 0.
"I Set three cards and end my turn!"
"What an ordinary turn." Flame Sword again offered his view.
"Indeed... Three Level 5 monsters, looking like they're set up for an Xyz Summon, yet it didn't do it. Why is that?"
Hikaru wondered. He drew a card from his Deck and glanced down at it.
I hope you can stack me something good...
The moment he thought this, suddenly, the demon king dragon... spoke!
"Open Set card!"
"Trap Card, Wonder Xyz!"
Wonder Xyz?
Hikaru was taken aback at the words.
"Using monsters on my field as material, I Xyz Summon one Xyz Monster!"
"An Xyz Summon on the opponent's turn?" Flame Sword was a bit puzzled. "Then why not just do it on its own turn?"
"Yeah, why on the opponent's turn..." Black Flame didn't get it either.
Hikaru's hands paused.
Yeah...
Why do an Xyz Summon on the opponent's turn!?
Could it be—
Just seeing it lets you realize it's a part of its body, just hearing its name lets you realize who it is...
Could it be!!
"Using the three monsters on my field as Xyz Material, I construct the overlay network and perform an Xyz Summon!"
The three small spiders instantly turned into black orbs and flew into a vortex before them.
"Behold, the peerless treasure of our Dark World, the supreme monster, the ultimate power, the unmatched and immense divine might!" Endless static rang out from Diabolos's mouth. The piercing sound made all the spirits feel discomfort, and even Hikaru's head began to ache.
"Xyz Summon!"
"Rank 5."
"Outer Entity Azathot!"