With Hikaru and Throne's duel ending, and with Hikaru and Quattro's conversation ending, this "Team Despair versus Team 5D's and Team Xyz" duel had actually already concluded.
Precisely because of this, the main broadcast began switching to various analytical reporters, experts, and commentators. Viewers around the world, though some still couldn't help watching for the duel content, a larger portion had already begun leaving.
Most viewers just watched for the spectacle. They didn't need to know the duel details, nor why Heraldry Crest's ATK became 0, nor why Kentregina's ATK became 4000.
Since Hikaru had shouted loudly enough at the time, he must be right.
Of course, for ordinary viewers, this duel had ended.
But for those who knew what was happening behind the scenes, this duel had only officially begun.
City's highest peak.
The sacred Director's office.
Rex Goodwin still wore that crisp suit, both hands gloved, folded and crossed before him, gathered together, watching the scene before him.
Team 5D's duel had ended.
But the divine war duel had only just begun.
The duel between Kite and his little brother Hart Tenjo was both a tragedy guided by the Goddess of Despair and equally a fated duel.
It wasn't little brother surpassing older brother or older brother defeating little brother. It was simply a multiple-choice question.
This kind of choice, Goodwin had once faced too.
His older brother had gained the recognition of both Earthbound Immortal and Crimson Dragon sides, possessing the talent and qualification to become an agent for both.
As someone chosen by both sides simultaneously, Roman Goodwin could almost be called heaven's favored. When Yusei and the others were still children, when the other God's Chosen hadn't yet grown, he could already choose the possibilities and developments of the future world.
He could be called the heaven-selected king. So long as he made up his mind to choose, he could become the absolute existence beneath the One God and above all living beings in this world's future.
However.
Facing this situation, his older brother Roman Goodwin wasn't blinded by desire and power. Instead, he seriously considered and chose.
At that time, he chose Crimson Dragon. He cut off one of his own arms and handed it to his younger brother. He himself chose to become this generation's first Dark Signer, then was defeated at his younger brother's own hands.
Rex Goodwin released his hands and lightly tapped the desk.
Brothers destroying each other, he'd personally experienced this before.
His older brother had shared the Crimson Dragon's power with him. He himself had chosen the Earthbound Immortal's power. Because at that time, his older brother thought that under Crimson Dragon's control, humans of this world shouldn't have it too bad.
Because compared to the extreme world of Earthbound Immortals, the world controlled by Crimson Dragon was actually very lenient toward humans. However humans wanted to mess about, it didn't matter.
But...
Seventeen years passed, and Goodwin gradually developed new questions.
That was, was this choice really right?
Yusei Fudo let him see brand-new possibilities.
One in which no gods existed!
Regardless, so long as gods still existed, so long as this world could still be changed and reorganized according to the will of gods, so long as the "One God" could still arbitrarily modify this world's reality according to its own thinking, then humans of this world could never truly have freedom!
And Yusei Fudo's existence made Goodwin think of brand-new possibility.
So long as the so-called "One God" didn't exist, then this world could develop according to normal processes, according to normal human society, right?
Then human society might become more beautiful.
Of course.
Currently, Yusei Fudo's performance still wasn't enough to reassure him.
Or rather, Yusei Fudo's current ability was fundamentally insufficient to accomplish this kind of thing.
So he'd arranged many opponents suited for team growth for Yusei Fudo, to make their evolution earlier.
Even so.
Now it seemed, still not enough.
Because of this, the resolve Goodwin's heart had been unable to firmly settle now had to begin choosing again.
Destroy the world, destroy the gods, then use divine power to create a brand-new world overseen by himself.
Of course.
For now, though this thought existed, there was no easy way to realize it.
The reason was simple.
Not enough energy.
Not enough qualification.
To accomplish this great undertaking, he needed enormous dueling energy.
For this, he'd specifically arranged the WRGP tournament's Phantom City tracks. Four tracks encircling City in a running loop. The entire City became an enormous energy absorber, an enormous "perpetual motion machine," to generate energy.
At a time when no one else had noticed, Goodwin had already collected energy sufficient to change the entire city. But not enough.
Though already enormous, the magnitude wasn't enough!
This level of dueling energy was sufficient for a city, for a country.
But for the world, still far from enough!
Preliminary duels were too ordinary. Stronger, more impressive duels were needed to collect more energy!
Precisely because of this, he arranged the 30-day off-season.
However, though called an off-season, actually every team could compete with other teams. The entire track was full of dueling figures and D-Wheels' shining rainbow trails.
Dueling energy had gradually piled up. By the time of the WRGP main tournament, this energy would be sufficient to accomplish great works humans couldn't accomplish!
But then came the qualification problem.
As Crimson Dragon's apostle, he did have qualification to choose the direction of future world development. But he ultimately wasn't Crimson Dragon and couldn't make decisions for Crimson Dragon.
For this, he needed sufficiently strong qualification. Only this way could he smoothly obtain this possibility.
The Goddess of Despair was his target.
He watched the footage provided only for him to see and thought inwardly.
The Goddess of Despair's existence, back when the Fusion Army and nobles had allied, Rex Goodwin had already sensed. His "One God Tournament" declaration had specifically stated that lives from all dimensions could participate. Actually he'd been speaking to the Goddess of Despair too.
The more other-dimensional beings came to this dimension, the higher the possibilities this "One God" war could obtain.
This was the essence of their Synchro Dimension that other-dimensional lives fundamentally didn't understand.
Don't think that losing in the One God tournament meant just losing, no need to consider anything else, pat your butt and walk away. Winning meant directly becoming this world's One God, becoming a terrifying deity sufficient to modify the universe, modify history, modify reality.
Freeloading?
No such good thing!
Synchro was the power of resonance!
Any existence, so long as they participated in the One God war, was destined to become part of this "linkage," destined to offer their power and possibilities in the One God war.
The more beings came to this dimension, the more gods came to participate in the WRGP tournament, the more "great" the One God's final result would be, and the more powerful too.
In the world, there was no such thing as pies falling from the sky.
His body slightly leaned back, resting against the president's chair backing. His expression remained calm, but his heart was quite joyful.
Regardless of how this "choice" between brothers went, ultimately it would all become nutrients for the One God war.
Time returned to now.
Yusei pushed open the door and shouted to Kite inside the room. Kite was startled for a moment, then turned back to look at Hart.
"Hart was possessed by E-Ra?"
No wonder!
He understood.
No wonder the always gentle, joke-loving Hart today would say such cold words from his mouth. So he'd been influenced.
He'd said his little brother was still the world's most perfect angel.
"Kite, let me take this duel." Yusei stepped up and continued.
Kite shook his head, raised his hand, and showed the Photon Chain.
"A locked person has no way to detach from the duel." Hart Tenjo said expressionlessly.
Now that was troublesome.
Yusei furrowed his brow. He reached out to touch the Photon Chain. His right hand made hissing sounds but wasn't injured.
"No good." Orbital 7 shouted from the side. "Forcibly releasing will injure both sides!"
Ss.
Yusei quickly let go. Beside him, Crow's brow furrowed tightly. He also understood why Kite hadn't moved at all.
Kite was clearly the user of that Photon system. He surely understood the Photon system's usage very well. He surely understood what his little brother used too. Yet he hadn't released it for so long...
"Only the initiator can choose to release it." Kite understood this best and was most persuasive. "If someone else forcibly releases it, my getting hurt is nothing, but Hart will definitely be backlashed by the Photon."
"Truly infuriating, the Goddess of Despair!" Jack couldn't help punching a wall.
The young men in Team 5D's had one commonality. They especially loved children.
Seeing a child suffering before their eyes made anyone uncomfortable.
"Looks like there's no way. Must duel." Crow had a slight headache.
"If we defeat him, according to Hikaru's judgment, we should be able to summon out the Goddess of Despair." Yusei thought softly and said, "By then, we cannot let her leave again."
His voice was firm.
Although the Goddess of Despair wasn't an existence of this world, and although the Goddess of Despair should be resolved by Xyz Dimension people, Yusei couldn't allow this dangerous existence, this existence that arbitrarily controlled others' lives and tormented others, to leave from before him.
"Master Kite?" Orbital 7 turned to look at Kite, awaiting orders.
They'd already dragged things out here for a long time. Continuing like this, they might be judged as surrendering.
Kite hesitated for a while.
If it was the Goddess of Despair, then she absolutely couldn't be let go.
But his opponent was his own little brother!
Even if it wasn't his little brother's true will, even if his mind had been influenced by the Goddess of Despair, even if...
It was still his own little brother's body!
That fragile, weak body, could it really duel?
Kite was uncertain.
But if he made himself concede and let others come, he'd be even more worried.
Because he was very worried others couldn't control the duel well, letting Hart get hurt or something.
Cold sweat dripped from Kite's forehead.
Even if ten Yuma Tsukumos stood before him asking for a duel, the pressure would still be less than his little brother gave him now.
He covered his forehead and took deep breaths. But abruptly a mechanical voice rang in his ear.
"Choose, Kite."
He suddenly widened his eyes.
That voice was Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS!?
He suddenly remembered the story AA-ZEUS had told him back then.
AA-ZEUS had once acted to protect the beings in his own tribe. But one day, a junior in his tribe, under the temptation of power, had transformed into a raving monster.
At that time, AA-ZEUS had made his own choice.
And now...
Kite's eyes slowly widened.
From the very beginning...
From the very beginning, it was already known!
From the moment I began searching for the power that could let me see Hart, this moment, the difficulty I would need to face, was actually already displayed before me!
Protection, cycles.
My choice, had it already begun from that time!
"Just as you thought, Kite." AA-ZEUS's voice rang again.
"I can feel your confusion, your worry, your fear. And this is precisely the matter I faced back then." AA-ZEUS's mechanical voice, at this moment, gave Kite a rare feeling of slight warmth.
"But ultimately, what direction everything heads is chosen by you yourself. This is your choice. No one else can influence your choice."
Kite took a deep breath.
"Orbital 7!"
"Yes!" Orbital 7 quickly straightened and saluted.
"Photon Mode!"
Kite shouted, not looking ahead, commanding the robot to enter Photon Mode.
His clothes began turning from black to white. Shining white radiance covered his body, giving him inexhaustible light power for a short time.
Hart Tenjo saw his older brother finally make up his mind. He said nothing and blankly raised his Duel Disk.
"Duel!" ×2.
Kite, LP: 4000.
Hart Tenjo, LP: 4000.
The duel officially began.
Yusei's group of three stepped aside, moving away from the duel field's center. Their expressions grew more serious.
Forcing an older brother who cherished his little brother to duel his own little brother, the Goddess of Despair in their three hearts became worse and worse.
Hikaru saying to eliminate her here was absolutely the right thing to do!
"I go first!"
Kite swished 5 cards from his deck. Each card seemed to shimmer with electricity. The 5 cards traced through the air like 5 white lines illuminating darkness.
"How nice." Hart suddenly spoke.
Kite's swift movements suddenly stuttered.
"For a long time now, I've wanted to duel with brother." Hart said expressionlessly.
"Hart..."
Kite's hand began trembling.