"Didn't expect to lose, huh?"
After the duel ended, both duelists shook hands, and Jim couldn't help but speak to Tenjo Hikari.
"It just so happens that I'm familiar with Fossil Fusion." Tenjo Hikari replied with a smile.
"Oh—"
"Kallen says there's no need to be modest now."
"Haha..."
Tenjo Hikari chuckled a few times.
Indeed, it wasn't just "happenstance" that he understood Fossil Fusion; he was quite knowledgeable about some cards related to it.
Before he came to this world, in the "Abyss" world view promoted by the 11-series, there were many cards related to Dogmatika, which was also a mainstream deck for a time. The strategy of putting extra deck cards into the graveyard was also widely practiced.
In fact, even before Tenjo Hikari's crossover, when playing with the Shaddoll Series decks for fun, he would include Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous, as it was very convenient to start.
And some fusion monsters in Fossil Fusion have effects similar to Elder Entity N'tss. For example, Jim's Skull Wagon could banish it from the graveyard to destroy the opponent's Spell·Trap.
In Fossil Fusion monsters, there are cards of the same type that banish themselves to destroy monsters.
For Tenjo Hikari, who lacked ways to directly destroy cards on the field, he always wanted to try the Fossil Fusion route since Fossil Fusion could not only get rid of cards in the opponent's graveyard but also had relatively good graveyard effects, which suited Tenjo Hikari's strategy.
However, aside from that, Tenjo Hikari was more curious about The Tyrant Neptune.
"By the way, Jim, can I take a look at that card?" Tenjo Hikari asked curiously.
Normally, other people's ace cards wouldn't be casually shown to others.
Even for close friends, suddenly making such a request is quite rude and suspicious.
To a duelist, a card is life. Requesting to see someone else's card is like asking to see their "life."
Moreover, more importantly...
The people of this world all grew up listening to the legends of duelists like Muto Yugi and Kaiba Seto.
They knew all too well.
It's said that on the way to Duel Kingdom, Insector Haga discarded Muto Yugi's ace card "Exodia" into the sea while Yugi was off guard!
This was also recorded in Mr. Yugi's adventure stories and Jonouchi Katsuya's autobiography!
But Jim just frowned slightly, then immediately relaxed, smiling as he picked up his deck, found a particular card, and explained how it came into his possession.
"You dug it up?" Tenjo Hikari looked at the card, a bit surprised. After hesitating for a moment, he gently lifted it and displayed it slightly to the side.
Tierra appeared, glanced at it twice, and then looked up at him, signaling with his eyes.
Seeing this, Tenjo Hikari knew what it meant.
It turned out to be exactly as he had guessed.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Tenjo Hikari smiled as he returned the card to Jim.
From the brief observation earlier, Tenjo Hikari had already confirmed the situation of this card.
Of course—
To be precise, it was Tierra who confirmed it, and Tenjo Hikari received the hint.
The Tyrant Neptune, before he crossed into this world, was already a permanent fixture on the Forbidden Card list. Not only because it could copy the effects of other monsters, but most importantly, as the Yu Gi Oh universe developed, the card pool of Duel Monsters grew deeper, and a card like The Tyrant Neptune could be specifically retrieved to the hand using certain methods, easily combining with other means to become an ultimate monster that was practically indestructible or capable of winning instantly.
It is foreseeable that as the future card pool deepens and more and more bizarre monsters appear, the effect of this card will become increasingly "terrifying"—just like how Magical Scientist's reputation as the "second strongest single card in history" grew louder with the times.
The Tyrant Neptune will inevitably become increasingly difficult to release as the card pool deepens.
But these are not particularly important to Tenjo Hikari at the moment.
The main issue is that this card was indeed Jim's in the "original work."
Of course, not the original animation, but... the manga "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX."
Tenjo Hikari hadn't considered these before.
After all, the main plot and final boss in the anime and manga are completely different.
Although in this world, Manjome is also Kaiba Seto's disciple, the development of events and human characteristics are entirely those of the anime world, though affected by the Dimension Gate, there are changes, but these are all things Tenjo Hikari can understand and accept.
Moreover. In this world, Manjome has always had the Light and Darkness Dragon, and Jack of S Dimension has Yan Demon Dragon, which all indicate to Tenjo Hikari that it's not strange for people in this world to have manga-version cards.
But—
Just now, Tenjo Hikari carefully observed the Tyrant Neptune card and let Tierra confirm the energy before finally understanding.
Some things are not absent, but "gone."
No and gone are two completely different meanings.
Tenjo Hikari clicked his tongue in wonder.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga version, the final boss, known as the "crayfish" monster, Tragoedia, possesses the ability to manipulate people's hearts. It is an ancient evil creature from Ancient Egypt that was later sealed by priests with its heart on a stone tablet. In the manga's storyline, it slowly awakens and attempts to revive by controlling humans.
At first glance, it seems quite formidable—an ancient creature sealed by Egyptian priests with the ability to control hearts and such...
But honestly, this kind of seemingly powerful antagonist wouldn't stand out in Tierra's home realm.
Things like the Fabled or Steelswarm could easily produce a few strong individuals capable of being similar evil gods.
They might not be as powerful as Tragoedia, but they are of that type, with nothing particularly outstanding.
Simply put, they're "intimidating at first, but when you think about it, they're really not that remarkable" antagonist roles.
You should know that the animated version of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX's final boss, the incarnation of the world's end and humanity's destruction, "Darkness," may not be great at card games, but its extraordinary abilities are never weak. Its power envelops the Earth and can instantly plunge nearly all humans into darkness, losing themselves. If it weren't for Judai being soul-bound with the Light and Darkness Dragon, it wouldn't even qualify for a duel.
But these are actually unimportant matters; the most important thing is—the card used to break Tragoedia's seal and revive it.
Including the Tyrant Neptune, the Supremacy Sun, the Tripper Mercury, the Splendid Venus, among others, collectively known as the "Planet Series" cards.
These cards, too… need to be man-made.
Since they need to be man-made, who should make them?
Yes—the answer, again, is Ed's father.
Human effort has limits, and time is finite, even for Ed's father, who is a ridiculously talented card designer. He can't be expected to design Destiny Heroes while also creating Plasma, and still be thinking of crafting Vision Heroes, and be controlled to create the Planet Series...
The key point is, a few "mighty ones" controlling him must also determine the order or strength of their power, right?
Evidently, the unrevived Tragoedia had no way to compete against the Wave of Light.
Not to mention the Wave of Light being inherently strong, it absorbed annihilation impulses from other dimensions, further crushing Tragoedia.
Similarly, on the Darkness side, it's the same.
Perhaps the fully realized Tragoedia might not be too weak in strength, maybe even comparable to Darkness, but that would be the "revived" version of it.
Judging from the appearance of the Tyrant Neptune card just now, Tragoedia seemed to have died very peacefully.
Tenjo Hikari bid farewell to Jim and encouraged him to finish the Resurrection Race, become one of the top eight, and duel with him once again. Jim, in turn, said a few "spare me, another round is too exhausting."
Though he said so, he didn't show any signs of backing down.
Returning to the preparation hall, Tenjo Hikari was still pondering about Darkness.
Thinking about it now, no wonder back when Fubuki was a member of the Seven Stars, Darkness personally controlled him. He was puzzled for a long time, up until just now he hadn't figured it out. After all, looking at the reality, Darkness shouldn't be able to descend to the human world that quickly.
But looking at it this way, Darkness wasn't really idle—turns out it was first harvesting peers to strengthen itself.
Tenjo Hikari leaned on the sofa, thinking.
In fact, this wasn't the first time such a thing had happened in front of Tenjo Hikari.
Back then, Kagemaru also died mysteriously. It wasn't until later that Tenjo Hikari learned Akaba Leo had a hand in it.
Seeing this, perhaps this world—or other worlds—might have situations like Kagemaru and Tragoedia.
Antagonists forming alliances clearly isn't something achieved with a slogan or two; it's already good enough if they don't stab each other in the back.
So—
He suddenly realized something, quickly took out the Netherworld Dragon from his deck, and looked at it blankly. It seemed somewhat puzzled, letting out a confused roar.
"I'm thinking about your matters," Tenjo Hikari responded with a smile.
The manga version's 5DS's final antagonist was the animated version's 5DS's strongest ally!
Considering Jack really has Yan Demon Dragon, and he himself really has the Netherworld Dragon, Tenjo Hikari felt a bit uncertain about the situation.
Thinking it over, Tenjo Hikari decided he'd have to wait until he went to the S Dimension to be certain.
Compared to the unseen future, there was one thing that excited him more—that was finally checking his deck again!
"Ha..." Tenjo Hikari flipped through the deck, searching around, eyes shining.
Here it comes!
It really is here! Fossil Machine Skull Wagon!