"Impossible, it's just a reflection."
"Clearly, it's just..."
The Overlord's golden pupils contracted.
He lifted his head, only to see the endless darkness, like an abyss surrounding him, seemed to begin to dissolve.
It was as if a flame ignited in that cold abyss, though so small, seemingly insignificant compared to the darkness, yet it burned stubbornly, blossoming within the darkness.
The red-clad youth slowly walked through the flames.
"...Why?"
The Overlord asked somewhat incredulously.
He was genuinely confused from the bottom of his heart.
His Evil Heart Hero was clearly a comprehensive enhancement version, just like the symbol of himself and this youth. He was the one with the power, without unnecessary emotions, existing solely to win, never to lose to anyone again.
Why did he still lose to this person, even so?
"Maybe you are indeed stronger than me." Judai smiled as he spoke, "Through the duel, I could indeed feel your strength, it's a power I can't quite match.
But even so, I still won. Because I have something you don't."
The Overlord looked at him blankly.
"Like I said," Judai grinned, indicating his card deck, "irreplaceable companions."
"Over the past year, I've seen unprecedented possibilities in dueling. I've understood that even the heroes I thought I knew well still have unknown possibilities."
"These are things he taught me."
"He was the first to tell me, dueling isn't always joyful, there are many heavy moments. As a duelist, one has to bear the cruelty of victory and defeat.
The people our defeat may affect, the fate of those we must protect.
The people our victory may hurt, the fate of those we must defeat."
Judai said softly.
"I used to vaguely understand some things, but today after meeting you, after dueling with you, I now truly understand. All along, you've carried the heaviest darkness for me, thank you."
"But as I've said, from now on, whether it's pain, the sins of battle, we will bear them together."
"..."
Judai felt it was quite a nice speech.
He hadn't prepared it beforehand, but every word came from the heart. He already understood, the dark phantom before him was indeed a part of himself, the inner darkness he's always been missing.
Everyone has inner darkness, especially strong duelists. Even back then, the Pharaoh was powerful, yet he had tremendous shadows.
Light and shadow always coexist, those without this darkness are incomplete.
So Judai had made up his mind to face his inner darkness head-on. Whether it's the darkness or sins the Overlord carries, he will bear them together and continue forward.
He thought this should be a rather touching scene.
Until the Overlord suddenly recalled something after hearing this, glaring with those murderous golden eyes at him.
Suddenly, the Overlord remembered the duel in the opposing dimension.
The one that unexpectedly devoured his three strongest Evil Heart bird eggs, and the Chestnut Ball that humiliated him with a smack.
The humiliation of that smack lingered vividly in his mind.
And now the Elemental Hero was messed around by his mortal reflection into a closed-loop. The Eternal Hero of earth, water, flame, and wind quadruple fusion, such a soulful big brother Elemental Hero was forcefully twisted into Bouncing Turtle's infinite firepower...
The style instantly connected.
"The friend you mentioned." The Overlord stated stiffly, "Is it that guy from last time?"
"Huh?"
Judai found his emotions interrupted inconsistently.
Then awkwardly scratching his head.
"You mean Yugen? How did you know?"
The Overlord: "......"
As expected.
The culprit was still that guy.
...
...
"Are you sure there's nothing wrong now?"
Standing in the middle of the conquered Overlord Castle, the three gathered again, and Joey couldn't help but ask.
Around the hall, various commanders and soldiers of the Overlord Army lay in disarray. While Judai was busy inside, the two weren't idle either, outside, they took down batch after batch of Overlord guards.
Most were directly knocked down violently and packed off, just a few elites played a few rounds of cards. But for both Yugen and Joey, it was just a warm-up level challenge, basically easy to conquer.
"Yeah, it's fine."
Judai nodded.
Followed by looking back at the room behind him. The Overlord's room door was tightly shut as if the demon was sealed in the deepest place of this castle.
"It's over now." Judai said, "Although the process was a bit convoluted... I won."
He paused while speaking, turning to Yugen: "I used 'that move'."
"Oh? You used 'that move', huh."
Yugen nodded slightly.
As if saying, not bad, young one can be taught.
He couldn't help but imagine the Overlord's reaction when being executed by the Eternal Life Cannon's closed-loop cycle. Though the icy poker face rarely showed much expression, those murderous eyes must've been amusing...
Huh?
The imagining Yugen suddenly seemed to sense something, looked at Judai a bit strangely.
"What's wrong?" Judai glanced back at him,
"No, nothing..."
Yugen retracted his gaze, feeling strange inside.
Huh, did I overthink it?
How just now did I seem to really sense the murderous eyes of the Overlord...
"As long as it's fine." Joey stretched with a yawn, "Well, it's finally over, a settled concern. This ordeal really dragged on for quite a while..."
Initially, he came to the Twelfth Dimension due to an ambush by the Little Lobster. But seeing the people here struggling, as a passionate youth with power, he couldn't ignore it.
Though it took a long time, ultimately they succeeded.
"But speaking of which, why do I feel your demeanor seems different?"
Joey scrutinized Judai for a moment.
"You sure you're alright?"
"No issues." Judai nodded, "I've just fused with the Overlord, now he's basically inside me."
"Oh, so that's how it is."
Joey nodded, indicating understanding.
But just as he turned away for about half a minute, his head slowly turned back.
"Wait a minute... what did you say!?"
He stared with eyes wide open, looking at Judai in disbelief.
"You're saying the megalomaniacal lunatic we've been fighting our way through, the duel machine possessing ultimate darkness power..."
"Is now inside you."
"Uh, it's actually not that serious..." Judai scratched his head, "But basically that's correct."
Joey: "..."
He suddenly wanted to say, your definition of 'no issues' might be a bit different from ours...