Yugen knew that although Yusei Fudo had been a reliable-type protagonist ever since his first appearance and his starting point was definitely higher than Judai's when he first showed up in GX, Yusei's growth from early to late stages was also quite obvious.
ZONE said that although Yusei had not yet reached the realm of a King at this point, he was already the one currently closest to it in this entire Dimension...
Thinking of this, Yugen suddenly realized something and said to ZONE: "Speaking of this whole Dimension, if you say only Yusei is the one closest to being a 'King', then what about you?"
Yes, ZONE should also be someone from this Dimension. Among all 5D's fans, probably no one would doubt ZONE's strength; there is even a faction of fans who claim that ZONE was still holding back and didn't go all out in his final battle with Yusei.
Whether that theory really holds water is another question, but at least it shows that ZONE's power did give the audience that kind of impression—namely that even up to the conclusion of 5D's, ZONE's realm was actually still higher than Yusei's.
Yugen felt that with very high probability, ZONE should also be someone qualified to be a Duel King.
"Me..."
A heavy sigh came from beneath ZONE's iron shell.
"Duel King was indeed a realm I once exhausted all my strength trying to reach, yet in the end I was still a step too late. So what if one becomes King? In the end, I still couldn't save anything, couldn't change anything.
At this point, does being King have any meaning left at all? One way or another, I don't have much time..."
Yugen understood. ZONE probably really already was a Duel King, but his days were numbered, and now his life was entirely prolonged by that life support equipment on his body—and even so, it probably wouldn't be able to prolong it for much longer.
He was out of time, no longer able to keep carrying the world upon his shoulders, which was why he'd left himself out when listing the strong.
"Only a King can possess the posture of a savior. In the original history, Yusei Fudo was called the savior; even now he is a shining star that can connect everyone and bring hope. But he still hasn't become King, and I fear he cannot shoulder such a great responsibility.
Below the King, no one can bear the weight of the world."
ZONE's voice was not quiet, yet the way it sounded gave people a sense of weakness and powerlessness.
He looked toward Yugen and said.
"I'm telling you all this because you are also a King. Although you're a King of the Otherworld, at least for now our interests should be aligned."
Yugen said: "I only want to prevent the collision of the two worlds, that's all."
But ZONE shook his head.
"No, not two worlds."
As he spoke, projections appeared in this pure white space.
Spheres, one after another—densely packed infinite spheres in the boundless void of the background.
Yugen: "This is..."
"Worlds."
ZONE said calmly.
"Countless worlds, which ought to be parallel to one another, each of their histories forming rivers that surge ever onward, never stopping and never intersecting."
But at this moment Yugen saw that among those spheres, two were drawing close to each other in the void, visually already on the verge of colliding.
"Is that...our worlds?"
The two worlds were already at the brink of collision.
"Correct." ZONE said. "At first, my goal was only to prevent the future of my Dimension from being destroyed, but now the situation has changed.
Before saving the future, it seems we first need to find a way to stop everything in this entire Dimension—from past to future—from turning into dust within the Multiverse."
Yugen frowned, pondered for a moment, and said: "Why? Is it because history was altered?"
He had doubts in his heart. Before he came here, the Kaiba Group's observation results had been that because the history a Dimension ought to have had was rewritten, that Dimension deviated from its original trajectory, thereby colliding with other Dimensions.
But in 5D's, ZONE's future foursome were constantly rewriting history according to the original anime plot, yet that never caused collisions with other Dimensions, did it?
"No, under normal circumstances altering history will not lead to this."
ZONE explained.
"I have changed history countless times, yet a dimensional trajectory shift has never occurred. Normally, when we change a certain point in the past, then from that node onward the future will become a brand-new path, overwriting the original timeline.
The original history ceases to exist; the future develops in a new direction. And that new path replaces the old to become the canon history, without creating new branches or new parallel space-times. The progress of this Dimension always remains on its original track."
He paused, then said in a low voice.
"But now, some force has invaded this Dimension. A dark, powerful force that, like me, possesses the ability to traverse time and rewrite the past.
Yet the impact it causes when it alters the past is different from mine.
Any Dimension whose history it rewrites will experience trajectory deviation and face the risk of collision with other worlds. Moreover, any Dimension it rewrites will fall into Darkness, generating one dark timeline after another.
And as I've observed, it can draw power from those timelines that have fallen into Darkness. Every time it drags a world into Darkness, it grows stronger."
"Dragging worlds into Darkness?" Yugen frowned.
He suddenly recalled that the Three Evil Gods he had subdued seemed to have said something similar—that the world was destined to fall into Darkness. That was apparently also said by the Other Dimension invader who had helped awaken them and lift their seals.
"Exactly." ZONE said. "For example, in a certain timeline we observed recently, this dark existence intervened.
Originally, Yusei Fudo was supposed to lead the Dragon Sealers to defeat the Dark Markers and save the world. But after this dark existence intervened, the Dragon Sealers were defeated, Yusei Fudo died, and that Dimension thus fell into a Hell ruled by Netherworld Law.
A dark timeline was born; the dark existence was able to devour the infinite despair and vast Darkness released by an entire Dimension, thereby becoming stronger."
Yugen's heart stirred: "Destroy history and absorb power from Dimensions that have fallen into Darkness...So you're saying that dark existence wants to do the same thing to this Dimension as well?"
He seemed to suddenly understand.
When he first arrived in this Dimension, the Godwin he encountered had already been swapped out. A Godwin who, in the not-too-distant future, should have been defeated by Yusei, had been switched into the present by that dark existence, who then tried to take advantage of Yusei still being in the Facility to wipe him out ahead of time.
If Yusei were killed in advance, this Dimension would likely also fall into Darkness and become a granary for that dark existence.
Ludger later on was probably the same. That dark existence knew that if things followed the original history, Dark Marker Ludger was absolutely no match for Yusei and the others. So it stuffed Ludger's Otherworld counterpart, Skeleton Knight from another Dimension, into Ludger's body, letting two personalities vie for dominance in one vessel—using a sort of "raising Gu" method to boost the strength of whichever personality survived.
Yugen: "Creating dark timelines...So that's the root cause of Dimensional collisions?"