The rain began to weaken, but the wind grew increasingly violent. At the top of the half-collapsed spire, purple lightning and flames occasionally scraped against the exposed steel bars, producing a grating sizzling sound.
Raku held Rikka's hand, avoiding chunks of debris that kept falling amid the tremors, while the figure in the green robe strolled calmly at their side.
"Prison bro… it'll be okay, right?" Rikka said, her voice still trembling. Her soaked coat dragged through the pooled water, making her look even smaller.
Raku stopped and glanced back at his sister, who was clearly terrified yet still clutching [Raigeki].
A self-deprecating smile tugged at his lips. "If this were a story, we'd just be at the beginning. Trust your brother. My life's tough as hell."
"Mhm!" Rikka nodded firmly. That was her absolute trust in him.
"You've got a good little sister. She's quite cute," Aleister said casually, holding his massive triangular staff while the grimoire floated beside him, its glow forcibly creating a dry space around them.
"You get familiar pretty fast," Raku replied without turning back, the laziness in his eyes long gone.
"Shy, are we? Well, this kind of defensive mindset is perfectly normal when humans face life-threatening danger. Relax, relax," Aleister chuckled, his tone carrying a kind of detached arrogance, yet not particularly unpleasant.
When the three of them finally stood before the rift at the top of the spire, all idle conversation came to an abrupt halt.
What kind of twisted world was this?
Where there should have been air, it now looked like a shattered mirror, revealing a deep and frenzied purple void behind it.
Along the edges of the rift, countless shadows writhed. Raku could even make out massive silhouettes looming faintly within the void; an oppressive presence from higher-order spirits that could suffocate any duelist.
Beings on the level of Earthbound Immortals seemed to be peering through the dimensional barrier into this world; If the gate expanded even twice its current size, Star City would likely be reduced to dust in a blink.
"Do you have any way to fix this?" Raku stared at the rift, his grip tightening slightly on the Duel Disk.
Aleister did not answer immediately. He narrowed his emerald eyes and observed the chaotic energy flow for a moment.
From within his wide sleeve, he took out a card and held it between two fingers, presenting it before Raku.
It was a card filled with ominous energy. A purple vortex twisted and rotated at its center, as if trying to swallow all surrounding light.
"Super Polymerization…" Raku blurted out, his heart jolting out of place.
"You even recognize this card? It seems you encountered quite a few interesting things in your original world. I really did pick a good partner," Aleister said with a raised brow of approval, before immediately dousing him with reality. "But unfortunately, this is only a counterfeit.
"Though it uses alchemical techniques similar to the original, both the quality and quantity of its sacrifices fall far short. This card can only be used once, and its effect… depends on the user's caliber."
"How do I use it?"
"If spacetime has torn open, then you simply patch it back together. And a soul from another world has the potential to do so.
"So… are you willing to bet your life?"
Raku took the counterfeit card known as [Super Polymerization]. The moment it touched his hand, a bone-chilling cold spread through his entire body.
"What choice do I have? If I don't use it, I'm dead anyway. Thanks." He muttered a curse under his breath.
There was no time to consider the consequences of failure.
"Thank me? I'm asking you to place your soul upon the altar," Aleister said.
Raku exhaled slowly, meeting Aleister's unfathomable green gaze. "You talk like an asshole, and yeah, you're suspicious as hell. But I know this much: If things had gone the original way, everything I care about would be beyond saving.
"The suffering wasn't brought by you. It was caused by those lunatics. And you're giving us a chance to fix it… so yeah, I should thank you."
Aleister paused.
It was the first time since arriving in this world that he showed even a little serious expression.
"Is that so? Then my luck is even better than I thought. If you actually survive this, I might stick around with you for a while."
"…That sounds disgusting."
"Don't be like that. I am, after all, the 'Great Sage.' I know more than all the cards you've ever seen."
Raku ignored his teasing. He snapped open his Duel Disk, and a purple interface flickered within the storm.
He could feel the counterfeit [Super Polymerization] pulsing in his palm, as if craving something. The surrounding air grew heavy. Aleister's figure blurred within the purple light, and behind him, Rikka's breathing grew tense.
This was no longer just a game. It was staking his life on the final draw.
The Fusion Materials were… his soul, and that rift.
"I discard [Aleister the Invoker] from my hand! I activate the Spell Card—[Super Polymerization]!"
At the moment the purple vortex sigil exploded into the air, a powerful pulling force seized him. Not his body, but something deeper. His vision blurred, and the distorted rift before him seemed to transform into a massive black hole.
The rules of fusion were forcibly rewritten within this chaotic domain. Fragments of the staff, residue spilling from the rift, and that sensation of a soul crossing worlds.
"I use my existence, and this chaotic fracture as materials! Close! Spirit World gate!!"
Light. Blinding white light engulfed the top of the spire in an instant.
Aleister stood at the edge of the radiance, the grimoire in his hand turned to its final page. He watched the back of the boy wrapped in the purple pillar of light, a rare trace of curiosity flashing in his eyes before the corner of his lips lifted slightly.
"What an… unfathomable material."
What does it feel like to forcibly activate [Super Polymerization]?
It was as if someone had taken his soul as clay, repeatedly stretching and kneading it at the edge of a rift that did not belong to this world, until every nerve was dragged to the brink of breaking.
"Ughhh!!!"
Raku clenched his teeth, a fractured growl escaping his throat.
In his vision, that purple scar across the sky was healing at a visible speed.
His Soul Power was taking effect; The foreign energy acted like a powerful adhesive, forcibly stitching together the two dimensions that were being torn apart. Each stitch was accompanied by searing pain, as if something deep within his brain was being scorched.
His vision flickered between light and darkness.
The once-clear outlines of the ruins twisted into strange patches of color.
The howling wind in his ears gradually faded, replaced by a piercing tinnitus that unsettled his mind.
Only when the final trace of purple light vanished from his sight did the tearing sensation that threatened to split him in two abruptly cease.
"Hah… haa…"
Raku collapsed onto the rubble, soaked in rainwater like someone who had just been dragged out of drowning.
His chest heaved as he greedily sucked in every breath of air mixed with the scent of burning. The suffocating sensation did not fade with the closing of the gate; instead, it surged back like a tidal wave, even more intense.
"Congratulations. You succeeded."
Aleister's voice drifted over, without a trace of fatigue, even carrying that infuriating ease.
Raku forced his eyes open, only seeing a corner of the green robe. He bared his teeth, trying to force out a smile, but a metallic taste rose in his throat.
"Pfft—"
A mouthful of blood sprayed into the puddle before him, staining a patch of water crimson.
"I feel like… I'm going to die."
"You won't."
Aleister crouched down, the grimoire still floating beside him, radiating a soft glow. He extended a finger and waved it lazily in front of Raku's eyes.
"Just severe depletion of Soul Power. By the standards of your world… you'll probably be bedridden for a few months."
"Coma?"
"No, no. Why would something that nice happen to you?" Aleister shook his head, a teasing smile at his lips. "You'll just be powerless, unable to move even a finger. As for losing consciousness… at most two days."
"…That's even worse."
Raku rolled his eyes, though even that simple action took effort.
"Honestly, if I could just wake up and get out of bed, that'd be better. Lying there for months… are you trying to make me grow mold?"
"Big brother!!"
A cry choked with sobs finally pierced through the ringing in his ears.
Ignoring the pain in her ankle, Rikka stumbled and crawled her way over, throwing herself down beside him.
Her once clean face was now covered in mud and rainwater, tears streaming down and smearing the dirt again.
"Don't cry… it looks awful…"
Raku tried to raise his hand to wipe her face, but it no longer felt like his own. It only twitched weakly against the ground.
"Waaah… Big brother, you scared me to death! So much blood… so much blood…"
Rikka held him tightly, afraid that if she let go, he would turn to ash and drift away like Hisaki had earlier.
"Alright, little girl, don't strangle your brother to death," Aleister said as he stood, glancing at the gradually clearing sky. "Though I would love to stay and admire this touching sibling bond, it seems someone has come to pick us up."
In the distant sky, several helicopters bearing the emblem of Kaiba Corporation roared through the clouds, searchlights beginning to sweep across the ruins.
"Tch, they're slow."
Aleister clicked his tongue, tapping the ground with his staff.
"Then… until next time, partner."
With a ripple of green magical energy, his figure vanished into thin air as if he had never existed.
Only Raku and Rikka remained upon the ruins that had just endured an apocalyptic ordeal, waiting for the delayed rescue.
...
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