The Herald

At night, Hikaru, as usual, organized his Deck.

It had become a habit.

Yu-Gi-Oh! held infinite possibilities. No matter how strong a deck was, it could be defeated by something as simple as two "Book of Eclipse." His deck, with its "infinite possibilities," could change completely from one duel to the next, even he couldn't predict what his deck would become.

"Previously, Pot of Greed turned into Fusion Substitute; Monster Reborn became Re-Fusion. The latter is manageable with special combos, but the former, what a huge downgrade," Hikaru muttered while shuffling cards. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa!? What's this?"

Excitedly, he rechecked everything, even opened his backup card box to double-check.

From the random common cards he bought at Neo Domino City and the ones Fullmetalfoes Alkahest gifted him, most had vanished, leaving behind a single card:

D/D Swirl Slime!

"Seriously? Even a card like this got printed?" Hikaru tried to recall. "Super Polymerization usually prints cards related to my opponent or my deck. Why this?"

It was an exceptionally powerful card, allowing a Fusion Summon directly from the hand during the Main Phase and, from the Graveyard, Special Summoning a D/D monster by banishing itself.

Although still a "card loss," its card quality in this world was superb.

The Only problem, it was the only D/D card he had.

"Could it be…" Hikaru considered: Maybe because he kept messing with Leo Akaba, Super Polymerization decided to spawn this?

"Hard to understand. How many secrets does Super Polymerization still hide?"

As he pondered, something felt wrong.

The room was too dark.

"Master!"

"My Lord!"

He heard his Spirits shouting.

Suddenly, he felt a surge of familiar power, Captain Prismaura had attached himself to Hikaru, glowing to illuminate the room.

He turned sharply toward his backup card box.

Inside, sticky, inky "shadows" twisted wildly, mixed with a violet light.

'What the hell!?'

"Master, careful!"

A bit too late, a flying piece of metal struck Hikaru's shoulder. Thankfully, Captain Prismaura's protection minimized the damage.

Amid the violet storm, he saw his alchemy materials swirling, assembling, and merging.

Before his astonished eyes, a puppet-like iron hand took shape, followed by a floating staff. Then, with a flash of purple light, a tiny figure with mechanical joints and hair made of twisted cables appeared.

El Shaddoll Winda!

"So that's it!" Fullmetalfoes Alkahest materialized beside him. "Master, you completed the card long ago. It simply refused to awaken!"

In this world, some cards actively resisted recognition, only immensely powerful Spirits or even "gods" could do that.

"Wait, why I can see you now?" Hikaru suddenly realized.

"Master, your power has been enhanced!" Flame Swordsman and Dark Flare Knight quickly explained.

"Strange, Master's crafted cards were just normal cards. Why now?" Dark Flare Knight frowned.

"Apologies, Master," Captain Prismaura said solemnly. "She must be from my Spirit World. My existence must've caught her attention."

Now it made sense.

Hikaru wasn't some miracle alchemist, there was no way he could create a full Spirit artificially.

It had to be because Winda already existed.

As the Spirits babbled, the green-haired mechanical girl twisted her neck, moved her limbs, moving awkwardly but steadily.

She wasn't a normal being. Her joints flexed unnaturally, her head jerking oddly. She glanced at Prismaura emotionlessly and said,

"Long time, no see."

Captain Prismaura shivered.

Then, the girl turned to Hikaru.

"Human…you…unauthorized…create…me—"

Abruptly, she glitched, slapping her own head as she adjusted her throat.

Moments later, she straightened, her expression suddenly lively, even smiling brightly.

It stunned Hikaru.

"Ugh. Prismaura? Ehh? Human?"

"Winda" grinned madly.

"Didn't expect the Spirit of a card to reach the human world! Seems I have a chance to resurrect again!"

Wait. This wasn't "the" Winda!

No, this was a Winda!

Prismaura was baffled.

He had seen many Shaddoll Spirits, fought countless Shaddolls, but none had expressions like this.

"Tierra?" Hikaru tested.

"You've heard of me?" "Winda" smiled knowingly. "Seems my divine name echoes even in other worlds."

Hikaru exhaled sharply.

This was another "DarkNess.".

Primordial Deity Tierra! Tierra, Source of Destruction!

One of DT World's two "Creators."

Of course, if Darkness could spawn fragments, Tierra could too!

Winda, the "Voice of God," was Tierra's prophet. In lore, Winda was the only Shaddoll without control strings, because she was directly connected!

Apparently, Winda's Spirit had wanted to duel Hikaru to recognize him, but Tierra had kidnapped it.

"Compared to the abominations of my world, humans are quite acceptable," Tierra said, nodding approvingly. "Human, if you find my world and help me revive, I'll grant you the name of Adam, founder of all humanity there."

"Nope." Hikaru immediately rejected.

Helping Tierra? Might as well revive Qin Shi Huang and be named Grand Marshal!

"Leave Winda's mind. She's my card now!"

Tierra flinched.

Thousands of years, and there was still someone who dared talk back to her?

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

Hikaru smiled.

From Prismaura, he had learned the history.

DT World was ancient, long before history. Tierra's real body had long perished.

Probably fossilized into crude oil!

To exert enough power, even Darkness needed the Three Egyptian Gods.

With just a Winda card as a vessel, what could Tierra accomplish?

Did she think he didn't have Super Polymerization?

Though Hikaru couldn't unleash Super Poly's full power, Tierra clearly couldn't either otherwise, she'd have already crushed him.

So, Hikaru calmly unclipped his card.

"Stop, wait! Your body can't fully unleash it! If you force it, we'll both perish!" Tierra hurriedly blocked him.

"I have an idea, a fair duel!"

She smiled charmingly.

"You wouldn't refuse, would you?

"You can duel?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… not yet. But I can learn!" Tierra admitted awkwardly.

"Heh."

In this world, if you can't duel, you'll end up a laughingstock, like Darkness.

"I have conditions," Hikaru said.

"What conditions?"

"Card creation. You can do that, right?"

"This body is weak. But if I use what you're holding, maybe."

"Stop reading my memories without permission!" Hikaru scolded.

"Deal."

"I'm heading to the Village of Spellcasters soon, and I run a club, you can observe as much as you want."

"Excellent!" Tierra beamed.

Then, she realized.

'Wait. Wasn't my original goal… resurrection?'

Could exchanging card-crafting delay that?

But after a moment, she dismissed it.

As a "god," keeping promises was basic!

Besides, since the new era was all about dueling, Might as well learn, too!

As long as she developed Hikaru into her follower, she'd revive eventually!

What's a hundred, two hundred years in the grand scheme?