On his return trip, Paradox and Yusei, who was hurrying to Jack's aid, crossed paths and passed each other. Paradox glanced back at Yusei once, then turned his head and silently continued back to his own team's base.
As he parked his vehicle, his two teammates walked out to meet him.
Like him, both of his teammates were disguised to a certain degree.
The leaner duelist wore red semi-transparent windproof goggles and a set of racing leathers, with faint black mechanical structures visible on the suit. The relatively tall duelist looked imposing, his build far exceeding an ordinary person's. He too wore a mask, but his mask had black stripes on a white base.
"How was it, Paradox? How did the duel with Jack Atlas feel?" The tall one asked first.
His name was Aporia.
"I don't think there was any need to make that move of directly attacking with Red Nova Dragon, Paradox. You had other ways to win, didn't you?" The one with the red goggles pressed him next.
The man wearing goggles rather than a mask was named Antinomy.
"Only this way will that guy understand that this isn't playing house." Paradox said offhandedly.
Aporia continued right after: "If anything, this level was still too light. Antinomy, Paradox, you should be going all out even more. You should give him despair, let him know the vastness of this world! Let him know what true strength is, let him grasp the wisdom of retreating in the face of difficulty."
Paradox shrugged and didn't respond to his words.
Antinomy let out a light sigh, feeling both regret and pity.
Too weak, Jack Atlas.
No.
You couldn't say he was "too weak," but rather, not strong enough.
Following the original history, Jack Atlas was absolutely much stronger than the Jack of the same point in time in history.
But it wasn't enough.
If they wanted to complete the ending Yusei desired, this level was not enough. Only genuine "transcending the era," "transcending history," "transcending the future" could possibly achieve the "reconnection and coordination of all existences," the "Synchro that belongs to humanity" that Yusei yearned for.
Of course, Paradox's dueling actually was a bit excessive.
It wasn't that Paradox's dueling was excessive so much as that the cards Paradox used were excessive.
In the era when they were still alive, the "Crystron" deck did indeed exist, but there were no Tristaroses, no Sulfadors. These cards had been created entirely new by Zone before he sent them to this era.
Even the cards in his and Aporia's hands included some that were completely supplementary and entirely different from ordinary history.
To create these cards, Zone had even drawn upon and observed the histories of other dimensions to supplement their decks.
The reason was simple.
Although through an accident, Yusei Fudo had traveled to the future's time and met Zone, learning about future events and even gaining a special "evolution" from Zone, that didn't mean they would necessarily support Yusei Fudo.
Yusei's choice was, from Zone's perspective, something never attempted before. Whether it would even succeed was hard to say.
Precisely because of this, they had to participate in the "One God War" even more seriously.
If Yusei really could win the recognition of the vast majority of people in the world, of the vast majority of the contestants, then all was well. But if he couldn't accomplish that great feat...
Team New World would create the New World of their ideals!
A world where Synchro Summoning does not exist!
Yes.
This was Team New World, this team from the future, and their goal.
Many people of this era didn't know, including the scientists of this era who had invented the "perpetual motion machine." That "perpetual motion machine" was not simply a machine.
In fact, the source of a certain peculiar particle used in the perpetual motion machine came from "Synchro."
This wondrous particle possessed the property of connecting fundamental particles, and so it was used in the prototype "Moment," which was to say the current City's core creation, the perpetual motion machine.
And this wondrous particle was the root of all "Synchro," or rather, Synchro itself was this wondrous particle. This particle, capable of connecting any thing to any other thing, was the essence of Synchro!
It was a concept, an actual substance, and also thought, energy, a connection point!
The perpetual motion machine had been applied across every industry in the City, and it was an important thing that placed the City at the forefront of the world. But with the flow of time, the corrupt regime would eventually fall. In this world's original future, Yusei, Jack, and Crow all rose to prominence in this event, and, representing the Crimson Dragon, gained the victory of the final One God.
But this was not humanity's endgame.
As time passed, as the perpetual motion machine gradually spread throughout the whole world, its hidden characteristics were also gradually activated.
The particles within the perpetual motion machine were the wondrous particles that could connect all things!
Including the human heart!
When darkness, greed, and madness in human hearts gradually polluted the perpetual motion machines, the perpetual motion machine network that spanned the entire world began to spin in reverse. In just a single night, sustained by infinite energy, infinite physical Meklord Emperor machine-beings were created. They held no malice, and no goodwill. All they had was the purest of goals: to eliminate every human who deserved eliminating!
Even though Zone made every effort, going one by one to save those people, letting them recover their kindness and cooperate with one another, and then letting the Meklord Emperors calm down under his influence and even protect them, time had run out!
In the end, what appeared before Zone was the shattered, ruined end of the human world.
By the end, apart from Zone, only three humans who could still move remained. It was those three of them.
Or rather, those three as they once were.
To put it another way, if the past could not be changed, then humanity in this world would ultimately still be destroyed. To future people, this was unacceptable.
They had watched with their own eyes as their family, friends, lovers, and even enemies died one by one, disappeared one by one, until they were completely reduced to nothing. Finally alone, wandering through a world of absolute emptiness, they'd barely managed to encounter Zone, gained the goal of "saving humanity," built time machines, and returned to this era. Not to come see their idols.
If there was no way to let them see true hope, they would not change their minds.
And even now, they had yet to see what one might call "hope."
The changes brought by the other dimensions were indeed clear to see, and had genuinely given rise to expectations in these existences from the future. But if that was all there was, fate still couldn't be escaped.
After all, what would destroy humanity itself was not some transcendent existence, not power itself, but the thoughts of humans.
Even though Hikaru had defeated Darkness and made humanity's inevitable end into an "uncertain" thing, they still couldn't gamble on it, mustn't gamble on it.
This concerned the fate of all humanity in their dimension. They couldn't gamble.
Only a certain, strongest, most suitable method could make them accept it wholeheartedly.
And now, clearly, Jack fell far short of their requirements.
True, Yusei had accomplished acts unheard of in history, but was one of him alone enough?
They had their doubts.
At the same time, Yusei had also arrived at Jack's side. Seeing Jack lying on the ground as if unconscious, he hurried out of his vehicle, preparing to help him up. But unexpectedly, Jack wasn't unconscious. He was lying on the ground, staring blankly up at the sky.
"Jack?"
"Yusei..."
"?"
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine, it was just one match." Losing one or two matches in the elimination round wasn't really any big deal, and honestly, even losing three wouldn't count as a serious problem. If anything, this duel's loss had let Yusei clearly think through a lot of things again.
"I don't mean that." Jack gazed at the sky. "Before, my duel with you..."
"Why bring that up all of a sudden?"
Yusei was puzzled.
Back at the last Fortune Cup, in the finals, when the Crimson Dragon had witnessed the two of them truly settle their bout, he'd already stopped resenting Jack.
Everyone had their own troubles, their own longings, their own dreams. Jack had only made a wrong choice in a moment. Since he'd come to his senses, he was still his good brother.
"That's not what I meant..." Jack swayed as he rose, and under Yusei's tense expression, he said dejectedly:
"What I've done, it isn't good enough..."
Perhaps because of the sudden defeat, or perhaps because Paradox's words had happened to pierce right through what was in his heart, Jack rarely took off the arrogant airs he put on and spoke some genuine feelings.
The truth was, he had always been troubled too.
Although Yusei had forgiven him, and although he'd helped Yusei and Crow during the earlier Fusion army chaos, was that really enough to atone for his mistakes?
He couldn't say.
And more importantly, when he had seen Yusei willingly accept bodily modification in order to save humanity, he, like Crow, had developed a sense of guilt and urgency.
Only, with the WRGP's convocation and hosting, he had gradually pressed this urgency down in his heart, telling himself that as long as he could help Yusei win, then none of it mattered.
But now, he had been utterly defeated head-on, by his own style of dueling, by another person!
Yes!
Looking back, Paradox's dueling was in fact the "King's Duel"!
First turn: display your own strength, wait quietly for the opponent!
Second turn: give the opponent the chance to display their strength, then be unshaken!
Third turn: with thunderous means, utterly defeat the opponent, showcase the King's bearing!
This was the King's Duel!
Paradox, this future man, had used his own style!
This felt worse than his earlier loss to Seto Kaiba.
Because when he'd lost to Seto Kaiba, Seto Kaiba had pointed out his problem, awakening the him of that time to the fact that he wasn't "pure" enough. It was because of this that he'd afterward resolved to settle things with Yusei again, and it became a prelude to the two of them making up.
But losing to Paradox?
That could only prove that in his own duel, he had lost to himself!
This was no longer a question of purity or not.
It was a question of whether he was strong enough!
He hadn't done enough. Far from enough!
He slowly rose to his feet and hobbled step by limping step toward his D-Wheel. Although his body was covered in wounds, in Yusei's eyes, his eyes seemed to blaze with fierce fire, blazing with fighting spirit.
Watching him this way, Yusei could guess at some of his thoughts.
Clearly, Jack was preparing to challenge himself.
But this was a good thing.
Meanwhile, back in the support room, Hikaru and the others were checking what was happening on the forums.
Jack Atlas's humiliating major defeat had, in an instant, become the hottest topic on the forums.
There was no counting how many people had seized this opportunity to stomp hard on Jack, to stomp hard on Team 5D's, saying Team 5D's had a big name but were actually all trash. They looked flashy but were all sound and fury. As for the championship, maybe it would actually go to Team Despair or Team New World, whose every member was far more outstanding than any Team 5D's member.
Hikaru had no particular reaction to these comments. Whether someone was outstanding or not depended on later match performance. Who dared say how the specifics would play out?
However, this kind of content did leave Leo, Luna, and Akiza Izinski's moods sinking ever lower. Especially Leo, seeing those people belittling Jack and Yusei, he had no motivation at all this time to transform into the Fake Duelist. There was only bewilderment in his heart.
How could it be like this?
Jack had a card destruction, a banishing return, a negate, and even Crimson Gaia to bring a battle-destroyed monster back... and yet he'd been defeated as easily as peeling an onion.
"Defeat is a common thing for soldiers. It's no big deal." Hikaru did his best to comfort them.
"Yeah. Since he lost, then learn from the failure. He might even come back stronger." Crow watched Jack pick himself up on the screen and get on his vehicle. The ferocity in his eyes made Crow unable to help smiling.
Crow was a clever man, a very clever man.
He was Yusei and Jack's close friend, and had had a clear understanding of both of them since childhood.
During this time, Jack had either used his position to obtain some of the WRGP's internal information, learning about their duel appearance frequencies, or in other matters got the government people to give them a green light.
Although Jack himself was a person who didn't much care what other people thought, this attitude had grown too excessive.
Crow knew that was Jack wanting to help Yusei as much as possible, but not knowing what to do.
If this duel could let Jack think something through, that was all the better. Maybe he even ought to thank Paradox.
As for the voices online... this kind of thing should be old hat to Jack by now. He'd already been through it once when he'd lost to Yusei before, so going through it again didn't really matter.
This big lug had a good ability to bear pressure. Just keep bearing it.
Compared to this, what deserved more attention was that Team New World really did look like a strong opponent in the competition.
And what Hikaru was curious about was, since Paradox used "Crystrons," could he perhaps get from him a way to reach the "Alchemic Fusion Dimension"?
A shame that Jack had crashed. He hadn't made it to the scene to ask. He'd have to try to find an opportunity later.
...
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