Marufuji Shou had absolutely no idea what was going on; the bizarre developments tonight were way beyond what his brain could process.
First, on the way to explore the back mountain with his big bro Judai, he saw a Shooting Star. He didn't know if his big bro's wish was too over-the-top or what, but that Shooting Star actually came crashing straight down at the two of them.
From that height, a meteorite still blazing with flames exploded less than a few meters behind their backs. By all common sense, Marufuji Shou figured he should've been dead for sure, but when he came back to his senses he realized he was still standing there just fine, nothing wrong with him at all.
Only his big bro was gone.
Marufuji Shou stayed dumbfounded for a long while, until he turned his head and saw a red sphere floating in midair, and within that orb of light he could just barely make out the outline of a figure lying on his back. Only then did he finally put two and two together.
His big bro somehow had been sucked into that ball.
Marufuji Shou instantly panicked and hurriedly tried to turn around to look for some professional help. But he hadn't even gotten a few steps when he suddenly felt the ground under his feet quake, trees on both sides shudder violently, and dead leaves came raining down.
Every alarm bell in Marufuji Shou's head went off. Forcing himself to muster up his courage, he turned his head, and saw yet another light sphere dive down out of the pitch-black night. This time it was blue—a ghostly blue glow dragging a twisted trail across the night sky, like a reaper delivering death.
"Holy crap!"
Marufuji Shou took off running.
Who the heck did our Academy piss off tonight? Why are even meteorites lining up to pay us a visit?
BOOM!!!
Another violent impact shook the island as if the whole sea island had sunk a few inches. A wave of dust shot into the sky, transparent blue flames swept outward, and something wrapped in that icy glow descended upon the island.
Marufuji Shou rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Space itself seemed distorted. A gigantic black giant, as tall as a multi-story building, stood amidst the island's dense forest. Towering over the trees like a crane in a flock of chickens, the space around him kept warping, making his image blur and flicker like a TV screen with bad reception.
Radian, the Multidimensional Kaiju!
As mentioned before, all the Kaiju in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Kaiju series Card Deck are designed based on various famous giant creatures from tokusatsu works, and naturally Radian is no exception.
Radian's prototype design draws more from a scrapped alien concept called Orga in the design collection for the movie "Godzilla 2000." It was never officially used in the film, though the name might sound unfamiliar to most people.
However, it has another source of inspiration—a Cosmic being far more familiar and downright legendary to tokusatsu fans.
That would be the so-called "whole-family-martyred little crawfish" Cosmic Ninja: the Baltan alien, whose ancestors, grandpas, and grandkids pretty much all got wiped out wholesale by those M78 civil servants.
Of course, whether it was Orga or the Baltan alien, Marufuji Shou wouldn't recognize either of them. He was so scared he didn't even dare breathe too loudly and just turned tail and ran.
Fortunately, someone soon appeared and drew Radian's attention.
Two trails of exhaust flames tore through the night sky as a silver-white battleship shot out spewing fire. The aircraft locked on to its target; main cannon and auxiliary turrets all locked on at once, and several laser blasts simultaneously struck Radian's flickering, elusive body.
Gigantic Battleship - MK2!
It was the Academy's security unit. The nearby patrol squad had already been heading this way when the red light sphere fell, and the moment they detected an unknown Monster invading the Academy island, they immediately launched an attack.
This "Gigantic Battleship - MK2" was the squad captain's ace, Summoned through the Duel Disc using Kaiba Company's Mass Projection System black tech!
Too bad that despite looking cool and imposing, it was pretty much useless. With just a single disdainful glance, Radian flipped his palm, and a surge of dimensional distortion instantly seized the high-speed battleship, blowing it to pieces in midair.
The rest of the squad members immediately joined the fight. Everyone's Duel Disc switched to live-combat mode, and they each Summoned physical Monsters with mass to take part in battle. Flying in the sky, crawling on the ground—dinosaurs, birds, battleship cavalry, and charge-leading Warriors all came pouring out.
The Duel Monsters quickly clashed with the dimensional Kaiju, but the difference in strength was clearly enormous.
Their attacks barely posed any real threat to this powerful alien Kaiju, whereas the dimensional Kaiju could unleash devastating damage with a casual strike, blasting a huge swath of forest apart and sending the Monsters flying, shattering them into fragments that vanished.
They wouldn't be able to hold out for long.
...
Student Yuki Judai floated inside the red light sphere, blankly staring at the humanoid figure before him, bathed in golden radiance.
"Um... excuse me, do we know each other?" Judai scratched his head.
"Of course." The other person gave a firm answer, then continued, "Judai, we need your help."
"My help?" Judai pointed at himself.
"That's right. The conflict between good and evil in the Cosmic realm has reached a critical point. The flames of war are about to... no, have already spread to Earth.
But evil is far too strong. We need a just, kind-hearted, and powerfully strong Warrior to stand against it. So we need your strength, Judai!"
Judai was left gaping: "Huh? Who's fighting who all the way to Earth?"
"The righteous darkness that defends Cosmic order, and the Light of Destruction that tries to overturn everything and erase the universe back to 'nothing'!"
"Aliens!?" Judai was shocked, waving his hands again and again. "Then you've definitely found the wrong guy, I don't have that kind of skill."
Classmate Judai expressed that he's just a guy who plays cards; what virtue or ability does he have, how could he possibly get involved in something as high-end and classy as an interstellar war?
The other party panicked on the spot and hurriedly said, boss, don't sell yourself short, the ones we're looking for are exactly the people who play cards!
"The Duels you've studied are the key to this battle!" the other side explained. "We need powerful Duelists to help us win this war!"
Judai blinked twice, finally starting to catch the rhythm.
Oh, so we're gonna play cards against aliens, should've said so earlier. I thought I had to pilot a Cosmic battleship or a mobile suit and charge in swinging a beam saber, fighting aliens for my life...
But right after that he was puzzled again. "If you want powerful Duelists, why don't you go find Teacher Youyu? He's the strongest Duelist in this world!"
"Because we don't just need a strong Duelist, we need someone who must have the correct 'Cosmic Darkness' within them! Only someone with the right darkness can stand against the Light of Destruction!"
Judai didn't fully get it, but he more or less understood the gist. "Oh, oh, so you mean not just being good at Dueling? Then it's gotta be me, right?"
"Exactly." The other party seemed very pleased that Judai had finally caught up. "Then now is the time when your power is needed."
As he spoke, he stretched out a hand shining with golden light and pointed to the side.
Following the direction of that finger, Judai, through the glowing sphere he was in, barely saw towering dimensional Kaiju stomping through the woods, fiercely battling the Monsters the academy security had Summoned.
"That is... Duel Academy!?" Judai panicked at once. "Ah, then we've gotta help them!"
"Exactly! That's why I need your power, Judai! Lend me your strength, and we'll defeat the evil enemy together!"
Judai agreed without even thinking. "Sure, sure, so what do I do?"
The situation was urgent, and with Judai's consent the mysterious man didn't waste time explaining. He spread both arms wide. In an instant, golden radiance surged from his entire body and he disintegrated into countless motes of light.
But those motes didn't dissipate. Instead, they rapidly gathered and reformed into a small metallic sphere in the center of Judai's palm.
It was a metallic sphere that looked like it had a few years on it, about the size of a palm-sized flight pod. No idea what material it was made of, but it looked extremely solid. Although the surface seemed a bit faded, overall it was still quite intact.
There was also a line of text printed on the surface of the sphere.
Judai squinted and read it out. "Ri... River Horse Company?"
He quickly realized part of the middle was covered by some grime. He hastily wiped it off with his hand, then finally saw it clearly. "...Kaiba Company!?"
He finally remembered.
Six years ago, back when he was still a kid, President Kaiba Seto stood before all the children of the world and spoke passionately, sincerely inviting them to unleash their imaginations and create the Duel Monsters of their dreams, which Kaiba Company's technology would then launch into the depths of the Cosmic to receive special waves.
So many years had passed with no word. Judai had always thought his design had ultimately not been selected. He felt regret, but wasn't surprised, and gradually he just forgot about it.
He never imagined that the package he mailed back then... has now come back!
And in exactly the way he'd dreamed of!
Thinking of this, Judai's gaze toward the little Cosmic pod in his hand instantly burned hot, the Soul of the Duelist blazing up.
This was his creation! His own design, made with his own hands!
The strongest, most perfect, and also brand-new Hero that belonged to him alone in his dreams!
His excitement was impossible to suppress. Without thinking, he opened the pod—almost as if it had been waiting for him to do so, the hatch swung open without the slightest resistance.
Inside lay a Card Deck, quietly resting. It had crossed time and space, spanned the stars, and returned to this blue planet, as if all these years it had been waiting for its true master.
Judai, without hesitation, directly slotted the Card Deck into his Duel Disc. The Duel Disc activated at once; the Deck auto-shuffled with a rapid "shff shff shff," countless particles of light flew out from the Deck, and behind him they once again gathered into that glowing humanoid form, the blue crystal on its chest shining brilliantly.
"Call my name, Judai!"
Judai raised his now-shuffled Duel Disc.
"Elemental Hero—
—Neos!!!"
The fiery sphere of light exploded in an instant! Surging energy swept out like an endless flood, rolling along the forests and mountains, and in moments it had engulfed the entire island!
A brand-new Hero like none before it shot straight out of the pillar of light towering into the sky, like a fired shell slamming hard into the dimensional Kaiju's jaw!