...
5DS World
Having defeated Z-one of the Divine Temple and saved the Synchro world, Yusei Fudo had returned to a normal life. He was currently enjoying a friendly Riding Duel with his friends Jack Atlas, Akiza Izinski, and Crow Hogan.
"Huh? What's going on?"
"Your data screens seem to have a problem!"
"It's not showing your duel anymore!"
Luna, acting as the referee, was the first to notice that something was wrong.
"Hey! She's right!"
"Yusei! Jack!"
"And you too, Crow Hogan!"
"You need to stop the duel!!!"
Akiza Izinski's clear, pleasant voice echoed across the entire track through the microphone.
The three duelists, still in the middle of their Riding Duel, widened their eyes. The next second, they all slammed on their brakes, bringing the duel to a halt.
Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas, and Crow Hogan exchanged glances, their faces filled with alarm.
It was true.
All the data from their Riding Duel had vanished. In its place was a dueling scene they had never witnessed before!
"What? What does this mean?"
"Can the virtual system malfunction?" Crow Hogan asked, completely baffled.
"No! This isn't a malfunction!" Jack Atlas frowned, pointing out a possibility. "It seems we've connected to someone else's duel!"
But even he wasn't sure. Was this really someone else's duel? Why was it filled with combos he'd never seen?
"No, perhaps it's neither of those things," Yusei calmly analyzed, looking at the black-bordered card that flashed across the screen. "We might have connected to another world. Look at the black card that person is using. And it seems they don't have the rules of a Riding Duel."
The strange way the monsters were stacked on top of each other to summon it... everything indicated that this duel did not belong to their Synchro-focused world.
...
ZEXAL World
In Heartland City, Yuma Tsukumo was dueling with his friends. The moment all the screens switched to the other duel, Yuma Tsukumo, Reginald "Shark" Kastle, Kite Tenjo, and Rio Kastle all snapped their gazes towards the display. The surrounding crowd also focused their attention on the screens.
"What do you mean, 'Xyz isn't the meta, Synchro is'?"
"Hey, hey, hey! This guy is saying most of the Number cards are useless! Is he kidding?"
"No, wait! Haven't you guys noticed something's off about these videos? It's like they're not from our world..."
"Holy cow! You're right! Now that you mention it, I see it too. I've never seen most of their cards before."
"..."
The buzzing discussions from the crowd of duelists caused Yuma, Shark, and the others to fall into a thoughtful silence.
The screen was constantly showing Xyz combos, Synchro explanations, and card analyses. Everything pointed to the fact that these scenes were from other dueling worlds!
Wait a minute!
Perhaps... it was a world far more advanced than their ZEXAL world!
Because the very next video that played... introduced the Pendulum mechanic.
"Yuma! A new crisis may be on the horizon!" Astral's voice appeared in Yuma Tsukumo's mind. "It could be a terrifying world that we have no way of reaching. A world that holds powers greater than the Number cards, powers unknown to us."
These words made Yuma Tsukumo's face turn pale. If that was true, it was no wonder he'd seen a video where someone arrogantly claimed that most of the Number cards were useless.
Could it be? Did a dueling world with rules far beyond their comprehension really exist?
...
ARC-V World
Yuya Sakaki, who was in the middle of a duel with Declan Akaba, paused his draw.
Declan was about to say something when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the duel on the big screen had been replaced.
"Staff!"
"What are you people doing?"
"Can't you even operate the virtual duel system properly?"
"Change the feed back now!" Declan roared.
He was at a critical moment! He wanted to see what kind of combo Yuya would use to defeat his D/D/D monsters! And just like that, the connection was gone!
What was the point of dueling now? What about the impressive D/D/D board he had worked so hard to build!
"President!"
"We have no control!"
"The computer systems are all automatically playing this strange duel footage! We can't do anything to stop it!"
When the reason—"no control"—was relayed to him, Declan Akaba froze on the spot, completely dumbfounded.
What does that mean?
Is there something that the Leo Corporation's security system can't handle?
No control?
Their security system could be breached to the point where they couldn't even regain control?
Doesn't that mean... the duel has to be terminated?
"Declan Akaba!" Yuya pointed at the big screen. "Maybe this isn't a bad thing for us! Look at the duel!"
His voice trembled slightly as he spoke. At first, he too had thought it was just a system malfunction or a hacker invasion. But when he saw the blue-colored cards appear on the screen, he fell silent.
Everyone else in the audience also fell silent.
Link Summon?
A tally of the most versatile staple Link cards?
Who is that person?
What is any of this?
Gong Strong, Zuzu Boyle, and the others were already experiencing brain overload. And what the heck are those extra Link arrows?!
...
VRAINS World
As a resident of the world with the most advanced dueling technology, Yusaku Fujiki was a powerful hacker. But when he realized he couldn't break through the control of the hijacked computer screens, he understood something terrifying.
The person—or rather, the more advanced dueling world—that was controlling their entire global network and broadcasting these strange duels was on a completely different level.
"A duel that combines Fusion, Xyz, Synchro, and Pendulum... and even our own Link rules."
"Just what kind of terrifying level has dueling reached in that world?" Yusaku muttered to himself, a storm already raging in his heart.
Faced with this unknown, even Yusaku Fujiki, a master Code Talker in this world, had to seriously analyze the bizarre images appearing before him.
At the same time, Soulburner, Skye Zaizen, and the other duelists from the VRAINS world also realized this.
By the time they looked up at the big screen again, the title of the short video had appeared.
"A Must-Play Deck for Dragon Fanatics! An Explosive Blue-Eyes White Dragon Combo Guide!"
-------
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