Chapter 354: Collaboration

Lost.

He had intended to maintain the dignified demeanor of a demonic noble and "instruct" his junior as a victor, but having lost to Tenjou Hikari, the Duke of Necromancy found his old face slightly unable to hold up.

But upon second thought, as a spirit, a loss was a loss regardless. Especially since he had targeted Tenjou Hikari so specifically, losing only made it more necessary to acknowledge the result.

Therefore, the Duke of Necromancy handed his own main body card to Tenjou Hikari with almost no hesitation.

This made Tenjou Hikari quite happy.

After all, the Duke of Necromancy’s fusion conditions were very lenient; it only required two "Undead" or "Fiend" monsters to perform a fusion.

Moreover, its own effect was excellent.

Not to mention the ability to add a Normal Summon while on the field, its "resistance" to being destroyed by battle made it more suitable for a first-turn play than the Underworld Dragon. With its existence, Tenjou Hikari could reconsider carrying the Vampire Sorceress engine.

After all, if nothing else, the Sorceress had been Tenjou Hikari’s veteran defensive measure. Although its scope of application wasn't as broad as "Temperance," it could additionally retain a fusion material, and since their actual application ranges didn't completely overlap, it was worth considering again.

Of course.

The Duke of Necromancy had one most important effect.

That is, while the Duke of Necromancy was in the Graveyard, he could banish it from the Graveyard and target one Level 4 or higher Fiend or Undead monster in his Graveyard. That card would be added to his hand.

This effect was even more comprehensive.

On one hand, after being dealt with by the opponent, it could be used to recover the Sorceress or other monsters used as materials, allowing for further defense or fusion.

On the other hand...

Under specific circumstances, this card could be used to recover "Creation Resonator Tierra."

Tenjou Hikari had once attempted a similar deck. Before coming to this world, he had considered using the Engraver of Marks to mill Tierra, and then using the Duke of Necromancy to recover Tierra for a show.

Regardless of the strength, it was truly cool.

In short, whether for the "present" or the "future," the Duke of Necromancy fusion monster held great significance for Tenjou Hikari’s deck construction and was something very much worth looking forward to.

On the other side, the Spirit Princess was a bit of a pity. Although she was also a spirit, Youli’s Spirit Princess had not yet constructed her own card through spirit power.

This made Tierra quite curious.

In fact, this was the first time Tenjou Hikari had encountered a situation where "existence existed but the card had not yet been born."

However, within the Critical Point, there were many such strange spirit villages. After all, not all spirits had the "qualifications" to conduct the Duel Ritual; some spirits could only watch the Duel Ritual as spectators and then go about their daily lives.

But regardless, since "Youli’s Spirit Princess" already existed, according to Tenjou Hikari’s current understanding of the spirit world, the appearance of a card wouldn't be too far off, so he wasn't too concerned.

With the duel concluded, under the assistance of Tenjou Hikari and the Vampire Empire, a temporary dimensional channel was constructed, and the Duke and the spirits he protected began to slowly transfer to the Great Universe Workshop dimension.

Looking at the brand-new world and the "planets" they could choose from at will, these spirits appeared quite excited, chattering away in discussion. During this transfer, the Vampire Sorceress also took the opportunity to observe the situation of the Great Universe Workshop.

Soon, she was convinced that the space of the Great Universe Workshop was extremely vast, and furthermore, the Great Universe Workshop connected to more than one dimension.

There was a robot coalition from a certain dimension, and a dimension filled with demons, where Camula’s former "boss," the Three Phantom Demons, resided.

This shocked the Vampire Sorceress, but amidst the shock, she also made her own judgment.

She chatted with Tenjou Hikari, saying she wanted to completely connect the Vampire Empire dimension with Tenjou Hikari’s "Great Universe Workshop" dimension. This way, they could conduct spirit exchanges through portable dimensional channels, just like the Allied Army Hangar and the Fluffal Sanctuary.

There were several benefits to this. First, Tenjou Hikari wouldn't need to spend extra energy later; the Vampire spirits would communicate and even appear just like the spirits in the Hangar, which could save Tenjou Hikari time.

Second, in this situation, with the Vampire Empire linked to the Great Universe dimension, the Vampire Sorceress could also assist Tenjou Hikari in duels through spirit support.

Before that, the Vampire Sorceress’s card often appeared when Tenjou Hikari was in a crisis during a duel, but that only relied on Tenjou Hikari’s scheduling and the power of the duel. Through this method, the Sorceress could appear whenever Tenjou Hikari needed her.

Although the Sorceress herself wasn't a very high-level spirit, she was now the "leader" of the entire Vampire Empire and possessed special power enhancement. If Tenjou Hikari truly needed her, she would definitely be able to appear.

This point was quite gratifying; after all, if possible, Tenjou Hikari certainly hoped his duels could be safer.

Finally, the third point.

It was also the final reason the Sorceress stated.

As the temporary leader of the Vampire Empire, she had to admit that their Vampire Empire dimension was slowly heading toward collapse. Although this collapse wasn't obvious, they would suffer sooner or later, so most Vampire spirits hid within the Empire, forcibly maintaining the existence of the Empire through various methods.

But the connection with the Great Universe Workshop allowed the Vampire Empire to briefly achieve "balance." In other words, there was some kind of power in the Great Universe maintaining the existence of the "dimension."

This was also a matter of great importance to the Vampires and was the purpose the Sorceress most hoped to achieve through cooperation.

In return, if collaboration could be achieved, the Vampire spirits would be equivalent to "liberating" themselves.

One must know that although the Blood Demons weren't very high-level spirits, their "seniority" was old enough; each one was a spirit that had lived for who knows how many years. Therefore, their "connections" were quite extensive, but previously, they had to maintain the existence of their own dimension and were too embarrassed to lower their noble faces to ask for help from spirits of other dimensions.

If they could cooperate, they could liberate themselves and go to their former friends to trick... find some support for Tenjou Hikari.

If nothing else, including the Duke of Necromancy, these spirits had some face in the "Undead World." With their support, even if they couldn't pull in any particularly powerful spirits, they could certainly pull in a batch of spirit cards for Tenjou Hikari to enhance the quantity of Tenjou Hikari’s system.

A super win-win.

However, it treated the symptoms but not the root cause.

After hearing their words, Tenjou Hikari also knew that it must be the "Philosopher's Stone" that was taking effect.

However, this would always just be "treating the symptoms."

But, conversely, Tenjou Hikari realized one more thing.

The spirit dimension was constantly collapsing. Although most weren't very obvious, there were some like the Vampire Empire that were particularly noticeable.

Regardless of what that mastermind behind the scenes was, it had caused the collapse of the spirit dimension; this was an undeniable fact. Therefore, before exploring this mastermind, Tenjou Hikari also had to find a way...

Find a way to "save the dimension."

If he could find a way, if nothing else, there would definitely be a large number of spirits willing to actively seek cooperation with Tenjou Hikari like the Vampires.

But...

He didn't understand at all?

Tenjou Hikari couldn't even see where the problem was.

This wasn't something he could tinker with within his professional scope.

"Hehehe... Tenjou Hikari, it seems you need the help of [God]."

Inside the workshop, after helping the Duke and the others finish moving, Tenjou Hikari stood in silence, rubbing his chin and pondering the connections.

Seeming to see through Tenjou Hikari’s confusion, Tierra laughed softly, spread her hands, and declared.

Oh?

Oh!

It really is—