Chapter 511: The Support of Friendship

The duel ended; at this moment, Yu Xing arrived at Tenjo Hikari's side. After seeing Serena, he nodded to Tenjo Hikari, then turned his gaze toward the massive sky painting beside him.

The enormous vulture flame painting suspended in the sky had not dissipated; the colossal Groundbound God still breathed in the heavens, like a natural phenomenon, inhaling and exhaling, causing the entire world to flicker between light and darkness.

It was as if this giant bird were the sun and moon of the entire world.

"A god of creation level?" Tierra raised an eyebrow.

Slightly stronger than her now, but not by much.

Far away, after defeating Zhen Si, Ke Luo's face flickered with a trace of pain, but he clenched his teeth, said nothing, and shed no tears.

When a duel ends, all "resentment" between the duelists should vanish.

He simply remained silent, silently continuing his previous journey.

"Ke Luo—" Yu Xing frowned as he watched Ke Luo's relentless D-Ride, saying, "He wants to complete that ground painting…"

In this world, duels between the Chosen Ones accelerate the completion of the ground painting; once the ground painting is finished, it signifies that the god will awaken completely.

He will no longer be bound by the ground painting, no longer a "Groundbound God," but return to his original form, to his truest form, to the posture of the "Synchro God."

With all other gods still dormant, if the ground painting of Viracocha Raska is completed first, victory is essentially secured.

Yu Xing remembered that Viracocha Raska was the "Ultimate Groundbound God," essentially the strongest candidate among Groundbound Gods—even the great battle between Red Dragon and him was evenly matched.

Before the Dragon Seal bearer awakens the full form of Red Dragon, if Ke Luo completes the ground painting, all his efforts will turn to dust.

He frowned.

"Squeak-squeak-squeak—"

At that moment, everyone heard a sharp screech of brakes; a D-Ride, performing wild drifts, came to a stop before them.

"Gui Liu!" Yu Xing exclaimed upon seeing him.

Gui Liu stopped the vehicle, removed his mask, revealing a face unlike his usual madness—instead, one tinged with sorrow.

He gazed at the massive ground painting beside him, at the Ultimate Groundbound God soaring in the sky, at Ke Luo racing forward, and couldn't help but sigh.

Then he turned to Yu Xing and, as if struck by sudden madness, burst into wild laughter: "Hahahaha! Yu Xing, seeing you torn up like this is so satisfying!"

"Gui Liu, why are you here now—"

"Hmph, since my little brother was defeated, of course I had to come!" Gui Liu sneered.

Though he hadn't spoken much to Zhen Si, the "Groundbound" in Zhen Si's hands was the power that revived him—the "Groundbound God Card Kapak Ccapac Ccapac Apu"—and the scattered ground paintings circulating in the Lower City were all provided by him.

After his revival, he hadn't changed much—only two goals remained.

First, revenge: to avenge himself against Yu Xing, who betrayed him.

Second, duels: to duel however he pleased, to duel wildly and joyfully in this insane world.

If the people in the Lower City couldn't challenge those in the Upper City, then he would share his own power with them—the strongest "Dark" force—and let this world erupt in revelry.

He originally had little feeling for Zhen Si's beliefs or the Lower City's rebellion against the Upper City; he simply wanted duels—wild, exhilarating duels.

But when he saw Zhen Si and Ke Luo, two close friends, dueling to kill each other, Gui Liu—who had never cared much for Zhen Si—finally felt a pang of sadness.

Because he remembered his own friendship with Yu Xing, remembered the rift between them.

Even if it had been a misunderstanding, the hostility it sparked was now real; once hatred took root, it could never vanish.

More importantly—

"Yu Xing, what's wrong? Now, do you still want to betray Ke Luo and make him feel my pain!?" He suddenly turned and shouted at Yu Xing.

"Gui Liu, you know what will happen if Ke Luo completes the ground painting, don't you?" Yu Xing countered.

Gui Liu scoffed outright: "Then isn't that better? Yu Xing! If Ke Luo is determined to change this world, shouldn't you, as a friend, support him? Just as Ke Luo supported you."

This left Yu Xing speechless for a moment.

"Yu Xing," Tenjo Hikari interjected, "As a friend, you should point out your friend's mistakes—that's the right thing to do, isn't it?

If back then, when Gui Liu attacked the police, you'd told him not to do it, or that it was wrong, you'd still be best friends today—"

He casually tapped Serena on the head, making her cry out in pain: "Just like this idiot, acting on her own to play the hero, triggering a citywide manhunt and nearly getting Lin and Youwu, who were learning from you, hurt too.

If she'd asked me or someone else for advice, someone to guide or correct her, she wouldn't have ended up like this."

Gui Liu frowned, glaring at Tenjo Hikari, clearly displeased: "Tch, Yu Xing, who is this kid? He has no right to speak here!"

After hearing this, Yu Xing's furrowed brow suddenly relaxed.

For this period, he'd been mentally strained from seeing a ruined future, terrified of making any mistake, leaving his mind foggy.

That's right—

"He's a friend I met at the Friendship Cup." Yu Xing, despite the urgency, calmly extended his hand to introduce Gui Liu: "A Duelist specializing in Fusion, an exceptionally skilled Duelist."

"A Fusion-specialist Duelist? Hahahaha—that's interesting." Unlike most Duelists in this dimension who believed Synchro was supreme and looked down on "classical" Summoning methods,

To Gui Liu, a duel was just a duel; as long as he won, any tactic was valid, and a Duelist's duty was to enjoy the duel—so the method of Summoning didn't matter.

"Gui Liu, I know Ke Luo would never do anything evil, but if he completes the ground painting, it's merely entering a new cycle—nothing changes for this world."

"I don't care what this world becomes," Gui Liu shrugged. "What's it to me?"

Whoever became the "One God" didn't matter.

"It does," Yu Xing said firmly. "As long as this world doesn't forge a new path, your tragedy, Zhen Si's tragedy, our tragedies—will replay endlessly. I must change all this."

"Then go duel Ke Luo," Gui Liu sneered. "Can you duel him? Will he duel you?"

Gui Liu posed two serious questions.

The first, Yu Xing could answer easily: yes.

Merely dueling, Yu Xing would accept any duel.

But the second—

"That guy's suffering now, isn't he? He just killed his best friend—what was it all for?" Gui Liu sneered. "For himself, for the children he wants to protect, and for you—when I last saw him, I knew he desperately wanted to help you, yet hated being powerless."

If Yu Xing challenged Ke Luo, Ke Luo would absolutely refuse.

And given Yu Xing's nature, he could never force Ke Luo into a duel.

"That's simple."

As the two argued, Tenjo Hikari had already raised his left hand, the Dark Seal on his arm glowing red, drawing their attention.

"Yu Xing, ultimately, Ke Luo is like this because of Serena." He glared harshly at Serena again.

Serena shrank back.

"No, the real enemy is the Upper City bastards," Yu Xing shook his head. "Don't blame good people—evil's source is those who kidnap and commit atrocities.

Besides, Ke Luo became what he is because of his rift with Zhen Si—it has nothing to do with you."

"Those who collaborate with Upper City nobles? They're from our dimension—the Fusion Army, my enemies."

Tenjo Hikari replied calmly: "Moreover, even if Ke Luo's current state has nothing to do with Serena, she remains the spark. I can't ignore her—otherwise, as a Duelist, how could I uphold my own duel?"

He turned to Gui Liu: "You two, surely want to settle this, don't you?"

The two exchanged glances; Gui Liu suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! Interesting—you're actually quite to my taste!

How about it, Yu Xing? Dare to duel me? Last time, our duel ended in a draw because of a D-Ride malfunction—this time, make sure I'm satisfied!"

Without waiting for Yu Xing's reply, he turned and sped off.

Yu Xing took a deep breath.

Before leaving, he looked at Tenjo Hikari with concern: "Xikalige, be careful of Ke Luo's Groundbound God and the power of Assault Black Wing—that combination… is nearly invincible."

At least, he hadn't yet thought of how to defeat it.

"Heh, what I love most is defeating the invincible," Tenjo Hikari replied with a light laugh.

Yu Xing remained worried, but after a moment, he nodded firmly and immediately activated his D-Ride, chasing after Gui Liu.

"Hah! You actually followed, Yu Xing? Aren't you afraid he'll lose to Ke Luo? That Ke Luo now? Even I'm shaken and thrilled!" Gui Liu laughed. "Besides, he's a Dark Seal bearer too—if he wins, won't you worry he'll immediately revive his own Groundbound God?"

"No—he's… Tenjo Hikari! That pure Fusionist."

He abandoned his identity as a Dragon Seal bearer, accepted transformation, and chose to fight as a human in the War of the One God precisely because he was inspired by Tenjo Hikari.

He wanted to reconcile all people, all gods, to lead all life onto a new path—not to drown endlessly in an eternal cycle with no future. If so, he must have absolute trust in Tenjo Hikari.

This is the true meaning of "Synchro."

It was also the "inspiration" he gained from witnessing Tenjo Hikari's unwavering dedication to Fusion in the future.

After that, after Tenjo Hikari arrived in this world, he watched Tenjo Hikari's duels here.

Tenjo Hikari was too pure, too "Fusion."

So he believed—Tenjo Hikari, the purest "Fusion" Duelist he'd ever known—would never let anyone down.

That's Tenjo Hikari!

Chapter One, Chapter One, 3k3k

I've seen many brothers say they find A5 painful to read or even a work injury—but it's not that bad. I've revised A5 extensively by now; I mostly just check character designs and settings. Plus, this is my second time reading A5, and compared to when I followed the anime years ago, I already had expectations, so it's not nearly as painful as people think—skipping parts just makes the plot feel abstract or the details weird.

But what excites me more are the recently revealed "Black Magician of Destruction" and "Alchemy Cauldron"—the former is said to be the power of the Legendary Dragon and Black Magician, the latter is the anime card OVA of Master Professor Dadesi—both seem very promising.

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(End of Chapter)