Chapter 730: The King

"Hmm, these two guys aren't bad."

Fujiki You Xuan walked along, stroking his chin.

Eye exclaimed beside him: "'Not bad'? That's way too mild! Your companions are practically monsters!"

"One suddenly pulls out a Giant God Weapon out of nowhere, and the other? He even melted a demon god! This this this—"

Fujiki You Xuan had already anticipated that the three of them might be separated upon entering the domain, so he'd left spirit cards as eyes on both Yucheng Shidai and Sea Horse. He had more spirits than he could count ever since that spirit hunter had kindly delivered himself as a gift—he now commanded an army of spirits.

Some of those spirits had already been found by Sea Horse Group and returned to their owners, but the identities of others were still being traced, and many more had voluntarily stayed by Fujiki You Xuan's side.

Thanks to these spirits, he could learn of his two teammates' situations instantly.

"Calm down, calm down," Fujiki You Xuan said. "Basic move."

Eye: "."

But then again, even knowing both were OP, by their own standards this seemed a bit excessive.

Never mind Sea Horse—he'd quietly secluded himself and forged a Giant God Weapon. That surprised even Fujiki You Xuan.

It wasn't that it was strange for a Giant God Weapon to obey Sea Horse's call in this day and age; after all, in the original story, the Giant God Weapon was bound to him—no surprise there.

But Fujiki You Xuan had fought the CEO before. During Duel City GX, Sea Horse had planned to climb to the top, claim the Duel King title, and eliminate his old rival Orichalcos the Sneaky Snake to save the world. If he'd had the Giant God Weapon back then, there'd be no reason to hide it.

So the clear inference was: Sea Horse didn't have the Giant God Weapon back then. Maybe it was still under development, or maybe seeing Fujiki You Xuan pull out Winged Dragon had reignited his interest in gods. But the Giant God Weapon was likely completed sometime between the end of that match and now.

Clearly, even though the CEO was always out of sight, he never stopped working.

As for Yucheng Shidai, he was even more heavyweight.

Yucheng Shidai now had likely surpassed the original story's maximum level. He'd reclaimed Yubel and fully absorbed the Emperor's Power. Judging by the way he did it, it wasn't through violent defeat—he'd used the classic shonen protagonist method: preaching, converting, and making the opponent willingly give him everything.

The Emperor's Power gained this way was naturally purer and fused better with his own being.

Proof? The Synchro Fusion he just summoned—melted the demon god indiscriminately. And the resulting monster, Neo Space Master, was itself a symbol of Yucheng Shidai's complete fusion with the Emperor's Power, transforming into the Dark Heart form of Neo Space Knight.

In the anime, although Yucheng Shidai eventually claimed the Emperor's Power, all the Dark Heart series monsters once used by the Emperor vanished entirely, and nothing like Neo Space Master ever appeared.

"By the way, the fusion condition is Neo Space Knight plus any face-up effect monster?" Fujiki You Xuan couldn't help muttering.

Doesn't that mean there's no restriction?

In other words, Neo Space Knight can devour any monster on the opponent's field as fusion material. For some reason, it suddenly reminded him of his own Lava Golem.

No no, it's just that Yucheng Shidai has incredible insight and card-making talent—nothing to do with me.

Fujiki You Xuan stopped walking and stood still in the darkness.

It looked exactly like the silent darkness he'd passed through before, but Fujiki You Xuan sensed he had reached the domain's deepest core—near the enemy he sought.

A voice seemed to come from the void.

"Welcome, Duel King, Fujiki You Xuan."

"Welcome... to the Leyuan of darkness and fear."

Fujiki You Xuan looked ahead and saw clusters of darkness rising from the ground, shifting into humanoid shapes. Faint silhouettes, each glaring at him with hatred so intense it seemed ready to kill.

Fujiki You Xuan passed the two figures at the front and recognized them.

Insect Umo and Dinosaur Ryuzaki.

"It's you," Ryuzaki spat in fury. "If not for you, how could I have ended up like this?" Umo also snarled: "Even if I'm swallowed by darkness, even if I become a ghost, I'll never forget you."

Fujiki You Xuan laughed. "You've got it wrong—I've never even met this guy."

The figures appearing afterward all seemed to be those who had lost to him—or at least suffered because of him—repeating the same phrases: "You stole my xxx," "Demon," "I'll never forgive you."

But Fujiki You Xuan ignored them. "Others have shown me these before. Honestly, if you think my deepest darkness is just a few defeated foes cursing me, then even the Great Demon Zok would walk around mine."

He laughed. "Besides, you're unimaginative. Seriously, just recycling the same empty lines. To be honest, when these people faced me, they cursed far worse."

Demon God: "."

The Demon God fell silent for a moment, then let out a heavy snort. All the shadows vanished instantly, turning to smoke. Fujiki You Xuan felt his feet drop out from under him, falling endlessly into an invisible void.

The Demon God's voice continued: "Your heart holds immense darkness—darkness beyond any ordinary human's comprehension. It seems we must dig deeper."

Fujiki You Xuan's descent slowed, but he didn't land. This time, he felt as if floating in water—icy darkness flowing between his fingers, a chill piercing his body, creeping into the deepest core of his soul.

"Ha. You're afraid."

!

The Demon God's voice said.

"This is your deepest darkness. The strongest human, the king crowned at the pinnacle of dueling—so even you fear."

"Then tell me—what are you afraid of?"

"Are you afraid of defeat?"

"Afraid someone will take your throne?"

"Afraid even a king cannot protect this world?"

"Or... afraid of us?"

At the moment that final syllable fell, a colossal force exploded through the darkness.

Boundless pressure released, forming three immense shadows in space: the demon god with a long tail, shrieking as it embodied annihilation; the one clad in armor of bones, the very embodiment of ultimate terror; and finally, the divine avatar hanging like a black sun at the center.

The three demon gods unleashed their pressure together, as if aiming to crush all existence into dust with pure spiritual weight!

Fujiki You Xuan looked up, staring directly at the three demon gods radiating their pressure.

Then he suddenly laughed.

The Demon God growled: "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, nothing... but you're right. Yes, I have darkness inside me. I do fear. But not of you."

Fujiki You Xuan smiled lightly.

"Since you're so determined to know what I fear... then as you wish. I'll show you."

A strange glint flashed in his eyes as he smiled.

"But prepare yourselves... don't get scared."

(End of Chapter)