Chapter 16

(DM) Joey sat in a corner, depressed at the way he lost his duel with Marik. While his friends tried to cheer him up, he just wasn't feeling it right now. If Maximillion Pegasus hadn't postponed the Duelist Kingdom event to look into Marik Ishtar, it was very likely Joey might've been at risk of disqualification.

Only at risk. If it really came down to it, he would've picked himself right back up and got ready to duel.

(DM) Bandit Kieth was annoyed that a low-skilled duelist like Joey was apparently enough to go head-to-head with a wielder of an Egyptian God card. In his mind though, he just got lucky and only someone as skilled as Kieth could properly win over an Egyptian God card.

Inside the other worlds, a rare moment of reprieve was starting to settle. A fire cannot keep going without fuel after all.

Inside of the GX world, (GX) Jaden and Yubel were in a tenuous relationship with Yubel residing inside of Jaden's deck. Without Super Polymerization, it is difficult to become the kind of existence the original Jaden and Yubel were in their history. With Yubel's help though, Jaden is now able to start harnessing his Supreme King abilities in his time outside of class.

The (5DS) Arcadia Movement was in shambles with many of its members have gone missing under the Dark Signer raid. Thanks to Misty's involvement as a Dark Signer, Divine's crimes were revealed and the remaining members deserted alongside Akiza who was rescued by her Signer comrades. Among them, Leo had earned his Mark of the Crimson Dragon as it saw no need to wait that long for the kid to show his potential. With all of the Signers together (with the exception of Crow), the group made way for Rex Goodwin who seemed to know of the Signers' history.

While the (ZEXAL) Arclight family was able to get their hands on Hart's power, Kite was able to summon his new boss monster Neo-Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon and free his brother alongside Yuma. Seeing a new threat that the Arclights and potentially the Barians may bring, the two enter a cooperative relationship for the time being.

In (ARC-V) Synchro Dimension, the coup has been routed and a cooperative relationship between Standard and Synchro has been formed. With the time approaching to fight Academia on their own ground, the Lancer organization managed by the two planned to enter the XYZ Dimension and help liberate it alongside Shun's Resistance organization.

For the (VRAINS) Knights of Hanoi, the Tower of Hanoi plan was set to occur after a possible meeting with the Ignis. More specifically, Lightning who headed the Ignis. If all of the simulations were right, then Lightning's existence must be quelled before a possible peaceful era between Humans and Ignis can occur. Lightning wasn't going to go down easily though, so it is the hope that Ai and the other Ignis would be willing to listen and cooperate instead.

"Next World: GX World. Selecting the next duel. Initializing loading sequence. Loading."

During this peaceful time period, a familiar screen came on. After a series of sentences, a new duel was ready to begin.

"(GX World): Jaden Yuki Vs Darkness."

On the screen, a familiar teenager can be seen running out of a school building.

"Jesse! Fujiwara!" Jaden yells.

"Why is it me again?" (GX) Jesse wonders.

"Fujiwara?" (GX) Alexis questioned. Wasn't Fujiwara one of the students who went missing alongside her brother?

Elsewhere, (GX) Darkness smiled in anticipation of his upcoming appearance.

A golden light hovers over to Jaden and transforms into a transparent man in somewhat professional attire.

"Professor Banner?" (GX) Chumley questioned the professor next to him. Banner didn't answer though as he knew the circumstances for him to be left as a spirit.

The ghostly Banner was nothing new for the myriad worlds as they were no longer shocked to see beings like a ghost after all they've seen.

Professor Banner pointed up at the sky and Jaden saw a moving Eclipse come down to the ground.

"Jaden, it's time for our final showdown," an eerie voice came from the Eclipse.

"Who are you?" Jaden questions.

"I am Darkness," the voice answers. "The Nightshroud you defeated was merely a part of me. You have yet to see my true identity."

(GX) Nightshroud frowned but for some reason he felt like the sentence was closely related to him. A part of him he couldn't identify said that all of what Darkness says is merely the truth.

(GX) Kagemaru frowned as he discovered a hidden danger being presented by one of his Shadow Riders.

After introducing itself, the Eclipse burst open, and a vastly dark void can be seen within.

All of the myriad viewers including the most powerful of villains shuddered at the sight. This was no longer something in the league of dueling but an entity beyond human comprehension.

In the vast void, cards can be seen floating lifelessly in nothingness. The entity controlling the void then channeled the darkness into several thick tendrils that drilled out of the void and landed before Jaden.

Screams rang out in the myriad worlds at the sight of a mightily eerie figure formed from the dark mists.

"I am Darkness," it said. "The other world itself."

Darkness is a powerful entity that controls the world of darkness itself. A world that has swallowed every human on the GX world except for Jaden.

What?! Everyone screamed once again. This kind of being was just too terrifying. They've seen how powerful the strongest duelists in each of their worlds were and this entity was capable of practically wiping out an entire world on its own?

The weird thing is that Darkness has no desires. He just follows the logic of the world that says humans desire peace. Showing Jaden visions of his friends inside of the dark void, Darkness explains that humans, as they are, will continuously wallow in pain and despair.

Each one of Jaden's friends saw the end of their dreams and the nothingness following them before welcoming the nothingness as a safe haven.

This is nothingness. A nothingness that promises eternal peace.

When confronted with the power and promise of Darkness, many weak and strong-willed individuals fell to their knees watching the video.

This was too much for any lone human to face.

In the (DM) Duelist Kingdom, Yugi and his friends struggled to maintain a strong look on their faces while huddling close to each other.

Many (GX) Duel Academy students huddled on the ground at the sight of their futures. Especially the few of them who saw themselves on the screen. Jaden barely held on thanks to Winged Kuriboh and Yubel.

The (5DS) Signers looked at each other, hoping for some form of encouragement. Even Yusei was a little taken aback at the vision Darkness showed Jaden.

(ZEXAL) Vector and the several Barian Emperors assembled in the Barian World sat around with a small feeling of despair nestling in their hearts. They still haven't fully gotten rid of the manipulation they were under from Don Thousand during their time on Earth and it was now a source of despair under Darkness's words.

(ARC-V) Reiji looked around to see his Lancers starting to fall to the ground in despair. Many of them were just normal duelists and a being like Darkness was far beyond anything they could imagine. It's not like Reiji could blame them as even duelists like Yuya and Gong who normally kept a strong appearance couldn't hide the trembling in their legs.

The (VRAINS) Knights of Hanoi fall under a somber silence as they know about the truth of Darkness's words as they were some of the brightest minds their world had to offer. If they didn't know anything about humanity's darkness, then they would never have gone on this mission against the Ignis. Yet, before the reality on the screen, humans, and Ignis alike felt like ants on the floor.

Darkness on the screen explained to Jaden how it was born. The creation of a world is accompanied by a single card and for every front side, there is also a back. While life comes into being on the front side of the card, it is snuffed out on the back.

Duel Monsters is the mirror that reflects the human soul and many duelists have fallen into the darkness leading to Darkness's very purpose on this world now.

Since people have chosen darkness, Darkness must now flip the world of humanity from the front to the backside of the card.

This logic made many people of the other worlds wonder if their own worlds also followed this logic. Was there also a Darkness on the backside of their worlds?

Jaden didn't believe Darkness's solution though. A pair of glowing heterochromia eyes came to life on Jaden's face as he dispelled the dark tendrils around him.

This Jaden was the fusion of Yubel and The Supreme King's powers!

Jaden had survived the despair of his duel with Yubel and came out stronger for it!

It is precise because Jaden has become so powerful that Darkness has emerged. Over his years in Duel Academy, Jaden has faced many strong enemies who maliciously sought to use dueling for their own gain. All of this in a short amount of time gave purpose to the Darkness on the backside of the world and allowed him to become as strong as he is.

In the (GX) world, the villains mentioned felt an odd sense of melancholy. Their goals clearly ended in failure and helped give birth to a nightmarish entity like Darkness. Maybe, it is not too late to stop what they are doing and hope Darkness doesn't bother them in the future?

"You are a foreign object which holds the soul of both human and duel spirit," Darkness says. "You are no longer fit for living in my world."

"Call me whatever you want!" Jaden roars. "But, as long as I'm here I won't let you take this world!"

For the good and the bad, Jaden Yuki will never stop fighting for the GX world. He is no longer the kid who entered Duel Academy for the fun of dueling.

This change in him made both present-day (DM) Jaden and Yubel sink into their thoughts as the cheerful kid can no longer be seen in the Jaden on the screen. For as much as Jaden wanted to be stronger, will he truly discard his love of dueling for power and responsibility?

With the two sides at each other's throats, the only thing left is to duel.

Jaden activated his new specialized red duel disk while Darkness spread the nightmarish wings behind him and used them in place of his duel disk.