The next day.
At the City's second-highest point, within the government hall of the former Elders' Council, now the Presidential Palace, the solemn and serious WRGP tournament opening speech officially began.
Under the filming of countless cameras large and small, this scene appeared simultaneously in every place on the planet with electrical connection.
The City's first Grand President, Rex Goodwin, with his as-ever handsome and refined face, began to read out the dueling spirit and dueling philosophy of the WRGP tournament.
This WRGP tournament was meant to let the City, to let every single person on this planet, understand one another's thoughts. At the same time, it was also a dueling tournament for people of different dimensions to exchange with and come to know one another.
In this competition, everyone could speak their minds freely, and everyone could recount their own thoughts.
As long as you were a participant, even a contestant who left in the very first elimination round, you could obtain the authority to apply for a D-Wheel. And if you could clear at least one round of screening, then every contestant would obtain their very own D-Wheel!
"Whoa."
"Oh!!"
Just this one short sentence, and quite a few people began to cheer.
There were even a few teams who frustratedly blamed themselves for not having crammed name after name onto their substitute rosters.
You had to understand, a D-Wheel was no ordinary "motorcycle." The "perpetual motion machine" equipped on it was a genuine perpetual motion machine. For some remote, impoverished small nations, a single D-Wheel like this might become the economic lifeline of the entire country!
And this was even just the qualifying prize!
Goodwin didn't continue explaining the prizes, but with just this kind of opening, everyone knew the "champion's" prize would absolutely be luxurious beyond belief.
Amid these joyous cheers.
The first match also officially began!
As he spoke, the entire City suddenly lit up with bright rainbow light. Starting from the lower layer of the City and ending at his position, four rainbow-like corridors emerged. These roads, under the City's lane safety management, reassembled themselves.
In an instant, all throughout the City, top to bottom, everywhere was:
"Turbo Duel in preparation. Other vehicles please yield immediately!"
"Turbo Duel in preparation. Other vehicles please yield immediately!"
In the first round of duels, 4 duels would be conducted simultaneously each time, unfolding on different lanes. Each lane would also have different commentary and tracking cameras for broadcast, ensuring that people all over the world could watch the duels of whichever contestants they wanted.
"In this competition, all spectators can also choose for themselves the duelist they support, joining in together and experiencing this most high-speed dueling."
What did this sentence mean?
The spectators didn't catch on.
But it didn't matter, because the next second, on the screens, the team emblems of over a hundred teams had already lit up!
"To display the splendor of Turbo Dueling, as well as the various things I spoke of, so... the opening's first duel will be a single round of dueling. Everyone please watch the icons on the screen. Now, the randomization begins!"
Ding-a-ling ding-a-ling ding-a-ling, among the countless icons, they began lighting up randomly and going dark randomly. After countless rolls, one icon stopped.
Team Skyrocket.
"As for their opponent... I won't keep you in suspense. Their opponent is precisely the pride of our City, Team 5D's!"
"Whoa!"
Earth-shaking cheers rang out across the City.
Over the past few days, the ordinary citizens of the upper and lower layers had basically learned that Team 5D's was precisely the team of their "KING," "former KING," and "Crow the Crow"!
As a super "idol team" well-received in both the upper and lower layers, they naturally received the support of many ordinary spectators.
"Both teams please prepare."
On the screens, Goodwin's image dissipated. What appeared next was the referee team and the command team.
In the preparation room, Hikaru was conducting the final D-Wheel inspection.
In the original work, this kind of work was usually done by "Bruno." But now, because everything was different, Hikaru couldn't even say for sure whether this world had a Bruno, so he took up this job as the situation called for it.
By rights, the D-Wheel was equivalent to a "Duel Disk," and who checks their weapon before playing cards? That would surely be daily maintenance.
But the D-Wheel was different. Although it was more massive, so it looked more solid, precisely because it was more massive, any error could possibly cause the D-Wheel to run abnormally.
And in a Turbo Duel, if the D-Wheel malfunctioned, slowed down, or even broke down midway, then it basically meant a loss.
Because in a Turbo Duel, as long as you reached the finish line, you were the winner.
After comparing the computer data with the inspection data, Hikaru nodded. Of course, this was just for his own peace of mind, because the one actually checking was Tierra.
Tierra's understanding of machinery, if not a hundred times better than Hikaru's, was at least ninety times. What's more, she'd long studied the D-Wheel for quite a while, and had even modified Hikaru's previous D-Wheel. She was experienced and familiar with all of this.
Having prepared everything, Yusei left the starting-point track, drove for a while, and arrived at the front of the course, where he happened to see his fellow participants.
Team Skyrocket's captain...
Team Skyrocket was a special team. They looked spirited and energetic, their expressions calm. When they saw Yusei they weren't nervous, but happily greeted him.
Their contestant called himself Hugh, the captain of Team Skyrocket.
"Just one person?" Yusei asked, as if out of nowhere.
"Of course!"
Team Skyrocket's captain said confidently.
The question Yusei raised here was actually a rather special rule.
Normally, by the City's tradition, the WRGP tournament was actually a "relay duel," meaning the team's 3 people and the opponent's 3 people would duel with immediate substitution once Life Points hit zero.
But because this WRGP tournament's participants encompassed the entire planet and even contestants from other dimensions, the rules had been temporarily changed.
The two dueling teams could, before competing, discuss and select the competition format they were most satisfied with.
It could be best-of-three, it could be a relay duel, or it could be this competition's ordinary "Swiss round" dueling.
Of course, as long as they weren't out of their minds, most people would still choose the "Swiss round," because it was the dueling format that exposed the least intel. For those confident teams, it was also quite a good choice.
All of this had been discussed before the duel.
And the reason Yusei would ask this kind of question was simple.
Because before the match, the two teams had already discussed it: it was to be a standard "relay duel."
After all, it was the opening ceremony's first duel, so making it livelier for the spectators was better.
"You want to challenge the three of us alone?" Team Skyrocket's captain laughed. "But I also want to challenge the three of you alone!"
Yusei was somewhat surprised.
"I will prove that I am the world's number one Synchro duelist!"
As Team Skyrocket's captain spoke, he had already stomped hard on the gas.
Along with the red light counting down and the green light coming on, the two of them, one ahead and one behind, charged into the track.
"Riding Duel! Acceleration!"
Perhaps because he'd been stunned by Team Skyrocket's captain's words, or perhaps because he hadn't read the signal accurately, Yusei fell a bit behind. And precisely because of this, Team Skyrocket crossed the first curve a step ahead of Yusei.
Team Skyrocket, LP: 4000.
Team 5D's, LP: 4000.
"My turn." Team Skyrocket's captain laughed.
He glanced at his hand, then the corner of his mouth rose.
A perfect hand!
"Activate Spell Card, [Oafdragon Magic]!"
Oafdragon Magic?
"It can only be activated when I control no monsters. I Special Summon 1 Normal Monster of Level 4 or lower from my Deck."
"From my Deck... I Special Summon this card."
As Team Skyrocket continued to accelerate, a crackling blue orb rose up beside him, and within the orb, a pitch-black figure slowly flickered into view.
Mystery Shell Dragon. Level 4, DARK Attribute, Wyrm-Type. ATK 2000.
"Wyrm-Type?"
"What a rare Type."
"No wonder he's so confident. So he's a Wyrm-Type duelist."
Hugh gave a hehe chuckle and held up the card in his hand: "Yusei Fudo, I've heard of your name. You seem to have stirred up quite a commotion in the City, and even staged an uprising once, didn't you?"
Yusei gazed at him without replying.
"That's indeed a remarkable feat. But, Yusei Fudo, in this world, there are still all sorts of other troubles." As he spoke, a cloud of mist actually rose up from his body.
...
Yusei frowned for the first time.
Was he... the God's Chosen of a "Dragon Immortal"?
In fact, according to Zone's data, this world was full of all sorts of powerful "Synchro gods." It was just that, because they'd been defeated by the Crimson Dragon, making the Crimson Dragon the "One God," these additional gods had lost the advantage of the first move.
In the world Zone had experienced, although there were still many powerful existences in the world, and the God's Chosen they picked weren't necessarily weaker than Signers or Dark Signers, some of them even far surpassed Dark Signers and Signers.
But many of them lost their qualification to participate in this "One God" contest before they could even awaken, because before they could awaken, the One God had already finished choosing.
For instance, that three Aesir: even though they were "immortal gods," they hadn't been able to participate in the One God selection at all and lost their qualification.
The reason was simple. The City was the center of this world, this planet. With the absolute advantage of the "perpetual motion machine," the City could seize the initiative, leaving the other pantheons not the slightest chance.
It seemed this person was also one of them.
He'd assumed it was a simple opening ceremony, never expecting that the first duel would meet such an opponent. Goodwin, did you do this on purpose?
"He Special Summoned a 2000-ATK monster all at once. It looks pretty impressive, but it seems just okay?"
"Yeah, after all it's only 2000..."
Hugh couldn't hear the people's voices and continued: "You've been complacent and stagnant in this cramped little circle for too long. The outside world has made countless efforts to catch up to your City.
And now..."
He looked at the D-Wheel beneath him and gave a hehe chuckle: "We've reappeared at the same starting line!"
"Yusei Fudo, in this tournament, I'm going to prove that I am the world's number one Synchro duelist!
It can only be activated when I control no Effect Monsters. I Special Summon this card from my hand!"
"Behold, the power of the divine dragon!
Special Summon, Tenyi Spirit - Ashuna!"
Awoo~
A dragon's cry sounded.
A four-clawed divine dragon flew out beneath the divine light.
"Normal Summon, Level 1, the Tuner monster, Tenyi Spirit - Adhara!"
Adhara's size was much smaller than the massive Ashuna.
"Using the Level 1 Adhara and the Level 7 Ashuna, I tune!"
A bright white halo materialized before him. Hugh, confident and satisfied, opened his mouth: "A mountain need not be high; with a dragon it has spirit. Behold the fierce deity among the host of dragons.
Synchro Summon!
Level 8, Draco Berserker of the Tenyi!"
The giant dragon gave off black light, a tearing sound rang out, and a burly red-black dragon-man descended onto the track, emanating a bizarre glow, following along with the D-Wheel.
Draco Berserker of the Tenyi. Level 8, DARK Attribute, Wyrm-Type. ATK 3000.
"Whoa, 3000 ATK!"
"As high as Jack's Red Dragon Archfiend."
In the spectator seats, the Fusion Dimension students nodded incessantly.
Special Summoning, so simply and conveniently, a monster with ATK equal to Blue-Eyes White Dragon was indeed rather impressive.
"It's not over yet." At the same time, Hugh on the field raised his right hand, a streak of golden fist-shadow flickering. "Ashuna's effect in the Graveyard: when I control a face-up monster other than an Effect Monster, I banish this card from my hand or Graveyard to activate. I Special Summon a Tenyi monster other than Ashuna from my Deck. After this effect activates, until the end of the turn, I can't Special Summon monsters other than Wyrm-Type.
I Special Summon, Tenyi Spirit - Vishuda."
A golden dragon flew out from the grave, circling in the air, guarding the duelist. At the same time, a pitch-black dragon shadow also stood guard on the field.
Tenyi Spirit - Vishuda. Level 7, DARK Attribute, Wyrm-Type. DEF 2500.
"Adhara's effect: when I control a face-up monster other than an Effect Monster, I banish this card from my hand or Graveyard, targeting one banished Wyrm-Type monster of mine. That monster is added to the hand."
In the sky, the massive Ashuna slowly descended, turning back into a card and flying into his hand.
"This... actually does seem pretty impressive!" In Team 5D's support room, Leo and Luna watched this string of plays and grew surprised.
He'd not only Synchro Summoned a 3000-ATK monster, but at the same time Special Summoned a Level 7 monster with 2500 DEF, and recovered the earlier dragon to prepare for the next turn.
Although what he said sounded a bit arrogant and conceited, this duel was actually quite strategic.
As for the spectators who couldn't quite follow, they watched this scene, watched those monsters one after another breaking past 2000 ATK, and could just cheer along wildly.
"I Set one card and end my turn."
Hugh set a card with a hehe, full of confidence.
In fact, he'd not only considered next turn's development, but had also prepared a "board-clearing" measure. Vishuda also had an effect similar to the other Tenyi dragons: as long as he controlled a face-up monster other than an Effect Monster, he could banish it from the Graveyard, targeting one card on the opponent's field. That card would return to its owner's hand.
As long as Yusei didn't defeat him next turn, he had ample staying power and the ability to fight again!
"Come, Yusei Fudo!" He would prove that he was the most outstanding Synchro duelist!
He was the most dazzling star in the "Synchro god" contest!
Yusei drove along behind, and after a good while, as if just waking from sleep, said: "Remarkable. Outstanding indeed.
But there's one thing you've got wrong. That is, I know very well that, apart from the City, the other cities and nations on this planet also have their areas of strength, and other duelists also have their own outstanding qualities.
That's why I hope everyone can create a more beautiful future together."
"Huh?" Beneath his helmet, Hugh's face was blank.
"My turn. Draw."