When his consciousness returned, Kira felt warm sunlight, a gentle breeze, and a faint scent of flowers.
He slowly opened his eyes, briefly dazzled by the sun, and instinctively raised an arm to shield himself. He realized he was sitting on damp grass. Content originally comes from Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
As he tried to get up, a hand helped him to his feet.
He turned and saw—startled—that his helper was none other than Silent Magician. Her white robe fluttered, and her gaze was full of concern.
Maybe she was worried her master had hit his head.
But the moment their eyes met, she jolted, quickly let go, and nervously gripped her staff, shuffling away.
Well, at least she didn't run straight back into the deck, which Kira took as progress.
Wait, something was off.
Kira frowned and walked up to Silent Magician.
He reached out and pinched her snow-white cheek.
It was soft and warm—so realistic, just like a real person...
Silent Magician: "???"
She gripped her staff, unsure what her master was doing.
"So, it's true—spirits can be touched here."
Golden sunlight streamed through dense trees, casting dappled shadows on the ground. Tall trees formed a canopy like green umbrellas.
Spirits can manifest physically, but it's usually difficult and can't last long in the real world. And since his spirit was so shy, but she hadn't vanished or returned to the deck, it meant...
"I'm in the Spirit World?" Kira guessed.
Silent Magician nodded.
He could guess because similar things had happened in the original. For example, Yugi and Pharaoh were summoned to the Spirit World by Dark Magician Girl to fight Orichalcos, or in 5D's, Luna went to save the Ancient Fairy Dragon.
"So that slab in the ruins was a gateway to the Spirit World?" Kira wondered.
But the researchers hadn't noticed. Was it only because he approached it that it reacted?
He was sure he'd heard a voice from the slab before entering.
Something was calling him.
As he pondered, he suddenly heard rustling behind him. Turning, he saw figures emerge from the brush, wielding spear-like weapons.
They looked like some kind of dark-skinned goblin tribe.
Kira was surprised he could understand the spirit's language but then remembered that in Yu-Gi-Oh, spirits from different dimensions all spoke the same language as humans.
He was sure they were warning an intruder, not welcoming a guest.
More shouts responded from all sides as a horde of goblins charged, spears raised, ready to make him tonight's dinner.
Kira was shocked. These natives had no sense of duelist etiquette—summoning themselves for a group beatdown without even giving him a chance to duel?
Silent Magician rushed forward, sweeping her staff and blasting the front row of goblins with a ring of light.
"Take down the magic guard first!"
But the goblins weren't scared, just came in fiercer. Silent Magician's staff kept firing magic bullets, but there were too many enemies, and now goblins with javelins and bows emerged from the flanks.
The natives even had different troop types.
Silent Magician fought to protect Kira, but the pressure mounted.
But Kira had an idea.
If this was a world where card powers materialized...
He quickly drew a dozen cards from the top of his deck, scanned them, and slammed one onto his duel disk.
A summoning effect flashed, and a red-armored warrior leaped out, shield in one hand, sword in the other, and began slashing through the goblins.
Breaker the Magical Warrior.
Sure enough, just like in GX's alternate world arc, even monsters without spirits could materialize here.
And not just monsters.
Kira drew a card from his deck and inserted it.
A goblin archer shot at him, but the arrow hit an invisible wall a meter away and stopped dead.
A hemispherical barrier appeared—Mirror Force!
That's right—Kira realized that in the Spirit World, outside of duels, there were no rules.
A duelist's cards were weapons—you could fire off spells as much as you like. Magic Card Fireball became a real fireball, "Mystical Space Typhoon" became a real storm, no incantations or cooldowns, and you could theoretically play up to five effects at once...
Realizing he could fight back, Kira relaxed and cheerfully declared, "Feel the sublime power of Hanoi, then fall into the endless abyss!"
Well, no one was around to see him cosplay Ryoken Kogami for fun.
Oh, except Silent Magician. But she was watching his Mirror Force sweep the battlefield with awe.
The transparent barrier unleashed a massive blue light, raining rays down on the forest. The goblins in front were instantly vaporized.
The rest panicked and fled.
"Duelist! It's a duelist!"
"Run! Run for your lives!"
Turns out, in this world, the word "duelist" meant something terrifying.
From a spirit's perspective, duelists are walking arsenals that can summon monsters with 3000 or 4000 ATK from their pocket, plus unlimited full-board nukes...
Only another duelist can stop a duelist.
The only way to settle it is the so-called Ritual of Sacred Battle.
Also known as a duel.
Having wiped out the threat, Kira relaxed.
So even here in the Spirit World, I'm pretty strong.
Today he was out looking for cards.
Tomorrow—time to duel.