"How's the cultivation data today?"
A man in a white lab coat casually asked a passing soldier in a purple uniform.
"Same as always, excellent quality!" The soldier's grin was practically audible beneath his mask.
Nothing was easier than this! All they had to do was shove monsters under that massive incubation tank, then back away and watch as that dark power infected them.
Boom!
Just as he spoke, the entire base was rocked by a massive explosion, like a bomb had detonated. Screams and roars erupted immediately after.
"What the hell!?" The researcher barely had time to react before a purple-black puppet string pierced through his body.
The soldier beside him jumped back swiftly, avoiding the strike, and raised his Duel Disk. With practiced motion, he swung it like a sword, slicing through the incoming puppet string.
"What's going on!? Report now!"
"Captain, the incubation tank is malfunctioning!" The report came in distorted, followed by more screams and the sound of something tearing through the air.
"Damn it!"
He understood immediately.
The "monster" inside the tank had gotten loose!
This was no minor issue. He'd been briefed by higher-ups and knew how bad this was.
Still, he shouted to his subordinates, "No panic! Small issue! Just like in training, activate all surveillance systems, record everything! Make sure we don't lose intel like we did at the last allied base!"
"Yes! Aaaaagh—!"
"Help me!"
Screams continued over the comms.
Unflinching, he swiftly activated his Duel Disk to protect himself, rushed to the lab, barked for the doctor and guards to retrieve key data and machines, and threw them into the dimensional gate. After completing all this, he entered the gate with his core personnel.
He knew this monster wouldn't be stopped until it infected every living being in the dimension. Only then could they return and slowly reclaim it with overwhelming force.
It could take months.
And he wasn't about to die here.
Retreat first. Regroup later.
Once he left, a green sigil glowed atop the dimensional gate. With a "splat," the gate lost power and dimmed.
"They actually ran away!" Captain Crystal fumed, his fury blazing. "As a leader, you have no honor! Lord Amagi, let me go after them!"
He was getting heated.
"First, we need to rescue that Spirit," Hikaru said, pointing at the massive incubation tank.
Captain Crystal paused, then nodded.
They would chase that bastard eventually, but the Spirits here needed saving first.
Hikaru hadn't expected that scumbag to flee so decisively. He had hoped to obtain a card like Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, today. Instead, the enemy didn't resist at all and just abandoned everything.
Around him, the last cries of soldiers resisting slowly fell silent. A few puppet strings flew toward Hikaru but froze midair, unable to advance even an inch.
Tierra glanced up coldly and said, "Isn't that obvious? Hikaru, you still don't get it? To them, whether a soldier is human or not doesn't matter."
"Ah, so that's it," Hikaru's face grew colder.
Captain Crystal, still fuming, didn't yet grasp the logic. He looked at Hikaru for clarification.
"Captain," Hikaru said gravely, "To the Fusion Army, they only care about obedience. Whether the soldier is alive or even human doesn't matter."
Now it made sense.
With enrollment at Duel Academy dwindling, they no longer cared about actual students, and feigned interest while shifting strategy.
Rather than spend years training students, it was far easier to control Duel Monsters directly and use them as soldiers.
After discovering Shaddoll from him, acquiring the Sacred Beasts, and unlocking the ability to absorb Spirit energy, they realized that making puppet soldiers was far more efficient.
"Ah—" Captain Crystal's expression darkened. Realizing it all began with him, his gem-heart turned cold. "So even their own kind being turned into puppets is fine? Because they'd be more obedient that way?"
"Monsters!"
Hikaru shook his head. "Anyway, let's check the tank."
Earlier, while hidden, Hikaru had asked Tierra to tamper with the tank. She wasn't very interested and didn't expect much reward, though she didn't refuse. She sabotaged the containment, accelerating the Spirit's power leakage, loosening the seal.
With only a slight break in containment, the protective field collapsed. The powerful Shaddoll energy inside would instantly flood the entire Fractured Dimension.
Hikaru stepped out from hiding and approached the shattered tank. The Spirit inside had already fallen out. Along the way, countless fully mechanized humans and Spirits attacked, but he didn't lift a finger—an enraged Captain Crystal smashed them all.
"Poor things. Abandoned and still forced to serve their masters," he muttered with contempt.
"Don't pity them, Captain," Hikaru said. "They brought this upon themselves."
Hikaru couldn't sympathize. Anyone who could work in a place like this, witnessing Spirit suffering daily, couldn't be considered normal.
As he reached the front of the tank, Captain Crystal's eyes widened in shock and rage. "Gem-Knight Lapis!?"
Before them stood a massive, puppet-string-wrapped spirit, a giant version of Gem-Knight Lapis, nearly two or three times Crystal's size.
"Whoa—" Even Tierra, normally uninterested, raised an eyebrow.
What a coincidence!
Or was it fate?
"What a pity, Hikaru. If you'd come two months later, she might have been fully Shaddollified," she said. "She's still a Gem-Knight."
"No!" Hikaru retorted instantly. "I should have come sooner!"
"Captain!" He raised his left hand. His Duel Disk activated.
"Yes!" Captain Crystal responded, turning into light and merging into Hikaru.
Simultaneously, the enormous Lapis raised her right hand. Puppet strings writhed violently. As she screamed, countless Duel Disks and Decks flew to her arm, forming a Duel Disk the size of a person and a towering Deck!
"Even now, it's not too late!" Hikaru shouted. "Spirit, let me free you from this pain!"
Duel!
[Puppet Lapis, LP: 4000]
[Hikaru, LP: 4000]