The sky, as Juudai could see, was a nice pale color. Hazel, he assumed, if his knowledge of colors was anything to rely on. Which was weird. From the spiel Paradox gave, he had expected more of a wasteland. Bleak sky, bleak ground. Bleak everything. The only thing that was right about his expectation was the lack of people. And while Juudai never really paid attention to what people did while out on a job, he was glad that they were there. The sounds of people talking and walking always soothed him when neither Daitokuji (Pharaoh probably refused to open his mouth to let him out) nor Yubel could or would come out. And here, none of that happened, though he was sure that Yubel would at least come and comfort him soon. She knew when he was feeling down, and right now he kind of was.

And luckily, he was right. Yubel materialized within a few seconds, right by his side like always.

"Juudai, it'll probably get worse further up ahead," she said while pointing to the horizon. Juudai didn't see anything there, but perhaps being pure Duel Spirit made her able to see things he couldn't.

"But I think it's just fine like this, you know," the little ball of light that was Daitokuji said, with fear lingering in every word he said. Juudai assumed he drifted out while he was thinking.

Juudai had to laugh at that. While he knew that Daitokuji was afraid of death, the fact that he was a harmless ball of light that still didn't pass on to the other side, there wasn't much for him to fear. Unlike Yubel, he didn't seem to have something that Juudai assumed the people here hated attached to him. So whoever else was here probably wouldn't touch him. Yubel, on the other hand...

No, he wouldn't even think about that. Yubel was precious to him, just like everyone else in his deck. If these Duel Monsters haters wanted to take them away, they'll have to get through him first.

"I think it'll be better to keep on going," Juudai said. Ignoring the protest of Daitokuji (and maybe Pharaoh with all that moving around he was doing), he and Yubel moved forward, set on finding exactly what was it with this world.

"Then I should accompany you!"

Juudai gave a faint chuckle. He knew that no matter what, Daitokuji would follow Juudai until Hell if he had to. It was probably because he was naturally curious, but the fact that he happened to be Osiris Red's dorm teacher (and Juudai was the only Osiris Red in Duel Academia) probably meant that he was doing his job as a teacher, even though he was already dead.

And the movement in his bag stopped. Pharaoh was probably contempt with...whatever he decided on, or just gave up on trying to find Daitokuji's spirit. So Juudai assumed that everyone decided that they were on board with the plan. Or at least had no qualms with moving along.

Surprisingly though, no one made a sound during the journey. He expected some normal comments, the ones they normally had while strolling through a place. Here, there was none. And Juudai could only sum it up as Daitokuji to scared to speak and Yubel paying respects to the less fortunate.

Which Juudai could understand. Like Yubel said before, it did get worse further up. The sky was still an unfitting hazel, but an unfitting hazel that starting blending with a crimson color, one that reminded Juudai of the color of blood.

And there were also the cards. As opposed to simple blank cards scattered endlessly about, there were stone slates. The name and artwork was clearly visible on each and every single card.

But they were cards he never heard of. Ancient Sacred Wyvern? Magical Android? The list could go on. Though occasionally, he would catch sight of a card he knew. And it pained him, seeing cards that he knew people used to be treated like that. How could that have happened? And why were they slates in the first place? From the fact that Paradox dueled him, Yuusei, and Yuugi with actual cards, he would've assumed that stone slates would be something not on the list. But they were...and that bothered him.

So was the future really reduced to the Duel Monsters hating world that Paradox explained? He hoped not, but the evidence was proving to be otherwise...unless he could talk to someone. But who was there to talk to?

Z-ONE was rather confident in his plan. While he heard Paradox had failed his mission, that did not have a negative effect. Because perhaps the destruction of Duel Monsters wouldn't be enough to scare people away from continuing it. You really only had to have a talent for art to create the game, and with the amount of greed humans possessed, anyone would do it just to obtain the money that came with people buying your card. And once again, Synchro monsters would descend onto this earth, people pairing that with Momentum, and leading them to the inevitable future that was Z-ONE's present. And this time, it might end up worse than the way it did now. Greed would be stronger and harder to fight. More and more people would be wiped out. and maybe the number of survivors would be only one, as opposed to the lucky four this timeline used to have.

So he would scare these humans, as humans have proven that they abandon their greed only in fear. And so the Arc Cradle, the plan that Aporia and Antinomy were carrying out now, would serve as that fear. The fear not to play with Synchros any longer or to even attempt to rebuild from scratch what had been destroyed.

And with him being absolutely sure that his plan would work, there was nothing to do. He has long since given up on trying to rebuild humanity. That was a future he signed impossible once Aporia died. All that was left was waiting for Aporia and Antinomy to move along the creation of the Circuit, allowing for the Arc Cradle to come down and destroy everything in its radius. Which made Z-ONE's days effortless and pointless. There was no need to revive Paradox, nor did he have to fix Aporia or Antinomy, for they were doing fine as the reports showed.

Which left him with free-time that was mainly devoted to his hate of Synchro monsters. Occasionally he would step outside and absorb the quality work that was the stone slate graveyard of Synchro monsters, along with other monsters of terrible origins. Practically every card was a stone slate, the only exceptions being the cards he handed his friends. And while his own deck was composed mainly of tablets that have seen better days, he preferred seeing this in Syncrho monsters because they deserved it. And so maybe today he would once again see that glory. Because it was never a sight to get sick of. It was a sight that was a testimony to what he and his friends had gone through.

The stone tablets came to an end at one simple card. And for once, it was a card Juudai knew personally.

Yubel and Daitokuji were still quiet, which, in turn, explained his own lack of words. When he started, there were plenty of things he could say, each basically being the same exact thing as he would've said before, only with different words. But they weren't jokes or laughs. He actually couldn't think about even the meanest of duelist laughing at this. Because this was Duel Monsters, something he owed so much to. And while maybe the people of the future didn't see it, they were actual beings inhabiting their own worlds. To stone them like this was a disgrace.

And while this card wasn't a card he has met in either the Dark World or the Sand World, he knew there was a spirit inside of it, one that had its own ideas of happiness and sadness. And Juudai seen both version of them. And he knew when it was at his happiest.

This was Yuusei's ace - Stardust Dragon. This was the card he treasured so much...that he would go through such lengths just to get back.

Why was it in a stone slate?