(Flashback)
Heartland City—once radiant with laughter and the shimmer of Duel Gazers—had become a furnace of despair. The streets that once echoed with cheers of friendly Dueling now thundered with screams and collapsing steel.
It began without warning. Beams of scarlet light cut through the skyline as countless civilians were sealed into cards, their final cries echoing before vanishing into lifeless rectangles scattered across the ground.
Through the smoke marched the Antique Gear Soldiers, relentless and mechanical. Their footsteps clanged in unison, a metallic rhythm that drowned the last remnants of hope. Buildings ignited under the blast of their cannons; familiar landmarks crumbled into ash.
Heartland's outer wall trembled—and then shattered.
From the fissure emerged a colossal figure of rusted iron and glowing chaos energy: an Antique Gear Chaos Giant. Its roar shook the heavens. Each swing of its arm carved destruction across the skyline, flames swirling like ribbons in its wake. Then came three more—towering titans of ruin—advancing in formation to annihilate what remained of the city.
Children fled clutching their duel disks; duelists who once battled for sport now dueled for survival. But their monsters were no match for the invaders' merciless power. The ground itself burned crimson.
"Unforgivable!" A voice cried out amid the inferno, trembling with rage and grief.
The Chaos Giant released another blast, engulfing an entire block in light and flame. The city that had once represented the spirit of the Xyz Dimension was now a graveyard of shattered hopes.
"I will never forgive them... Academia!" Amid the blinding fire, a pair of blue eyes watched the devastation unfold—cold, unwavering, and vowing vengeance.
(Flashback Ends)
With Kurosaki Shun, Jean, Katrina, and Lisa having split off to search for surviving comrades in the outskirts of Heartland, Yuya, Yuni, Vivian, Gongenzaka, Sawatari, Reisho, Ruri, Condor, and Aera advanced cautiously through the ruined streets of what was once the shining heart of the Xyz Dimension.
The air reeked of burnt steel and scorched data, the remains of Duel Disks flickering faintly on the ground as if still struggling to project holograms of monsters long destroyed. Every few steps, one of them would glance around warily, half expecting another Antique Gear patrol to appear from the smoke.
Each of them bore a strip of red cloth tied around their wrists—a symbol of allegiance and trust among the Resistance, provided by Condor and Aera before they entered the city.
Vivian broke the uneasy silence. "I can't believe this is really the Xyz Dimension... Heartland was supposed to be a place filled with joy, wasn't it? People dueling just for fun—until Academia destroyed everything..."
Condor's expression darkened as he stepped over a fallen sign, the words Heartland Duel Stadium barely legible beneath the soot. "I'm afraid so. The last time I was here, the streets were bright with banners and laughter. Now..." He exhaled sharply. "Now it feels like a grave."
Ruri lowered her gaze, clutching her arm. "It hurts to see it like this... My home..."
Reisho adjusted his Duel Disk and turned toward Yuya. "Yuya, have you found any trace of Yuzu and the others yet?"
YOU ARE READING
7. Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V A New Story of Pendulum (Xyz Arc)
FanfictionThe Lancers have been split into Xyz and Fusion, they are going to stop Academia and face a new threat. Might add a lot of ZEXAL stuff inside this arc.
