Heartland was finally breathing again. Streets once torn by explosions were lined with workers repairing glass and resetting billboards; the bright skyline reflected off the river like it used to before the invasion.
Victoria gazed out over the city square, the sunlight catching her hair. "This really is the Heartland we learned about in history..." she said softly, almost as if afraid the moment would vanish if she spoke too loudly.
Michael folded his arms, watching the construction drones hover by. "Yeah... I'm glad it's getting back."
From the edge of the plaza, Shark frowned. "Where are Yuni and the others? It's been a week since the attack of the Seven Sins."
Rumi turned from her communicator. "They're at the Different Dimension Airship. Something's wrong with Sergey, and they asked Jean to help."
The Airship hung motionless above the clouds, a fortress of chrome and humming engines. Inside, glowing screens filled the control room with blue light. Jean sat before the main console, his fingers flying across the holographic keyboard as lines of code rippled upward.
Yuni leaned forward beside him. "So what's the problem?"
Jean's eyes didn't leave the screen. "It looks like Sergey's program has been hacked... someone rewrote entire command layers."
Reisho blinked. "How is that even possible?"
Before Jean could respond, the monitors flickered. Every window vanished into black, replaced by a crimson eye pulsing in the darkness. The air grew heavy with static.
"What—?" Jean started, but Yuni's expression hardened. "That symbol... I recognize it." Her duel disk glowed faintly as she stepped closer to the display. "Number 89: Cyberbeast Diablosis!"
The red light spread into the shape of a monster—an enormous digital creature woven from black code and neon circuitry, its body half-data, half-shadow. (ATK:2800/DEF:1200/Rank:7/Overlay Units:2)
"Cyber what?" Jean asked, startled, but before anyone could reply, the screen warped and expanded into a holographic arena. Energy panels snapped into place around them, trapping them in a virtual duel field.
Reisho took a step back as the creature's form stabilized on the other side. "Are you kidding me? So all this time it was a Number Monster playing tricks?"
Jean studied the projection, jaw tightening. "If that's the case, then I'll handle it. All we need to do is defeat the monster, right?"
Yuni nodded cautiously. "I guess so..."
Jean adjusted his duel disk as the virtual interface synced with the system. "Then I just need to set the player parameters... and load my deck."
He scanned his deck into the airship's console; a beam of light enveloped him as the data linked to the duel program. In the next instant, Jean materialized inside the arena, his duel disk flashing to life.
"Let's finish this," he said, facing the looming digital beast across from him. (Jean:4000) (COM:4000)
Jean stood inside the digital arena, the air buzzing with static. The neon sky above flickered in rhythm with the hum of the data field. He drew a deep breath, his fingers steady over his duel disk. "I set five cards and end my turn."
Five glowing panels materialized behind him, lining the field like protective barriers. The room dimmed for a brief moment as the end phase processed—then a cold, synthetic voice cut through the silence.
"I detach one Overlay Unit from Cyberbeast Diablosis." A pulse of dark data rippled across the arena. One of the monster's glowing eyes dimmed, and a code sequence on its armor vanished into static.
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.
