You Ming suddenly felt a bit awkward.
He'd been griping about his "cross-dimension treatment"—no warm-up, a Dark Game right off the bat. He'd prepared himself for death… only to discover that this guy wasn't dead!
> So basically, I was ready to die for real—and this is it?
> "Honestly, you might have died more quickly."
"Ha, I thought so too—too bad I just can't die."
With that, Keith dragged himself up from the floor, grinning despite himself.
> "Apparently, dying in this world is harder than you think."
"Hard? You just gotta want to."
Listening to Keith's swagger, You Ming couldn't help but scoff.
> "If you really wanted to die, wouldn't be this tough."
"Maybe… who knows?"
Keith rummaged through his bag with that laid-back, world-weary shrug—no longer treating You Ming as a defeated foe.
> "For now, let's just do what we can—day by day."
He pulled out a small glass bottle filled with swirling mist. With a few swigs, his wounds visibly knit themselves together.
> "What's that?" You Ming asked.
> "Life juice. Restores your soul-force—essential for survival here."
You Ming blinked. Didn't cross-dimensions into Yu-Gi-Oh!, but some weird survival RPG?
> "In a place like this, even death isn't guaranteed. And even after you die, you might never get rest."
He could barely believe it.
> "What do you mean?"
Keith's tone got serious—like a teacher's disappointed glance.
> "You really don't remember anything?"
You Ming shrugged.
> "Nope. I woke up here. That's it."
Keith raised an eyebrow.
> "You don't even remember how you died?"
You Ming hesitated… then shook his head.
Before he could say more, they heard distant chaos—footsteps, growls, dripping echoes.
Around the corner loomed a horrific figure: a rotting ghoul in a tattered green cloak, wielding a rusty cleaver.
> "Oh, shit." You Ming froze.
Keith didn't waste a second—he slapped a card onto his Duel Disk. A spectral mechanical spider burst into view behind him: TM‑1 Rocket Spider.
> "Block it!"
Missiles rained down, closing off the crumbling doorway.
But another roar rent the air as the ghoul evidently bypassed the barrier.
> "What the heck is that?" You Ming asked.
> "Ghoul," Keith replied dryly.
"Legends told of them—they eat flesh without thought."
> "Why are they here?"
> "Because that one guards this place."
Heavy thuds broke their exchange. The ghoul slammed against the rocks…
An ancient blade burst through the wall, and a horrific face—half rotten, wide-eyed—peered through.
You Ming's heart pounded.
> "Damn… this one's nasty."
Keith cut him off.
> "We need to leave. Now."
But You Ming froze.
> "One thing I need to know first."
> "Shoot."
> "How come that Duel and the explosion couldn't kill me?"
> "Basic rule here," Keith rolled his eyes.
"As long as that soul-force's intact, you don't die."
> "So I'm just some hothead thug looking for a scrap, got handled—and now forced to team up with you. That it?"
You Ming nodded internally.
Keith snorted, then pointed at the floor.
> "Secret hatch."
They pried it open. Keith leapt into darkness with zero ceremony.
You Ming followed—crashing into a vast abyss.
Above him, clouds thick with miasma. The ground littered with corpses and flesh. Shrouded demons and lost souls wandered—a hellscape personified.
Keith stood laughing, wild and free.
> "Bet you've never seen this before. Only the half-dead like us make it here."
> "Where… are we?"
> "Where else?" Keith guffawed.
"Welcome to Hell, kid."
He taunted You Ming—maybe mocking him or himself:
> "A purgatory only the doomed and damned pass through… the Undying World!"
Suddenly, a system prompt glowed before You Ming's eyes:
> [New career scenario detected. Write your story.]
Huh?
He spun around, but instead found a massive dragon corpse at his feet.
> [Location discovered — Crimson Ruins]
"Duel of the Other Dimension: The Unending Crimson Legend"
Amid ghostly howls, a roar grew in You Ming's chest—an instinctive, honest expletive.
> "Holy shit."
PS: Advance chapters visit my https://www.patreon.com/c/NanamiTL