History Metaplot / YuGiOhHiddenArsenal

Yu-Gi-Oh! Hidden Arsenal [[CanonWelding was]] set in the different canon as the "core set" Card Game metaplot. It has a large-scale plot told among the Hidden Arsenal set. The plot is divided into several "seasons", each one is later split into several arcs. The story is continued to the later Series 8 Core Set boosters, with a transition between Season 2 and 3 happened in Primal Origins. The "Season 3" started to be integrated into the Core Set, followed with The Secret Forces cards storyline, then later into the Core Set again up to Crossed Souls. Even though the main stream of cards had seem to be finished during the ARC-V era, the plot still gets tidbits of progress through singular card supports. The plot is mainly divided into the following:

[[foldercontrol]]

'''Season One'''
[[folder:Arc I: Invasion of Worms]]
The story begins on a certain planet, where various tribes reside. The tribes have been constantly fighting each other for supremacy, though none was able to overcome the others. One day however, a mysterious meteor crashed into the planet, bringing the vile Worms with it. The Worms started to invade the planet, claiming many lives. The tribes unite, forming the Ally of Justice and joined hands against a common enemy.

The Ally of Justice consist of the four great tribes: The powerful [[PlayingWithFire Flamvell]], the majestic [[AnIcePerson Ice Barrier]], the secretive [[BlowYouAway Mist Valley]], and the team-oriented [[DishingOutDirt X-Sabers]]. They share their crafts and technologies with each other, refining them, and making them even more powerful. Their efforts finally bear fruit, as they are able to make the first anti-Worm technology. The Ally of Justice succeed in keeping the waves of Worms at bay... At least for a while.

The fight with the Worms starts to heat up. Driven into a corner, the Ice Barrier release the first sealed Ice Barrier Dragon - Brionac. The leader of the X-Saber, Souza, also [[ChekhovMIA went missing during the fights]], having presumably been killed. Meanwhile, an obscure [[MechanicalLifeForm machine group]] called Genex starts to move in response to the Worms’ actions. They later joined the Ally of Justice in their cause. Genex ups the technology level of the tribes, giving them more edge in battle. Gottoms steps up as the new leader of the X-Sabers, now named XX-Sabers[[note]]Pronounced Double X-Sabers[[/note]] to denote their teamwork.

Somewhere in the continent, in the Naturia Forest, the race of creatures known as Naturia live. Their peaceful life, however, is disrupted by the Worm invaders. Luckily for them, they are more than capable of protecting themselves and are able to resist. The most notable hero of the Naturia is Naturia Leodrake, [[{{Determinator}} who bravely strike through the incoming invaders no matter what]] with his claws. His mane alone can raise the morale of the Naturia, making them stronger.

The ever-evolving Worms and ever-growing technologies however, stirred even more chaos upon the war-torn lands. The Ally of Justice had developed a mechanical unit called Ally Mind that enabled them to enhance their mechas and support the Genex. However, they shift their cause from eliminating the Worms to catching them and using them as a power source. Disgusted by their new goal, Mist Valley left Ally of Justice.

Meanwhile, the dimensional boundaries start to weaken, and the fabled gods from the other world, the Fabled, emerge. At first, they act as supports for the Ally of Justice. However, their act seems to go more neutral and shady as the day goes by, and in the end, it is revealed that they just lathed themselves into the war because they were bored, and that they don't side with anyone. In fact, one of the Fabled is the culprit behind the Mist Valley's distrust of Ally of Justice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Arc II: Pulse of Trishula]]
In a dire situation with more enemies than they can handle, the Ally of Justice struggle to fend off the ever-evolving Worms and the constant streams of Fabled. Running out of options, Ice Barrier unsealed their second dragon, Gungnir.

Meanwhile, the Mist Valley, having separated themselves from the Ally of Justice are pretty much in the same situation. They can resist the invaders no more. In the ensuing crisis however, [[BigDamnHeroes the mythical Dragunity arrive and help the Mist Valley tribe]] fending off the invaders.

One day, one of the Ally of Justice machines reported an abnormally low Worm activity. This raised hope for the tribes, but it doesn't last long; later, the machine detects a surge in power among the Worms and an abnormality in dimensional structure. It turns out that the Worms have merged to become the ultimate nightmare, [[EldritchAbomination Worm Zero]] - a being of death and despair that assimilates everything in its path, including its own brethren. In a flash, the Ally of Justice plan and construct the penultimate weapon together with the Genex to fight against the Worms - [[HumongousMecha Ally of Justice Decisive Armor]]. Equipped with the highly intelligent Ally Mind, Decisive Armor enters the battlefield for the ultimate fight with Zero, in which the two fell in a draw. Even with that huge loss, all the tribes celebrate their victory against the enemy. A temporary days of peace came upon the tribes...

Meanwhile, deep in the burning woods inhabited by creatures known as [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Jurracs]], the Fabled had planned a conquest. They strike through the woods, launching a total assault. However, [[ThePowerOfFriendship using their power to believe in their brethren and the fire of their bonds]], the Jurracs fight and fend back the invaders. When they're finally driven into the corner, they combine into one being known as Jurrac Meteor and crash themselves into the land, killing many Fabled. From their ashes, a new tribe called Neo Flamvell arise, and together with their god, Ancient Flamvell Deity, the newborn tribe eliminates the rest of the Fabled in the forest.

The Worms are no more, but peace doesn’t last long. After betraying the tribes, watching from the shadows, slipping themselves in fights all this time, and attempting to invade the Jurracs' forest, the rest of the Fabled finally show themselves, and in full force, they release their Beasts. The world is consumed in chaos once more; the Ice Barrier Tribe think about releasing the final Ice Barrier Dragon, Trishula. This however, caused an internal divide in the tribe, with one side agreeing upon releasing the dragon, with the other being against it. Two of the tribe members, Noellia and Natalia, decide to [[TakeAThirdOption find another way]] and depart. In the end, the faction that agreed to use Trishula dominated, and Trishula is unleashed.

Trishula however, [[GodzillaThreshold is unable to be controlled]]. The words of The Medium can't reach her, and she goes into a rampage. The Ancient Flamvell Deity and the leader of the Fabled are no match for her, and even the Mirror of the Ice Barrier, which was crafted to imprison the Ice Barrier Dragons, fails to recapture her. It gets even worse as the other Ice Barrier Dragons join her in the rampage. The world is plunged into an ice age-like state, left in ruins. Not all hope is lost however, as the Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier, the ghost of Prior, the one who sealed the three dragons in the ages past, appeared to fulfill his last duty. Using all of his power, the Sacred Spirit sealed away the three dragons yet again. And even though it would take a very long time, the world will recover...
[[/folder]]

'''Season Two'''
[[folder:Arc III: The Vylon Descends]]
The story is set several years after the ending of the first season. The world was left in ruins, but despite that, several new tribes have risen, the remains of the world are somewhat recovered. And [[HereWeGoAgain many of the tribes began fighting each other again]] for their own reasons.

Prior to the events of the series, Noellia and Natalia, the two members of the Ice Barrier tribe which had defected to seek out another solution for the conflict that didn’t involve awaking Trishula, attempted to awaken the Steelswarm demons. However, their attempt failed. Natalia was killed, while Noellia was possessed by the Lswarm virus, the evil intelligence of the Steelswarm. During the aftermath of the last war, she adopted several orphans, including some Gusto children. While the Gusto children returned home, she took the rest with her to form the Gishki.

The Laval, [[BloodKnight a fiery tribe obsessed with fighting from birth]], start conflicts with the Gem-Knights for the sake of fighting. The chivalrous Gem-Knights had no choice but to stand against the Laval. The Gishki, who possess the power of the Ice Barrier, use the Aquamirror to conduct wicked rituals to transform themselves into monsters, and they invaded the marshes of the Gusto, seeking to awaken the power that lies there. The Gusto, who maintain strong bonds with their animal familiars, bravely fight back. Though they had remained passive in the past season, the Vylon eventually descended to intervene in the conflict between the Gem-Knights and the Laval. Meanwhile, the battles of the Gishki and the Gusto awaken the Steelswarm, ancient demons that had been [[SealedEvilInACan sealed]] by the Vylon, which immediately begin to raze the land.

Under the wing of the Vylon, [[EnemyMine the four tribes unite to fight the Steelswarm]], and the Vylon share their power with individuals from the tribes. However they [[DidntSeeThatComing did not know]] that the Lswarm virus had [[DemonicPossession infected]] Gishki Noellia, and when they merge with her, their hive mind is corrupted. The Steelswarm leader, [[DiscOneFinalBoss Hercules]], entered the battle, destroying everything around him, until [[BigGood Vylon Omega]] descended from the heavens, and vaporized the lesser Steelswarm, leaving only Hercules. They battled to a draw, destroying one another.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Arc IV: Sacred Star Knights]]
Unfortunately, the corruption of the Vylon by the Lswarm virus and the immediate return to infighting convinced the Vylon that the tribes needed to be destroyed in order to achieve peace. They began attacking the tribes with Vylon Disigma, assimilating the powers of the tribes and using them against them. The tribes united again in the face of extinction; this time pooling their powers in the form of Xyz Monsters, but even then this was not enough. It was only when Gem-Knight Pearl, taking advantage of their tribe's lack of participation in the battle, attacked Disigma that it was finally destroyed and the Vylon defeated. Meanwhile, a lone Steelswarm demon was enhanced by a corrupted Vylon fragment, giving birth to Steelswarm Roach...

With Noellia resuming her crusade, the Laval were sacrificed to power the Gishki's rituals, with only [[SoleSurvivor Pholgis]] escaping. The Gishki returned to the marshes of the Gusto, spreading Poisonous Winds to weaken them. Furious at the acts of genocide, the Gem-Knights assisted the Gusto and repelled the Gishki...and then [[FromBadTOWorse things got BAD]].

The Lswarm virus began to spread like an epidemic, corrupting the living and the dead. Noellia was completely subjugated, and her forbidden rituals merely aided the virus. The Gishki's attempt to fight back was to re-release the sealed [[TooDumbToLive Ice Barrier Dragons]], but they had already become corrupted by the Lswarm virus and merely aided them. Her next attempt to was to a resurrect the leader of the Steelswarm, Hercules, as a Gishki, but this failed as well, and the new Zielgigas took control of the Gishki. Another of the Gishki, Natalia's son Avance, discovered a forbidden spell that he attempted to use to resurrect Emilia, but this failed and transformed him into Evigishki Levianima. Hope was finally restored when the creators of the Vylon, the Constellars, descended from the heavens and began to combat the Evilswarms. The Gem-Knights and the Gusto joined them, but the Gishki threw in the towel and decided to aid the Evilswarm.

The Gem-Kinghts attempted to perform the ultimate fusion, but they failed, and Gem-Knight Crystal became the imperfect Zirconia. Even the Constellars were not safe from the virus; Pollux's brother Castor was corrupted after he saved Noellia from her possession. Noellia successfully revived Emilia and sacrificed herself in the battle against Zielgigas using her former Ice Barrier magic. Castor and Pollux fought to a standstill, eventually [[TakingYouWithMe killing one another]], but they were revived and purified by the Constellars. Despite the failure of their first ultimate fusion, the Gem-Knights refused to give up, and their next fusion created Gem-Knight Master Diamond, who drove Zielgigas back and turned the battle in favor of the Constellar. [[HeoricSecondWind Inspired by the fusion]], the Constellar fused as well, creating Constellar Ptolmey M7, who battled the corrupted Dragons of the Ice Barrier. Bahamut and Ophion were successfully beaten, but even with the sacrifice of Gem-Knight Pearl, Onoborous was almost too much for M7 to contend with, and though M7 finally defeated Ouroboros and the Gem-Knights defeated the lower-level Evilswarm, the Gusto had crossed the GodzillaThreshold and summoned Sophia, Goddess of Rebirth.

Though Sophia appeared to be benevolent, returning the planet to its state before the first wars, history merely repeated in a cycle of death and rebirth. Master Diamond was exhausted, and he left his blade, containing the power of fusion, to Gem-Knight Lazuli and Constellar Rasalhague. Lazuli merged with the remaining Constellar and obtained the power of Creation, becoming Constellar Sombre. Rasalhague took the far more dangerous option of using the Aquamirror that Noellia had left to Emilia and Avance to fuse with the power of the corrupted Dragons of the Ice Barrier, and absorbed the power of Destruction to become Evilswarm Kerykion. Together, these two warriors combined their powers to defeat Sophia at last.
[[/folder]]

'''Pre-Season 3'''
Core Set Series 8
[[folder:Primal Origins]]
After Evilswarm Kerykion and Constellar Sombre defeated [[JerkassGods Sophia]], a new history began on the surface world. There were very few survivors of the conflict; from the Gishki, Emilia and Avance became central in rebuilding the world due to their vast knowledge, and they fought alongside the Two Warriors. Meanwhile, Steelswarm Roach continued to watch on, and he and the Gishki witnessed the departure of the Two Warriors.

Kamui and Reeze of the Gusto had a daughter, Pilica. Pilica became friends with Gishki Emilia, and received a seashell hairband from Emilia as a symbol of peace between the two tribes. She also carried the staff of Kamui, who carved it to represent his fallen familiar, Gusto Falco.

Steelswarm Roach and Naturia Leodrake both [[TookALevelInBadass gained the planet's power]] from the [[WorldTree Naturia Sacred Tree]], becoming Evilswarm Exciton Knight and Leo, Keeper of the Sacred Tree respectively, though Exciton began to sense something ominous stirring... The core of Gem-Knight Crystal, who had endured multiple [[FusionDance fusions]] during the war, began to overload, absorbing light and causing Crystal to take on the ominous form of Cairngorgon, Antiluminescent Knight. [[FromNobodyToNightmare Perhaps this was the source of Exciton's unease...]]
[[/folder]]

'''Season 3'''
[[folder:Arc V: The Rise of the Puppeteer]]
Despite the defeat of Sophia, the powers of creation and destruction that Sombre and Kerykeion possessed were being interfered with by an outside source. Decades after their ascension, the two descended to the Naturia Sacred Tree, where they met with their friends after many years, as all had noticed the strange disturbance. They granted their power to Leodrake and Roach, resulting in the above-described transformations into Leo, Keeper of the Sacred Tree, and Evilswarm Exciton Knight.

Sombre and Kerykeion then separated with different goals; Sombre, suspecting the work of Sophia, used Sophia's power of creation to combine the ley lines of power within the planet with the eight Pyroxene cores that she possessed; her own and the seven of Master Diamond. This gave birth to the eight [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Yang Zings]]. Sombre intended to use the power of the Yang Zings to gain control of the Zefra system of the Sacred Tree to prevent Sophia from reviving herself.

Kerykeion meanwhile, followed up on rumors of Master Diamond's revival, but that he had been attacking people. He soon found Cairngorgon, who had been absorbing the souls of the living, leaving the bodies as empty shells, and attempted to fight Cairngorgon to end his rampage, but was unable to bring himself to kill his former friend, and was absorbed. The power of destruction contained within Kerykeion empowered Cairngorgon, transforming him into the Shaddoll Core.
[[/folder]]

'''Core Set Series 9'''
[[folder:Duelist Alliance]]
Shaddoll Core gave life to those who had been killed in the previous wars. Intended to be eventually reborn by the Sacred Tree, their souls were trapped inside, causing the Tree to treat them as bugs and eject the bodies, with no desire bar to return to the Tree to be reborn. As the Shaddolls advanced on the Tree, Sombre led the Yang Zings in defense of the Tree. Suanni and Pulao had their shadows stolen and became part of the army, driving the Yang Zings into a corner.

Summoned by the the plight of its fellows, the tenth Yang Zing, born from the power of connecting the star, descended from the heavens. Chiwen, Light of the Yang Zing, merged with the Yang Zing to create Baxia, Brightness of the Yang Zing, sweeping the Shaddolls away. As if in resonance, warriors of light descended from the sky, and Sombre released the power of the Constellars to empower them. The tellarknights joined the Yang Zings in battle against the Shaddolls.

The battle soon took a turn for the worse; all of the Yang Zings were corrupted, and when Unukalhai sensed the presence of Kerykeion, he attempted to free him. Despite his efforts, and those of Kerykeion FightingFromTheInside, he became Shaddoll Squamata, though Keykeion was able to release the staff of his previous form, Rasalhague, entrusting it to Deneb. Deneb used its power to merge with Vega and Altair, becoming Stellarknight Delteros, and calling down more tellarknights from the sky.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The New Challengers]]
Unfortunately, the corruption of Unukalhai had allowed the Shaddolls to gain the power of connecting the stars, and they used that power to fuse Squamata with the corrupted Bixi to create Jiaotu, Darkness of the Yang Zing, which retain the power to connect with the stars. Via this power, Jiaotu fused with Taotie, Shadow of the Yang Zang to create Yazi, Evil of the Yang Zing. Furthermore, the power of the eight Pyroxenes inside the Yang Zings and the two in El Shaddoll Construct (formerly Gem-Knight Lapis) and Shaddoll Core were combined to evolve Shaddoll Core into El Shadoll Grysta. Grysta began to assault the Sacred Tree, and soon Sirius was converted into Shaddoll Hound. Refusing to allow the Shaddolls to gain his power, Betelgeuse combined with Hound and Procyon into Stellarknight Triver. But even the power of two Stellarknights failed to stop the El Shaddolls, forcing the forces of good out of the Mist Valley Marshes, and back to the Naturia Sacred Tree. They joined forces with Evilswarm Exciton Knight, Leo, and the Ritual Beasts and Nekroz for a final defense.

This resistance was more successful, but the Shaddolls targeted Ritual Beast Tamer Wen, converting her and Spiritual Beast Pettlphin into El Shaddoll Wendigo in order to make use of her spiritual powers. The alliance had destroyed Grysta, but Wendigo and El Shaddoll Winda broke through to the Sacred Tree, using the divine power within Winda, who had been killed originally by Sophia and thus gained some of her power, to gain access to the Qliphort system. The tree ripped itself from the ground and floated into the sky, absorbing the ten Pyroxenes from Grysta, and booting up the Qliphorts.

The Qliphorts were originally the maintainers of the balance of the Tree's systems, and they ignored all but the Shaddolls. As the souls of the originally Zefra Shaddolls were now trapped in the qliphoth system, yet the Zefra bodies were still being manipulated, the Qliphorts sought to eliminate the Shaddolls, joining forces with the surface lifeforms. Even their power could not contain the Shaddolls, and El Shaddoll Construct joined with Apoqliphort Towers to become El Shaddoll Shekhinaga, but through the efforts of Kerykeion from the inside, Delteros with Rasalhauge's staff, and the power of the Ice Barrier Dragons contained within Shurit, Strategist of the Nekorz, Shekhinaga was finally stopped and frozen by the power of the three dragons.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Secret of Evolution]]
With Grysta destroyed and Shekhinaga sealed, the Qliphorts began to systematically absorb the Shaddolls. However, when Qliphort Souct absorbed and imprisoned Winda, the divine power within Winda released the beings sealed within the Pyroxenes that the Qliphorts had absorbed - the Infernoids.

The Infernoids began to flood the world with the flames of the void, and the Qliphorts recognized the threat of Winda, a being with the same power as a god, as an impossibility. Deciding that this signified a fatal error in the Tree's systems, they began their quest to purge the world of life in order to purify the land. To combat them, Emilia, the Dance Princess of the Nekroz, combined the necromancy of the Nekroz and the cycle of the Gishki to revive Gem-Knight Master Diamond, who threw himself into battle. He combined his own power of fusion with the power of the stars and the memories of the Constellar, fusing with Sirius, Capella, Rigel, Procyon, and the rings that contained the memories of Constellar Aldebaran and Pollux, becoming Stellarknight Constellar Diamond. With his aid, the forces of good pushed the Qliphort and Infernoid forces back, facing Infernoid Onuncu. Even the power of Diamond looked to be not enough in the face of Onuncu, but in his most dire moment, help arrived in the form of Constellar Sombre and the fabled ninth Yang Zing, Denglong. With the little power she had, Sombre fuse with Diamond, becoming Tellarknight Ptolemaeus, the true saviour, and the allied forces defeated Onuncu.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Crossed Souls]]
As the allied forces celebrated their victory, Shurit noticed that the power of the three Ice Barrier Dragons within him had disappeared, and the allied forces realized that the war was not over. As they investigated the remains of the Qliphorts and Infernoids, they realized that the vacuum tubes from the fallen Infernoids had vanished, as had Infernoid Devyaty, who had collected the tubes and traveled to Void Trap Hole to gain the power of the Ice Barrier. She used this power to release the seal on Shekhinaga and merge with it, becoming El Shaddoll Anoyatylis, wielding the power of the Qliphorts, Infernoids, Shaddolls, and the Ice Barrier Dragons, powerful enough to rival Sophia herself. To this end, Emilia assumed the form of Nekroz of Sophia, and she and Ptolemaeus set out to stop Anoyatylis. The other Nekroz used their cycle to revive the other eight Yang Zings, and the Yang Zings used their sleeping dragon powers in combination with Exa, Warrior of the Nekroz, to channel the souls of the eight Dragunity dragons into a lance powerful enough to pierce the gods.

The Dragunity Divine Lance was entrusted to Nekroz of Sophia, and thus the power of Sophia, the powers of creation and destruction held by Ptolemaeus, and the ten Pyroxenes were assembled, activating the Zefra System, the counterpart to the Qliphort System. The holy light from Naturia Sacred Tree transformed ten of the warriors of the surface world into the ten holy Zefra warriors. The Zefra was initially intended as a defense system to purge system errors from the tree, but in order to purge the anomaly that was Anoyatylis, it entrusted its power to the ten warriors. The ten chosen warriors were: Exciton Knight, who became Stellarknight Zefraxciton, Avance, the Great Sorcerer of the Nekroz, became Zefrasaber, Swordmaster of the Nekroz, and took up the weapons of the long fallen X-Sabers, Exa took on the powers of the Lavals and became Zefrax, Flame Beast of the Nekroz, Wendigo was purified and became Ritual Beast Tamer Zefrawendi, and Pilica ascended to become Ritual Beast Tamer Zeframpilica, Kerykeion was freed, but its influence from its time absorbed as a Shaddoll had caused him to become Shaddoll Zefranaga, while Crystal seperated from Ptolemaeus, becoming Shaddoll Zefracore and wielding the powers of light and dark, and Qiuniu and Fuxi became Zefraniu, Treasue of the Yang Zing and Zefraxi, Secret of the Yang Zing, while Zefrathuban, garbed in the armour of Chiwen, arose from powers unknown[[note]]hinted to be related to the power of Ptolemaus and Diamond's tellarknight materials given its relation to Draco, but unconfirmed[[/note]].

The Zefra turned the tide of the battle, allowing Nekroz of Sophia and Ptolemaeus to use Satellarkight Alsahm to launch the Dragunity Divine Lance, shattering Anoyatylis for good.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Revival of Tierra]]
However, hidden within the shattered remains of Anoyatylis was the head of Devyaty, Infernoid Decatron, still functional and still in possession of the ten Pyroxenes and the ten Vacuum Tubes. Using them to access the Qliphort System, it revived the second Goddess and Executive, Tierra. It had been the influence and machinations of Tierra that had guided the Shaddolls and Infernoids, and manipulated the souls of the fallen within the Sacred Tree's Systems. Infernoid Tierra began to destroy the Zefra System lifeforms as Sophia had.

Tierra was not yet complete, lacking her power over creation. To regain it, she unsealed Construct, manipulated the core of Apoqliphort Towers, and resonated it with the Vacuum Tube of Decatron, awakening the soul of the trapped "Gem-Knight Lapis", the twin to "Lazuli". As "Lazuli" had eventually gained the power of creation, so had Lapis, her twin. With most of her life force trapped within the Qliphort System due to her decades-long imprisonment, Lapis was little more than a shell; Darktellarknight Batlamyus. Ptolemaeus was completely bewildered by the appearance of her other half, and Batlamyus gathered the remains of the Qliphorts. Infernoid Tierra absorbed Batlamyus and the Qliphorts, restoring her power as Tierra, Source of Destruction at last.

It seemed that there was nothing to do but wait, but Ptolemaeus released the powers of the nine Yang Zings in a last sliver of hope, her original goal to control the Zefra System. This released the power of the eleventh Zefra, granting it to the Zefra that controlled light and dark - Zefracore. Zefracore became Zefraath, the guardian of Naturia Sacred Tree, and it battled with Tierra for a thousand nights and days.

At the dawn of the thousandth day, the only remains were the charred fragments of the Sacred Tree, and Gem-Knights Crystal and Lapis. The vanquishment of Tierra freed the trapped souls within the Vacuum Tubes, and old friends reunited; Ariel returned to her friends in the Nekroz, while Winda was revived at last, and Kamui, the Ritual Beast Tamer Elder, sobbed uncontrollably as he was reunited with Gusto Falco.

With the Naturia Sacred Tree out of action, the surface lives had lost their god. While many were at a loss about what to do, Crystal saw light emanating from the Sacred Tree, thought to be completely inactive. With their friends and comrades watching over them, Crystal disappeared into the light along with Lapis. As the dead and as Shaddoll, they have wandered the world, but they have finally reached their resting place. However, Crystal knows that his past friends and comrades are waiting just beyond that light. The future that they should head towards, that is a future in which life and death no longer endlessly repeat by the control of the Sacred Tree. It is a world in which those living on the earth are promised tranquility, freed from the shackles of gods. To seek out that world, to create that promised land, he, just as those who were left behind by that light once did, embarks on a journey, to an unknown horizon.

[[/folder]]
----
!! The Metaplot contains examples of:
* AdorableEvilMinion: Some Fabled look ludicrously cute.
* AfterTheEnd: Several times, near everyone and everything has been wiped out, but there have always been a few survivors left over. Best exemplified in the artwork of "After The Storm", which shows the aftermath of Trishula's defeat.
* AnyoneCanDie: See KillEmAll. Even, and especially the EleventhHourSuperpower heroes often suffer from this.
* ApocalypseHow: Threatened on Levels from Types 2-4.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: Hinted at with the Steelswarm, which mainly have 0 DEF and an organ in their chest that stands out quite a bit.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Most of the enemies in the plot come off as very, very large threats, such as Worm Zero and El Shaddoll Construct. Then you have the Qliphorts, which are an entire pantheon of this trope.
* TheAtoner: Gem-Knight Master Diamond after his resurrection.
* BackFromTheDead:
** Steelswarm Hercules is resurrected as Evigishki Zielgigas, and many prior warriors are resurrected in the form of Evilswarm and Shaddoll monsters.
** In a rare positive example, Emilia is resurrected by Noellia (who was in fact the one who killed her in the first place) when she finally shakes off the Evilswarm corruption.
** The Constellar brothers Pollux and Castor are revived after their [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight harsh battle]].
** Crystal is revived as Diamond, properly this time.
** At the end of the third War, Winda, Gusto Falco, and Ariel are all revived.
* BadassFamily: All the Nekroz but one are one big family, headed by Avance and Emilia.
* BarrierWarrior: With a name like the Ice Barrier, what would you expect? Their magic is shown to include these.
* BigBad: Several of them:
** Season One: [[StarfishAliens Worm]], [[BitchInSheepsClothing Fabled]].
** Season Two: [[BigCreepyCrawlies Steelswarm]], [[KnightTemplar Vylon]], [[ZombieApocalypse Evilswarm]].
** Season Three: [[PerversePuppet Shaddolls]] via El Shaddoll Construct, then upstaged by the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Infernoids]] and [[AGodAmI Infernoid Tierra]].
* BigGood:
** Vylon, before their corruption.
** Sophia was intended to be Summoned to help the tribes defeating the Evilswarms, [[JerkassGod but...]]
** The Tellarknights, specifically, Constellar Stellarknight Diamond.
** Constellar Sombre and Evilswarm Kerkeiyon fought against Sophia in the second war, making them the BigGood opposite her BigBad
* BilingualBonus: The TCG names of the Infernoids are numbers, each related to their level.
* BoringYetPractical: Invoked by Gem-Knight Pearl, who is simply very strong rather than possessing any special powers. As a result, Vylon Disigma is unable to absorb him and gets punched out.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Frequently, stopping the latest BigBad causes mass amounts of death and destruction, then causes the appearance of the next one.
* BroughtDownToBadass: In-between getting absorbed by the Shadolls and becoming a Zefra, Kerykeiyon loses the power of the three Ice Barrier dragons, dragging his stats down to what they were as Rasalhague.
* CameBackWrong: Both the lswarm virus and the Shaddoll Roots cause this.
* TheChosenMany: Hinted with the Zefra, as "Zefra Strike" shows two of each tribe members being induced by The Oracle of Zefra.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Frequently.
** The Infernoids, for example, all have differently coloured tubes somewhere on their bodies.
** The Qliporths, which seem to be a mirror of the Infernoid's scheme (or vice-versa).
** The Zefras are these, to mirror the Infernoids.
* ContinuityNod: The art of Jurrac Impact shows the same city Worm Zero appeared over, if looking the worse for wear.
* TheCorruption: The Iswarm virus from season two and the Shaddolls from season three.
* CrapsackWorld: And how! War and violence are a constant, and the heroes barely ever seem to survive. And should the last enemy be taken down, there's always something just waiting in the wings, or inadvertently created by the good guys.
* DarkIsNotEvil:
** The Ally of Justice mecha technologies are all dark, while they assist the tribes fighting the Worms and later the Fableds.
** Steelswarm Roach, the WhiteSheep of the Steelswarm faction, also counts as he becomes one of the heroes
** Prior to its corruption, Taotie, Shadow of the Yang Zing.
* DarkIsEvil:
** The Steelswarms, Evilswarms, and Shaddolls.
** Jiaotu and Yazi of the Yang Zings.
** Darktellarknight Batlamyus, a mirror image of Tellarknight Ptolemaeus.
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Zig-zagged.
** While it's possible to revive a dead person as per the card game, it's usually depicted as dangerous and costly, as seen in Avance's attempt to revive Emilia or Noellia's Summon of Zielgigas. It's usually only the "divine" beings that are able to revive someone with relative ease, such as the Constellars.
** One of the parts where this trope is boldly averted is on the case of Laval in which ''all'' of them are sacrificed by Noellia. And they are never seen again.[[note]]Although there's one sole survivor who escaped, Phlogis.[[/note]]
* DevourTheDragon: Tierra creates Darktellarknight Batlaymus, then eats her to become Tierra, Source of Destruction.
* DoingInTheWizard: Possibly. The Qli lore and the Master Guide 5 classify the Naturia Sacred Tree as a supercomputer, run by two executive (Sophia and Tierra), two control systems (Zefra and Qliphort), and having a access system, and becoming buggy. At the same time, divine power and consciousness are involved.
* EldritchAbomination:
** Worm Zero, the last Worm, which looks like a small moon, and warps space and time just by existing.
** The Qliphorts, apparently created by or for Sophia, are strange shell-like creatures. What their goals is isn't clear, but Sophia is involved in some way. (It turns out they are the heralds for [[FinalBoss Tierra]]...)
* EnemyMine: All over the place. In both the first two wars, the tribes were at war with one another before the bigger threats showed up. Averted for the third war, though, until the Yang Zing get briefly corrupted.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The Jurrac are all based on Dinosaurs, but brightly coloured and with added fire-powers. Then they all die trying to take out the Fabled.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: Noellia switches out her Ice Barrier garments for increasingly evil-looking outfits, before swapping back when the corruption is removed.
* EvilCounterpart: Sophia was already a JerkassGod, but it's implied that Infernoid Tierra is this to her.
* EvilEvolves: Part of what made fighting the Worms so difficult - they adapted and got stronger, until they reached Worm Zero.
* FightingFromTheInside: Evilswarm Kerykeion is absorbed by Cairngorgon, transforming it into the Shaddoll Core. Kerykeion subsequently does a lot of this until being freed.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Qliphort Scout's text mentions Infernoid Tierra.
** TSEROF is also kind of an {{Arc Word|s}} echoic toward the end of season 2, which foreshadowed the importance of the Naturia Sacred Tree later into the plot.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Gem-Knight Crystal was hardly a nobody, but the corruption of his core and possible virus assimilation leading to another BigBad? Definitely qualifies.
* FusionDance: Happens a lot.
** The Gem-Knights, Shaddolls, and Ritual Beasts main shtick.
** Worm Zero and a few Naturia.
** In a more roundabout manner, the Gishki's rituals can go like this.
** The Vylon also do this with members from the other tribes.
** Some of the Synchro Monsters and Xyz monsters tend to be like this.
** Then there's all the Constellars fusing into Constellar Ptolmey M7.
** And also Lazuli fusing with the Constellars to become Sombre, and Rasalhague combining with the power of the infected Ice Barrier Dragons to become Kerykeion.
** Infernoid Tierra, a fusion of all of the Infernoids (save Devyaty).
** El Shaddoll Construct merges with Apoqliphort Towers to become El Shaddoll Shekhinaga, and is then merged with Infernoid Devyaty and Nekroz of Trishula to become El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis.
** Finally, Tierra absorbs the energy of the Qliphorts from Batlamyus and fuses with the remnants of Towers and Skybase to create [[FinalBoss Tierra, Source of Destruction]]
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: One way to know if something is effective in the storyline is if it works well against the monsters in the real game. Ally of Justice Decisive Armour and Vylon Omega, both BigGood monsters, work very well against the Worms and the Steelswarm respectively (that said, it ended up being a Double KO both times). The Allies of Justice in a nutshell were actually designed around this. The Effect Monster absorbing-Vylon Disigma is defeated by the non-effect Gem-Knight Pearl. Constellar Stellarknight Diamond takes this UpToEleven by being so effective that it completely shuts down the opposing deck ''in real life''.
* HopeSpot:
** The Gusto manage to summon Sophia, Goddess of Rebirth, who will surely end the conflict! ... except Sophia's an OmnicidalManiac, who decides the best course of action is to kill everyone and start over. She's then destroyed by Sombre and Rasalhague, apparently putting an end to war... Except then the Shaddolls rise from the shadows and release the Qliphorts.
** El Shaddoll Anoyatylis has finally been defeated...wait, where's Devyaty's head gone?
* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight:
** Pollux and Castor pits in during the second season, which ended in a draw. This kind of fight happened frequently during the second season, due to [[TheVirus the premise of their main enemy]].
** Pilica and Wen are having this when the Zefra chose them, purifying Wen in the process.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: So, so averted. Trishula's appearance is crucial to the plot.
* KillEmAll: Quite a few tribes go extinct over the storylines, most famously in Trishula's rampage. The ones that don't are the Naturia, the Ice Barrier (which survive in the Gishki, who survive in the Nekroz), the Gem-Knights (if their subsequent support is anything to go by), and the Mist Valley (which survive in the Gusto, who survive in the Ritual Beasts).
* KillTheGod: Sophia, courtesy of Sombres and Kerykeion.
* LargeAndInCharge:
** Worm Zero towers over a city.
** El Shaddoll Construct, the Shaddoll's puppet-master, is suggested to be pretty damned big indeed. Then she merged with Apoqliphort Towers, and becomes [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/yugioh/images/7/70/ElShaddollShekhinaga-NECH-JP-UR.png/revision/latest?cb=20140719144818 this]].
* LightIsNotGood:
** Worms, Fableds, and the corrupted Vylons.
** Tierra, Source of Destruction is the antithesis of Sophia, the previous BigBad. Doesn't mean she is any less evil...
* LightIsGood: Vylons, Constellars, and Tellarknights.
* MakingASplash: There are three WATER-attribute tribes, but only the Gishki are actually associated with water.
* TheManBehindTheMan: The Constellars created the Vylon a long time ago.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Noellia objected to freeing Trishula, and left with her friend Natalia to find another way. They found and released the Steelswarm, killing Natalia and corrupting Noellia in the process.
** However, it was merging with the Vylon that activated the Steelswarm corruption in her, at which point things got steadily worse.
* NobleBirdOfPrey: Spiritual Beast Cannahawk, and its improved form, Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk.
* OffWithHisHead: Happens to Ally of Justice Catastor at the hands of Thunder Valley Mist Lord, which should (according to the rules of the game) be impossible, though "Mind Pollutant" shows Fabled Raven taking control of Mist Lord, suggesting there's something more to this scenario.
* OhCrap: "Jurrac Impact" shows some Jurrac witnessing Jurrac Meteor's descent, and freaking out.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Dragunity dragons, Exa's different Nekroz forms (Exa being implied to be connected to the Dragunity), the Wyrm-Type Yang Zing and Constellar Stellarknight Diamond, and the fusion of the Wyrm-Type Yang Zings and the Rock-Type Zefracore; Zefraath, a Rock-Type draconian monster.
* PatchworkKids:
** Shurit is the son of Emilia and Avance. He has both of his parents' hair and eye colors.
** Pirika is the daughter of Kamui and Reeze. She has Kamui's green hair and Reeze's orange tint. She ties her like Reeze.
* PlayingWithFire: The Flamvell, Jurracs, Neo Flamvell, Lavals and the Infernoids.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: Gem-Knight Crystal's tragic fate. The burden of the world and stress on his fusion core leads to his breakdown and eventual fall in the battle against Sophia. His fusion core malfunctioned, absorbed all the color of the Gem-Knight core, giving birth to the Shaddoll and turning him into Cairngorgon. After that, it only gets worse as he finally turns into a complete Shaddoll puppeteer, much like Construct...Thankfully, he gets some chance at redemption, as he returns as Master Diamond to become Constellar Stellarknight Diamond, eventually becomes a Zefra, and [[TookALevelInBadass takes a further level in badass]] when he becomes Zefraath.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Noellia manages to shake off the Evilswarm's corruption, and fights against them, destroying her own creation, but she doesn't last long after that.
* SealedEvilInACan:
** The Steelswarm. And the Qliphorts and Infernoids.
** Trishula, Dragon of The Ice Barrier. The three Generals of the Ice Barrier let her out, only to learn a little too late that [[GodzillaThreshold this was a bad move]].
* SealedEvilInASixPack: Infernoid Tierra is the fused form of the ten Nomi Infernoid demons that were each sealed in a Qliphort which were sealed in a large structure under the Naturia Sacred Tree. Which is protected by a 3000+ ATK monster.
* ShoutOut: The Vylon, and Disigma in particular, take an awful lot from the plot of ''VideoGame/MegaManX''.
* ShroudedInMyth: Dragon Ravine, home of the Dragunity Tribe.
* SoleSurvivor: Laval Phlogis was the only Laval to survive what happened to them.
* SugarBowl: Naturia Forest, at least until the Qliphort show up and start making a mess.
* TakingYouWithMe:
** Ally of Justice Decisive Armour and Worm Zero. Both of them later ComeBackWrong.
** The Jurrac do this, but it doesn't quite kill the Fabled. Despite taking out a massive chunk of them, it still wasn't enough to prevent the release of Trishula.
** Implied for Tierra, Source of Destruction and Zefraath's battle depicted in Zefra War. [[spoiler:Against all odds, Crystal and Lapis, the two Gem-Knights at the core of each being, survived]].
* TemporarilyAVillain: The Yang Zings are briefly corrupted, although they are purified by the Oracle of Zefra shortly after.
* TimeSkip: Every season begins several years after the previous one.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** Several characters, some of whom already started as badasses.
** Naturia Leodrake becomes Leo, Protector Beast of the Sacred Tree. Later on he fuses with Ritual Beast Ulti-Apelio and becomes Ritual Beast Ulti-Gaiapelio.
** Everyone chosen by the Zefra.
*** Probably the most notable example is Stellarknight Zefraxciton. Originally just a sealed demon known as Steelswarm Gatekeeper, he came in contact with Advance Zone and became Steelswarm Roach[[note]]with the power to negate a special summon[[/note]]. He then obtained the planet's power and became Evilswarm Exciton Knight, who needs no real introduction. And then he became one of the chosen ones and became Zefraxciton. Not bad for a former nameless {{Mook}}.
* TragicVillain: Noellia just wanted to save the world. She gets her best friend killed, unleashes a new enemy, gets corrupted and twisted, murders her own daughter, and re-releases the dragons of the Ice Barrier, making them greater threats than ever, before the Constellar free her.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: The Gishki and the Gusto were made up of survivors of Trishula's revival and rampage, but Noellia's corruption turned the Gishki turned them against one another.
* WorldTree: The Naturia Sacred Tree, and the sephirot structure beneath it. The Qliphort try to access it for their own reason.
* YinYangBomb: The appearance of Zefracore and its fused form of Zefraath suggests this; being a former Shaddoll purified by the Zefra.
----

** Xyz monsters tend to be like this.

** And also Lazuli fusing with the Constellars to become Sombre, and Rasalhague combining with the power of the infected Ice Barrier Dragons.

** Season Three: [[PerversePuppet Shaddolls]] via [[PuppetMaster El Shaddoll Construct]], then upstaged by the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Infernoids]] and [[AGodAmI Infernoid Tierra]].

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses:
** The unnamed Dance Princess of The Ice Barrier. Tragically, it doesn't save her from Trishula's rampage, and she dies with almost everyone else in the tribe.
** Emilia, when she becomes Dance Princess of The Nekroz, presumably taking the title since her mother Noellia was one of the Ice Barrier as well.

* BadassGrandpa:
** Prior of the Ice Barrier, the one who sealed the three dragons away in the first place, then came back when they were let loose again.
** Avance had also become one starting from Season 3. Although considering the ability for the Nekroz to revert aging, this trope is Zig-zagged.
** Kamui has finally taken the title of the elder in Season 3.

* EvilCostumeSwitch: Noellia switches out her Ice Barrier garments for increasingly evil-looking outfits, before swapping back when the corruption is removed.
* EvilCounterpart: Sophia was already a JerkassGod, but it's implied that Infernoid Tierra is this to her.

** At the end of the third War, Winda, Gusto Falcon, and Ariel are all revived.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Hidden Arsenal [[CanonWelding was]] set in the different canon as the "core set" Card Game metaplot. It has a large-scale plot told among the Hidden Arsenal set. The plot is divided into several "seasons", each one is later split into several arcs. The story is continued to the later Series 8 Core Set boosters, with a transition between Season 2 and 3 happened in Primal Origins. The "Season 3" started to be integrated into the Core Set, followed with The Secret Forces cards storyline, then later into the Core Set again up to Crossed Souls. Even though the main stream of cards had seem to be finished for the ARC-V era, the plot still gets tidbits of progress detail through singular card supports. The plot is mainly divided into the following:

The story begins on a certain planet, where various tribes reside. The tribes have been constantly fighting each other for supremacy, though none was able to overcome the others. One day however, a mysterious meteor crashed upon the planet, bringing the vile Worms with it. The Worms started to invade the planet, claiming many lives. The tribes unite, forming the Ally of Justice and joined hands against a common enemy.

The fight with the Worms starts to heat up. Driven into the corner, the Ice Barrier released the first sealed Ice Barrier Dragon - Brionac. The leader of the X-Saber, Souza, also [[ChekhovMIA went missing during the fights]], having presumably been killed. Meanwhile, an obscure [[MechanicalLifeForm machine group]] called Genex starts to move in response to the Worms’ actions. They later joined the Ally of Justice in their cause. Genex ups the technology level of the tribes, giving them more edge in battle. Gottoms steps up as the new leader of the X-Sabers, now named XX-Sabers[[note]]Pronounced Double X-Sabers[[/note]] to denote their teamwork.

The ever-evolving Worms and ever-growing technologies however, stirred even more chaos upon the war-torn lands. The Ally of Justice had developed a mechanical unit called Ally Mind that enabled them to enhance their mechas and support the Genex. However, they shifted their cause from eliminating the Worms into catching them and using them as power source. Disgusted by their new goal, Mist Valley left Ally of Justice.

Meanwhile, the dimensional boundaries start to weaken, and the fabled gods from the other world, the Fabled, had emerged to the planet. At first, they act as supports for the Ally of Justice. However, their act seems to go more neutral and shady as the day goes by, and in the end, it is revealed that they just lathed themselves into the war because they were bored, and that they don't side with anyone. In fact, one of the Fabled is the culprit behind the Mist Valley's distrust to Ally of Justice.

Meanwhile, the Mist Valley, having separated themselves from the Ally of Justice are pretty much on the same situation. They can resist the invaders no more. In the ensuing crisis however, [[BigDamnHeroes the mythical Dragunity arrive and help the Mist Valley tribe]] fending off the invaders.

One day, one of the Ally of Justice machines reported an abnormally low Worm activity. This raised hope for the tribes, but it doesn't last long; later, the machine detected a surge in power among the Worms and an abnormality in dimensional structure. It turns out that the Worms have merged upon to become the ultimate nightmare, [[EldritchAbomination Worm Zero]] - a being of death and despair that assimilates everything in its path, including its own brethren. In a flash, the Ally of Justice plan and construct the penultimate weapon together with the Genex to fight against the Worms - [[HumongousMecha Ally of Justice Decisive Armor]]. Equipped with the highly intelligent Ally Mind, Decisive Armor enters the battlefield into the ultimate fight with Zero, in which the two fell in a draw. Even by that huge loss, all the tribes celebrate their victory against the enemy. A temporary days of peace came upon the tribes...

The Worms are no more, but peace doesn’t last long. After betraying the tribes, watching from the shadows, slipping themselves in fights all this time, and attempting to invade the Jurracs' forest, the rest of the Fabled finally show themselves, and in full force, they release their Beasts. The world is consumed in chaos once more; the Ice Barrier Tribe think about releasing the final Ice Barrier Dragon, Trishula. This however, caused an internal divide in the tribe, with one side agreeing upon releasing the dragon, while the other being against it. Two of the tribe members, Noellia and Natalia, decide to [[TakeAThirdOption find another way]] and depart. In the end, the faction that agreed to use Trishula dominated, and Trishula is unleashed.

Trishula however, [[GodzillaThreshold is unable to be controlled]]. The words of The Medium can't reach her, and she breaks into a rampage. The Ancient Flamvell Deity and the leader of the Fabled are no match for her, and even the Mirror of the Ice Barrier, which was crafted to imprison the Ice Barrier Dragons, failed to recapture her. It gets even worse as the other Ice Barrier Dragons synced joined her in the rampage. The world is plunged into an ice age-like state, left in ruins. Not all hopes are lost however, as the Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier, the ghost of Prior, the one who sealed the three dragons in the ages past, appeared to fulfill his last duty. Using all of his power, the Sacred Spirit sealed away the three dragons yet again. And even though it would take a very long time, the world will recover...

The Laval, [[BloodKnight a fiery tribe obsessed with fighting from birth]], start conflicts with the Gem-Knights for the sake of fighting. The chivalrous Gem-Knights had no choice but to stand against the Laval. The Gishki, who possess the power of the Ice Barrier, use the Aquamirror to conduct wicked rituals to transform themselves into monsters, and they invaded the marshes of the Gusto, seeking to awaken the power that lies there. The Gusto, who maintain strong bonds with their animal familiars, bravely fight back. Though they had remained passive in the past season, the Vylon eventually descended to intervene in the conflict between the Gem-Knights and the Laval. Meanwhile, the battles of the Gishki and the Gusto awaken the Steelswarm, ancient demons that had been [[SealedEvilInACan sealed]] by the Vylon, which immediately began to raze the land.

Under the wing of the Vylon, [[EnemyMine the four tribes unite to fight the Steelswarm]], and the Vylon share their power with individuals from the tribes. However they [[DidntSeeThatComing did not know]] that the Lswarm virus had [[DemonicPossession infected]] Gishki Noellia, and when they merged with her, their hive mind was corrupted. The Steelswarm leader, [[DiscOneFinalBoss Hercules]], entered the battle, destroying everything around him, until [[BigGood Vylon Omega]] descended from the heavens, and vaporized the lesser Steelswarm, leaving only Hercules. They battled to a draw, destroying one another.

Though Sophia appeared to be benevolent, returning the planet to its state before the first wars, history merely repeated in a cycle of death and rebirth. Master Diamond was exhausted, and he left his blade, containing the power of fusion, to Gem-Knight Lazuli and Constellar Rasalhague. Lazuli merged with the remaining Constellar and obtained the power of Creation, becoming Constellar Sombre. Rasalhague took the far more dangerous option of using the Aquamirror that Noellia had left to Emilia and Avance to fuse with the power of the corrupted Dragons of the Ice Barrier, and absorbed the power of Destruction to become Evilswarm Kerykion. Together, these Two Warriors combined their powers to defeat Sophia at last.

After [[InNameOnly Evilswarm]] Kerykion and Constellar Sombre defeated [[JerkassGods Sophia]], a new history began on the surface world. There were very few survivors of the conflict; from the Gishki, Emilia and Avance became central in rebuilding the world due to their vast knowledge, and they fought alongside the Two Warriors. Meanwhile, Steelswarm Roach continued to watch on, and he and the Gishki witnessed the departure of the Two Warriors.

Kerykeion meanwhile, followed up on rumors of Master Diamond's revival, but that he ha been attacking people. He soon found Cairngorgon, who had been absorbing the souls of the living, leaving the bodies as empty shells, and attempted to fight Cairngorgon to end his rampage, but was unable to bring himself to kill his former friend, and was absorbed. The power of destruction contained within Kerykeion empowered Cairngorgon, transforming him into the Shaddoll Core.

** Emilia is killed and revived by Noellia.
** Hercules is revived as Zielgigas.

* BackFromTheDead:
** Steelswarm Hercules is resurrected as Evigishki Zielgigas, and many prior warriors are resurrected in the form of Evilswarm and Shaddoll monsters.
** In a rare positive example, Emilia is resurrected by Noellia (who was in fact the one who killed her in the first place) when she finally shakes off the Evilswarm corruption.
** The Constellar brothers Pollux and Castor are revived after their [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight harsh battle]].

** TSEROF is also kind of an ArcWord echoic toward the end of season 2, which foreshadowed the importance of the Naturia Sacred Tree later into the plot.

** Finally, Tierra absorbs the energy of the Qliphorts from Batlamyus and fuses with the remnants of Towers and Skybase to create [[FinalBoss Tierra, Goddess of Rebirth]]

** Tierra, Goddess of Rebirth is the antithesis of Sophia, the previous BigBad. Doesn't mean she is any less evil...

** Implied for Tierra, Goddess of Rebirth and Zefraath's battle depicted in Celestial Crusade of the Zefra. [[spoiler:Against all odds, Crystal and Lapis, the two Gem-Knights at the core of each being, survived]].

* TheCorruption: The Lswarm virus from season two and the Shadow Strings from season three.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: Gem-Knight Crystal's tragic fate. The burden of the world and stress on his fusion core leads to his breakdown and eventual fall in the battle against Sophia. His fusion core malfunctioned, absorbed all the color of the Gem-Knight core, giving birth to the Shadow Strings and turning him into Cairngorgon. After that, it only gets worse as he finally turns into a complete Shaddoll puppeteer, much like Construct...Thankfully, he gets some chance at redemption, as he returns as Master Diamond to become Constellar Stellarknight Diamond, eventually becomes a Zefra, and [[TookALevelInBadass takes a further level in badass]] when he becomes Zefraath.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: The Ghiski and the Gusto were made up of survivors of Trishula's revival and rampage, but Noellia's corruption turned the Ghiski turned them against one another.

* ActionGirl: Many.
** X-Saber Anu Pirahna.
** Gem-Knight twins Lapis and Lazuli.
** Gishki Ariel, Noellia, Natalia, Emilia.
** Gustos Winda and Reeze.
** Constellar Virgo.
** The Third War contains the most prominent examples, with the two Ritual Beast Tamer Zefra and Lara, Nekroz of Sophia, Tellarknight Ptolemaeus, Darktellarknight Batlamyus, and the BigBad herself Infernoid Tierra.

* BadassPrincess:
** The unnamed Dance Princess of The Ice Barrier. Tragically, it doesn't save her from Trishula's rampage, and she dies with almost everyone else in the tribe.
** Emilia, when she becomes Dance Princess of The Nekroz, presumably taking the title since her mother Noellia was one of the Ice Barrier as well.

After [[InNameOnly Evilswarm]] Kerykion and Constellar Sombre defeated [[JerkassGods Sophie]], a new history began on the surface world. There were very few survivors of the conflict; from the Gishki, Emilia and Avance became central in rebuilding the world due to their vast knowledge, and they fought alongside the Two Warriors. Meanwhile, Steelswarm Roach continued to watch on, and he and the Gishki witnessed the departure of the Two Warriors. Before departing, Sombre granted new life to the planet by creating the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Yang Zings]].

The only few survivors of the war are Gishki Avance and Gishki Emilia , Kamui, Hope of Gusto and Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto, and Steelswarm Roach. The five made a pact to live in peace and harmony with one another, to prevent another war from breaking. "Avance" and "Emilia" married, and together with their son, Shurit, and a wandering draconic warrior formed a new tribe, the Nekroz; Avance practicing magic, while Emilia would honor her ancestors in the form of dancing. Shurit was a natural at ritual magic, frequently taking up an armored form similar to a bird.

"Kamui" and "Reeze" also married and had a daughter, Pilica. The three spent their time among the Spiritual Beasts of the Naturia Forest, whom they would befriend and tame. Kamui would eventually become the elder of the tribe.

The descendants of the Constellars, the "Tellarknights" vowed to protect the world from evil, and with their ferocious and formidable army, they were capable of dispatching any threat to the peace. One of the allies of the "Tellarknights" was Steelswarm Roach, whom had now become the Evilswarm Exciton Knight.

Finally, a new breed of creature had emerged on the planet, calling themselves the Yang Zing. Created by the divine power of Constellar Sombre, the Yang Zing defended the heavens, graceful and elegant in their strength.

The peace would soon be shattered by the unearthing of the Shaddoll Core. The core exuded a powerful corrupting curse, reanimating the remains of the Gem-Knight warriors into a monstrous facade of their former selves. As it walked the planet, it's curse spread like wildfire, reanimating the long dead beasts of the prior wars. It also paved the way for its master, the El-Shaddoll Construct to make her way from the shadows into the mortal realm. Armed with her shadow strings, she started corrupting living creatures too, turning Suanni of the Yang Zing, and Satellarknights Sirius and Unukalhai into her newest pets. With Suanni's strength, Cairngorgon was able to regain its lost power, becoming El-Shaddoll Grysta in the process.

The shadows of the evil Construct could be felt all over. Sensing the evil presence, the Nekroz used their ritual powers to summon Armors of the ancient warriors of the old war, Sorcerer donned the armor of Unicore, Exa the armor of Catastor, Shurit donned the armor of Brionac,and Princess the armor of Gungnir. The Ritual Beast Tamers sought to defend their homes as well, calling on the bond with their beasts to ride them into battle as one. The Satellarknights joined forces to summon forth one of their elders, Stellarknight Delteros; while the Yang Zing, enraged at the loss of one of their own summoned their elder from the heavens: Baxia.

Unfortunately, the Yang Zing did not anticipate an enemy from within. Suanni, now the Shaddoll Dragon was able to corrupt more of its fellow Yang Zing into the darkness, first Jiaotu, then Taotie. These Yang Zing of darkness were brutal in their assaults, not only attacking the Shaddolls, but everyone else as well. As they fought, they were able to combine into an even more powerful form, one subservient to the Construct. Yazi fought against the Tamers, and in the ensuing chaos, the shadows abducted one of them, for Construct's own nefarious purposes.

In the midst of all the fighting, the Naturia Forest stirred. It's great protector, Leo (having previously bested Evilswarm Ouroboros) stood defiantly against the Shaddoll monstrosities. When the Shaddolls unleashed their newest member, Winda, she headed straight for the forest in an attempt to raze it to the ground. Damaging the Sacred Tree, she enraged the mighty beast, who called on its fallen comrades to give it more power, becoming Naturia Gaiastrio. Gaiastrio was able to defeat both Winda and Grysta, slaying the latter.

However, the damage had been done. The secrets of the tree were revealed as a machine was launched from the trunk into the sky. The tree rose up into the heavens, absorbing the power of the fallen Grysta in the process, releasing the Qliphorts from their prisons. The monstrous shadows were no match for the firepower delivered by the Qliphort master, and as it fought the Construct herself, the Satellarknights took the opportunity. Calling forth the second elder, Triverr, the two Stellarknights were able to combine their powers in an attempt to seal away Construct. However, Construct had a trump card; by using Winda as a conduit, she could gain control of Towers, and by extension, the Qliphorts themselves. The power of Winda caused a surge through the tree, releasing an even eviller race: The Infernoids.

The Infernoids rage was swift, attacking without mercy or respite. Being deployed from the Qliphorts, they were able to rapidly travel the land, destroying anything in their path. The remaining Tamers put all their hopes on Gaiastrio, while the remaining Yang Zing pooled their powers to call forth Chaofeng. The Stellarknights called upon their ancestors and used the power of their predecessors to create a new elder. The Nekroz warriors used the Kaleidomirrors to summon even stronger armors for themselves.

In response, the Infernoids launched their own behemoth, Onuncu]] to face them. Unbeknownst to them, this was a ploy on the part of the Dekatron, whom had been tending to the tree. Realizing it needed more than just Winda for energy, it dispatched Infernoid Devyaty to abduct Construct and steal her power. Seizing the moment, Shurit used the powers of Trishula to freeze both Construct and Devyaty in place; but it didn't work, instead Devyaty seized both Construct and Shurit to grow into a towering new form.

With the power of Construct's shadow magic, Dekatron unleashed the Empress of the Infernoids to cleanse the world. Tierra's strength was unmatched, annihilating anything in her path. However, the release of Tierra had an unintended side effect, the evil energy within the Sacred Tree was gone, and now there was only good. The Zefra were born from the Sacred Tree, purifying those who had become corrupted or grieved. El-Shaddoll Wendigo (now purified back into her normal self, Wen) and Pilica, Avance and Exa of the Nekroz, Taotie and Jiaotu of the Yang Zing and Exciton and Thuban of the Tellarknights were all transformed and granted new powers. Without Construct's malevolent influence, the Shaddolls were granted new life too, the husk of Kerkeion was resurrected, while Grysta was revived and purified. The ten Zefra united the clans against Tierra and Anoyatyllis, coming up with a plan to defeat the pair.

Exa journeyed to his homeland of the Dragon Valley, where he prayed for the legendary Divine Spear, while Thuban and Exciton joined together to create Tellarknight Ptolemaeus. Emilia, devastated at the loss of her son, used the jewel of Sophia to imbue herself with the Goddess' power. Gaiapelio distracted Tierra long enough for the others to attack Anoyatyllis; defending the tamers Wendi and Pilica in the process, and with their combined power, Ptolemaeus, Sophia and Exa were able to slay Anoyatyllis. The job was not yet complete. The core of Apoqliphort Towers was still active, and in an attempt to destroy it, Ptolemaeus attacked it. Construct in turn, took the chance she needed and fused herself with Ptolemaeus and the Core of Towers. The resulting creature, a being of both Light and Darkness could finally be the chance the Zefra needed; since Ptolemaeus still retained control instead of Construct. This new creature attacked Tierra head on, causing damage to the beast. However, Tierra in turn had a trump card of her own, utilizing the remains of Towers' body and the Skybase on high, as well as stealing the goddess' power from Emilia she was able to transform herself into a titanic creature and proclaimed herself the new Goddess of Rebirth...

History would repeat itself, as the warrior of Light and Darkness fought against the goddess of rebirth, ultimately defeating the pretender god. With the fall of the Infernoid Queen the curse of the Shaddoll was broken, freeing the captive beings from their control. A purified Gusto Falco was reuinited with its old friend Kamui, Wendi and Pilica were able to reunite without the influence of the Shaddoll, and Winda was freed from her Infernoid prison, electing to join the Ritual Beast Tamers.

* DarkIsNotEvil: The Ally of Justice mecha technologies are all dark, while they assist the tribes fighting the Worms and later the Fableds.
** Tellarknight Vatlamyus is a DARK monster that is also treated as LIGHT, befitting its significance as a combination of the good and bad leaders.
* DarkIsEvil: The Steelswarms, Evilswarms, and Shaddolls.

** Following Anoyatyllis' destruction, Construct then merges with Tellarknight Ptolemaeos, forming Tellarknight Vatlamyus.
** Finally, Tierra absorbs the energy of Sophia from Emilia (Nekroz of Sophia) and fuses with the remnants of Towers and Skybase to create [[FinalBoss Tierra, Goddess of Rebirth]]

* HopeSpot: The Gusto manage to summon Sophia, Goddess of Rebirth, who will surely end the conflict! ... except Sophia's an OmnicidalManiac, who decides the best course of action is to kill everyone and start over. She's then destroyed by Sombre and Rasalhague, apparently putting an end to war... Except then the Shaddolls rise from the shadows and release the Qliphorts.

* LargeAndInCharge: El Shaddoll Construct, the Shaddoll's puppet-master, is suggested to be pretty damned big indeed. Then she merged with Apoqliphort Towers, and becomes [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/yugioh/images/7/70/ElShaddollShekhinaga-NECH-JP-UR.png/revision/latest?cb=20140719144818 this]].
* LightIsNotGood: Worms, Fableds, and the corrupted Vylons.

* TheManBehindTheMan: The Constellars created the Vylon long time ago.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Dragunity dragons, Exa's different Nekroz forms (Exa being implied to be connected to the Dragunity), the Wyrm-Type Yang Zing and Constellar Stellarknight Diamond, and what appears to be the fusion of the Wyrm-Type Diamond and the Rock-Type Zefracore; Zefratorah, a Rock-Type draconian monster.

* PlayingWithFire: The Flamvell and the Infernoids.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: Gem-Knight Crystal's tragic fate. The burden of the world and stress on his fusion core leads to his breakdown and eventual fall in the battle against Sophia. His fusion core malfunctioned, absorbed all the color of the Gem-Knight core, giving birth to the Shadow Strings and turning him into Cairngorgon. After that, it only gets worse as he finally turns into a complete Shaddoll puppeteer, much like Construct...Thankfully, he gets some chance at redemption, as he eventually becomes a Zefra, and [[TookALevelInBadass takes a further level in badass]] when he becomes Zefratorah.

** Implied for Tierra, Goddess of Rebirth and Zefratorah Grammaton's battle depicted in Celestial Crusade of the Zefra.
* TemporarilyAVillain: Two of the Yang Zings are briefly corrupted, although they are purified by the Oracle of Zefra shortly after.

* YinYangBomb: The appearance of Zefracore and its fused form of Zefratorah suggests this; being a former Shaddoll purified by the Zefra.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Dragunity dragons, Exa's different Nekroz forms (Exa being implied to be connected to the Dragunity), and the Wyrm-Type Yang Zing and Constellar Stellarknight Diamond.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: Gem-Knight Crystal's tragic fate. The burden of the world and stress on his fusion core leads to his breakdown and eventual fall in the battle against Sophia. His fusion core malfunctioned, absorbed all the color of the Gem-Knight core, giving birth to the Shadow Strings and turning him into Cairngorgon. After that, it only gets worse as he finally turns into a complete Shaddoll puppeteer, much like Construct...Thankfully, he gets some chance at redemption, as he eventually becomes a Zefra.