Fanfic / Symposium Of Supremacy

Symposium of Supremacy is a Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V fanfic written by Green_Phantom_Queen, which is a take on a world where the En-Cards failed to defeat Zarc, and he has obtained victory against Leo Akaba, the Lancers and Ray herself.

Zarc is having tea with his four sons, before he gets some rude visitors in Crowler and Bonaparte. However, what should've been negotiations to free Leo Akaba soon reveal that Zarc's victory is about to come into the end. Not only is the Supreme King Haou aware of what has happened, but Zarc has made an alliance with some Devils in order to ensure that humanity, and especially those with the last name of "Akaba", can't meddle in his affairs.

What happens next is a story that uses online videos, blog entries, news headlines and other odds and ends that depict the story of what happened to the Lancers, and the four dimensions, when they become the Devils' Playhouse.

In other words, a typical Green_Phantom_Queen story.

For another work that carries similar themes by the same author, see YuyaVision.

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Symposium of Supremacy provides examples of

• Abled in the Adaptation: Yusho was revealed to be crippled when he was finally seen in Arc-V, as his leg became busted from his duel against Edo. He's somehow without the handicap when first seen in the story (albeit it was Yuri's nightmare).
• Abominable Auditorium: The Cinema Academia is located in the Burning Abyss, run by Yusho Sakaki, and plays morbid movies depicting the events of Arc-V and then some, along with having students from Academia forced to work and live there as punishment for their crimes. The author notes reveal that this was mostly inspired by the premise of Cinema Purgatorio.
• Actor Allusion: Carly's blog calls Sylvio's father an "eggman". In the dub, Sylvio's father is voiced by Mike Pollock.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Halil is shown to be more cold and aloof than his jovial personality in the anime, particularly when dealing with Sylvio. Justified since he's been stuck in Hell for two years and learned how Reiji basically forgot about him over the creation of the Lancers.
• Adaptational Karma:
  • Reiji got away with a lot of things in Season 1, the biggest one is rewriting memories of three students. Not only were there a lot of lawsuits and students high-tailing out of there he ends up killing himself.
  • As a whole, Academia got away with slaps on the wrist for what amounted to genocide. Many of them are implied to have been killed when Zarc was reborn and are now stuck in the Burning Abyss, working nine-to-five jobs in an auditorium run by Yusho Sakaki.
• Affably Evil: Mammon is a dragon in a suit who acts chummy with Zarc like they're old friends, is kind to the You Show Kids, and willingly invests money into a dying school out of amusement. He's also one of eight Devils who can defeat Zarc without having to lift a finger.
• Alliterative Title: Symposium of Sumpremacy. In-universe, a few news articles for Chapter 5 and Carly's blog entry about Reiji's suicide is also with alliteration.
• Always Someone Better: For all that Zarc is powerful, there are more powerful beings that give him shivers. Haou is labeled as the superior to Zarc. Even the sight of Jaden's eyes glowing gold makes him shriek in terror. Mammon and the other Devils are a league above Zarc and Zarc knows that it's not a good idea to get on their bad side. Finally, describes him dueling both Atem and Yugi Muto as him having "a slight chance on surviving" with heavy emphasis on slight.
• Ambiguous Situation: Is Dr. Zirconia in The Boy and his Devils really Zarc? Or is he just a character made up for the biopic in general? The hints include Zarc's reaction to seeing Zirconia in the biopic make him uneasy, and how Dr. Zirconia looks eerily similar to the former, with special emphasis on his gold eyes.
• And I Must Scream: Helluva Girl has the homunculus suffer this. She wasn't born, she was actually made from four recycled dolls who are still alive and their voices are screaming in her mind, scared as to why they were disassembled into her. It becomes so much that she throws herself into a fire to end it.
• Anyone Can Die: Emphasis on anyone with all Akabas sans Reira kicking the bucket and carding is the equivalent of death. Many characters from Fusion and Xyz are revealed in the first chapter to have also been killed as well.
• Artistic License – Economics: Averted. Carly notes that the money to create Academia had to go from somewhere because there was no way that Akaba was able to bring money from another dimension in his pocket. There were numerous investors who willingly contributed to a genocidal military camp and they were blacklisted and given numerous sanctions.
• The Bad Guy Wins: The summary for the story goes without saying. Zarc has won, and he has obtained Yuya and his counterparts as the prizes.
• Bizarre Taste in Food: Near the end of Chapter 3, Jaden is eating his fried shrimp topped with natto, Japanese fermented soybeans.
• Break the Haughty: "Saving Private Sylvio" is all about Sylvio breaking down over how he has been a selfish brat for the longest time and has no one but himself to blame. This also makes him change his ways by asking Halil if the two can pray together and be grateful that he has company.
• Chekhov's Gun: When Jaden first appears in the story, a fly is shown flying around him. Zarc later realizes that this fly is one of Beelzebub's, the Devil known as Lord of the Flies.
• Child Abuse Is a Special Kind of Evil: Leo and Himika are despised by the Devils because of how they abuse and manipulate children for their own gains, to the point that both are stuck in Hell for their actions.
• Creator Thumbprint: Horror of the surreal/psychological kind? Check. Food? Check. Mind control? By the bucket loads. Written by Green Phantom Queen? Absolutely.
• Creepy Monotone: Yuya and his counterparts speak as one when greeting their father and Mammon, emphasizing that they have little to no agency as to who they are.
• Cue the Flying Pigs: When Sylvio thanks Belial for giving him shelter at his military camp, the soldiers (all of them duelists from the Battle Royale) gasp in horror, with Olga waiting for a flying pig. Then Belial brings up that dinner will be roasted winged roar.
• Darker and Edgier: Thought Arc-V was dark? Think again. Carding is considered to be death in the story and many souls who got carded are sent to Hell even though they've never done anything to deserve eternal damnation. Zarc also rules the world and has his sons in what seems to be a controlling relationship that sees them as mindless puppets and there is a lot more death, a few of them by suicide.
• Deal with the Devil: Brought up multiple times throughout the story, given that there are actual devils running amok. Most notably, there are rumors that Reiji actually did sell his soul to a devil in order to get the power to stop his father in three years time.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Because Zarc wins, Ray doesn't push the Reset Button that undid all the cardings. Everyone who got carded is considered dead at this point.
  • Reiji is killed by suicide, while Nakajima has a bullet through the head. It's also implied that Himika also dead as well.
  • Many characters from GX and ZeXal have been shown to kick the bucket. List includes: Syrus, Chumley, Bastion, Blair, Flip, Caswell, Tori...
• Death by Despair: Should a dragon loses their lair, which is more than just a home but a place so sacred to them, then they are said to die like this.
• Deconstruction: Leo Corp.'s actions in the first part of Arc-V would not be feasible in real life. Their convoluted act to get Yuya's Pendulums — having Sylvio tempt Yuya to Leo Duel School's Central Court then have Yuya show them for Sylvio to steal and then use them in a duel that also had four children in mortal danger — instead of just downright asking them lands them into legal hotwater with crimes like theft, corruption of a minor, accessory to theft and child endangerment. And them accusing Yuya of attacking Sylvio has them arrested under crimes of false accusation. Moreover, there's also the little stunt they did with the memory altering tech they used on Masumi, Hokuto, and Yaiba, making them seem unethical and have people fleeing fast.
• Double-Meaning Title: The Boy and his Devils can represent Reiji and his D/D/D deck which are all fiends and can be read as Different Dimension Demons. Or it represents how he killed himself due to mental problems or devils.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Syrus carded himself so he didn't have to duel Jaden after their victory against Paradox.
  • The biopic, The Boy and His Devils ends with Reiji Akaba killing himself by using his scarf as a make-shift noose.
  • Nakajima, Reiji's bodyguard, was found with a bullet in the brain.
• Enemy Mine: The situation with Zarc is so bad that Haou and the Light of Destruction made an alliance.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Mammon and his ilk are Devils, but Mammon makes a remark that Belial would've ripped Reiji's head clean off for dragging Reira into the war without her consent.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • While Yubel has done some ruthless things in her day, what Zarc did to make his sons so docile — being treated like 4 year olds despite age 16 at this point — disgusts her.
  • For all of Sylvio's flaws, he tells Halil that even he was disgusted that Reiji never showed concern for all who were carded for the Battle Royale, or consoled the families of those afflicted. He also would never say that Yusho should die/go to hell.
• Exact Words: The Helluva Girl chapter has a man request the Witchcrafters to create a lifelike doll of his daughter that would erase his sorrows "for a minute". The girls do exactly that, with the end results being that he's shocked and terrified at seeing the doll scream in agony over her existence for sixty seconds, before the doll kills him. After all, he never said he wished to be happy.
• A Father to His Men: Belial runs a military camp which hosts the duelists who got carded in the Battle Royale and cares for them deeply, a sharp contrast to Reiji giving little sympathy for the sacrifices needed for his Lancers program.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: The "Magician's Circle" story reveals how Zarc was just an orphan boy who enrolled in a magical academy before he became the destructive dragon king.
• The Gadfly: Mammon loves riling Zarc up, particularly in investing money in You Show Duel School when he notices that Yuya has faint memories of the place.
• Hanging Around: The Boy and His Devils ends with Reiji hanging himself via his scarf.
• Hated by All: All Akabas minus Reira are shown as this due to crimes involving genocide (Leo), child abuse (Himika) and memory alteration (Reiji). Reiji is hated by actual devils because of his apathy towards Reira.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Akabas have fallen from grace after their crimes have been revealed. From Leo's crimes against humanity, Reiji's memory wiping on three students, to Himika's abusive parenting, the only one who is still alive at this point is Reira (and even she doesn't get out unscathed).
• Ironic Echo: The first chapter has Yuri using the lines of "Don't lose ur head" to state how he doesn't give a fuck about the chaos he caused. In his nightmare in chapter 4, Yusho sings part of the chorus to mock him.
• Irony: One of Aster's well known actions was crippling Yusho. In Belial's camp, he's stuck in medical duty, so he learns how to take care of soldiers.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Reiji scrambled the memories of three students, but his biopic revealed he requested a memory wipe of his own.
• Last Words: Apparently, Reiji's last words were to mutter "D" four times. There's an analogy of that compared to Rosebud which Carly jokes that no one found a sled with that name on it.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Endgame spoilers for Arc-V are thrown out the window, particularly over Zarc and Ray's roles in the anime.
• Literal Metaphor: Apparently one of the films in Cinema Academia is a black comedy — as in a comedy that is shown in black and white.
• Madness Mantra: Reiji when seen in the Burning Abyss is reduced to mumbling "Tickets please. Welcome to the theater. Tickets please. Welcome to the theater."
• A Man of Wealth and Taste: Mammon is introduced this way, wearing a high-class business suit with golden accessories.
• Mood Whiplash: After Haou shows Yuri, Bonaparte and Crowler a vision of Cinema Academia, it goes back to normal as Jaden is happily eating fried shrimp before he asks if he can tell the story of how he found the love of his life. Cut to Yuri kicking the Fusion denizens out of the castle.
• Mundane Utility: Mammon uses his fire breath to quickly heat up a bag of popcorn for himself.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In Carly's blog, when discussing the cryptic hint of Reiji's suicide is him uttering "D" four times, someone jokes that it means "We are The D", a reference to Aster's adoptive father Kyle Jables/"The D" (The dub name was based on the band Tenacious D, which related to one of Aster's Destin Heroes being called Captain Tenacious.)
  • Ryou is first seen at the ticket kiosk with a little figurine of himself as a white mage, just like the "Monster World" arc of the original manga series.
  • The movie theater that Ryou works at is named Takahashi Movie Theater.
• Naked Nutter: Reiji somehow devolved into this after Zarc's victory. Yuri even questions why nudity equals insanity.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Halil never got to talk to his family after the Battle Royale thanks to Yuri carding him.
• Nothing Is Scarier:
  • We don't know how, but Zarc apparently tortured Yugo and Yuri with something called the "white void".
  • What happened to Reiji that would lead him to hanging himself.
• No Sympathy: Halil doesn't give a damn when Sylvio starts crying, particularly after Sylvio was given a reality check over his actions throughout the anime.
• Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: Averted. Carly notes in her blog that numerous investors in the Fusion dimension shelled money into Akaba's schemes. Even Jaden notes that Bonaparte paid good money to get his son into the school despite his lousy dueling skills. And when this gets revealed, everyone involved, like Chazz's older brothers, is placed with numerous sanctions for willingly funding a terrorist group's schemes.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: This type of music plays when Haou reveals that Leo Akaba is in hell.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Sylvio is haughty, a loud-mouth, obnoxious, and rude. So him thanking someone is such a shock that Olga is waiting to see pigs fly. He also starts breaking down in tears over Halil's harsh truths over how he was acting throughout the anime and how he was weighing people down.
• Orphaned Punchline: How Chapter 3 ends.
  Jaden: (after he's thrown out of Zarc's castle)...And that's how I became king!
• Painting the Frost on Windows: The first four chapters have the weather be formed by the Weather Painters.
• Parody Commercial: Chapter 3 has four of them: "Chazz it up!" hairgel, Power Bond Batteries, Volcanic Powder and a spoof of Batman (1966) called Crocman with Jim Cook as the hero.
• Pass the Popcorn: Mammon eats popcorn as he watches Yuya accidentally scaring the You Show Duel kids. He even lampshades how he'll get more popcorn when Yuya wishes to duel the three.
• Pink Is Erotic: Brought up by Mammon. Asmodeus's signature color is pink and he's the Devil of Lust.
• Point of Divergence: The En-Cards failed to be of any use of Zarc, and because of that, he's won and humanity can't stop him.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In Chapter 10, Halil wastes no time tearing Sylvio apart for being a whiny Glory Hound asshole rich-boy who quits after one loss and is essentially deadweight to the Lancers since he all he does is talk about using his father's authority or being the hero.
• Scrapbook Story: The first four chapters are written in the form of a visual novel, with the following chapters described as a collection of news headlines depicting the falls of the Akabas, a doctor's note about Reira's mental state, a biopic of Reiji Akaba, a commercial for the Cinema Academia, and more.
• Shout-Out:
  • After the horror game show turns back to the gardens, Jaden is shown eating his fried shrimp with natto.
  • Carly's blog about Reiji is called Reiji's Dark Dreams Don't Die. She also says that Reiji was the master of all four extra deck summonings and when the world needed him most, he went mad.
  • Two of the films that's filmed in the Cinema Academia has Shun singing how "he can do this all day" and another has a poster of Ruri being kidnapped by a black hooded figure. The tagline of the poster reads "You must become Akaba!"
  • The "animated short" is called "Helluva Girl" which is based off the final film in Cinema Purgatorio, "One Hell of a Girl".
  • When Yusho looks at a weapons magazine, it has a centerfold. He then remarks, "Now that's a katana!"
• Shoutout To Shakespeare: Act 1's 4 parts are named after lines from The Tempest, and Zarc vows not to go out like Macbeth. Chapter 9's title is a line from King Lear.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Ukyo Kitano changes from his school teacher uniform for black priest robes, reflecting how he's gone from a kind teacher to a desperate worshipper of Zarc.
• Signs of Disrepair: The marquee of CINEMA ACADEMIA flickers out, so that the only words that can be read are "I MAD", which definitely reflects how many characters of the story have lost their minds.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Jaden Yuki somehow appears in the garden of the Supreme Castle without any explanation. It's presumably due to his powers as Supreme King.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Beelzebub is capable of watching anyone just by being a literal fly on the wall.
• Take Our Word for It: Chumley's dead state is never described, just that it's not pretty. To the point that even Yuri is sickened by it.
• Take That!: The author isn't afraid to point her dislike for politics.
  • The Tops in Synchro are compared to Republicans who whine and complain on anything "Woke", with emphasis on the book banning practice.
  • Yuri refers to Leo Akaba and his followers as fascist conservatives who don't care about progress as they care about their selfish desires.
  • Jaden makes a potshot on conservatives who run the justice system in the first chapter.
  Jaden: [responding to Yuri's suggestion that Academia be put on human trial] Yes, let's have a bunch of corrupt conservatives decide. As long as nothing changes, they win. If things change, then they lose everything. No more power, no more money, no more authority to do whatever the hell. they. want.
• There Are No Therapists: Brought up in Carly's blog. Reira was adopted by one of the richest families in Standard, but not once did Himika decide to get this traumatized girl some therapy.
  "How ironic. All the money in the world wasn't shelled out for a decent therapist."
• Tarot Motifs: At the end of Chapter 9, Zarc sees Ryou flashing an Upright Devil. While the Devil symbolism is obvious that Zarc is interacting with Mammon, one of the eight Devils, the Upright Devil also represents the shadow of one's self, attachment and restriction, actions that reflect his sons more than Zarc himself.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Downplayed; many people know that Mammon, Zarc, and his sons are dragon humanoids but are to ignore them because of how dangerous they are.
• Vague Age: When Bonz is introduced, he's labeled as (14?) given that he's been stuck in the Shadow Realm since the first series.
• Wangst: In-universe. Belial mocks Aster for whining and complaining about Yusho showing kindness and empathy towards the commander, completely ignoring how Aster was living with commodities that the rest of Heartland would've given an arm or leg for.
• Waxing Lyrical: In Yuri's nightmare of Cinema Academia, Yusho serenades him with lyrics from "Crazytown", a song from 35MM: A Musical Exhibition.
• You Bastard!: In the Reiji biopic chapter, Dr. Zirconia gives a speech to the viewer about how they really enjoy the idea of Reiji getting his karma, and that they're just as sick and twisted as he is.
• You're Not My Type: When Yuri says he's going to blow Jaden into smithereens, after his Predaplants tie him up, Jaden replies with this.
  Jaden: Yuri, seriously, I feel you on some level...but I'm gonna have to decline. Sorry, but you're just not my type.

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