Astral World

The Astral World (アストラル世界せかい Asutoraru Sekai) is the dimension where Astral was born and a location in ''[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_ZEXAL Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL]'' series. It is regarded as a parallel world without Chaos and the counterpart of the Barian World.

According to Astral, only individuals who have "Ranked Up" in a spiritual way can reach this world. Originally it strives to "Rank-Up" towards a higher plane of existence by destroying the Barian World, with which Astral was to achieve as its envoy. However, this has changed following the duel between its godhead, Eliphas, and Yuma Tsukumo.

Structure
The Astral World is a world made of various powerful energies and is colored light blue with shades of purple and dark blue.

Etymology
Astral means "of the stars" and is also used to described things relating to a nonphysical realm of existence. The Astral World is referred to as the "アストラル世界せかい" (Asutoraru Sekai).

History
When Kazuma Tsukumo fell from a cliff in a snowy mountain during one of his explorations with his wife, he landed in the Astral World, and obtained the Emperor's Key. It is unknown if that was just his spirit as his body was severely damaged when he woke up, though Astral has stated that only those with "ranked-up souls" may enter the Astral World, which may be obtained by an individual working towards their greatest dreams.

Five years before the WDC, Kazuma, Dr. Faker and Byron Arclight went on an exploration to find the door to parallel worlds. Dr. Faker betrayed his companions and used them as sacrifices to open the door. As a result, the two of them were sent to alternate dimensions: Kazuma ended up in the Astral World, while Byron ended up in the Barian World.

Dr. Faker later made a pact with a being from the Barian World that if he destroys the Astral World, he would obtain the power to conquer the Earth. Therefore, he used Hart Tenjo's powers to transport large amounts of trash through a small hole in space into the Astral World, where they would detonate. However, this is revealed to be fraudulent and Faker had really made the deal in order to cure Hart's illness and the destruction of the Astral World was the price the Barian demanded for his services.

Following these attacks, Astral was sent to Yuma Tsukumo's world with a certain mission. Astral conjectured this was Kazuma's plan to defeat Byron, now Vetrix, and Dr. Faker's machinations. However, Vetrix speculated that Kazuma had sent Astral as his own instrument of revenge against Faker. In truth, Astral was sent in order to retrieve the Numeron Code, an all-power card that can shape reality before the Barians are able to find it, with which he must use to annihilate the Barian World. and therefore allow the Astral World to "Rank-up" to a higher realm of existence.

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL
It is first seen when Astral obtains his third memory as as result of acquiring "Number 34: Terror-Byte". Astral had not previously remembered where he came from. Astral later recalls the Astral World under attack, being assaulted by numerous explosions as its unseen denizens scream.

The Astral World has a counterpart called the Barian World. Kite Tenjo correctly guessed that using a stone from that world found inside Orbital 7 would open the Emperor's Key, which comes from the Astral World, and he mentioned the world itself when Astral questioned him about why he hunts the "Numbers". Later during their Duel, Astral said a legendary power called ZEXALcan save his world.

The Astral World and another world sent a wave of energy that collided with the world where Yuma Tsukumo and Astral currently are, causing time to temporarily stop and a sun from each world to appear. Dr. Faker explained that it is because the worlds are getting closer. Dr. Faker also said that something bad will happen soon because of this.

When Vetrix began the ritual to steal Hart's powers, the former was able to briefly see the Astral World while taking more power from the latter.

The Vetrix Family as a whole seems to be familiar with the Astral World as well, as Trey recognized Astral as a being from that world when he briefly saw him.

After Number 96 mastered the power of Chaos, he opens a portal to this world and the Barian World, then he launches powerful attacks into both worlds and there were screams from the denizens of this world.

Mentioned by Eliphas, everything is capable of Shining Draw in this world and explained that it is the true dueling style of his world. He told Yuma that Astral's mission was to destroy Barian World, which Astral has not accomplished and instead he became attacked and possessed by the power of Chaos. Eliphas told Yuma that his partnership with Astral caused the problem.[21]  However, when Yuma was able to defeat Eliphas in a duel, he and the citizens of Astral World became convinced of a new possibility for the future and that abandoning Chaos was a mistake, thereby allowing Yuma and a newly-revived Astral to end the war with Barian World as they saw fit.

After defeating Don Thousand, Astral later used the Numeron Code to reunite the high-energy dimensions into a single parallel world. Eliphas mentioned this also allowed Chaos to return, causing upcoming challenges to take place.

Manga
In the manga, Dr. Faker and Mr. Heartland's goal is to destroy the Astral World, because they claim that it is evil, and that otherwise our planet will be destroyed. They also refer to Astral as the Astral World's messenger, who should be destroyed as well. According to Dr. Faker, Haruto Tenjo has a hidden power that allows him to communicate with the spirits of the Astral World. It seems that Haruto can also create powerful attacks, like a huge fireball, and send them directly to it through a portal.

When Astral absorbs "Number 22: Zombiestein", he recovers the memory of the Astral World being under attack.

Luna tells Shark that Dr. Faker must be stopped. Also, after absorbing three consecutive "Numbers", Astral explains he recovered some memories: his enemy is Dr. Faker, who plans on using the hidden powers of the "Numbers" to destroy the Astral World; However, it is linked to this world. So, if the Astral World is destroyed, this one will be destroyed as well. The Numbers Club then decide to save the world from Dr. Faker.

In a flashback, Kazuma Tsukumo is shown telling Akari Tsukumo that he discovered the Astral World. He explains that that's where Duel Monsters are from, and that supposedly, the souls of the people there exist in a higher plane than ours. Some time later, Kazuma and Mirai disappeared in the Astral World. Kazuma appears to Akari as a spirit revealing that he found a way in to the Astral World. He tells Akari that this world would soon suffer a great disaster and that Yuma would be the one to open a new path to save it, and gives Akari the Emperor's Key to give Yuma.

Citizens
Like Astral, the residents of Astral World, minus Kazuma Tsukumo and Mira Tsukumo, have varying shades of blue skin. They were injured by the attacks launched by Hart Tenjo and Number 96, causing them to suffer injuries such as cracking faces. Yuma was able to cure them with the power of Chaos.
 * Eliphas (Will of the Astral World)
 * Astral (Envoy)
 * Ena
 * Yuma Tsukumo (Half of Astral)
 * Former citizens of Astral World
 * Don Thousand
 * Number 96

Earth
Just like its counterpart, the Astral World and Earth are connected. When humans die, it is possible for them to be reincarnated in the Astral World if their hearts are noble and pure.

Barian World
Due to the Astral World desire to Rank-Up, any soul who posses the power of Chaos, was banished from this world and eventually lead to the creation of the Barian World. To further its desire to Rank-up, the Astral World sought to destroy Barian World through Astral, but through Kazuma and Yuma's efforts, the world began to consider abandoning the power of Chaos an error. This mistake is resolved once a changed Astral used the Numeron Code to fuse the two worlds back together, which brought up many new challenges for the world in the process.

Yuma Tsukumo
Unknowingly, through Astral bonding with his missing other half, Yuma managed to convinced Eliphas of their world's folly of banishing Chaos-wielding souls from Astral World and trying to destroy Barian World.