After packing up, Hikaru returned to the station.
Both students and pro Duelists were abuzz, discussing the strange spectacle in the sky earlier. That blue fla was unlike anything they'd ever seen. Yet, since it hadn't posed any danger, everyone assud it was just so Spirit World "weather phenonon," chatting excitedly about it.
Hikaru glanced at Tierra, who had her hands behind her head, gazing at the sky, pretending not to notice.
To show off in front of her own creations, Tierra had gone all out.
To win, she'd pushed every bit of her "stats" to the limit.
Seeing Hikaru, both Bastion and Celina couldn't help but recall the scene earlier, marveling at how strange and amazing the Spirit World could be.
And to be fair—
The Spirit World probably did have weather phenona rare in the human world.
But it definitely wasn't "Infernal Sky."
Hikaru chatted with Bastion and Celina for a bit, telling them he was feeling better. The three resud their journey.
Their next destination was the Forest Station, followed by the Rainforest Zone.
This ti, no one stopped the students from moving between zones. Hikaru's group easily boarded a transport. Unlike before, this ti, Tierra, sitting next to Hikaru, had sohow produced a Deck of cards.
Every now and then, she asked Hikaru questions, leaving Bastion and Celina utterly stunned.
Normally, when Spirits dueled, their Decks were a manifestation of their power. If they beca physical cards, very few Spirits could supply a Duelist with an entire Deck at once. That's why, even with Spirit support, many students only had two or three signature Spirit cards in their Decks.
Otherwise, everyone would just switch to using Spirit Decks, no booster packs needed.
Yet Tierra could physically modify her Deck—that, for them, was a whole new discovery.
Luckily, neither of them asked her about it. Otherwise, Tierra would've smugly repeated one of Hikaru's lines, "Not a Spirit. A god!"
And then, the situation would've spiraled out of control.
Their next stop, the Rainforest Zone, was Star Level 4—a place Bastion had been eager to visit. Although the Star Level overlapped with one of Hikaru's already collected badge tiers, Hikaru didn't mind.
He already had five stamps. Over the next six months, he only needed three more stamps of different levels. Ti was on his side. Under these circumstances, traveling the Critical Nexus World with friends was far more fun.
With the train's rumble beneath them, the trio embarked on another leg of their journey.
At the Critical Nexus's starting point—
Sartorius sat in his chair, tapping the table with his fingers, frowning in deep thought.
His desk was a ss, with cards scattered everywhere.
Yet he didn't bother picking them up. Instead, he stared at the table.
Looking closely: all the cards lay face-down—except for one.
The 15th Major Arcana card…
The Devil.
'Devil?'
He checked it again and again.
Was he seeing this right?
'Why the Devil?'
He pondered.
Just monts ago, the entire dinsion had shifted, as if so ancient being had finally awakened and released its power.
At that mont, Sartorius had been affected, causing his cards to scatter.
But that wasn't the real issue.
For Divination, such sudden, inspiration-triggered accidents often carried the weight of "destiny."
The problem was—his target for the reading had been none other than Amaki Hikaru—the "new Death" who had just defeated him.
The Light Force-imbued card hadn't affected Hikaru at all.
And now, amidst this accident, Sartorius had drawn "The Devil."
A reversed Devil.
What did it an?
Even with his skill in Divination, even with his ability to control fate and glimpse the future, Sartorius was montarily lost.
Devil and Hikaru?
What link did those two share?
The Sun, the Devil—truly an unreadable man, Amaki Hikaru.
However—
If "The Devil" appeared, that only reinforced Sartorius's plan! After all, a reversed "Devil" predicted sothing good was about to happen, aligning perfectly with his original belief. Yes, Hikaru—this man of Sun and Devil—would help him achieve his goal: destroying the dinsion!
Slowly, Sartorius shuffled his cards together.
As he pondered "The Devil"—
Elsewhere in the Critical Nexus—
"Goodbye, everyone!!"
"See you soon~~~"
Jaden waved, bidding farewell to the Spirits.
After several days helping them rebuild their ho, he and his two partners felt an odd sense of accomplishnt and satisfaction. Now, it was ti to chase their next badge, so they said their goodbyes.
The Spirits saw them off with the highest honors, watching them leave the newly rebuilt village. So Spirits even suggested making statues of the three, and many others agreed.
About three to four hours later…
On the mountain opposite the village—
At the summit, a dark cloud tinged with purple lightning suddenly ford. From it, grotesque demons, dripping with sli, burst forth.
"Ah, Critical Nexus air. Long ti no sll it. Refreshing!" A silver-white demon cracked its neck, laughing heartily.
General Sillva of the Dark World army!
Beside him, a similarly sized demon closed its eyes, savoring the air, then opened them with a sinister grin, "No mistake! This is the place!"
Latinum, Exarch of Dark World!
Between them, another demon unfurled a portrait in its hands, sniffing the air, "The power Lord Goldd desires definitely appeared here!"
Latinum, Exarch of Dark World!
Sensing the atmosphere, it grew serious, "There's also another powerful demonic presence lingering... Seems we're not the only ones eyeing this dinsion."
"But warriors! We are Dark World!!"
One by one, more demons flew from the clouds, forming a massive demon army. They stood at attention, saluting in unison: "We are Dark World!"
"Move out, warriors!"
"For Lord Goldd!"
Raising a hand high, the commander led the chant:
"For Lord Goldd!"
"For Lord Goldd!"
"For Lord Goldd!"
Demons burst from the mountaintop's black mist, their war cries shaking the skies, turning the heavens pitch black.
A cloud.
A demonic cloud.
This Dark World invasion appeared abruptly in the early stages of the GX tournant!
So might notice the demons' interference. So might luck out and never encounter them until after the tournant.
But sowhere, soone had already taken a deep breath—ready to confront "the demons."
In a hot spring—
Chazz inhaled deeply, stepping forward.
Originally, he had planned to go straight to KaibaCorp headquarters. Yet after collecting three badges over the past several days, he'd still hesitated to enter.
Just monts ago, hearing about a nearby hot spring, he decided to relieve so stress first, then head to HQ... maybe.
Suddenly—footsteps.
Startled, he turned, spotting a tall, broad-shouldered masked figure with a card hanging from their chest.
"Who's there?!" he shouted instinctively.
"Hmph—" The masked man snorted coldly. "Pathetic fool."
Raising his left hand, the figure revealed a Duel Disk and held up a GX badge.
Star Level—
Twelve Stars!'
'Twelve Stars??!'
Chazz's eyes went wide.
This was a special Duelist's domain!?
'Damn it, no one ntioned this!'
Evidently, they'd all gotten beaten and wanted others dragged into the sa fate!
Regardless—since the opponent threw the first challenge, he couldn't back down!
"Hmph! Masked coward!" Chazz snapped, pulling out his Duel Disk at lightning speed and strapping it on. "The man before you is Duel Academy Main Campus Fusion Departnt's top Duelist—Chazz Lightning!
Rember—that's the na of the man who'll defeat you—"
"Oh-hoh—Then I'm the righteous hero... Kaibaman!"
'Kaibaman?'
Chazz froze for a second.
And just like that—the Duel began!!
[Chazz, LP: 4000]
[Kaibaman, LP: 4000]
User Comments
0 comments from readers