Over the past few days, most of the students within the Critical Nexus Dinsion had successfully received the protection they needed.
It wasn't that they had suddenly beco strong enough to fight back against the invaders. On the whole, whether alone or in squads, students still stood no chance when facing demons.
That said, thanks to the coordination of KaibaCorp and various factions, it was relatively easy to gather and shelter everyone at designated checkpoints.
And contrary to Hikaru's expectations, aside from the large-scale invasion by the Dark World on the first day, their forces seed to encounter internal discord. For a ti, they stopped attacking strongholds with concentrated force.
This gave KaibaCorp the opportunity to consolidate and move more students to safer locations.
Of course, there was another concern on Hikaru's mind: the Society of Light.
Under the influence of the "Light of Destruction," many students were protected and subsequently chose to join the Society.
To be honest, if it were just gratitude leading them to join, Hikaru wouldn't have thought much of it. Though when he learned that an entire station of students had all joined the Society, he knew sothing was off.
Those students, grateful for the protection and letting their guard down, were likely much easier to brainwash.
Still, Hikaru wasn't overly concerned by that.
What actually irritated him were the students who, despite everything, kept sneaking out of security zones to explore on their own.
There was no way he could keep rescuing these types. Over the past few days, he'd already escorted many stranded students along major routes to safety and earned plenty of cheers and praise. Yet, those who stubbornly ignored KaibaCorp and the Academy's warnings… he simply couldn't help them all.
So of them were genuinely skilled, sure. But others, despite having no strength whatsoever, just insisted KaibaCorp was lying and that there was no danger outside, those were the ones who really got on Hikaru's nerves.
Fortunately, when Hikaru returned to the Starting Point with so ti to rest, he found that Celina was doing quite well.
He had dashed off suddenly, only managing to leave the site in the hands of the Fla Swordsrealm trio.
Thankfully, Leo Akaba truly had entrusted Celina to the Fusion Club and didn't try to forcibly retrieve and imprison her again. Otherwise, Hikaru wouldn't have been able to guarantee her safety during the chaos.
As for Celina, she hadn't just sat idly waiting. She'd gathered her courage and used her status to rally other students to guard the site. During this ti, she even dueled and defeated a Dark World warrior.
Celina was never one to sit still or rely on others for protection. Faced with danger, she would always take part.
So be it, then.
Hikaru spent a day resting at the station and took the ti to contact KaibaCorp.
Even though things seed to have cald down, KaibaCorp had no intention of restarting the GX Tournant until they were certain the threat was over.
Sothing similar happened in the original series. During the GX Tournant, when a replica of "The Winged Dragon of Ra" was stolen, the school halted the tournant until the God Card was recovered.
This world's GX Tournant was on an even larger scale and better prepared, after all, this world had faced nurous interdinsional threats before. They always had contingencies in place.
Right now, things looked far better than Hikaru initially imagined.
No strongholds had been overtaken. No mass abductions of students as sacrifices.
Those few who had ventured off alone and were trapped in corners of the dinsion, Hikaru could only search for them gradually.
As he was thinking this, he noticed sothing: his surroundings suddenly grew much brighter.
Blinking, Hikaru looked up from his phone.
A large crowd of students in white uniforms had surrounded him.
He frowned.
Before he could speak, so students mustered their courage and shouted, "Hey! What do you think you're doing? Trying to ss with Amaki?!"
Everyone had seen Hikaru's efforts. The doubts and suspicions others once had long since disappeared. As the top student of the Academy who had saved hundreds of classmates, he no longer needed to speak for others to rally behind him. Even when outnumbered, even when no one knew who was right or wrong, they would stand with him on instinct.
Celina looked on, her eyes twinkling.
She, too, wished to earn that kind of respect from others.
Her reputation had recovered sowhat over the past few days, but she was still far from where Hikaru stood.
The Society of Light mbers ignored the surrounding students' protests. But as more people gathered, drawn by the commotion, they too started paying attention.
So wanted to support Hikaru.
Others… were simply bored from being stuck in the sa station for nearly a week.
"What do you want?" Hikaru asked curiously.
"A Duel," said the leader, Silver teor.
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
'Now?'
'Silver teor, huh? Not a bad opponent.'
What was Sartorius planning this ti? Trying to tempt him into joining their group with so new dinsional secrets?
Persistent, aren't they?
He hadn't earned any Duel Energy in days. Maybe a tough opponent was just what he needed.
Despite that, what surprised Hikaru was what happened next. After Silver teor spoke, the Society of Light mbers split into two lines, parting like the sea.
And there, at the back of their formation, stood a man in a silver suit, silently facing Hikaru.
Aster?
Why?
This didn't make sense.
Why challenge him instead of going after Jaden?
Besides…
The Society of Light shouldn't be able to command Aster Phoenix.
Then, just as he thought that, Tierra nudged him with an elbow. Hikaru looked again and saw sothing unbelievable:
A strange ripple of Light Force was shimring around Aster Phoenix.
Hikaru's eyes widened in shock.
'No way!'
In canon, the Light of Destruction would never have taken over Aster Phoenix!
He was the light's good side! The very hope Sartorius once clung to!
"Sartorius-sama has already gained the support of one-third of the students in this dinsion," Silver teor suddenly said. "If he wanted to, he could have them open dinsional gates and align with the demons."
Hikaru shot him a glare but turned back to Aster.
Aster was staring at his own right hand. Even if he couldn't see the taphysical "Lock" on himself, he clearly knew how bad his state was.
And maybe because of that, he seed oddly calm.
"Director Amaki," he said, "Sartorius wants to duel you."
"He says only by dueling you can I find the answer."
He didn't seem to expect salvation, just soone following the path fate dictated.
"If you accept, then after the duel."
He still had reason.
Hikaru could tell right away.
Unlike most who succumbed to the Light Force, Aster wasn't fully consud.
"No need to say more," Hikaru interrupted. "Helping my clubmates and juniors find clarity is what a leader should do. Co at !"
He raised his left hand. His Duel Disk opened and began shuffling.
Aster drew his deck, inserted it into his Duel Disk.
At the sa ti,
"As always," Silver teor said, "if you lose, you join the Society of Light and beco our vice president."
Princess Rose added, "And if you win, we'll help you rescue ordinary students, no strings attached. Plus, we'll even."
"Let's save that for after!" Hikaru shouted. "Duel!"
[Hikaru, LP: 4000]
[Aster, LP: 4000]
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