The next day.
Professor Crowler addressed the entire school about the incident.
The school had temporarily lost contact with the outside world. The administration was working to re-establish communication. Until then, students were urged to minimize wandering. Ideally, they should stay in the school building during the day and in their dormitories at night to reduce the risk of encountering danger.
Additionally, they should watch out for classmates who approached them for no apparent reason.
The school was working to develop and distribute protective equipment. Until students received new gear, they should maintain vigilance at all times.
It had to be said, with professors from Duel Academies worldwide present, the school's research capabilities were considerable.
In just one night, a professor specializing in "virtual imaging" technology had identified the basic logic behind the spirits' attacks on humans, then prepared a design plan: a single-lens transparent monocle modeled after the Xyz Dimension's duel visor, capable of effectively distinguishing whether a person was a spirit, minimizing students' identification difficulties.
Hikaru had tested it. The underlying logic differed from his "Psychological Observation Mirror." This one detected spirit energy rather than psychology, so it might be less precise, but its advantage lay in having the school's resources behind it, enabling rapid mass production.
Beyond observation tools, the school also distributed protective devices to all students. These were anti-spirit-power defense units that KaibaCorp had mass-produced after students encountered Dark World spirit attacks during the Nexus incident.
They could be installed directly into Duel Disks to resist sudden spirit assaults.
Although they required seven to ten days to recharge and only worked once per use, having even one layer of protection meant one more safeguard for the students' lives.
With Crowler's arrangements, students gradually shifted from their initial panic to relative ease. Some carefree individuals even started chatting and laughing.
The academy was an isolated island to begin with. Many students had enrolled specifically to escape their families' nagging. Being completely "cut off from the outside" actually seemed kind of fun.
But some remained worried.
If Duel Academy had lost contact with the outside, would food supplies become a problem?
After all, with over a thousand people on the island, if food ran short, they wouldn't need spirit attacks. They'd starve on their own.
"Heh heh heh, you can rest easy about that." Vice-Chancellor Bonaparte answered the student's question directly. "There will absolutely be no shortage!"
No shortage?
Duel Academy's supplies were generally provided by KaibaCorp, usually shipped by air or sea alongside new card shipments to the academy's "shop," which was effectively the school's resource department.
Under normal circumstances, the academy's food could sustain students for about a month. But with this lockdown showing no end in sight, would it really be enough?
"Ho ho ho, student, you worry too much about these things!" Bonaparte laughed heartily, pulling over a kind-faced, low-profile teacher.
Many students barely recognized him.
But Hikaru knew this teacher well. He was his dorm head, Professor Sartyr.
Although Hikaru had been promoted to the Blue dorm, he still lived in the Yellow dorm. Not out of sentimentality, but because Professor Sartyr had provided him so much help that Hikaru couldn't just up and leave.
Including last night, Hikaru had accompanied Sartyr to search for Yellow dorm students, leaving the Blue dorm entirely to the newly arrived Aster, who was happy to help. He might say he didn't mind, but he genuinely enjoyed helping others.
Professor Sartyr was the Yellow dorm head and Duel Academy's home economics teacher, normally teaching students cooking skills. He was the type of teacher with minimal presence at a school that specialized in dueling.
But as a teacher, he had his own "talent."
Indeed, he was a super curry fanatic known as the "Curry Fiend."
Just as Professor Banner had used an alchemy Deck in the original story, Professor Sartyr specialized in a "Curry Deck" that had once left Hassleberry drenched in sweat.
And in this dimension, Professor Sartyr had gone even further, receiving the blessing of the "Curry Fiend" and possessing the terrifying ability to connect to the Curry Dimension through his cards!
So as long as he was around, "food shortage" was essentially impossible.
Even if every scrap of food at Duel Academy ran out, everyone could still power through on curry. As much as they wanted, for as long as they wanted.
Although Hikaru wasn't particularly fond of curry, he had eaten at the Yellow dorm regularly for a stretch and didn't dislike it. Besides, for Hikaru, as long as he was full, that was enough.
More than food, most students were concerned about something else: since communication with the outside was cut, new cards couldn't be delivered to Duel Academy as usual.
After roughly confirming these matters, the teachers were divided into two groups under Crowler's direction. One group continued providing normal services and classes as internal affairs teachers.
The other, led by Crowler, was responsible for exploring the academy's current situation, investigating the cause, breaking the lockdown, and establishing contact with the outside world.
The two groups weren't fixed but rotated.
Students didn't need to worry about the school's situation. They just needed to focus on studying.
However, at Hikaru's insistent request, he was granted the freedom to explore the academy afterward.
Of course, even without permission, Hikaru wouldn't have listened to the professors. He would have investigated the surroundings thoroughly regardless.
This was only natural. Not just Hikaru, but students like Jaden, Chazz, Jesse, Jim, all of them either too bold or too driven to simply sit and wait.
Aster, on the other hand, diligently attended a full day of classes. After listening to the morning professors, he deeply appreciated their diverse talents.
After reading Hikaru's notes, his interest in the professors' course content grew even stronger.
Spirit Power Studies, roleplay dueling, demon ritual summoning, plus replication-based, calculation-based, and science-based courses. Nearly every professor had something unique to offer.
Professor Paladin's chivalric dueling was the course that inspired him most.
He had lost his father young, left with only the Destiny Heroes as his father's legacy. He had spent years searching for his father's killer, disguising himself as "Phoenix Guy" across the world, apprehending card thieves and robbers.
He could clearly feel that as he worked harder, his resonance with the Destiny Heroes grew stronger.
But truthfully, half a year ago, Aster had sensed a "ceiling" in himself.
According to this professor's curriculum, he was the type who "performs the role very authentically but actually resists it quite strongly."
Indeed, as a Hero Deck user who voluntarily strove to become a hero to catch his father's killer, he was driven by "hatred" and "anger," pushing the Destiny Heroes forward.
But he understood himself.
The reason he had chosen a Hero Deck wasn't anger or hatred. It was because he loved heroes.
That was precisely why, upon discovering his father's killer was his own adoptive father, his worldview had briefly shattered, leaving an opening for the Light of Destruction.
Back then, he had doubted everything, no longer seeing himself as a hero but as a puppet of fate.
Only after dueling Hikaru did he realize it wasn't fate's cruelty but "destiny's awakening."
To decide to become a hero through his own will, his own destiny, his own conviction, rather than being forced into heroism by fate.
From this perspective, he seemed to have already reached the "second stage" of chivalric dueling?
Aster flipped through Hikaru's notes, nodding continuously.
If that was the case, he now knew what he needed to do going forward.
No longer "playing the role" but truly "becoming."
The Duel Academy professors truly had their own remarkable strengths.
As he turned the pages, his hand suddenly froze. Staring at the notes, he went rigid in his seat, eyes wide.
"Could it be..."
As if something had clicked, he quickly gathered Hikaru's notes and bolted from his seat like the wind, not even planning to attend the next class.
In the second-year classroom, Chazz noticed Aster flash past and frowned slightly.
Aster?
Wasn't he supposed to be reading Hikaru's notes to catch up on the professors' courses?
Those classes should be extremely valuable even for a professional duelist. Why would he suddenly leave?
Wait...
Hikaru hadn't shown up in a while either?
Had Hikaru asked Aster to do something?
The thought hit him and he instantly tossed everything on his desk, grabbed his Duel Disk, and bolted.
"Thunder, next class is about to start!" Several of his Blue dorm acquaintances called after him.
"Cover for me!" Chazz shouted back without stopping.
Aster raced to the faculty floor of Duel Academy, threw open the staff office door, and scanned the room.
Not here.
The teacher on duty was about to greet the famous pro duelist when Aster slammed the door shut and sprinted like a madman toward the other side of the building.
Halfway there, as if realizing something, he shouted, "Destiny HERO - Dreadmaster!"
Dreadmaster's figure materialized beside him. Then Aster flung open a nearby window and leapt out.
Chazz arrived a step behind, caught sight of Aster jumping from the window, and rushed over to see which direction he was flying.
That direction was...
The cafeteria?
Aster landed at the school cafeteria, threw open the door, and frantically looked left and right.
Not here!
"Who are you looking for?!" Chazz called out, having already flown over on Armed Dragon LV5.
"The teacher in charge of logistics and food. Where else could he be?"
He asked urgently.
Hearing this, Chazz's body jolted. Something flashed like gold in his mind.
Of course!
He shook his head, reached out to grab Aster, and Aster leapt onto Armed Dragon's back.
"There's one more place. The cold storage. You wouldn't know since it's your first time here."
Chazz spoke rapidly, then urged Armed Dragon to fly faster.
The cold storage wasn't in the school building but near a warehouse close to the campus shop. When the two arrived, a professor was already there.
"Professor Seraph?" Chazz and Aster landed and called out.
The instructor of "Demon Ritual Summoning," Seraph.
"Professor, what are you doing here?!" Aster demanded directly.
"Heh heh heh, Aster, I was just a bit worried..."
"Professor, you just finished your morning class. Even after eating, you shouldn't be here." Chazz also realized something was wrong. His expression turned grave.
"Demon ritual summoning... a ritual to summon spirits or demons or whatever else into this world... How did I not think of it before?" Chazz spoke slowly. "Damn it, Professor, don't tell me those things surrounding the island..."
"100 points!" Seraph couldn't help applauding. "As expected of a top student, Chazz. You guessed correctly!
The walls enclosing Duel Academy island were brought down under my guidance!"
So it really was him!
Chazz's face darkened.
Professor Seraph's courses had been fascinating. He had even offered Chazz the possibility of experimentally summoning the Dragon Rulers, so Chazz had spoken with him many times.
"Why, Professor?!" Chazz demanded. "Have you been possessed by a spirit?"
"Don't you think humanity is too ugly?" Seraph suddenly spoke.
?
Both froze.
Seraph gently rubbed his eyes with one hand and spoke slowly. "God created humanity and gave them land to grow upon. Yet humans destroy nature, wage wars, slaughter other life, and don't even spare their own kind.
The world is full of people who duel for profit, who instigate duels for gain, who call themselves duelists over scraps of money...
Fighting over powerful cards, even resorting to assassination, robbery, and theft. Filthy and disgusting.
Compared to spirits, beings born purely for dueling, humanity is simply too vile."
"So you're... an anti-humanist?" Although Aster empathized with some of Seraph's points, he only held individuals and criminals accountable, never condemning all of humanity. "It seems scholarship doesn't guarantee character."
Chazz's expression was grim. He never would have imagined that among all the professors, the one he had gotten along with best was this kind of person: a genuine misanthropist!
"Right now, I stand before the cold storage. Sartyr isn't at the academy, the cafeteria, or the Yellow dorm, which means he can only be here.
In that case, even better. I'll take care of both the food supply and Sartyr in one sweep.
And you humans can perish in the darkness."
"Armed Dragon!" Chazz commanded his dragon to attack.
At the very least, he had to force him into a duel!
"Heh... As expected, humans only know how to fight. In that case..."
A cold smile spread across Seraph's face.
As a European, he was blond-haired and blue-eyed with a sturdy build. But as his smile widened, his golden short hair gradually turned ashen white. Simultaneously, a bizarre serpentine rune appeared at the corner of his eye, and a red halo slowly materialized above his head.
"Lucifer!"
BOOM.
Black wings unfurled beside him, as if an impossibly powerful guardian angel had spread its wings, sealing off everything.
Lucifer!?
Aster and Chazz were simultaneously alarmed.
Wasn't that supposed to be the supreme Darklord?
"You... you're an Apostle?!" Chazz exclaimed in shock.
He remembered that Crowler had once been attacked by a Darklord "Apostle"!
Was there another Apostle among the professors?!
How had they never noticed?
Regardless, they could no longer stop Professor Seraph.
Seraph sneered briefly, then spun around and shoved open the cold storage doors.
As the massive doors swung open, sunlight slowly filtered into the freezer. Countless wisps of cold air billowed out, turning to white mist that shrouded the surroundings. The angel wings behind Seraph fanned gently.
As long as he eliminated the food supply and Sartyr, the humans here would be finished.
That was what he believed.
However, as the cold air and sunlight mingled, the smile on his face gradually froze.
"Huh?" "What?!"
Both young men exclaimed in surprise.
The cold storage slowly opened to reveal a figure sitting calmly on a wooden scaffold inside.
He wore the oversized Blue dorm uniform reserved only for the academy's top-ranked student. On his left arm was the latest KaibaCorp Duel Disk. Beside him, a bored green-haired spirit had her hands clasped behind her head, gazing out the door.
"Hikaru?"
"Chief!" "Hikaru!"
The professor's smile gradually cooled, while the two students couldn't help cheering.
It seemed someone had thought further ahead, and faster, than any of them!
"Professor Seraph? It was you..." Hikaru was genuinely surprised.
He had expected to see Professor Viper showing up with Yubel to kick the door in.
Seraph pinched the bridge of his nose. "Where's Sartyr?"
"As if I'd tell you."
"Fair enough..." Seraph nodded lightly.
Then he slowly raised his left hand. His Duel Disk opened. "In that case, allow me to teach you one final lesson as a professor...
Without sufficient strength, recklessly facing and summoning powerful spirits will only bring suffering."
The halo above his forehead spun faster. Then, as if holy light descended from the heavens, radiance poured in every direction, like sacred hymns and sacraments.
Hikaru calmly raised his left hand. "Then I'll sit in on this last class of yours."
"Ha, quite the bold claim..." Professor Seraph laughed in fury.
"Duel!" x2.
Duel Academy. Human. Hikaru. LP: 4000.
The Blessed One. The Fallen. Seraph. LP: 4000.