"Jaden!"
Inside the dormitory.
Hearing Yubel's voice, Jaden Yuki looked up from assembling his deck and glanced out the window at the flashing lightning and rolling thunder.
"Looks like the Sacred Beasts have begun to awaken."
Jaden slid his deck into his deck box and strapped his Duel Disk securely onto his arm.
"Eeeek! Have they appeared already?! The Sacred Beasts!" Ash Blossom popped out beside him in sheer fright. "Uwaaah, this chilling pressure! It's so scary..."
Watching Ash Blossom shudder from head to toe, Jaden said nothing. He slipped into his shoes and strode quickly out the door.
"Hey! Supreme King, maybe we really shouldn't go. This feeling..."
Ash Blossom tried to talk him out of it, but seeing his brisk, unwavering pace, she could only bury her face in her hands in resignation.
She knew all too well that the Supreme King never listened to advice.
Still, the dread hanging in the air was several times more terrifying than she had imagined.
She turned her head to look out the window.
The sky outside was pitch-black, offering no hint that it was actually the middle of the day.
An ominous pillar of light shot straight up into the darkness.
Black storm clouds surged like a roiling sea, and the rumbling thunder sounded like the dying groans of an apocalyptic world...
Rumble!
A blinding crash of lightning illuminated half the heavens.
"Eeeek!"
Ash Blossom clutched her head in panic and bolted after Jaden.
"Why are you following me? If you don't want to go, you can just stay in the dorm," Jaden remarked, glancing sideways at the trembling spirit cowering under his arm.
"N-No, it's fine! I believe in you, Lord Supreme King!" Ash Blossom stammered, though her pale face made it obvious how desperately she was forcing down her fear.
"Then let me say this up front."
Jaden came to a stop.
Behind him, the spirits accompanying him showed themselves one after another.
Dragonmaids, the Hand Trap Sisters, Traptrix, and all manner of diverse spirits held their breath in collective focus.
"This duel is completely different from any fight we've faced before."
"If we lose, not only will I vanish, but every single one of you will disappear from this world as well."
"I can't guarantee a hundred percent victory. Even knowing that, are you still willing to fight by my side? Will you stand with me to defeat the Sacred Beasts?"
Jaden's serious voice made the assembled spirits exchange glances.
Yubel's gaze deepened as well.
She could feel that Jaden's dedication to this upcoming battle far surpassed any duel he had fought in the past.
Over the last few days, he had locked himself in his room, pondering every possible strategy to crack the Sacred Beasts. He had tested almost every deck composition imaginable.
Yet even so, Jaden could not claim his strategy was completely foolproof.
Perhaps he possessed enough resilience to endure the residual fallout of the Sacred Beasts.
However, the spirits around him were not the Supreme King.
They could not withstand the crushing pressure radiating from those fiendish gods.
"It has already come to this, Jaden... Could it be that you still don't trust your spirits completely?"
A faint smile touched the corner of Yubel's lips.
She crossed her arms and looked at Jaden's back as she spoke.
"Yubel..." Jaden blinked, turning his head toward her.
"They say the Supreme King of old was a despot who relied on nobody but himself. But I believe that tyrant belongs to forgotten legends," Dragonmaid Ernus said, standing gently beside Jaden with a soft smile. "The King standing before us today is nothing like that."
"Yeah, that's right! I might be terrified of the Sacred Beasts, but I know the Supreme King won't lose to mere monsters like them!" Ash Blossom swallowed hard and gazed earnestly up at Jaden. "So, King, we will always stand behind you. We will always support you!"
"Kuri-kuri!"
Winged Kuriboh nodded with a cheerful, squinting grin.
"Everyone..."
Looking at the crowd of spirits cheering him on, and taking in each familiar, endearing face, a warm surge welled up in Jaden's chest.
That final sliver of unease and hesitation melted away in an instant.
Indeed.
As his bond with his spirits grew deeper, his hunger for victory burned even hotter.
He could not lose, and he refused to lose.
He had to fight for the spirits standing behind him.
Now, he truly understood. He was not fighting alone.
Marching forward alongside him were his partners, his HERO monsters, and all these precious spirits!
"Thank you, everyone..."
"Let's show the Sacred Beasts the true power of our bond!"
Jaden smiled with absolute confidence once more.
The flame of dueling in his heart blazed with newfound fury.
"Yeah!" the spirits cheered in resounding unison.
"Let's go, everyone."
Jaden snapped his Duel Disk open, a golden gleam flashing deep within his eyes.
...
By the time Chazz and the others rushed to the Gate of Phantasms, the mechanism sealing the Sacred Beasts had already been completely unmade.
A stone pillar had risen from the depths of the earth.
Three cards shrouded in dense darkness hovered suspended above the pillar.
The sinister, oppressive aura that had thrown the entire academy into chaos emanated directly from those three cards!
"Th-Those are the cards of the Sacred Beasts?"
Staring at the floating cards, cold sweat beaded on everyone's brows.
Even from a distance, a deep, primal terror clawed at their hearts.
Clearly... they were just cards from Duel Monsters.
Why did they possess such an overwhelming, suffocating presence?
"Be careful, everyone! Stay back!"
Just as the group braced themselves to step closer, Chancellor Sheppard and Professor Crowler came hurrying over from the distance.
Reaching the others and seeing the unsealed mechanism, sheer terror flared in Sheppard's eyes.
"The... the cards of the Sacred Beasts have finally been released..."
"Hey, Chancellor Sheppard! What on earth is going on here?!" Chazz demanded, unable to contain his frustration. "We already defeated all the Shadow Riders, and the keys to the Gate of the Seven Stars were handed right back to you!"
"Well... I... I..." Sheppard frantically mopped the cold sweat from his forehead. He had no idea whether he should reveal the truth about Chairman Kagemaru.
He knew that if the Gate of the Seven Stars was wide open, then Chairman Kagemaru must have already...
Thrum-thrum-thrum...
While Sheppard stammered in distress, the rhythmic roar of helicopter blades broke through the storm.
Everyone's attention was immediately drawn toward the sky.
A helicopter banked across the overcast gloom.
Suddenly, a dark silhouette plummeted from the aircraft, crashing heavily into the ground right in front of the stone pillar housing the Sacred Beasts.
"Who goes there?!" Chancellor Sheppard gasped, his face draining of color.
"Heheheh... It's only been a few years, Sheppard... Have you already forgotten who I am?"
An ancient, raspy voice echoed through the rising dust.
With the pneumatic hiss of a mechanical hatch opening, a dark figure stepped forward before the cards of the Sacred Beasts. A withered, skeletal hand reached out from the gloom and seized all three cards.
"Y-You are..."
Beads of cold sweat rolled down Sheppard's forehead.
"Chairman... Kagemaru?!"
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