With the GX tournament officially underway, Duel Academy was plunged into a storm of battles.
Pros from the circuit, top talents invited by the Chancellor from around the world, even a little prince, plus the entire student bodies of the main and branch campuses.
The sharpest conflict now might be between the Academy students and the Society of Light.
The Society dispatched a large elite force. Their goal unknown, but they seemed intent on "converting" the Academy en masse via dueling—turning it white.
They arrived full of spirit, confident, sure of victory. They were the Light of the cosmos, favored by fate, bearing a mission to spread that Light to this filthy, dark Academy.
But when they stepped onto the Academy's grand stage, ready to shine…
…what awaited them was a darkness so deep even cosmic Light couldn't reach it.
Case in point: a certain member of the Society.
He was dumbfounded when he met his first Academy student—wondering if he'd found the wrong person.
The "student" was disheveled, hair wild, torso bare with beast-like muscles, wearing nothing but Hulk-style shorts…
Yet he kept claiming he was an Obelisk Blue student, leaving the Society member perplexed.
Are Academy students this feral now? Even mountain wildmen can enroll?
The "wildman" was Obelisk Blue's Damon, who had gone to the mountains to hone his "top-decking."
Since his loss to Kira, Damon had become more normal and returned to campus. But the mountain days left a mark.
Most notably: he'd developed the "must strip before dueling" condition.
He said clothes felt uncomfortable and interfered with his communion-with-heaven top-deck technique; he had to strip to perform at peak.
If not for the optics, he wouldn't even wear the shorts…
Damon: "After the King's guidance, I've shed my old self and ascended to a new realm!"
Society member: "Arrogant fool! Witness the vastness of cosmic Light!"
"Duel!" x2
"This is my newest, perfect deck crafted under the King's guidance! Behold!
My turn, draw!"
Damon declared.
"Activate Spell 'Card Destruction'—both players discard their entire hands and draw the same number!"
The Society member laughed: "Opening with a hand-fixer? Your 'perfect' deck bricks that hard?"
Damon: "Chain Quick-Play 'Quick Summon'—Normal Summon a monster from my hand. I Normal Summon 'Protector of the Sanctuary'!
While Protector of the Sanctuary is on the field, the opponent cannot draw from the Deck outside the Draw Phase!
So with Card Destruction, we both discard our entire hands; then I draw three cards and you draw none!"
The Society member's grin froze.
Nani!?
"…"
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
Yellow dorm student Yamamoto Yuuichi—now famed as "the first to thrash by the King after enrollment"—stepped up to another Society member.
"Normal Summon 'Submarineroid,' then activate Field Spell 'A Legendary Ocean,' giving WATER monsters +200 ATK!"
Yamamoto shouted.
"Submarineroid direct attack!"
The Society member ate the face hit, grunting.
"Only 1000 damage. This trash will be crushed on my next turn—"
"After attacking, Submarineroid switches to DEF," Yamamoto said. "Then I activate Continuous Trap 'Gravity Bind'! Level 4 or higher monsters cannot attack!"
"Nani?" The member flinched.
Level 4+ can't attack?
Submarineroid's DEF is 1800—hard to beat with Level 3 or lower.
"Damn… But then your Submarineroid can't attack either!"
"Heh, not necessarily."
Yamamoto sneered.
"Legendary Ocean's other effect reduces all WATER monsters' Level by 1. My Submarineroid is Level 3 now!"
"Nani!?" Now the member was sweating.
So only I can't attack?
He realized this thing not only gets a field boost but also dips a level to dodge Gravity Bind.
And the Submarineroid can direct attack anyway; walls are pointless. With Gravity Bind up, he'd need to summon a Level 3 or lower with 1800+ ATK to beat it…
What the hell do I do?
After getting his face ridden repeatedly, the Society member donned the pain mask: "Uwaaaa—"
"…"
Elsewhere again—
Chazz: "Activate trap 'Ojama Trio'—Special Summon three Ojama Tokens to your field!"
"Then activate Spell 'Ground Collapse'—seal two of your Monster Zones."
"All right, now you have no Monster Zones. Your turn."
Society member: "…"
"…"
Within just the first day, the Society of Light quickly realized things were not as simple as they'd thought.
This wasn't "Duel Academy."
It was not a greenhouse of fragile students shielded from the cruel world.
It was an isolated island—a steel cage.
Inside the cage were the most dark and vicious beasts in the world!
The cage wasn't protecting the students from society; it was protecting society from them.
They even shuddered to imagine: if this cage were ever opened, and its denizens swarmed out…
The pro scene would be overturned; the dueling world would change; a bloody storm would follow.
That night, after reviewing the day's battles and the Society's members left in tatters, the school nurse, Meanae, pondered for a long time before looking at Kira.
She hesitated, then finally spoke.
"When you first named that 'Underworld Project,' honestly, I thought the name was a bit much. Exaggerated."
"Now I realize, you were actually being conservative…"