As Headmaster Crowley's words fell, terrifying magical power burst forth from his body. Four enormous blue magic arrays appeared around him, each spanning a hundred meters. From within them, four distinct Invoked Monsters emerged.
The first to appear was a massive molten hand, twenty meters wide, wearing a black-iron ring on its thumb. On the back of its hand was an illusory staff identical to the one held by the Headmaster himself.
The moment it appeared, the giant hand opened and caught the combined attack of the Three Sacred Beasts—but only barely.
That was fine, though, for the second Invoked Monster emerged next.
This one was a dragon seemingly made of mercury, its whole body rippling with silvery fluid etched with fuzzy blue cracks.
ROAR!!
The mercury dragon opened its jaws and released a pale-blue breath toward the attack caught in the molten hand's grasp, slowly eroding the energy within the Three Sacred Beasts' combined strike.
Even so, the attack was too strong to stop completely—so the third Invoked Monster appeared.
Golden lightning crashed from the heavens, revealing a knight clad in silver-green armor, wielding a longsword wreathed in thunder. With a mighty swing, the knight cleaved down upon the attack caught by the molten hand.
Working together, the three Invoked Monsters finally neutralized the joint strike of the Three Sacred Beasts.
Albeit merely blocking the attack did not satisfy Headmaster Crowley. Thus, a fourth Invoked Monster—or rather, three at once—burst forth from the magic array, wreathed in soul-burning hellfire.
They were three demons: a short, fat one with a grotesque grin, a tall, eyeless strangler demon, and a hulking, one-eyed brute.
The three hellfire demons charged forth from the array toward the weakened Sacred Beasts.
Having just unleashed two of their ultimate attacks and still recovering from their unsealing, the Three Sacred Beasts were already spent. The demons' sudden assault enraged and alarmed them alike.
Regardless, they had no choice. If they couldn't fend off these demons… defeat and another thousand years of sealing awaited.
Thus, the three Sacred Beasts drew upon the last remnants of their energy, unleashing their attacks once more to drive the demons back.
BOOM!!
The four powers clashed in midair, sending shockwaves that tore up the ground. Even the barrier protecting the classroom building trembled.
When the dust cleared, the three demons had retreated to Crowley's side, joining the other three Invoked Monsters in guarding their master.
[Invoked Magellanica]
[Invoked Cocytus]
[Invoked Raidjin]
[Invoked Purgatrio]
The four elemental Invoked Monsters assembled, standing guard before their master—one of the former Three Sages, Alester!
The Three Sacred Beasts, meanwhile, knelt or collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, their energy nearly depleted.
Seeing them in such a state, Headmaster Crowley snorted coldly. "Hmph. So these are the so-called 'Three Sacred Beasts'? Pathetic."
At that, Yuui glanced at the Headmaster, thinking bitterly, "You've got the home-field advantage, full strength, and the element of surprise… and you still say that? How shameless can you get!"
The Three Sacred Beasts heard it too, and fury welled up within them.
Of course, they were weak… they'd just been unsealed! Their power barely restored, their forms hollow, and yet this old man dared to boast just because his four basic elemental Invoked Monsters had managed to block their attack?
If he summoned the true peak of his Invoked series—Invoked Mechaba and Invoked Caliga—that would at least be something!
Fuming, Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, bellowed, "Alester! If you've got any guts, wait until we've recovered our full power! Then we'll show you—we'll reduce your damned Saint Fusion Academy to ashes!!"
"Wait until you recover? Heh." Crowley narrowed his eyes, killing intent flashing within them. "You three need human and spirit souls to regain strength. If I let you recover, wouldn't that mean unleashing you upon the world again?
"Stop dreaming. Today, I'll seal you away once more—and this time, you'll sleep in darkness forever!!"
Raising his staff, Crowley was about to order his four Invoked Monsters to strike again.
Abruptly, before he could, Raviel, Lord of Phantasms—the eldest of the three—raised his right hand and growled coldly, "Alester, would you truly dare to destroy us? Need I remind you that we currently hold the souls of over twenty of your academy's finest instructors?"
"What!?" Crowley's brows furrowed. "You mean the humans whose souls you devoured… they can still be saved!?"
"Hmph, of course they can. Behold!"
Raviel opened his right palm. Within it floated a pale-blue orb of light. Inside, several souls Crowley recognized—researchers and their Duel Spirits—were trapped within, including the soul of Instructor Claire herself and her spirit, Bacha the Melodious Maestra.
The souls within the orb, both Duelists and their spirits, were dim and weakened, yet still alive.
"Instructor Claire!!"
"Technician Shell!"
"Damn it! Let my friends go!!"
"Professor Zaal... for crying out loud! Even you've fallen victim to these fiends!"
Watching the souls of the captured researchers in Raviel's hand, and in those summoned by Uria and Hamon, the teachers and students inside the classroom building burned with righteous anger. None of them had expected that the Three Sacred Beasts had seized the instructors' souls!
Seeing this, Alester's eyes blazed with dark fury. Staring at Raviel, he said coldly, "You dare use my students as energy sources? You have... some nerve!"
As Alester's rage erupted, the four elements around him surged violently. The ground quaked, lightning flashed, flames roared, and water burst forth; the aura around his four elemental Invoked Monsters grew increasingly terrifying.
It was clear… if the two sides couldn't come to terms, the next battle would shake the entire continent.
Despite everything, oddly enough, seeing Alester so enraged only made Raviel calmer.
"There's no need for such anger, Alester. After all, your students aren't dead, are they? Let's make a deal—you let us go, and we'll return your students and their spirits to you. How about it?"
"Let you go? You're dreaming!" Alester pointed his staff at the Three Sacred Beasts. "I've said it already—you three are evil spirits that must devour the souls of humans and spirits alike to regain power. If I set you free, I'd be dooming the people of this continent and the entire Bredt Kingdom.
"So even if my students perish because of you, I won't let you escape. I'll make sure you three pieces of trash pay the ultimate price!"
His voice, thick with killing intent, echoed through the area. Raviel stared at him in silence for a long moment, then said slowly, "In that case... let's settle this through a duel."
"A duel?" Alester raised an eyebrow.
"That's right," Raviel nodded. "The wager will be our freedom and their souls. If we win, you'll release us and swear not to pursue. But if we lose, we'll accept being sealed again without complaint and return your students' and their spirits' souls. How about it?
"Of course, you can refuse. That said, before we're sealed, we'll consume every last one of these souls... and then we'll fight you anyway.
"Even with your protection, how many people in your academy would survive that?"
Hearing that, the gathered teachers and students looked anxiously toward the Headmaster. Though panic filled the air, none dared interrupt such a matter… one that could decide the fate of the entire academy and continent.
Even among them were Autrys Bredt, the Third Prince of the kingdom, and Princess Sera Bredt herself.
Alester's brows knitted. Raviel's threat was not an empty one.
In their current weakened state, if the Three Sacred Beasts were to fully devour the twenty or so Duelists and their spirits now in their grasp, they could easily cause devastating chaos within Saint Fusion Academy before he had a chance to reseal them.
They had spared the researchers' souls only to maintain a steady supply of energy—but if pushed to desperation, they'd consume them all without a second thought.
The atmosphere grew heavier by the second. Alester looked at the cluster of souls in the Sacred Beasts' hands, then took a deep breath and said coldly, "Very well. We'll settle this with a duel.
"Although if you dare break your promise—even if I have to chase you through heaven and hell—I'll never let you go!"
"Hmph. We may not be virtuous spirits, but we don't stoop to deceit!" Raviel snorted. Then he turned toward Uria and Hamon behind him. "Combine our powers. It's the only way we'll have a chance against this old man."
Uria and Hamon understood perfectly and agreed at once.
A red and a yellow stream of light shot into Raviel's body, and once again, he took control of Instructor Claire's form.
At once, the magical pressure emanating from her body matched Alester's own.
Even in their weakened state, the Three Sacred Beasts' power was formidable.
Raviel raised Claire's left arm, activating her golden Duel Bracelet. It unfolded into a golden Duel Disk, a full Deck appearing automatically in its slot.
Raviel's crimson eyes glared at Alester. "Come, Alester! Let's see if the former strongest Duelist on the continent, one of the Three Sages, truly has the strength of legend!"
As his words fell, dense darkness erupted from Claire's body, sweeping outward to form a massive black barrier that enveloped the entire area around the classroom building.
"A Shadow Game," Alester murmured, scowling at the encroaching darkness. "To think you'd go this far against me… even invoking a Shadow Duel. Truly... marvelous."
The final word carried a sudden gleam of delight across his once-cold face.
Everyone around stiffened in confusion. Yuui twitched as if realizing something, while the Three Sacred Beasts themselves looked dumbfounded.
Regardless, Alester didn't care about their confusion. Smiling like a trickster who had finally sprung his trap, he taunted them: "Getting you three to willingly duel me was no easy task... but you've finally taken the bait!"
Raviel's eyes narrowed as a wave of dread washed over him. "What do you mean!?" he growled.
"The meaning's simple… you've fallen right into my trap."
Snap!
A sharp snap echoed as Alester's staff transformed into a silver-black Duel Bracelet on his left arm. A matching Duel Disk unfolded, and the four elemental Invoked Monsters around him dissolved into streams of light, merging into his Deck.
With a cheerful smile, Alester said, "If you had simply chosen to rampage through my academy, I could have suppressed you… but it would've taken effort, and parts of the academy might have been destroyed.
"On the other hand, instead of doing that, you not only spared my students, but you also challenged me to a Shadow Game! You've handed me your lives on a silver platter!"
As his words fell, an overwhelming surge of magic erupted from him, far surpassing even the Three Sacred Beasts' earlier display.
Alicia could only stare in shock, speechless before the sheer force of it, while Yuui—floating protectively beside her—watched with narrowed eyes.
"He might be shameless," Yuui muttered, "but... so this is the power of a Great Sage. Terrifying indeed."
The teachers and students atop the building were no less astounded. Though they had always known their Headmaster was powerful, none had truly grasped just how powerful.
Now, feeling his magic firsthand, they finally understood… they had only ever seen the tip of the iceberg of his true might.
...
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