He gradually became mad, grabbing his hands and saying viciously, "But it doesn't matter, I am the one with Apocalypse, I am the blessed one, I have been under the Angel's protection since childhood. If humanity, books can't give me answers, then I'll ask... God!"
He looked up at Tenjo Hikari, and Tenjo Hikari understood this professor's "origin" of everything.
"You should have understood, right? From that day, I began to study [Ritual Arts], studying the forbidden Demon Ceremony for the Church, attempting to summon the Archfiend, summon the Angel, and then, that day, I truly contacted... [God]."
"Darkness?" Tenjo-san asked tentatively.
"Darkness." The professor replied calmly.
"But, isn't that so-called darkness fundamentally the Evil God!?" Manjome loudly questioned from the side. He heard about darkness from Tenjo-san, so he clearly knew that, for humanity, this so-called incarnation of [Humanity's Ultimate Extinction] is the Evil God!
"Too foolish, Wanzhangmu."
!?
Manjome was stunned on the spot.
Called him foolish?
He was one of the top thinkers in the school—
"For humanity, that being is indeed the Evil God, but the point isn't whether He is the Evil God or the kind deity. Those aren't important." Seraph said calmly, "Didn't I also talk about this in class?
In Demon Ritual Arts, whether the summoned Spirit is the one you wanted isn't the most important thing. What's more important is whether you learned more from that ceremony.
Even if the ceremony ultimately fails, even if Spirit Power is lost, it's not important. If interaction with that Spirit enhances your ritual skills or you learn new Duel techniques, it's all worth it."
Seraph drew a card from the Deck and started his turn: "For me, whether Darkness is the answer I've been seeking isn't important; what's important is that through speaking with Him, I finally understood.
If we were to stretch the world's timeline infinitely, one day, the era of supreme justice I hoped for humanity would indeed arrive. But as long as there is supreme virtue, there will inevitably be a low point of moral deficiency, and to compensate for this, an infinite amount of time would be required for human knowledge and ethics to increase to the point where humanity becomes the era of absolute supreme justice.
On this path of human evolution, one day, if humanity slightly falters, it will face extinction because it can no longer progress, or the Cosmos cannot sustain humanity, or all things return to silence and destruction...
which is, the inevitable [Extinction] of someday, namely... Darkness.
Unless, one day, humanity can overcome this final extinction!"
The blood-colored halo on his head began to shine: "If that's the case, I just need to do what I want to do! Right? It fundamentally doesn't matter!"
This!?
Manjome looked incredulous.
He never thought at this moment that Seraph wasn't driven by any notion of "sublime," "honor," or "morality," but simply wanted to do it, simply wanted to summon the power of darkness to this island!
This was completely different from all the possibilities he'd considered before!
Seraph's face showed a mad expression: "Whether I win and kill everyone, or if Tenjo-san wins and defeats me, and takes away the Blessing I received, it doesn't matter!
Doing it, and then waiting for the result, is what's most important—that's my Demon Ceremony!"
"Manjome... Your studies are too poor." Seraph harshly criticized Manjome, "I will definitely mark a zero on your academic record.
And now, Tenjo-san, you're indeed the only one in class whom I felt has conducted [Demon Ceremony]... that Midrash, should not be Midrash, right? I can feel it, sense a power that isn't of this world, that doesn't belong to Spirits, a power beyond the mundane.
I am... an expert."
Tenjo Hikari raised his eyebrows lightly, then responded with emotion: "I see... That's right, professor, she's my partner, the Goddess of Rebirth, Tierra. I accidentally contacted the Outer God in an unintended Alchemy."
Ed and Manjome watched this scene in shock; for them, this was the first time they learned about this.
No wonder Tenjo-san never referred to that Spirit as "Midrash," but called her Tierra, so she really wasn't!?
Beside him, Tierra rarely took a few glances at Seraph.
A madman, but one genuinely seeking truth. This kind of human, she didn't find boring.
"Indeed... Our meeting here is also the decision of [Lord]."
Seraph laughed: "Me, who opened the door to darkness, and you, prepared to stop everything from happening..."
"It seems this Duel will be very beneficial.
Your [waiting] is over; let's start our Duel about the destiny of all humanity!"