Chapter 118: Tenjo Hikari

"Truly strange—what exactly is going on?"

In a certain laboratory, a man in a white lab coat, adorned with a peculiar wing-shaped badge on his chest, stood before a massive machine, gazing at it with curiosity.

It was a "Y-Dragon Head"; at this moment, the Y-Dragon had lost its vitality, its body limp on the platform, occasionally emitting a sizzling crackle.

"What's the principle behind this?" he muttered, stroking his chin. "It's mechanical, yet it's a spirit—how is this even possible?"

His name doesn't need mentioning; for now, let's call him "Alliance Doctor."

In this world, with the birth of dimensional travel, many scholars who previously could not realize their talents—or who, due to special circumstances, were never recognized in the human world—finally gained a new opportunity.

Yet even among these researchers, there were certain "special" scientists unrecognized by Hima Corporation: those who arbitrarily conducted "spirit-body experiments" on spirits.

Whether driven by curiosity about the soul, the pursuit of immortality, or simply pure interest, these individuals were rejected by Hima Corporation due to their peculiar "tastes," left only to sigh helplessly.

Alliance Doctor was one of them.

Yet under these circumstances, someone found him and told him he could provide funding, allowing him to teleport to another dimension, beyond Hima Corporation's reach, to conduct his own experiments.

Naturally, he gladly accepted.

After all, the other party provided both money and manpower, and even granted him powerful "strength"; all he needed to do was supply "unconditionally loyal" spirit soldiers.

That's simple, isn't it?

After all, he'd already done this—why should he care about anything else?

Besides, they're just robots—what's the big deal?

"Boom—"

As he observed the data, a violent explosion erupted outside; shaken by the tremor, he nearly toppled over, glancing sideways and barking, "What's going on? Are those annoying robots attacking again?"

"Hmph, we just captured a batch last time—haven't they learned their lesson yet?"

As he spoke, a soldier in purple uniform ran over, saluted him, then said, "Doctor, it's nothing—just an intruder."

"Intruder?" He frowned. "A human?"

"Yes, a human wearing Yellow Academy uniform—nothing to worry about," the soldier confidently patted his chest. "We're top graduates of Duel Academy's Blue Academy; just a Yellow Academy student."

The doctor didn't understand these things well; hearing the soldier's words, he found them reasonable from his own perspective and said nothing.

But how did a current student get to this dimension?

Wasn't this dimension discovered by Red Horse Doctor himself?

With these doubts, he began his disassembly work.

He'd tried dismantling several spirits before; though they looked like robots, dismantling them revealed nothing mechanical—he'd attempted installing weapons, but kept failing, unable to complete any modifications.

Especially one day, he discovered the parts he removed dissolved into starlight—this only deepened his confusion.

Are these things even machines?

He felt they were more like living beings shaped like robots.

Hmm…

"BOOM!!!"

This time, the noise was even more violent; the entire research facility shook violently, as if struck by an earthquake.

What's happening?!

Before he could react, a soldier rushed in frantically.

"What's wrong?"

"Intruder! The intruder's incredibly strong—how can a Yellow Academy student be this strong?!"

"Doctor, wait here—we'll summon more personnel! A single Yellow Academy student can't possibly turn the tide!"

The doctor froze for a moment.

"Why not call the Chief Commander?"

"How can we do that? It's just a Yellow—"

Before the soldier finished speaking, he bolted away like the wind; then the doctor saw a flood of soldiers and mechanical spirits rushing down the corridor.

"Wh… what's going on?"

Alliance Doctor turned toward the other side of the lab—the rest area—where a man wearing a mask, pale-faced and drenched in cold sweat, his right hand withered and twisted, appeared to be in terrible physical condition, slowly walking into the lab.

He'd clearly been asleep, awakened by the loud noise, now looking even more distressed.

"Captain Morioka," the doctor greeted him, then added, "I heard there's an intruder."

"Intruder? One of Alliance's spirits?"

"No, they say it's a Yellow Academy student."

"Yellow Academy…" The captain paused, deep in thought; after a moment, he suddenly recalled a possibility, then whispered, "Impossible!"

Amidst a continuous barrage of explosions, the captain snapped back to reality and shouted, "Doctor, come with me!"

"Oh, alright—"

But before they could leave the lab, they heard a shout: "Direct attack on the opponent!" followed by a scream; then a masked soldier in purple uniform was blasted through the doorway like a ball, rolling several times on the ground, crying out in pain. Simultaneously, a man's voice rang out: "Is that all? Senior?"

"Damn it!" Several more voices cried out, accompanied by the rapid "tat-tat-tat" of gunfire—the external soldiers had abandoned dueling and begun full-auto rifle fire.

Yet after a flurry of metallic clangs, more screams erupted, and the gunfire gradually faded.

The doctor's forehead was slick with sweat.

He finally realized something was wrong.

Something's gone wrong!

"Tap… tap…"

"Tap… tap…"

Light footsteps approached, unhurried, as if utterly unconcerned; someone strolled calmly toward them.

The doctor and the captain stared fixedly at the doorway. Each step made the doctor's sweat increase; each step made him instinctively wipe his brow. On the other side, the captain's lips trembled, slowly forming a name.

"Tenjo Hikari!"

As the name fell, Tenjo Hikari stepped into the doorway; the instant his silhouette appeared, the doctor was so startled he fell backward onto the floor, while the captain swallowed hard.

"You know me? I thought no one here recognized me." Tenjo Hikari glanced at the captain's right hand, then surveyed the lab, seeing the dismantled mechanical spirits scattered everywhere, and frowned.

He'd been considering disguising himself—but the Fusion Army soldiers clearly didn't know him.

"Heh… ordinary soldiers aren't allowed to return to the human world or watch human world news," the captain casually explained. "Tenjo Hikari… you're on Professor's wanted list."

Tenjo Hikari shrugged, completely unfazed.

Let them put up a bounty—he'd been attacked so many times already; was he afraid of this?

"I never expected you'd abandon your studies and dare to come after us," he said, extending his left hand; his Duel Disk automatically unfolded. "Don't think you're on the same level as those useless fools!"

Back in school, my spirit adaptability already reached Seven Stars!

Far stronger than you are now!"

Seven Stars—Ryo Fujiki's current rank.

But what does spirit adaptability even mean?

"Don't think you can walk away after doing this!" he continued, a flicker of electricity flashing across his face, making him look pained. "I'll eliminate you—fulfill the Professor's bounty!"

"With the terrifying power the Professor granted me!"

Tenjo Hikari shuffled his deck, then said casually:

"Three Phantom Demons?"

"Wh… what?!" The captain was startled.

Tenjo Hikari chuckled, lips curling into an excited, almost fanatical grin, and sharply swung his Duel Disk: "Then witness the power of my 【Fusion】 deck!"

With his shout, a violet light flashed across his body; a powerful shockwave blasted every fragment and debris around him into the air!

Pah—

The Chief Commander recoiled a step.

At this moment, what did Tenjo Hikari look like?

Amidst flying rocks and bullets, he grinned maniacally, radiating strange violet energy, countless violet puppet threads coiling around his body, flailing wildly behind him like bat wings. At a glance, he didn't seem human at all—he looked like a demon risen from hell!

I… I'm supposed to be the villain, right?

The Chief Commander swallowed hard.

No, no matter what, the Professor gave me this powerful card—"Thunder Emperor Hamon." With this card's power, even if those robots bombarded this base en masse, Hamon would block them all.

This is the highest-tier monster card!

With such a powerful card, I could never lose to some ungraduated brat!

"Duel!" x2

Chief Commander of Alliance Zone, Morioka Takeshi LP: 4000.

Tenjo Hikari LP: 4000.

Third additional chapter, bonus update

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(End of Chapter)