Chapter 584

The duel concluded.

All the supernatural phenomena began to recede.

The dark clouds dispersed, the sun and moon reappeared, and the boundary between light and darkness gradually converged. Only the blue flames continuing to burn upon the semi-transparent seal served as a declaration of everything that had transpired.

Here, the God of Machines and Demons had clashed with the fallen angel who had neared divinity.

The images slowly faded, and Tiera's colossal form transformed into flames, gradually burning away. Moments later, she reverted to her human shape and drifted slowly down onto the dueling field.

Manjoume and Edo stared in stunned silence, feeling as though they were seeing Tenjou Hikari for the first time.

After a long while of shock, the two of them gradually regained their senses.

Regardless of what had been mixed into Tenjou Hikari's "soul," it didn't matter much. What mattered was that as long as Tenjou Hikari remained the Tenjou Hikari they knew, that was enough.

Tenjou Hikari put away his Duel Disk and walked forward a few steps, with Edo and Manjoume hurriedly following.

Although the duel was over, who knew if Professor Seraf would resort to desperate measures and use the power of Lucifer to pull one last stunt?

"Guh..."

Professor Seraf was currently half-lying beside a tree that had been scorched to white ash by the purgatory flames. His eyes had lost their luster, and his halo had shattered completely, lying on the ground.

A bit exaggerated—

Tenjou Hikari felt it was rather absurd.

Tenjou Hikari had attacked with full force, fueled by his anger toward Darkness, and Tiera wouldn't show mercy to a human either. How could Seraf still be breathing?

Then, Tenjou Hikari noticed a card flickering with light in Seraf's graveyard.

Solemn Warning?

The card emitted a glow. As Seraf gasped for breath, the light on the card grew dimmer and dimmer until it finally stopped flickering. It seemed to sprout wings, slowly dissolving into the world.

That was...

The *true* Solemn Warning!

Tenjou Hikari was shocked to his core.

In this world, "Solemn Warning" and "Solemn Judgment" weren't just extreme spirit cards; in reality, Judai possessed Solemn Judgment and had used it several times.

But just like the dimension with magic, as long as it was a card, there was naturally a "spirit" behind it.

Seraf was a genuine "Blessed of God."

The other two students realized this as well.

Seraf gasped, his eyes losing their color, his body becoming increasingly limp.

Despite the protection of the final Solemn Warning—which had sacrificed itself to dissipate—the victor of the duel was Tenjou Hikari. The Solemn Warning was clearly not a true manifestation, and the man who was destined to die would ultimately die.

"... God... thank you, I finally understand..."

Seraf tremblingly raised a card, slowly holding it out.

Tenjou Hikari reached out, and a card was placed into his hand by Professor Seraf.

As the card landed, Tenjou Hikari felt a sharp jolt in his right hand, as if he had been electrocuted, and he threw the card away.

Beside him, Tiera was quick-witted; several puppet strings lashed out to wrap around the card. However, the moment the strings touched the card, a radiance like the sun instantly incinerated them into dust.

Tiera frowned, and before the card could hit the ground, she snapped her fingers.

*Click, click. *

A gray-white mechanical demon spread its wings, manifesting physically to catch the card. The light dissolved its hand, but the moment the hand vanished, blue flames burned through the ashes, reconstructing its body.

It was only then that Tenjou Hikari finally saw the card.

The First Darklord.

Tenjou Hikari looked back at Seraf.

Manjoume, seeing this scene, ran to Professor Seraf's side, trying to help him up, shouting, "Professor, hold on—"

Seraf's lips curled slightly, looking as if he wanted to smile, but the smile quickly vanished under the pain. His eyes lost their luster completely, and his arm dropped limply.

As he passed away, his body seemed to melt, turning into specks of golden light that dissolved into the world. Along with him, the white and black cards in his deck dissolved one by one. In the end, it seemed as if Seraf no longer existed in this world.

Returning the glory to the Lord.

"This..." Manjoume looked at his empty hands in silence, then could only grit his teeth and shake his head.

On the other side, Edo picked up Seraf's Duel Disk. There was still one card inside—the Darklord Lucifer in the graveyard. However, when Edo tried to touch the card, it erupted with a light even more intense than The First Darklord, making it impossible for him to touch.

"It seems only the Department Head has a chance to touch it..."

Edo analyzed.

Judging by this, if Professor Seraf hadn't handed the card to Tenjou Hikari at the very end, Darklord Lucifer would likely have vanished from this world along with the other Darklord cards upon Seraf's death, returning to some "Heaven" or "Hell" dimension they knew nothing about.

Tenjou Hikari nodded.

Were the two "Lucifers" the same "spirit," or rather... an angel?

In any case, it seemed that at the very end, Seraf had heard the true "Apocalypse" in his dying moments.

He had made up his mind to entrust the true "Darklord" cards to Tenjou Hikari, a duelist who, like him, had once "summoned demons."

Tenjou Hikari sighed.

Two cards were picked up by the Infernoid demon controlled by Tiera and transported to the Great Universe Workshop.

Tenjou Hikari was not "the Blessed," and Lucifer was not a Darklord that anyone could use just by holding it. Unless Tenjou Hikari intended to fuse Lucifer directly into "Infernoid Tierra," he wouldn't be able to use it for the time being.

However—

Although that wasn't impossible, Tenjou Hikari just let the thought cross his mind before hurriedly deleting it.

Tenjou Hikari had previously seen the "Ecclesia the Exiled" in the Magician's realm. Although he hadn't had the chance to ask that spirit because he was meeting with Professor Dadesi, and he hadn't found her when he left, Tenjou Hikari had gathered some information.

The dimension where Ecclesia the Exiled resided was a dimension heavily influenced by "red light," and ordinary spirits or humans were not qualified to enter it.

Because the danger level was far higher than that of ordinary dimensions.

But that wasn't the point.

The point was that such a "dimension" actually existed.

That was something Tenjou Hikari could look forward to.

Before the support cards for "Despia" were complete, Despia Darklord was a very popular build, and one of the first few builds for Despia. Since such a dimension really seemed to exist, keeping Lucifer was clearly more meaningful.

Tenjou Hikari tidied up the scene and chatted with Edo for a while about why they had appeared here.

Of course, both were smart people who had come here on their own initiative, so they could easily understand Tenjou Hikari's idea of waiting for the rabbit to hit the tree, and they weren't surprised.

Honestly, under normal circumstances, the deck Tenjou Hikari used daily was nothing like this.

Infernoids, Elemental HERO Flame Wingman, Fluffals, and the "Earthbound" he hadn't used—Tenjou Hikari's current deck was built from the perspective of "maximum spirit power." Forget Tierra; Tenjou Hikari had even put Super Polymerization into his deck, just in case he encountered Yubel, so he could end the threat once and for all. If he didn't see them on a daily basis, it didn't matter.

But if he did encounter them, Tenjou Hikari wouldn't hold back.

Unexpectedly, it was Professor Seraf who had come.

Honestly, Tenjou Hikari still didn't know where Yubel was on this island.

Tiera had observed Yubel before; if they met again, she could identify her instantly. But clearly, Yubel was cautious and hadn't given Tenjou Hikari a chance to find her.

If he challenged Professor Viper directly, Tenjou Hikari was worried about alerting the enemy, causing Yubel to hide somewhere else, so he could only wait.

Now that Darkness had taken the opportunity to act against the Duel Academy, it was possible that Darkness had long been cooperating with Yubel; that wouldn't be strange at all.

But since they had decided to act, it meant they were determined to go all out. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many "Blessed" starting to move.

Tenjou Hikari rubbed his hair.

This was a good opportunity.

If the opponent could come out, it was a good chance to wipe them all out.

But as a price, his classmates would inevitably face various challenges or even torture.

Tenjou Hikari had done everything he could for his classmates; now, he could only watch to see if those students could hold on or believe in humanity.

After dealing with the scene, the three of them prepared to split up. Tenjou Hikari would go find Professor Chronos, while Manjoume and Edo would rush to the professor's private dormitory to see if there was anything useful, like a diary or notes. If there was a way to break the outer wall, that would be a huge win.

Taking advantage of the fact that there were few people or spirits around to destroy evidence, the two of them didn't feel embarrassed and hurriedly left.

As for Tenjou Hikari, after checking his deck and the energy requirements for the cards he was "refining," he headed toward the Principal's Office at full speed.

It was afternoon now. At this time, the professor should have finished his rotation and returned to the office. He had to report the situation to the professor.

As a result, the three of them might not be able to attend their afternoon classes.

And because of this, when Tenjou Hikari's friends arrived at the classroom, they were surprised to find that Tenjou Hikari, who was the most studious, hadn't come to class.

But—

This time, it wasn't just Tenjou Hikari.

There were other students who hadn't attended class during this period, such as... O'Brien, the mercenary, who was investigating various parts of the academy; Amon, who was helping out in the infirmary; and also...

Judai Yuki.

At this very moment, he had skipped class to join the "Security Team" organized by the academy.

Because they didn't know when spirits might appear to attack, the Duel Academy had organized a patrol team centered around the Principal and professors. Judai had no heart for studying at a time like this, so he had simply slipped out and joined the patrol team to face those spirits.

The patrol team leader for the afternoon was Professor "Moushou" from the Central Academy branch.

Moushou was muscular and powerful, with broad shoulders, as if he could carry a horse.

Unlike Professor Viper, Professor Seraf, or Professor Paladin, who focused on various strange subjects, Moushou claimed to be a rough man, so he didn't teach students "knowledge" like the other professors.

On the contrary, the course Moushou taught was—Physical Enhancement.

How to efficiently use spirit power to quickly train the body, how to strengthen the body through spirit power, how to react faster in a duel, how to reduce the damage received to stay clear-headed, and so on.

Although the Duel Academy had "Action Classes," compared to Professor Moushou's professional course, those were truly minor.

Moushou not only demonstrated various practical applications of dueling spirits on the spot but also brought out videotapes to play some of his own life-and-death experiences in various spirit dimensions.

Humans and spirits were different. When humans adventured in spirit dimensions, they had to be careful. Even if they collaborated with spirits and had spirits flying them around, if they weren't careful, they could get hurt due to the unique "natural environment" of the spirit dimensions.

These were all unpredictable things. As Duel Academy students who would likely be adventuring and exploring dimensions in the future, they all had to learn this seriously; it could save their lives in critical moments.

His course wasn't as lively as the other professors', but if viewed as a "collection of wilderness survival performances," it was actually quite interesting. Therefore, students would fill the seats in his class, and among them, Judai was perhaps one of the most interested students in the entire academy.

He was naturally tough, had incredible physical fitness, loved adventure, enjoyed exploring, and was skilled at everything from fishing to mountain climbing. He could use much of what the professor taught, so he was naturally excited.

Under normal circumstances, he didn't study hard, but he performed excellently in Professor Moushou's class, and the two could be considered good teachers and helpful friends.

Now that this had happened on the academy island, Professor Moushou, who was skilled at dealing with wilderness emergencies, naturally took on all the work of exploration, patrolling, and rescue. Judai simply skipped class and came out with the patrol team.

He originally thought today would be a quite interesting experience.

After all, he could not only protect his classmates but also witness the professor's dueling.

But he hadn't expected...

"Bang! Bang!"

Moushou grabbed a spirit with his right hand, clutching its throat. His right hand emitted a strange fluorescent glow, and then he slammed it into the wall. Along with a scream, the spirit sent a message of surrender.

However, Moushou didn't hesitate in the slightest and continued to slam it...

"Bang—Bang!"

With each muffled thud, Moushou's expression remained unchanged, and he even said, "Everyone, do you see? This is how you can attack these beasts."

Generally speaking, humans couldn't attack spirits; they could only use spirits to clash with spirits. But today, Moushou taught the teachers and students of the patrol team a lesson.

He had beaten a spirit to death with his bare hands!

"Stop! That's enough, Professor! It has already surrendered!" Judai couldn't help but jump out and shout at the professor.

"... Judai?" Moushou stopped his movements and turned to see him. "Why aren't you in class??"

Judai didn't care about that: "Professor, it has already surrendered, there's no need for this!"

The professor shook his head: "Judai, this is 【War】! A war between humans and spirits! Since it was prepared to invade our world, even disguise itself as a human and attack classmates, then it deserves to die!"

"This—" Judai's expression was terrible.

"Judai, I told you, this job doesn't suit you. You're too kind. Go back to class!"

Judai's expression didn't recover, and he didn't leave.

Moushou sighed lightly. He casually dropped the spirit. Judai hurriedly ran over and supported the spirit, observing its appearance. However, the spirit only looked up at him once before completely losing its vitality, turning into light, and finally dissolving into a cold, lifeless card.

Judai gripped the card tightly.

A living life had died before his eyes.

A spirit that had already surrendered, that didn't dare to do evil, had died completely!

In his mind, countless scenes he had once 【seen】 flashed by...

"Professor!! I challenge you!"

Moushou rubbed the back of his head.

"Sigh, it seems I'll have to properly educate the students when I get back." His indifferent expression gradually became serious, and then he said, "Fine, then Judai—I accept."

(End of Chapter)