Village of the Spellcasters

Hikaru stepped forward and lifted the masked man's hood, glancing at the face beneath.

"Kaname Kanbayashi!" Dimitri exclaimed, pupils shrinking.

"I'm impressed you could still recognize him," Hikaru muttered.

At first glance, he hadn't recognized the person lying there at all. The Sacred Beast had nearly drained him of life. His skin was shriveled, his face distorted, looking more like a corpse than a human. Hikaru only recognized anything after Dimitri called it out, and he looked closely.

Once he confirmed it, he finally understood why the guy kept talking about humiliating him.

So it was Kaname Kanbayashi.

Who knew whether he had volunteered as a test subject for the Sacred Beast to take revenge, or if Leo Akaba had punished him for losing the Fusion Club's title?

Dimitri, visibly panicked, asked if they should rush Kanbayashi to the infirmary.

Hikaru didn't mind either way, given his state, he'd probably be bed-bound for the rest of his life anyway.

According to Crowler's explanation of KaibaCorp's special legal system, anyone who brought this upon themselves bore full responsibility. The duelist, in this case Hikaru, wasn't liable at all.

Afterward, Hikaru chatted briefly with Dimitri. Since he showed up in such a strange place, Hikaru suspected there was a reason. A little pressure and Dimitri confessed he had been secretly tailing him.

It left Hikaru a bit speechless.

In any case, after scaring him a bit, Hikaru made him promise not to speak of anything regarding the Sacred Beast. Seeing Kanbayashi's miserable state had clearly rattled him, and he agreed immediately, he didn't even know what was really going on.

If Hikaru had any part in what happened to Kanbayashi, he definitely wouldn't dare spread it around.

Before they parted ways, Hikaru hesitated, then invited Dimitri to join the Fusion Club.

Hearing that he could join without applying, Dimitri was overjoyed and nodded furiously.

"Worried the mortal might get silenced?" Tierra asked casually as they walked back.

"Yeah," Hikaru nodded. "Even if he was just a bystander caught in the crossfire, the enemy saw him. If he were mistaken as an accomplice and targeted later, that would be bad.

At least in the Fusion Club, members can look after each other. It offers some protection."

Back at the dorm, Hikaru turned on the light and took out his Deck, inspecting it while chatting with Tierra. "You think I'm wasting my time?"

"No," Tierra shook her head.

Normally, she'd be uninterested in Hikaru's random do-gooder behavior. This time was different.

During her first-ever Duel, their opponent tried to cheat. Then, some mastermind in the background called her "evil" and "dark," which truly enraged her.

They even said she was inferior to the Sacred Beasts!

Sacred Beasts were demons. She was a god!

Source of Destruction, a creator!

Even if she were a dead god, she was still divine!

Her goal was resurrection, to reset her planet and create machines or mechanical demons that symbolized death. If that didn't work, she'd consider using humans like Hikaru as a model and create Autobot-like beings, and yet some random clown dared insult her?

That couldn't go unpunished.

She didn't argue with Hikaru. Instead, she hurriedly urged him to place the Sacred Beast card into the workshop and begin collecting Spirit power with the others. Best case, they could awaken the broken card through that card's power or outright evolve it.

If it came to it, she was even willing to lend some of her newly restored power, which wasn't much; still, it was perfectly compatible with Sacred Beasts.

That said, Hikaru would have to weigh his options carefully.

Whether to invest in reviving the Sacred Beast card or prioritize building Shaddoll cards would depend on the current situation.

As of now, Hikaru couldn't say which held better value.

Or maybe the simpler solution was to duel for a few days and see what Super Polymerization wanted.

Over the following days…

Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

The Polymerization Club, after amusingly trying to "threaten" Hikaru, shifted tactics and began pushing Syrus into duels. Using some new cards and his naturally solid skills, Syrus performed impressively in recent exhibition duels, and in many areas, he truly shone.

The Club then began using that to promote their activity group, branding Syrus as Zane's younger brother to attract recruits.

Despite their reputation being in the gutter after half a year of disgrace, a few students still joined.

Zane, meanwhile, was preoccupied with planning his post-graduation pro duelist path and couldn't interfere. Hikaru had also spoken to him before about Syrus.

In truth, Zane's protection may have also been a kind of pressure.

He was simply too brilliant. Syrus, standing beside him, developed subtle habits and complexes as a result, so in some way, Zane contributed to those.

When Syrus officially joined the Polymerization Club and donned the purple uniform, Zane initially considered confronting Hikaru about it.

Despite that, over the days, Syrus' reputation exploded. The Club hailed him as the "Second Coming of Zane," and even Zane found himself stunned.

Syrus? That strong?

Was it really Hikaru who encouraged him to infiltrate the Club, or was Syrus truly unhappy with him and breaking free? Was he trying to prove that he could surpass his brother on his own?

Was all that real?

Zane couldn't make sense of it.

But after a few days of watching everything prosper, he decided not to intervene.

If Syrus had become the face of the Polymerization Club, and they used the Truesdale brothers' fame to draw in new members, then eventually, Syrus would be pitted against Hikaru.

And when that Duel happened, all truths would come to light.

As the chaotic buzz of the new term settled down, academics returned to their usual pace.

At last, Hikaru could wrap up what he'd missed.

The alternate dimension, Village of Spellcasters.

During the break, because of Professor Banner's sudden dive into the Grand Universe Workshop, they had been forcibly dragged there and missed the trip. Now, with the first interdimensional travel opportunity of the semester, Hikaru immediately invited Bastion to go back and finish what they started.

"Mmm… so this is the Village of Spellcasters? The air is really nice here."