Evil

The exploration team returned to the human world.

Though Slade Princeton was a complete amateur at Dueling, he wasn't some abstract villain. Naturally, he would honor the promise made with his younger brother.

If anything, once he came to his senses and realized just how close to death he'd been in the Spirit World, he even felt a bit relieved and shaken.

The Duel Monsters world was deeper and more dangerous than he'd thought, not something he could easily handle.

Still, his brother had dared challenge his authority on a broad live stream. Slade wasn't going to pretend he hadn't heard that.

Chazz better prepare himself—he would make him regret those words.

And with that, Chazz Princeton became the hero who "saved the Academy," instantly showered with praise from countless classmates as all the prior whispers and criticisms quickly quieted down.

In no time at all, Chazz became the hottest name on campus, achieving a triple success in academics, cards, and reputation.

However, he didn't let the excitement get to his head—He promptly calmed down.

Chazz hadn't forgotten the most meaningful friend who had helped him change and reach this point. When they exchanged information, and Chazz heard about the many Union machines being dismantled and transformed, he was furious.

If he hadn't been forced to fight Spirit Duels against his brother at the time, he would have joined Hikaru in the action!

After returning to the Academy, he didn't follow Jaden around like usual.

He now had his own goal: to become the heir of the Princeton Group. And for that, he had much to prepare.

Not just in Dueling, after all, both his older brothers were Dueling amateurs. If he wanted it to be fair, he needed to show talent in other areas, too—such as business. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a fair contest.

Of course, he also guessed his brothers would soon start recruiting outstanding Duelists to prepare for his "challenge."

As for Hikaru, who had returned to the human world—

He had a lot more to do.

First of all, from the Fusion Army's laboratory, he had acquired a large amount of Dimensional Gate materials. Though they were scientific-branch teleportation components, many were also shared with the alchemy-branch materials. This saved Hikaru a lot of time and made constructing the teleportation gate easier.

Having used the Princeton Group's model of a dimensional gate once already, Hikaru couldn't claim 100% confidence, but he was at least 90% sure. All that remained was construction and testing.

And on the other side.

"Hehe... hahaha—hahahahaha!"

Tierra floated beside Hikaru, giggling while rubbing her cheek against a card.

The nearby Duel Spirits all stood frozen. Spirits like Flame Swordsman, Dark Flare Knight, and Captain Crystal, the veteran members, looked on in disbelief, doubting their own eyes.

Was that strange and dangerous deity actually happy?

Having just joined the workshop and behaving quite dutifully, A-Assault Core buzzed while lifting two huge boulders to embed into the dimensional gate structure with lasers. It turned and beeped curiously.

Wasn't it just, Winda?

Was it really worth this much shock?

Tierra, after a long bout of glee, noticed the Spirits staring and coughed lightly, returning to her usual faint smile. But the upturned corners of her mouth still betrayed her excitement.

Inside Hikaru's alchemy furnace, countless machines and computers were being consumed. Hikaru wiped sweat from his brow, grateful he'd cleared out that lab—otherwise, he wouldn't have had nearly enough materials.

This round of alchemy had gone exceedingly well.

No, to be precise, failure wasn't even an option.

In previous attempts, Hikaru had to worry about card crafting failures or wasted materials. But this time, with Tierra assisting, the process was essentially her power being extracted, given physical form, and sealed into card form. The only missing piece was a container.

Tierra extended her hand. In her palm, bright white metal gathered. A fully metallic lifeform took shape—red-eyed, ram-horned, clawed, with steel bat wings and a white-tubed apparatus on its back, gently dancing in her hand.

It had a fearsome name: Pirmais!

That's right.

It was a fragment of Tierra's power—a shard of Tierra herself: [Infernoid Pirmais]

With its creation, Tierra's revival in another form became truly possible. One day in the future, she may return completely as a "god within Duel Cards."

Hikaru understood this was a very dangerous prospect. But it was something he'd agreed on with Tierra long ago. There was no turning back.

"How wonderful, Amaki Hikaru!" Tierra softly withdrew her hand, the mechanical demon dispersing into white light.

She turned back, face beaming with joy. "As my divine envoy, well done!"

Hikaru shrugged.

Tierra had always called him things like 'chosen one' or 'divine heir,' though it usually seemed more like manipulation than sincerity. This time felt different. This time, she actually sounded sincere.

And it wasn't just Hikaru's imagination.

To Tierra, she was genuinely growing more and more satisfied with Hikaru.

Even though their time together was just a blink in her long existence, Hikaru had given her many surprises. And now, he had truly fulfilled his promise and created a new card for her.

Of course, Tierra had long noticed that Hikaru remained extremely wary of her. He feared what this "god" might do to humanity.

To those who knew the history of the DT Planet, his fear was justified.

After all, Tierra's past actions essentially amounted to planetary extinction. She was no friend of humanity.

But to Tierra, those concerns were meaningless. She only cared about the DT Planet. Other worlds? They held no interest for her!

What she wanted was to reset the DT Planet's ecosystem, not meddle in anything else.

Just that. Only that. That was the pride of a god!

Of course, she would never explain such thoughts to a mere human.

In her mind, she had all the time in the world. As long as she stayed with Hikaru, she could wait for her rebirth.

What she didn't expect was how satisfying Hikaru turned out to be.

So now, she genuinely wanted to make him her divine servant.

"Hmm. I can't let you work for nothing—" Tierra thought for a moment. "Alright, here."

She reached out her hand. At some point, she had taken a blank card. It was entangled with purple puppet strings. Before long, the card emitted a faint violet glow.

"Hmm. Looks like that's the limit," she pouted. "Only one component—still too weak."

"Anyway, do your best to complete this card yourself," Tierra said casually, placing it delicately in Hikaru's hand.

Hikaru blinked, examining the card.

Its artwork was blurred. The text was sparse. It was just like the first time he had received Winda.

It was, El Shaddoll Wendigo!

A WIND-attribute Shaddoll deity.