[Sierre, LP 0]
With his HP at zero, the duel ritual concluded. The Seal of Orichalcos began to spiral inward, slowly contracting towards Sierre.
But at the same time, a powerful force erupted from his deck.
The phoenix's flames transformed into soaring light, briefly taking on the ethereal form of a Phoenix in mid-air. The flames swept across the field, and the dazzling light enveloped all three participants in the duel.
After a blinding flash that forced everyone to avert their eyes, an image appeared.
It looked like a distant, ancient battlefield, where the heavens and earth were engulfed in an endless roar. The sky, like a shattered painting, was torn open, revealing a terrifying fissure.
Within that fissure, a horrifying Evil God seemed to reside, shrouded in an indistinct haze. Its eyes were deep and cold, as if they wanted to swallow all living beings.
Armies of demonic creatures surged across the battlefield like a tide, their forms monstrous under the setting sun's glow. There were horned figures clad in armor, winged beings soaring in the sky, and blood-curdling demons whose roars shook the heavens and earth.
Brutal war erupted on the ground, with flames sweeping across everything. A burning Phoenix fell in mid-air, its feathers sparkling with dazzling light amidst the flames, its cries echoing on the battlefield for a long time.
"This is... a past image?" Judai murmured.
Although it was just a guess, they all seemed to understand what it meant.
The Evil God's forces had invaded the Spirit World, and a fierce war had broken out in a dimension unknown to humans. The fallen Phoenix was likely the Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys.
This scene was probably the Sacred Phoenix conveying that it wasn't unwilling to help them; it was simply too weak and had already fallen.
As the fallen Phoenix dissipated, the flames it released were absorbed into a certain stone tablet.
It seemed that since that battle, the spirit of the Sacred Phoenix had entered a sealed state. The reason it could now transmit these images to the group was thanks to the remnants of the Phoenix's power they had just absorbed from the statue in this tribal ruin.
Immediately, the scene shifted from the Spirit World to reality.
It was an ancient village nestled within a mountain range.
The warm sunlight was suddenly obscured by thick black clouds, and hordes of demonic creatures surged from all directions like a tide. Various monstrous figures loomed in the gloomy forest, and the village was reduced to ruins under the demons' ravages.
And behind all those demons, under the cloud-shrouded sky, a dark colossal shadow was grinning, watching everything unfold. The six-winged Orichalcos seal was reflected on the shadow's forehead.
"How... How could this be?" Sierre mumbled, his face filled with disbelief.
Suddenly, he understood.
No, perhaps it should be said that he should have realized earlier that there were many suspicious points about his village's invasion. However, until now, his mind had been under the influence of Orichalcos, deliberately led to overlook these facts, making it impossible for him to think in this direction.
Now that he had been defeated in the duel and his soul was about to dissipate, the connection with Orichalcos was finally severed. The Sacred Phoenix could then find an opening to transmit the truth to him.
From the very beginning, the evil spirits that invaded his homeland were summoned by the god of Orichalcos.
They orchestrated this invasion themselves, then appeared as saviors in his moment of despair, offering Sierre the opportunity to gain power. That way, he would willingly sell his soul and fight for the new Doma.
Yugen, however, showed no surprise at all. He had, more or less, already guessed something.
Because this was the old Doma's favorite old trick.
The Old Doma's Three Swordsmen were also recruited using similar methods. Dartz, relying on his ability to foresee the flow of destiny, saw the potential in Valon, Rafael, and Ameruda, and decided that these three were destined to become Doma's Three Swordsmen.
So Dartz personally created the tragedies of their childhoods, sowing seeds of darkness in their hearts, and then gradually guided them to willingly join Doma in pursuit of power, becoming his strongest Three Swordsmen.
An old trick, nothing new.
After another strong flash of light, the images vanished, and the ethereal body of the Sacred Phoenix gradually dissipated. It seemed that its last trace of power had been completely burned away.
At the same time, The Seal of Orichalcos had contracted to almost touch Sierre.
"Was I wrong?" He gently closed his eyes and sighed.
"Sierre!" Judai tried to reach out to him.
Sierre looked at Judai one last time and smiled.
"You have good companions," he said. "I hope your future... can be different from mine."
With that, his soul left his body, surged skyward within a green pillar of light, and vanished into the horizon.
This might have been the first time Judai had witnessed, with his own eyes, someone losing their soul after being defeated in a duel.
It seemed to have quite an impact on his vulnerable psyche.
Judai's expression was complicated for a moment. But Yugen remained calm as usual, simply stepping forward and calmly taking the deck.
"There's nothing else we can do," Yugen said solemnly, tucking the deck into the empty card box in his chest. "We can only inherit his will and continue forward."
Including inheriting his deck.
Judai was silent for a moment.
"...Mm."
"Alright, it should be morning at the academy by now. Let's head back."
"..."
This time in the Spirit World probably lasted all night, but the gains were actually quite significant. A Skull Servant deck, an Insect deck, and then the Sacred Phoenix and King of Armageddon...
But for the latter two, strictly speaking, they were only a few cards in total, hardly a complete deck. In a strict sense, Sierre's deck was also a bit of a chaotic pile, managing to mix several unrelated archetypes together, then stuffing in a bunch of even more unrelated spell and trap card support.
Indeed, it was proof of a master duelist.
Actually, Yugen now had spirit blessings and had cultivated for so long at the academy that he could no longer be considered a complete outsider in the path of divine extraction. Even he could be a bit bolder in deck construction now, but even in his own eyes, his boldness at most meant adding a few more obscure cards to raise the upper limit.
Every time he saw this kind of pure "eight immortals crossing the sea" style master deck construction, he couldn't help but feel awestruck.
The remaining power in the Sacred Phoenix card seemed to have been completely released; although it could be used, it had returned to being a normal card. But after seeing the images that the Sacred Phoenix had just displayed, holding this card now suddenly gave him a familiar and wonderful feeling, like picking up an item in an RPG that triggers a hidden branch.
The King of Armageddon was still uncertain. Although "Demise, King of Armageddon" seemed to have returned to normal in Yugen's hands and didn't show any signs of a residing spirit, it was clear from the recent duel that this card was not simple.
Yugen decided to be cautious. Cards with unclear backgrounds like this should not be used indiscriminately for now. He would go back and study them and test them first.
Some cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh world are very dangerous. Some evil cards require a heavy price to control and can even backfire on the Duelist. This "Demise, King of Armageddon" seemed to be one such type.
Yugen summoned the Great Envoy, who split the space with a sword.
Just before stepping into the fissure, Judai's steps suddenly paused.
Yugen tilted his head and looked at him: "What's wrong?"
"Ah, nothing, just..."
Judai pondered for a few seconds, as if deep in thought.
Then he looked up, resuming his usual sunny and cheerful smile.
"...Although that guy said a lot of things, I can't think clearly about it in a short time. But I suddenly feel that coming to Duel Academy and meeting a guy like you, Yugen, is really great."
Yugen smiled.
"Hmm, I think so too."
He turned around.
"Let's go, don't keep them waiting too long."
Judai: "Okay~"
The two stepped inside, and after a dizzying sensation just like when they arrived, they quickly returned to solid ground.
They were precisely at the spot where they had left: the abandoned dorm of Duel Academy, inside the room covered with ancient texts and symbols of the Millennium Items.
But after a stable landing, the first person they saw upon opening their eyes was somewhat unexpected.
It was Kaiba Mokuba.
Mokuba's eyes lit up when he saw the two of them land: "Ah, you're back already?"