Although Virt had always regarded Dark as a rival he was destined to surpass, the two of them had never actually faced each other in a direct duel — not in any class match, not in the recruitment tournament, not in the Rookie Tournament.
More often than not, Virt had been knocked out by other students on his way up the ladder. And the only times they had ever crossed paths in any meaningful sense were that one encounter right after he had forged the Troll, and that chance meeting in the secret passage…
Thinking back on it now, Virt felt something heavy settle in his chest.
He pressed his hand over the Magic Guide Card resting in his palm.
When a one-star Magic Guide Spirit was being used as a stand-in for both the Magic Sphere and the duelist themselves, most people would probably choose a Magic Beast, wouldn't they? Come to think of it — how long had it been since he last summoned it?
...
On the other side of the lectern, Dark was already ready.
St. Marian's classrooms were spacious by any measure, but the area limited to the platform itself was still far too cramped for a proper duel. That said, this was only a classroom demonstration — winning wasn't the point.
Dark didn't let it bother him. In fact, he had only recalled a small handful of his Magic Guide Spirits back into their cards.
...
Seeing that both students had taken their positions, Professor Jones reached into her pocket and produced a Silence Card. She held it up with quiet gravity and said, "I will now activate the Silence Card. The moment sound disappears — the duel begins."
"Understood." Dark nodded toward her.
Virt quickly nodded as well. "Got it."
Professor Jones raised the Silence Card high and looked out over the class.
The students who had been murmuring among themselves went quiet at once. Emma, seated in the very front row, carefully took a Magic Guide Card in hand and fixed Virt with a wary, watchful stare.
After the "prophecy" during Astronomy class, most students had revised their opinion of Virt at least slightly. Since then, both Virt and Robert had been studying properly — no more habitual tardiness, no more daydreaming, no more points docked — and the general feeling toward him had gradually normalized. With that, the old expectations tied to the "Son of the Hero" had quietly begun to resurface.
Humans, as a collective, are remarkably forgetful. They tend to focus on the present rather than the past — more forgiving of those who have turned over a new leaf, and harsher on those who stumble only occasionally.
Over this period, Virt had genuinely won over a number of Knight House students. Their interactions had grown more frequent, and with that came greater investment in how he would perform.
The Noble House students, of course, stood firmly and unanimously on Dark's side. As far as they were concerned, the outcome of this Silent Duel wasn't even a question.
Of all the people in the room, only Robert was muttering under his breath with an expression of visible dread: "No way, no way — Virt wouldn't seriously pull out the Holy Sword Spell in a setting like this, would he? I mean, he's not the type who can't read a room, but that look in his eyes… he probably… won't… right?"
...
Up on the platform…
After his nod, Virt drew a slow, deep breath and locked his gaze onto Dark.
His mind had already been running at full speed the moment his name was called. He knew perfectly well that a significant gap still existed between himself and Dark Demon — perhaps the Holy Sword Spell he had already forged could close some of that distance. But to overturn the outcome of a proper duel with nothing more than a single equipment card? That was a fantasy.
But a Silent Duel was another matter entirely.
It restricted the opening moves. It restricted star levels…
A normal Silent Duel wouldn't limit the star level of Magic Guide Spirits, of course — but this duel was taking place inside a classroom. To prevent any damage, Professor Jones had explicitly prohibited the summoning of high-star Magic Guide Spirits. And that gave him an opening.
Virt's thoughts churned.
Dark Demon's greatest advantage over any other first-year student was his abundance of second-tier Magic Guide Spirits. The vast majority of first-years — Virt included — lacked the ability to forge second-tier spirits.
But right now, that advantage had been leveled.
Virt's eyes flickered. All at once, he held his breath.
Sound…
In that single instant — vanished.
...
"It's begun!"
Dark Demon crooked a finger, raising the Magic Guide Card in his hand just slightly.
The activation of the Silence Card was unmistakable. In a noisy environment, human sensitivity to sound gradually dulls — but the moment sound ceases entirely, every sense goes on alert, and awareness snaps back in an instant.
Dark's reaction was swift. Within moments he had already begun silently reciting the incantation for Normal Summoning. The silent incantation did slow him down somewhat, but only marginally.
He completed the summon quickly regardless.
As the Magic Guide Card in his hand began to glow, Virt's card still showed not a glimmer.
And then —
[Magic Beast (Eevee)] leaped forth from the surface of the card and let out an affectionate cry toward her summoner — though, of course, no sound reached anyone's ears.
Eevee-chan cycled through three expressions in the space of a single heartbeat — coquettish, startled, and terrified — before Dark gave her a reassuring wink, at which point she finally collected herself and padded over to press close against his leg.
That rapid little sequence of expressions and gestures was enough to melt the hearts of every girl in the front rows.
Since Eevee-chan joined the Wednesday evening Astronomy classes every week, the first-years had become thoroughly familiar with her — some of them even tried to slip her food before and after class. Eevee-chan always made a valiant effort to refuse, but that only made them want to spoil her more. Now, with her brow furrowed and her eyes gone pitifully wide, she managed to draw a wave of sympathetic murmurs from the crowd.
At last, Virt's silent incantation completed as well. The card pinched between his fingers emitted a faint white glow, and a long-absent luminous stag stepped into being before him.
"Wait, what is that?"
It had been so long since anyone had seen the stag that quite a few of the young Magic Guide users failed to recognize it as Virt's Magic Beast at all.
Once summoned, the stag drew two sharp sniffs through its nostrils, then stamped its front hooves against the ground — silence speaking louder than any sound.
"Oh wow, it's fired up."
Virt reached out instinctively to run a hand along the stag's back — but the moment his fingers nearly made contact, the stag gave a sharp shudder and jolted his hand away.
Virt yanked his hand back, caught off guard and more than a little embarrassed. Fortunately, in the silent environment, the moment passed without much notice.
His expression went slightly pale, but he pushed the incident to the back of his mind and poured all his focus into the Silent Duel.
Under the rules of a Silent Duel, the one-star Magic Guide Spirit summoned at the start defaults to representing the duelist. Only after that does the real duel begin.
Seeing that Dark made no rush to attack, Virt gritted his teeth and reached into his card pouch, drawing out one of his trump cards — the Shining Giant Python.
As a three-star Magic Guide Spirit, the Shining Giant Python boasted a formidable 1400 across all three stats. Slightly inferior to the Troll, perhaps, but still a dominant three-star spirit. And in this cramped space, a serpent would have far more room to maneuver than a troll ever could.
Only when Virt began his summon did Dark, unhurried as ever, reach for his second card.
Dark had a rough idea of what Virt might summon — it was either the Troll or the Shining Giant Python. Unless Virt had forged something new, those two were the ones he'd be rotating between. Dark didn't overthink it and went straight into summoning Meowth.
He was a beat behind, but both Magic Guide Spirits materialized at almost the same moment — though the sheer size of the Shining Giant Python drew all eyes immediately.
The colossal python reared its head high, its fine scales scattering glittering white light under the indoor lights, and the snow-white gem crowning its head radiated a warmth as pure as jade. Despite being a cold-blooded reptile by nature, the python's long, slitted eyes held a gentleness as soft as water.
It was, without question, the very embodiment of beauty and divinity — a complete and utter contrast to Virt's other Magic Guide Spirit, the Troll.
Meowth, meanwhile, upheld the signature aesthetic of Dark's entire lineup: so adorable it made you want to squeeze it.
Meowth's last appearance had been in the Street Duel on Valentine's Day. But back then, Meowth had not been the star of the show — no one had paid close enough attention to notice just how staggering a power lay hidden inside that small, deceptively cute frame.
The complete absence of sound sent Meowth's fur bristling the instant it appeared, but the yowl it produced in response sank without a trace, raising not a ripple. Baffled, it could only turn to its summoner, half-lidded eyes flickering with confusion.
Dark responded with an "OK" gesture, then pointed at Virt's stag and drew a sharp line across his own throat — the universal sign for "take it down."
Meowth settled immediately. It swung its gaze back to the other side of the platform.
A python with nothing but size — and one pure prey animal…
It raised one paw, flicked out its tongue, and licked it slowly. A glint of hungry bloodlust surfaced in its eyes.
Then Meowth — whose magic power and attack stat both peaked at 1500 — launched itself forward before the Shining Giant Python could even begin to move.
For a feline, the hunt was instinct written into the bone.
Meowth stretched its body through the air with terrifying, fluid grace — coordinated from tip to tail — and crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat. Without sparing the Shining Giant Python so much as a glance, it spun on a dime, traced a razor-sharp "Z" around the python's bulk, and lunged straight for the stag behind it.
In that instant, Virt couldn't help opening his mouth to shout — he was clearly trying to call out the Shining Giant Python's Ultimate Move, Holy Light — but under the Silence Card's coverage, not a single sound escaped.
People are like that. Even knowing no sound will come out, they can't help opening their mouths anyway.
Snapping back to the reality that his voice was gone, Virt shot a frantic look at the Shining Giant Python's back, willing his intent to travel through the bond between duelist and spirit.
But the Shining Giant Python made no move to meet his hopes. It had only reacted on instinct as Meowth flashed past — swinging its tail in a lashing strike.
A move a full beat too slow. It didn't even graze Meowth's shadow.
The python's long tail crashed hard into the floor. The ground shuddered with the impact — and by then, Meowth had already gathered its legs and launched again.
Airborne, it extended its limbs and flicked out its right paw. Claws sharp as daggers snapped into place and zeroed in on the stag's throat with pinpoint precision.
But the stag — nostrils still flaring with each breath — reacted with startling speed. It threw its head sharply back. White light crackled across its enormous antlers, then erupted in a sudden burst.
Ultimate Move — Psychic Light!
...
No one knew this Ultimate Move better than Dark.
Psychic Light — an expression of the heart's own power — had once helped him awaken LadyDevimon from the Moon Goddess's corruption. Its ceiling was determined by the duelist's mental fortitude; it was a quintessential psychic technique, one that could be amplified by the duelist's own thoughts and emotions.
Virt was the Son of the Hero. If he could channel his courage into Psychic Light and wield it to its full potential, the results could be considerable.
Unfortunately, without the amplification of a duelist's mind behind it, Psychic Light was nothing more than the ordinary Ultimate Move of a one-star Magic Guide Spirit.
Meowth was bathed in the light head-on — and felt absolutely nothing. Not the faintest trace of heat.
It squinted against the glare, pressed straight through the radiance, and raked open [Magic Beast (Stag)]'s throat with one razor-sharp cat's claw.
The stag tried to scream.
But even without the Silence Card, a Magic Beast with 100 magic power, 200 attack, and 100 defense had no chance of making a sound after absorbing a strike like that.
Meowth landed with nimble grace. Behind it, the stag burst into motes of light.
Virt — who had just taken the Troll and the Holy Sword Spell in hand — found himself locking eyes with the grey cat as it glanced up.
The faint gleam of contempt that passed through those cat's eyes sent a sharp, stinging pain straight into Virt's chest. He was, in truth, a rather sensitive person.
He bit down hard, fighting a sudden urge to summon the Troll and tear the thing apart. But the steady pulse flowing back from the Holy Sword Spell eased his emotions down.
Even though he hadn't managed to show a single thing.
But that was reality.
The duel was over.
The surrounding noise — muffled at the edges all this while — came flooding back into his ears all at once.
His mind, struggling to process the sudden surge of sound, sagged toward exhaustion.
...
"A fine demonstration."
Once Professor Jones deactivated the Silence Card, she clapped her hands and brought the young Magic Guide users — who had erupted into chatter the instant sound returned — back to order.
Her voice always managed a more effective "silencing" than the Silence Card itself.
"Both students performed admirably with silent incantation under conditions where they couldn't produce a single sound. Virt Gold in particular exceeded my expectations somewhat. Accordingly — Virt Gold, five points."
The moment she finished, applause broke out in scattered waves from the Knight House students.
Virt stood there with his mouth half-open, receiving the applause and the points alike — and yet, for reasons he couldn't quite pin down, something about Professor Jones's praise sat completely wrong with him.
Professor Jones continued: "On the other hand, Dark Demon demonstrated exceptional clarity in his communication with his Magic Guide Spirit. A single glance and a few gestures were enough to calm his spirit, ensure it understood his intent correctly, and act on it — which suggests a quite remarkable level of mutual understanding."
"In a Silent Duel, this is indeed one of the most effective methods available."
"Dark Demon — ten points."
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