At first, Hikaru was a bit confused.
He wondered if he had gotten something wrong.
After all, based on the information Crowler had provided and the "Revelation diary" Seraph had left behind, Professor Paladin was simply an adventurer who loved traveling, occasionally working as an actor and photographer. He had no legendary backstory to speak of.
If there was anything distinctive, it was perhaps his talent for performance.
Then suddenly being told that Paladin had been biding his time, infiltrating Duel Academy for revenge? That was bound to shock Hikaru somewhat.
But once Hikaru arrived on the scene, he gradually figured it out.
He wasn't the one who was wrong.
Professor Paladin was "wrong." No, more precisely, Professor Paladin "misremembered."
Professor Paladin had misremembered his own life!
At first glance it seemed absurd. Who forgets their own life experiences? That was ridiculous.
But this was no joke, nor was Paladin simply forgetful. It was...
Deliberate manipulation.
In the original Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, this exact thing had happened.
In the original story, Axel Brodie, an investigator hired by Industrial Illusions and Jaden's friend from another school, dueled one of Darkness's subordinates, "Mr. T," during his investigation.
Everything had been going smoothly until Mr. T brought up Axel's childhood, launching a psychological attack.
This was normal in the dueling world. Psychological warfare and verbal attacks were fair game as long as they led to victory.
Under Mr. T's guidance, Axel recalled a decision from his childhood that had haunted him his entire life.
During an unexpected road trip, their car overturned in an accident. He was the least injured. The vehicle was engulfed in flames, about to explode. Following his father's teachings, he calculated that he only had time to wake one person.
Save his father, or save his mother. That was the choice he had to make.
And at that moment... he chose to save his father!
Because of that, he "lost" his mother. It became his eternal wound.
Mr. T exploited that wound, seizing the opportunity during the duel to make Axel miss his chance. He lost the duel and became a puppet of Darkness.
At first glance, while extremely malicious, it was also somewhat normal.
But...
This was neither fact nor Axel's real memory!
The truth was that Axel had analyzed the situation and determined he should wake his father. After waking him, they had successfully rescued his mother together!
His mother was actually alive!
Utterly despicable!
The actual events and Axel's "memory" had diverged!
So Mr. T had actually falsified Axel's memories during the duel, making Axel believe he carried an unforgivable sin. In that state, Axel abandoned hope for humanity and the future, and lost to Mr. T!
Honestly, all the dueling, all the powerful cards Darkness had copied, none of it compared to the "trait" Darkness displayed in that one duel.
Because that duel showed everyone exactly why Darkness was "humanity's enemy."
You could call it low. You could call its dueling weak. But you could never call it "not powerful."
Ordinary humans would be instantly washed away by its power, becoming those who sank into darkness awaiting death. And even powerful, strong-willed duelists, those single-minded, indomitable duelists, even those without any weaknesses, were never "perfectly flawless souls" when facing Darkness.
Because it could fabricate flaws from nothing and make you feel no inconsistency at all.
That was its true horror.
"How's Professor Strongman?!"
"Being treated, but for some reason, nothing can wake him!"
"What about spirits?"
"No good. That dark power... it can't be purged at all."
"Professor! How is the professor?!" Jaden burst into the medical room alone, shouting.
In the school infirmary, a crowd of teachers scrambled to handle various cases. Despite their best efforts to protect students, injuries occurred daily. And today, to make matters worse, the "strongest" professor, Strongman, had been felled by "infighting" and was unconscious.
Already overwhelmed, having a loud, frantic Jaden charge in only added to their headaches.
Adrian Gecko had been continuously assisting several professors in the infirmary, not even noticing someone had barged in shouting.
Having once traveled the world seeking treatment for his younger brother, he knew some medicine. Helping out was no problem. He had thought this approach would be the best way to assist his classmates. But he hadn't expected the infirmary's condition to worsen daily. Today, even a professor had fallen.
His brow furrowed deeply.
These past days, he had been hearing a voice. A voice guiding him. But he simply continued working silently.
So medicine couldn't save his classmates after all...
After a flurry of activity, he slumped into a chair.
Even with his physical conditioning, he was now quite exhausted. Only occasionally opening his Deck and looking at the clouds could relieve his stress.
But...
When he opened his Deck and looked at his "hand," his thoughts grew even heavier.
Meanwhile, on the "front line," Jesse was battling Professor Paladin with everything he had.
He didn't understand why Paladin had changed so drastically.
He clearly remembered Paladin's Deck being a "Round Table Knight" Noble Knight deck using Noble Arms. But today it had become a Charlemagne's Twelve Paladins-themed deck.
Not only that, Paladin normally dueled using Noble Arms and knight coordination attacks, a style identical to Jesse's own approach of using Spells, Traps, and Crystal Beast coordination.
But now...
Paladin was performing Synchro Summons!!!!
Staring at Infernoble Knight Captain Roland, Infernoble Knight Oliver, and the powerful Infernoble Knight Emperor Charles on the opponent's field, Jesse was completely stunned.
A Deck change, he could chalk up to Paladin holding back before.
But Synchro Summoning was just absurd!
And moreover...
Synchro Summoning was possible on the academy island now?!
So not only could spirits materialize, but even Synchro Summoning was possible?
Thinking about it, it made sense.
The school's current state was more like being inside the spirit world, so Synchro being possible wasn't that strange...
"Jesse."
Suddenly, a voice reached his ears.
Hikaru?!
He remembered now.
Hikaru had mentioned that he couldn't attack proactively right now for the sake of the bigger picture. He had to "wait."
But sitting around waiting to die wasn't his style.
So he had been constantly preparing and planning. Helping classmates on one hand, planning a counterattack on the other.
On the "duel-assist glasses" used for observing spirits, Hikaru seemed to have been installing additional features.
A communication function?
"What is it, Hikaru? Is something going on?"
His field was in a bit of a crisis. Without Crystal Brilliance, he couldn't keep up in ATK. Trap Cards could solve things temporarily, but those Noble Arms could be recovered after destruction, making them extremely difficult to deal with.
Moreover, the Infernoble Knights in the Graveyard could equip themselves to Warrior monsters as Equip Cards, which was even more of a headache.
But more importantly, during the duel, he noticed the dark power coiling around the professor was growing wildly. Whenever either of them lost LP, visible wounds appeared.
If he actually beat the professor, Paladin would likely collapse unconscious from that dark power.
Absolutely not!
He had stepped in to stop Paladin, not to put one of them in a coma!
If possible, he wanted to focus on persuading the professor to let go of his hatred.
On the other side, Hikaru was on a call while fiddling with several items. He said to Jesse, "Jesse, just repeat what I tell you."
?
"What?"
"First: Professor, you don't have a fiancee."
"Second: Professor, Angelica is the name of a magazine celebrity on your desk."
"Therefore: Professor, you and Professor Strongman have absolutely no grudge between you."
...
Huh?
"I've sent you the footage and records. You should receive them on your Duel Disk any moment."
Huh?!
Jesse looked down at his Duel Disk. Besides the duel information, a small video had appeared. He opened it and saw Hikaru and Chazz rummaging through Professor Paladin's room, turning the place upside down.
Although that behavior was rather inappropriate...
They had indeed found a magazine featuring a silver-haired girl named "Angelica." Not only that, they also displayed the professor's personal information.
Wha... WHAT?!
What??
Jesse felt like he was floating in a sea of stars, his mind full of question marks.
Wait?
Then...
He shook his head.
If this was true, then the professor had attacked Strongman by mistake?
Had the "roleplay method" gone too deep, and he got confused?!
Huh...
He came up with a reasonable explanation.
But regardless.
"Professor, are you thinking clearly?!" He shouted. "You don't have a fiancee!!"
What?!
Paladin himself, the spectating students, the teachers, everyone was dumbfounded by Jesse's outburst.
No way, Jesse. What are you talking about?
The professor drew a sword and attacked someone! You think this is a joke?!
"Jesse, you little punk. Are you messing with me?!"
Jesse didn't hold back. With zero tact, he followed up: "Professor, get a grip! How could you possibly have a fiancee?!
That Angelica is a celebrity from a magazine on your desk!!!"
Hearing this, Paladin's head spun. After a long pause, he snapped: "You little brat, have I been too nice to you?"
Just as he said this, a book fell from the sky, landing on the ground. Paladin looked up and saw Chazz, who had tossed the magazine from above.
It seemed Hikaru and Chazz had snuck into his dormitory.
Those two brats...
He was about to curse them out when he noticed the magazine's cover on the ground.
Wait!
Angelica...
His mind went blank.
Jesse, seeing this, couldn't help pursing his lips.
Pfft...
He really, really wanted to laugh.
It seemed to be true!
The spectating students also noticed and some exclaimed, "Hey! I've seen her! She really is a movie star!"
"For real! She's my phone wallpaper too..."
Someone even pulled out their phone to show. Sure enough, the wallpaper was an elegant silver-haired woman.
Paladin stood frozen.
The black miasma on his body slowly dissipated, melted, and vanished. But after the darkness disappeared, his body started radiating intense heat.
Although his memories had been falsified, the mounting evidence, combined with his own modest spirit power, gradually corrected them. But this also caused his temperature to keep... rising.
This time, it wasn't the heat of the Infernoble Arms.
It was embarrassment.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!
He clutched his head on the spot, rolling on the ground, screaming wildly.
Something, something seems wrong!!!!
My memories, my memories seem wrong...
WHAT'S HAPPENING!!
WHAT'S HAPPENING!!!!
Pfft.
AHAHAHAHA!!
Laughter erupted.
Although nobody fully understood what had happened, one thing was certain.
The professor had made a terrible mistake!!
Of course, some who noticed the black miasma dissipate realized Paladin's memories may have been "tampered with." But feeling the atmosphere around them, they couldn't help laughing instinctively too.
There was no helping it. The scene was too ridiculous.
The professor was clutching his head, writhing on the ground like a caterpillar. It was bizarre and hilarious.
The sheer embarrassment radiating off him was funnier than the best joke.
After a long while, Professor Paladin finally got up. He had figured it out. A false set of memories had been planted in his mind. The figure he kept seeing was likely the influence of the dark power surrounding the island.
What a terrifying power...
"I understand now. Thank you, Hikaru, Jesse!"
Paladin gradually came to terms with it. Although deeply embarrassed, at this point all he could do was apologize to Strongman later.
"But this is also an opportunity, Jesse." He pondered. Right now, having just sorted through his memories, remnants of that power still lingered on him. If he continued dueling, they might discover some secret. At the very least, Jesse could experience that power's influence firsthand.
This was a golden opportunity. For this, he was even willing to save face by insisting he had attacked Strongman for revenge.
Acting skills. Acting skills. This was the caliber of a "method actor" duelist.
But precisely because of that, the laughter grew even louder.
"...All right, Professor! Then let me show you my Fusion!" Jesse seemed to sense something. Watching the professor who clearly wanted to crawl into a hole but still insisted on dueling, he couldn't help getting excited.
So this was the true essence of "roleplay dueling"! Amazing, Professor! This way, he could have a proper duel against the professor at full power!
He had obtained Ultimate Crystal Beast Rainbow Dragon from the professor's teachings and the Fusion technique Ultimate Crystal Formation from Hikaru. This was the perfect chance to try them out. He had a feeling he could master Fusion in this duel!
Hearing Jesse's response, Paladin was practically crying blood on the inside, gritting his teeth to keep going. In this atmosphere, even Chazz couldn't help laughing. Only Hikaru maintained a serious expression.
He had already contacted Professor Crowler. Afterward, a dedicated doctor would examine Paladin's physical and mental state.
Other students might still be laughing, treating this as great entertainment.
But Hikaru understood clearly.
With this incident, "Darkness" was drawing ever closer to the human world.
Going forward, students whose memories were altered, whose minds were controlled, or who fell unconscious and sank into darkness would only increase.
And he...
Could only watch.
Because there was no way to stop it.
If they couldn't even withstand Darkness's "mental probing," there was no way to advance to the next stage, no way to participate in Darkness's descent event whatsoever.
But conversely...
Hikaru slowly clenched his fist.
This was also "good news" for him.
The reason was simple.
Through conventional means, he could never directly confront Darkness.
Because the "time" in which Darkness existed and the "time" he occupied were always different.
No matter how he searched, he would never find it!
Because logically, as long as he was still alive, his era was not "the era of human extinction."
Darkness existed in the future where humanity had completely perished. As the "embodiment of human extinction," as long as it wished, it could wait forever until the instant humanity went extinct.
But...
That instant was not "absolute."
The reason was simple. If it truly were "absolute," then Darkness wouldn't need to appear at all. It could simply wait for humanity's demise, since time meant nothing to it.
Perhaps, for the ending of "human extinction" to occur, Darkness's hand was required. Without it, that ending could never be reached. Therefore, it had to appear in the human world.
Perhaps that was the real reason humans could see it manifest!
And that... gave humanity a chance.
A chance to face this "God of Extinction" head-on, defeat it, and erase "humanity's ultimate demise"!
Suddenly...
"Hikaru!" Tierra spoke up abruptly. "That gaze that once spied on you has appeared in this world!"
Earlier, when she had descended during their duel, her purgatorial flames had burned across the entire dueling island. She had used that opportunity to establish island-wide detection.
Now, there was finally a response!
Hikaru's pupils contracted.
That gaze, almost certainly Yubel's!
He understood immediately.
Because Darkness's power was entering the next phase, Yubel had probably decided to stop hiding!
It was finally here.
The long wait was over!
From here on, it was time to go on the offensive!