An unexpected event occurred on the third day of the GX Tournament.
At first, students engaged in duels noticed the out-of-control volcano. The volcano upon which the academy was situated suddenly erupted with a thick black column of smoke. The dormant volcano, which countless experts had confidently assured would never erupt, seemed to wake up after a millennium of slumber, releasing a dazzling fire dragon into the sky.
Lava was hurled into the heavens, with dark red magma being launched into the air under an invisible impact, then plummeting down like a shower of shooting stars. The sky turned blood-red, and the heavens seemed like a burning lid being overturned, creating an apocalyptic atmosphere.
All duels were halted, and students fled in panic. Duel Academy immediately went into its highest level of alert, with emergency procedures being launched.
Before everyone could catch their breath, a new wave of strikes followed in quick succession.
The blood-red sky seemed to be sliced apart by a black sword, shattering the heavens.
But it was not a sword; it was an exaggeratedly gigantic battleship!
This was technology that humans could never possess; star equipment existing only in fantasies. The battleship, like a drawn black sword, slowly advanced in the atmosphere, with blue flames spewing from its end like the gaze of the Grim Reaper.
Along came more smaller warships, spacecraft, and shuttles, swarming over Duel Academy like locusts.
It was as if an alien fleet was invading, the prelude to an apocalypse.
"Oh my god! Aliens really are coming!" a student shouted.
"The apocalypse! The apocalypse is here!"
Due to the previous incident where the Radian Kaiju had landed on the island and battled with Elemental Hero Neos, the academy had been on guard for an alien return.
But wasn't this a bit too fast? There wasn't even a hint!
Do you aliens go to war without any regard for strategy? Not even bothering with formalities? Just launching a blitzkrieg?
But Duel Academy wasn't incompetent either.
The security forces stationed within the academy immediately took action. Although primarily a school focused on teaching, there were no military weapons installed on the island...
...but there were plenty of duelists!
The security forces promptly used their Duel Discs equipped with projection functions to quickly summon real Duel Monsters for a counterattack.
Additionally, some Professional Duelists on the island possessed the power of the Darkness Game, and they summoned their spirits for the counterattack without reservation.
However, within minutes, everyone realized that these were not real at all.
The erupting volcano, the vast alien fleet, the apocalyptic scenery... all were just projections.
Yes, it was the most ordinary kind of holographic display used in their regular card battles. But after so many generations of updates, the projection system developed by Kaiba Group had become realistic enough to pass for reality, hence no one noticed anything amiss immediately.
But then, a problem arose. This massive projection covering the entire island and even occupying the whole sky was clearly beyond the capability of a regular Duel Disc's display system.
Principal Samejima also quickly received a report from the security department.
"It's the large-scale projection devices mounted around our island!" The department head reported to Principal Samejima with sweat streaming down his face, "These projection devices were originally used only for welcoming ceremonies for new students and anniversaries—major events with effects more realistic than regular Duel Discs, and with imagery covering the whole island...
...but now those devices have been hacked!"
"Who did it?" Principal Samejima immediately asked.
"We don't know yet, we're still...zzzz...investigating...zzzz..."
The screen twisted with static, briefly glitched, then went completely dark.
Principal Samejima sat upright: "Hello? Are you still there? Hello?"
He then tried to contact other departments, and even attempted to make calls, but all were in vain.
The projection devices were hacked, first unleashing a volcano, then an alien fleet, followed by various giant monsters and demons, all sorts of phantoms appeared.
Next, signals were cut off, security systems malfunctioned, alarms blared all over the academy with chaotic evacuation warnings, throwing the academy into total disarray.
Of course, since it was only a program-level intrusion, the enemy was merely a projection, posing no actual threat, amounting only to chaos.
Chaos was exactly what the mastermind needed.
At this moment, the woman responsible for it all was calmly walking through a pitch-black space.
She was dressed in a wide kimono, wearing wooden clogs, her face pale and lips thin, with long black hair cascading like a waterfall.
Her name was Saiou Mizuchi.
The sister who lived together with Saiou Takuma.
Presently, she was in a fully digitalized state, transforming her consciousness in an almost impossible way to personally enter a virtual Data World.
To her now, strands of hair brushing past the code of 0 and 1 felt like the most real world. In that space, she moved freely, any door would open automatically for her, and the flowing data seemed to follow her commands like spirits.
From this standpoint, infiltrating the academy's system was simply too easy.
However, creating chaos was only a means to an end; her real target was a specific individual on the island, that highly anticipated star pupil—Yuki Judai.
Like her brother Saiou, Mizuchi possessed the ability to perceive destiny and foresee the future. Fate guided her here and directed her path towards Yuki Judai.
As though this jellyfish-haired student was the center of destiny's flood, the child chosen by fate.
To grasp destiny, one must control Yuki Judai and the mysterious power he possesses.
However, Duel Academy was heavily guarded and monitored, and with Duel King Youyu present, making a direct move was too challenging. Thus, she needed to create chaos first, an opportunity...
Saiou Mizuchi's pupils contracted, her footsteps halted.
She was surprised to notice that, unknowingly, the purely data-constructed Virtual World seemed to have deviated from her control.
Suddenly, the surrounding scenery began to change rapidly. Massive data streams surged past her, the dark scene quickly faded, replaced by concrete skyscrapers.
The floors rose, and when she came to herself, Mizuchi found herself standing on a modern street. However, the city appeared deserted, with pale blue data streams blowing between buildings like wind, unknown where they would be whisked away.
"To infiltrate Duel Academy's system...and right under my nose, you're quite impressive, big sis."
A voice rang out. Saiou Mizuchi turned her head and saw a young boy with green hair standing hands behind his back on the empty street. His appearance so resembled...
"Kaiba Seto?" Mizuchi frowned.
But she quickly sensed something was amiss.
Kaiba Seto did not look this young, and his aura was different.
"Not quite. Although people often confuse me with Seto, I'm not him." The young boy smiled, "You can call me, Kaiba Noah."
Mizuchi wasn't particularly concerned who the other person was. She glanced around at the surrounding skyscrapers and asked, "This place is outside of Duel Academy's system...a completely independent new system, a Virtual World?"
"Big sis is sharp, indeed. Yes, this is a new space built through collaboration between me and Seto, created with the existing 'Duel Link System' as a template, an expansive Virtual World named—
—Linked World."