As the duel between Bakutaro and Niobe came to an end, the tense yet unexpectedly pure and passionate atmosphere in the plaza gradually faded away.
It was indeed getting late. The Obelisk Blue students of this academy were, after all, elites who had fought their way up through sheer strength–whether in Deck power or personal Soul Power. There were certainly students from Slifer Red and Ra Yellow who attempted to challenge above their rank tonight, but those who could truly overturn Blue like Bakutaro were ultimately few.
The scattered duels quickly concluded. The defeated withdrew in silence, while the victors turned and left with faint smirks.
As for Phila's side.
As the headline figure who had defeated Red head-on in the practical exam, the rumors of her 3800 Soul Power and her ruthless Zombie suppression had already spread; Naturally, no freshman was reckless enough to come challenge her tonight.
The night wind of the Duel Academy carried the salty humidity unique to an island.
Walking along the stone path back to the Obelisk Blue villa the two shared, the streetlights stretched the girls' shadows long across the ground.
Phila was not nervously clutching the hem of her gothic dress and looking around as usual. Instead, she kept her head lowered. Her pure white hair fell along both sides of her face, hiding those ruby-like eyes.
She walked slowly.
"Phila, what's wrong?"
Niobe slowed her pace, still casually swinging the blue dorm jacket she had just taken off, her gunmetal ponytail swaying behind her.
Hearing her voice, Phila stopped and slowly raised her head.
"It's nothing…" Her voice was soft. "I was just thinking about the duel earlier. Destruction… is that also a form of rebirth?"
She looked at Niobe, her gaze filled with a seriousness and confusion she had never shown before.
"Then all this time… not daring to send my Zombie partners to the Graveyard, was that also wrong?"
Her voice trembled slightly, as if denying a belief she had held onto for years. "I've been thinking about it."
Deep within her consciousness.
Raku sat cross-legged in midair.
It seemed that the duel between Scrap and Super Quantum had left quite an impact on her.
He watched the little girl in his vision, head lowered and face full of conflict. She hadn't retreated, hadn't instinctively avoided things like she did when facing Red. Instead, she had begun to truly examine her Deck with the mindset of a Duelist.
She wanted to change.
A faint trace of approval flashed through Raku's dark eyes, and he chose not to interrupt this rare moment of self-reflection.
Hearing Phila's words, Niobe crossed her hands behind her head and looked up at the stars in the night sky.
"You're pretty amazing, you know that?"
Niobe grinned, her tone carrying genuine admiration.
"Using Zombies without sending them to the Graveyard and still beating Red… I could never do something like that."
Those words pierced Phila's ears like a thorn.
"That's not true…"
Phila lowered her head even further, her voice barely audible. Her already tear-prone eyes now grew misty.
She knew the truth better than anyone. Beating Red, having overwhelming strength–it was all false. If Mr. Wandering Spirit hadn't taken over the duel at the critical moment and manifested that Continuous Spell, she would have been crushed by that Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem. She might not even have had the right to stand on this island.
Seeing Phila looking like she had done something terribly wrong, Niobe scratched the back of her head.
"You're kind of strange." Niobe dropped her hands and tossed the jacket back over her shoulder. "Well, everyone has their own problems. I don't understand your Deck, so I can't answer that."
Niobe looked at the petite girl beside her.
In truth, she wasn't totally clueless about Zombie strategies; Sending them to the Graveyard was like returning home, and it was how they built up their strength.
If it were anyone else playing Zombies so timidly, she would probably mock them without mercy for wasting their resources.
However, in the end, she didn't say any of that.
Because the truth was right there: Phila had indeed won that highly watched exam.
Even if she hadn't witnessed it personally.
Regardless, if Phila could defeat that notoriously brutal examiner without making full use of the Graveyard, then there must be some deeper meaning and bond in her strategy that someone like her–a straightforward brawler–couldn't understand.
Since she won, what right did outsiders have to criticize her path to victory?
Lost in their own thoughts, the two slowly returned to the luxurious Obelisk Blue villa under the streetlights.
After returning to their rooms, exhaustion finally washed over them. Phila hurried to the bathroom for a hot shower, changed into a white nightdress, and slipped into bed.
Meanwhile, Niobe's room door was wide open.
The crisp clinking of a screwdriver against metal could be heard from inside, accompanied by occasional flashes of welding sparks. She was still enthusiastically tinkering with some damaged D-Wheel parts she had no idea where she got them from.
The night deepened.
Raku looked at Phila, who was curled up on the wide double bed, pulling the blanket up high so that only a tuft of white hair was visible.
Still hesitating?
Raku let out a long sigh.
Afterward, he, too, fell asleep.
His consciousness slowly began to sink.
Raku had originally thought he might be able to get a bit of rest; after all, watching that gray-haired girl fix a D-Wheel was surprisingly exhausting, however…
When he opened his eyes again, there was no luxurious crystal chandelier from the Obelisk Blue villa ceiling, nor the sterile scent of the Kaiba Corporation hospital room.
Withered trees.
Bone-chilling fog.
And a cluster of campfires burning with eerie green flames.
Raku looked around and saw Aleister standing nearby. The great sage was examining a broken tree root with interest, the thick grimoire in his hand emitting a blue glow that pushed back a small portion of the surrounding gloom.
Aleister turned his head, his steady voice coming from beneath his golden-brown hood. "I've never been here before. It doesn't seem to be the Spirit World–rather, just a small world."
As he spoke, a grating sound came from deep within the dead forest.
"Ugh… give me your life!"
A skeleton dressed in tattered purple robes limped out from the shadows of the trees. Its bony hands stretched stiffly forward, its jaw clacking as it slowly approached Raku.
Raku glanced at Aleister.
Aleister smiled and shrugged, clearly having no intention of intervening.
Raku turned his gaze back to the skeleton in purple robes and sighed.
"That acting's way too fake, Mr. Skull Servant King." Raku bluntly exposed the unthreatening entrance.
The skeleton halted abruptly, its raised claws lowering.
"Huh? That obvious?" The King of the Skull Servants instinctively touched his bare skull.
Before he could finish speaking, there was a dull thud.
The Skull Servant King was kicked hard, stumbling forward a few steps, nearly collapsing into a pile of bones.
Another skeleton emerged from the same thicket–a figure in a simple vintage dress, wearing a white spiderweb-like wig.
The Lady in Wight.
"Stop fooling around and get to the point," she said, nudging the Skull Servant King's shoulder.
"Ahem… there are outsiders here. Leave me some dignity," Skull Servant King straightened himself and adjusted his ragged robe.
"What dignity? You're just a skeleton," the Lady in Wight replied mercilessly.
"Oh, my dear, your words are quite… bare-boned," the Skull Servant King said, naturally making a pun as he clutched where his chest should be.
Raku watched this oddly warm, almost absurd scene.
What kind of family comedy was this?
Raku interrupted their little moment. "If you want to talk, tell me first–where is this place?"
The Skull Servant King turned around, two ghostly flames igniting in his empty eye sockets.
"You should already know," he said, his tone becoming more serious.
"You're a soul too–an undead.
"This place… is the Zombie World!"
He pointed his bony claw at the withered trees and green campfires around them.
"Of course, this is only the Zombie World within our Duelist–Phila's Deck. Not the vast original world of the Spirit World."
The Skull Servant King stepped back half a step, raised his clawed hand, and waved sharply.
From deep within the dark forest, the fog began to churn violently.
On cue, accompanied by rustling noises and low growls, figures emerged one after another from behind the dead trees.
Burning skeleton soldiers, singing zombies, and several vampires dressed in aristocratic attire.
At the very front of this undead procession stood a gothic girl with dazzling blonde hair and crimson eyes.
Vampire Fraulein.
She held her signature parasol, her crimson pupils glowing brightly under the eerie green firelight as she observed Raku with a scrutinizing gaze.
Raku raised an eyebrow.
Duel Spirits?
So many?!
There were actually Duel Spirits residing in Phila's Deck?
This was ridiculous... Since arriving in this world, most Duelists he had seen were lucky if even one or two spirits responded to them.
And Phila, this timid girl who would tear up at the slightest scare, who didn't even dare send her monsters to the Graveyard… her Deck was practically a nest of spirits?!
The campfire flames suddenly surged higher.
Fraulein lightly pressed her parasol against the ground, her eyes narrowing slightly.
...
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