The entire arena fell silent.

Even though the duel had officially ended and the colossal image of Dystopia the Despondent had vanished, no one dared to speak.

"Did… he actually win?"

Akasha was the first to break the silence. Just moments ago, she had been ready to despair at the sight of Minazuki reviving a bunch of Bunilla—but then, that overwhelming Dystopia the Despondent had completely overturned her expectations.

And once she spoke, a tidal wave of cheers erupted from the Slifer Red section.

"He won! It's our victory—Red wins!"

"I can't believe Minazuki actually beat Bastion Misawa, the strongest duelist in Yellow Dorm!"

"That Level 12 monster—what even is that thing? Is that what he calls a 'pure low-level deck'?!"

While Red celebrated with ecstatic shouts, the atmosphere in Ra Yellow—and among the spectators who had mocked Red earlier—was utterly miserable. Every face looked as if it had been slapped swollen.

Especially the students of Ra Yellow. They could feel it—falling from heaven straight into hell in an instant.

"That loudmouthed guy who's always saying 'No problem'? He actually beat Bastion?!"

"How the hell can a failing Red student summon a god!?"

"Wait, can you even call that a God Card? Its Attribute and Type aren't divine at all."

"Still… I saw a god's summoning once during the KC Grand Prix—it felt exactly like that."

Slowly regaining his composure, Bastion glanced at the "0" flashing on his Duel Disk. Only then did he truly realize—he'd lost.

"So it's my loss then, Red—no… Minazuki. The resolve you carried proved the worth of Slifer Red. This duel belongs to your dorm."

It was the first time Bastion had called him by name—a personal acknowledgment of his opponent.

"You weren't bad yourself," Minazuki replied smugly. "Still a long way off from me, though. But no problem! You won't beat me next time either, even in the team match!"

"We'll see about that, Minazuki."

The two clasped hands in mutual respect. Minazuki, triumphant, wore the most self-satisfied grin imaginable—a look that screamed, I just pulled off an epic comeback. Now start praising me already!

"Good luck, Headmistress! The final match is up to you now!"

"As long as she wins, it's our dorm's overall victory!"

"Headmistress Hoshino, everything rests on your shoulders!"

Minazuki: "...Huh? Wait, no one's paying attention to me? Ahem!!"

"Relax," Hoshino said, adjusting her Duel Disk. "I've got Hakutaku figured out. I can handle him."

"But considering Professor Hakutaku's dueling style," Akasha mused, "the more you understand him, the more effective his strategy becomes, right?"

Minazuki: "Cough, cough, cough—HEY!!"

Akasha looked at him with mild disgust. "(｡・`´･) Minazuki, if you've caught a cold, you should go to the infirmary. I heard a nasty flu's been going around lately. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Thanks for your concern, but I'm fine… I just wanted to say—"

Unable to hold it in any longer, Minazuki finally exploded:

"CAN SOMEBODY ACKNOWLEDGE ME ALREADY!? I JUST BEAT RA YELLOW'S ACE, DAMMIT!!"

Jaden laughed heartily and slapped Minazuki's back. "Come on, we're just teasing! Of course we know how hard you worked!"

Akasha crossed her arms. "Yeah, but seeing you get so smug about it just rubs me the wrong way. So let's all pretend it never happened."

"But there's one thing I am curious about," Hoshino said. "Forget the Kuriboh—how did you even get that Dystopia the Despondent card?"

Though its Attribute and Type were different from any known Divine-Beast, the moment that god appeared, Hoshino had felt the same overwhelming pressure as when facing a God Card.

If anything, its Level 12 even exceeded the Divine Beasts—and its presence carried a despair far darker than the Wicked Gods.

"Oh, that card?" Minazuki looked a bit awkward, scratching his cheek.

Hoshino frowned. His reaction was strange—hesitant, even suspicious. Could it be that this guy really was hiding something?

Could this Dystopia the Despondent be connected to that "unknown threat" the doctor mentioned years ago?

"Is there… something you can't tell us?"

With a resigned sigh, Minazuki finally relented. "It's not that I can't tell you—it's just… well, I can't remember exactly, but it was a few nights ago..."

---

Two days earlier—

🎵 "I'm playing with mud up north, and you've got no home in Dalian~~♪" 🎵

Humming to himself, Minazuki trudged down the path after staying late in class to write an apology essay—punishment from Crowler for secretly playing Shadowverse during lectures.

By the time he left, night had completely fallen.

The Duel Academy at night still had decent lighting—but only around the Obelisk Blue and Ra Yellow dorms.

The Slifer Red dorm, however, was another story. The dorm's light bulbs frequently gave out—let alone any outdoor lamps.

Shrouded in darkness, the familiar roads looked strangely eerie to Minazuki.

"Minazuki!"

"?!!" The sudden shout made him freeze.

Out of the shadows approached a tall man in a trench coat. His face was hidden, but he held out a card toward Minazuki.

"Minazuki—put this Dystopia the Despondent in your deck."

"Huh? What?"

"I SAID—put this in your damn deck!!"

"Dystopia the Despondent?" Minazuki frowned at the card in his hand. "Nah, forget it. My deck's all low-level monsters."

SLAP!

Before he could react, the man smacked him across the face.

"You little brat—are you putting it in or not!?"

Pissed off, Minazuki snapped back, "Screw your Dystopia the Despondent! "

SLAP!!

"I SAID—PUT THE DAMN CARD IN YOUR DECK!!"

...

Even now, remembering that night, Minazuki could still feel the sting on his cheek.

When he finished his absurd story, everyone just stared at him with blank ≖_≖ expressions.

Hoshino's eye twitched. "So you're telling me, that card you used came from some random trench coat guy who forced you to add it to your deck?"

Minazuki nodded vigorously like a pecking chick. "It's true! I know it sounds insane, but you have to believe me!"

Yeah, it's absolutely insane. I'd have to be an idiot to believe that, Hoshino thought to herself.

"The next match—the team captains' duel—will be between Ra Yellow's leader and Slifer—"

"Professor Chronos just fainted!!"

Unable to handle the whiplash of emotions—the swing from joy to shock to despair—Crowler, who hadn't slept for three days straight, finally collapsed on stage.

"Mamma mia… why does this always happen to me, nannone..."

"Even if Crowler has fainted, the final captain's duel must still continue."

Without hesitation, Hoshino coldly ordered the students to drag the unconscious Crowler back to the infirmary—no point in leaving a "corpse" cluttering the stage of the final battle.

Standing across from her was Hakutaku. Back when he used to stir up trouble at the Kame Shop, Hoshino never imagined they'd face each other again like this—teacher against teacher, in an official duel.

"Facing me without running away… you've got guts, Shopwrecker~"

A faint smile flickered across Hakutaku's lips. After so many years, he was no longer shaken by the mistakes of his past.

"Run away? Even if I'm facing the Academy Headmistress herself, as a teacher who carries the hopes of his students, I could never do such a thing."

And besides—this was an entire year's salary on the line. Who in their right mind would give that up without a fight?

"You sure talk big. So, after all these years, have you come up with a counter-strategy to beat me?"

Hakutaku shook his head with a bitter smile.

"No, I've learned something in my short life: the more I study Heroic Spirit cards, the more I realize the limits of my own ability..."

Back in the Duelist Kingdom days, when Hoshino's Heroic Spirit Deck mainly focused on Warrior-types, Hakutaku could still devise anti-strategies to counter her.

But since then—after she added Magical Girls, Alter forms, and countless other variations—the Heroic Spirit archetype had evolved far beyond his understanding. Coming up with a complete counter was nearly impossible.

Hoshino widened her eyes in surprise.

"(°Д°) Wait a sec, that line… Don't tell me you…"

With a solemn expression, Hakutaku drew his deck and raised it high above his head.

"That's why I've built a deck capable of countering everything!"

"You scared me there." Hoshino exhaled and patted her chest. "For a second, I thought you'd gone insane."

Akasha sighed. "Come on, Hoshino-nee—saying you've made a deck that counters everything is already insane enough…"

[Final Captain Duel: Begin!]

Akasha glanced around, frowning when she didn't see Alexis anywhere. As the sky gradually dimmed, worry crept into her voice.

"(°ヘ°) She said she'd come early, but it's already the final duel and she's still not here. Yesterday she couldn't stop talking about how much she wanted to see Hoshino's match!"

Hakutaku drew first, clearly valuing the advantage of going first.

"I set one monster face-down in Defense Position, then set two cards face-down and end my turn."

"My turn—draw!" Hoshino declared. "Another face-down monster, huh? Everyone's getting better at this kind of opening. In that case…"

She placed a monster card onto her Duel Disk. As holographic light shimmered and solidified, a cute little magical girl in a frilly costume appeared on the field.

"I Normal Summon, in Attack Position—Magical Girl – Illya!"

[Magical Girl – Illya ★★★★ (Level 4)][LIGHT][Spellcaster/Effect][ATK 1000/DEF 1000]

"She's here—the Magical Girl! So cute!"

Although she wasn't as curvaceous as Hoshino's otherworldly counterpart, her petite, youthful appearance made her even more fitting for the "Magical Girl" motif—like a true elementary-school heroine.

Returning to the dueling stage after so long, Illya happily skipped around, her little footsteps echoing softly.

"Phew~ It's been so long since my last duel, I almost feel rusty! Hmm… could this be what Teacher Waver meant by 'work addiction'?!"

"Alright, Illya—time to earn that year's salary! Because when Magical Girl – Illya is summoned to my field, I can add one 'Phantasm Summon' from my deck to my hand!"

Catching the ejected card from her Duel Disk with practiced ease, Hoshino set it directly into her Spell & Trap Zone.

"—Continuous Spell Card, Phantasm Summon Install!"

[Phantasm Summon Install Effect: Once per turn: You can send Fusion Materials listed on a 'Heroic Spirit' Fusion Monster from your hand or field to the GY; Fusion Summon that monster from your Extra Deck. If you are Fusion Summoning a 'Magical Girl' Fusion Monster, you can also use 1 monster from your Deck as Fusion Material.]

"Using Phantasm Summon's effect, I send Illya on my field and Okita from my deck to the Graveyard as Fusion Material!"

Akasha blinked in disbelief.

"(꒪Д꒪)ノ Not even a minute into the duel and Okita's already in the graveyard—new record!"

Starlight swirled as the Summon array activated, merging the powers of Heroic Spirit and Magical Girl into a dazzling new form.

"Class: Saber! Install—Okita Soji!"

"—Fusion Summon! Magical Girl – Okita Soji Illya!"

[Magical Girl – Okita Soji Illya ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][WIND][Warrior/Fusion/Effect][ATK 2500/DEF 2000]

['Magical Girl – Illya' + 'Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji']

Jaden analyzed from the stands, "If I remember right, this Illya-in-Okita form deals double piercing damage when attacking Defense Position monsters, right?"

Minazuki gawked. "Nani?! There's a card like that?! The Headmistress's planning to one-turn kill Hakutaku-sensei!"

"Go, Illya! Attack his face-down Defense monster!"

With a swift motion, Illya dashed forward, her sword gleaming in a swirl of silver and pink.

If Hakutaku's face-down monster was something like Big Shield Gardna, then with Okita Illya's effect, it would likely be wiped out instantly.

"Hmph, just as I predicted. I activate my face-down—Continuous Trap Card, Gravity Bind!!"

[Gravity Bind – Continuous Trap Effect: Monsters Level 4 or higher on the field cannot declare attacks.]

A formless gravitational net spread across the field. Illya, mid-charge, was slammed face-first into the ground.

"Ugh… s-so heavy… my body… can't move…"

"As long as this Trap remains on the field, all Level 4 and higher monsters are sealed from attacking!"

Seeing his plan succeed, Hakutaku arrogantly brushed back his hair, looking every bit the proud troublemaker he once was.

"If I remember correctly, Headmistress, over 90% of the Heroic Spirits and Magical Girls in your deck are Level 4 or higher, aren't they~?"

Hoshino sighed. "So after all that talk about honor and courage, you were scheming against me all along, huh… I guess a year's salary really is worth fighting dirty for."