The duel ended.
Professor Viper watched from a distance, then calmly turned to leave. Jaden shouted, "Wait, Professor! Tell me, where is Yubel?!"
Viper had blocked him on Yubel's behalf, which meant he was likely cooperating with Yubel and knew her whereabouts. Jaden didn't want him to just walk away.
"...If you want to know, come find me at the island's cliff tomorrow night, Jaden." His tone was perfectly calm.
He glanced back at Dimitri, then silently turned and left without looking back.
Chazz gritted his teeth and struggled to stand. His forehead was drenched in cold sweat. Some force was crushing his spirit, and even with Yubel's consciousness gone, the pressure hadn't faded.
He looked up at the dark clouds that seemed ready to fall from the sky and felt unprecedented anguish.
Hikaru checked Dimitri's condition.
His breathing was perfectly smooth.
Just as Hikaru had planned during the duel.
He hadn't used any overwhelming power throughout. Yubel had mostly dueled using Dimitri's own abilities. So as long as no physical harm was dealt and Yubel was driven out through spiritual attacks alone, Dimitri himself wouldn't be injured.
After this duel, Dimitri might even believe his ritual had succeeded and that he had truly obtained great power.
Unfortunately...
Hikaru frowned at the unconscious Dimitri who wouldn't wake no matter what.
Dimitri's body had been controlled by Yubel, seemingly because he had summoned her. But his coma wasn't Yubel's doing. It was Darkness's.
If that was the case, he likely wouldn't wake anytime soon.
However...
Hikaru looked at Dimitri's Duel Disk. One card inside radiated incomparable dark energy. Hikaru glanced at Tierra beside him. She nodded, casually snapped her fingers, and two grey-white mechanical demons appeared, carefully picking up the card.
As they did, their palms corroded under the darkness. Fortunately, as extensions of Tierra, she could repair them at will.
Having learned from the Seraph duel, Hikaru knew powerful spirits like Morningstar would resist him.
Phantasm Emperor Trilojig radiated the same dark aura as the Psychic End Punisher he had encountered before. One look confirmed it was definitely a card Darkness had created or copied.
Hikaru had encountered several of these. Previous ones had either become Shaddolls or Tierra's components. This was his first time obtaining a usable card.
Phantasm Emperor Trilojig...
Honestly, its effect alone was quite mediocre, and it looked nothing like the Sacred Beasts.
But its Fusion conditions suited Hikaru well: three Level 10 monsters.
Normally, the three Level 10 monsters would mean the three Sacred Beasts. But Fusion wasn't that picky. As long as the monsters could be used as Fusion Material, they worked.
So forget the Sacred Beasts. The three Egyptian Gods, the three Wicked Gods, the three Aesir... any three Level 10 monsters could Fuse into Trilojig. In a pinch, it could be useful.
Hikaru pocketed the card. Dimitri's furrowed brow and pained whimpers eased slightly.
At least his suffering in the nightmare would be somewhat reduced.
Nearby, watching Hikaru store another dangerous card, Chazz forced himself to stay focused, rubbing his temples.
Another dangerous card collected. Could Hikaru withstand the pressure of so many evil cards?
Then he recalled something from the duel.
"If my memories and this world disagree with my Fusion, then it's my memories and this world that are wrong!"
He shook his head. For the first time, he genuinely felt a sense of awe toward Hikaru.
Every time Chazz thought Hikaru was "Fusion enough," Hikaru would show him he was wrong. His pursuit of Fusion, his obsession with it, had no limits!
Chazz had seen Paladin go insane over a "fiancee" with his own eyes. Without evidence thrown in his face, Paladin might still be trapped in that grief.
But Hikaru?
Memory falsification didn't affect him at all!
Yet this awe quickly transformed into relief and reassurance. If his own memories were also corrupted, it didn't matter. He trusted that Hikaru would keep dueling as always.
Everyone knew Hikaru was "unhinged" in this way. This was simply another instance of him exceeding expectations. Nothing new.
More importantly...
He looked at Jaden.
Unlike the pressure Chazz himself felt, Jaden seemed to be in excellent condition.
Clearly, with the power dwelling inside Jaden, even that terrifying oppression couldn't affect him.
But more than that, Chazz was worried about Jaden's mental state.
"Jaden, tell us what happened."
Although he had gathered bits and pieces from Yubel's talk of love, upheaval, pain, and torment during the duel, he didn't know the full picture. So he asked.
Jaden thought for a moment, sighed, and began telling "his" story.
His story, but really a past-and-present-life tale. From the "memories" of the Supreme King's words to Yubel, to the present "Jaden" losing his happy childhood due to Yubel's overprotection, being forced to send Yubel and other cards to another dimension...
He spoke in great detail. Meanwhile, Hikaru listened while preparing stretchers and similar equipment. Together with Chazz and Jaden, they called spirits and worked together to move the wounded onto flat ground.
The broad strokes matched what Hikaru remembered from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, but some details differed.
After all, this world and that world weren't identical. Yubel being sent to another dimension had its own variations.
Chazz listened, combining what he had seen and heard during the duel, and gradually understood.
And once he understood, with his sharp mind and Professor Viper's "history" lectures in mind, he realized something.
"Jaden, you said earlier that you'd go find Yubel yourself, right?"
Jaden nodded silently.
"You're not taking all of this as your own responsibility, are you?"
Jaden thought for a while, then nodded again. "Yubel became this way because of me."
Chazz took a slow, deep breath.
From their long time together, the three of them had quietly earned the nickname "the Fusion Division Iron Triangle." Hikaru led, Jaden charged forward, and he... was the one who used his brain.
Honestly, the old him had been clever and could see through many "mysteries and cold cases." But without Hikaru's help, he would never have realized he should change his family, change the corporation, become its leader, become someone like his master.
But precisely because of these experiences, changes, and self-awareness, and using his brain more frequently, he had grown ever more comfortable in this role.
He was good at it.
Whether Hikaru was in the Synchro Dimension and he was strategizing here, or when club members came to him with problems or even relationship troubles, he could always give solid answers.
So...
At this moment, he realized something.
Even if it was a past life, even if it wasn't what Jaden himself had done, even if Yubel had robbed Jaden of childhood friendships, Jaden would certainly blame himself for everything.
Because he did bear that responsibility. Even if the primary person at fault was always Yubel, the one who had caused Yubel to become this way had to take responsibility.
That was why Jaden would seek Yubel out, driven by a hero's sense of duty.
How could that be acceptable?
The spirit called Yubel hadn't gone mad because Jaden sent her to another dimension!
Even when Jaden was a child, Yubel had already been insane!
She had indiscriminately harmed everyone who made Jaden sad, even injuring his own family. She had caused so many people close to Jaden to suffer and collapse, making Jaden even more lonely and miserable.
She had clearly been insane even then, just not as thoroughly!
"Even so, I still want to save her."
Jaden spoke very calmly.
Chazz froze for a moment.
...
So that's how it was.
He couldn't help shaking his head.
Fine.
This was the Jaden he knew. The one who held himself to a hero's standard and truly walked a hero's path.
This was his dueling philosophy. Chazz couldn't stop him.
Hikaru understood too.
The problem between Jaden and Yubel was long-standing. If Hikaru could have faced Yubel's true form directly this time, he would have used everything at his disposal: the Sacred Beasts, Earthbound Gods, Tierra, Super Polymerization, absolutely everything, to eliminate Yubel once and for all.
But since she was using Dimitri's body, he couldn't do that.
Still... perhaps this was for the best. Jaden and Yubel were destined for a final duel. Only through that could Jaden truly overcome his "past" and stop being bound by it.
But there were still details to address.
"Jaden, if you want to do this, go ahead. We'll all support you." Hikaru directed Flame Swordsman and Mirage Swordsman to carry nearby classmates onto stretchers while speaking. "But we will absolutely not accept you sacrificing yourself to atone for a sin that isn't primarily yours."
Jaden laughed.
He rubbed the back of his head, that goofy grin returning to his face. "Don't worry, Hikaru, Thunder. I understand.
I will absolutely never let the price fall on you."
Jaden ran behind them both and threw his arms around his two closest friends, his brothers. "Ha ha ha! We still have to meet again at the pinnacle of dueling! There's no way we're going down here!"
"Tch, idiot."
Hearing Professor Strongman's signature lesson echoed in Jaden's words, Chazz felt much more at ease.
He had been genuinely afraid Jaden might sacrifice himself for Yubel or something...
Whatever the future held, at least right now, what the unconscious Strongman had taught Jaden would keep him from going to extremes.
"So that means..."
Jaden's goofy smile gradually shifted into a calm, steady one. He nodded.
If he could settle things through a duel, if he could purge both darkness and light, if they could face each other heart to heart, if Yubel could truly understand him, then he was willing to accept Yubel's "love."
When that time came, he would guide Yubel the way Hikaru had guided the Frightfur Sanctuary spirits, directing her toward what she should be doing, toward protecting true "love" in this world.
But if he couldn't...
Then, Yubel, I will come to kill you!
His gaze was resolute.
This was what he had learned from his long time with Hikaru and Chazz, with his classmates, with the professors.
After clearing the air, the three began transporting the injured to the infirmary.
When they arrived outside, the teachers there were already working more frantically than gears spinning out of control.
Countless classmates, countless unconscious classmates, were being brought in from every direction. Countless voices called out.
Their classmates, friends, acquaintances, and lovers had suddenly collapsed for unknown reasons, suddenly lost consciousness. And amidst all this, spirits launched opportunistic attacks.
Fortunately, some spirits Jaden had actually managed to turn were providing protection. Otherwise, the casualties would have been far worse.
Inside the infirmary, Hikaru spotted Professor Crowler. Bandaged, blood trickling from his forehead, he had foregone treatment himself, leaving the opportunity for students who needed it more. He sat on a bench, expression dark and dazed.
Something this terrible happening during his tenure was almost more than he could bear.
In truth, the instant Darkness's power had erupted, he had nearly collapsed on the spot. Only his conviction had pulled him back up. Conviction had carried him to rescue students along the way. Conviction kept him seated here now.
But at this moment, he was drifting, as though he might fall asleep at any second.
But he couldn't sleep. In an already critically strained medical environment, falling asleep might mean never waking up.
"Professor, are you all right?"
Hikaru had handed off the patients to the infirmary. Seeing Crowler like this, he rushed over.
Hearing Hikaru's voice, Crowler felt an inexplicable surge of strength. Seeing his prized student safe and sound, he exhaled with deep relief.
He's okay...
He instinctively began closing his eyes. Hikaru panicked and called his name, snapping him back to alertness.
Crowler shook his head and began discussing the situation in a heavy tone.
The school's situation was growing worse by the hour.
Meanwhile, Adrian Gecko, who had been tirelessly helping, was also questioning himself.
Was any of this actually working?!
Could this really save his classmates?!
At this rate, could the people he knew even survive?!
He watched the exhausted trio, the drowsy professors, and fell deep into thought.
If even they were running out of strength, what about the other students? How could anyone hold on?
Countless questions flickered through his mind. And a voice began whispering in his ear.
Perhaps...
He needed to find a "once and for all" solution!