"The split of the Spirit Realm, huh..."
"Can't believe something like that actually happened."
After returning to Duel Academy, Manjome and Judai's minds were still stuck on the huge matter of the Spirit Realm's collapse.
Especially after learning that the Spirit Realm was in fact still slowly and continuously splitting apart even now, the two of them kept feeling like they had to do something.
Let alone them, even Tenjo Hikari, who'd heard about it in advance, and Teacher Daitokuji, who'd known about it even earlier, as well as all the other top Spirits including Aleister the Invoker—right now they were all totally in the dark, not knowing what on earth had happened.
This was something truly terrifying. Because according to them, even the [Dark Magician] from the Mage Domain actually had no idea what had really happened.
Even that Magician who's the strongest in the truest sense doesn't know!
So, after testing Manjome and Judai's abilities and feeling he could finally set his mind at ease, Daitokuji prepared to continue digging deeper into the investigation together with Aleister.
He hadn't had enough energy or stamina "while he was alive," so he'd had no way to seek out the truth. Now that he'd become a Spirit, although he worried about his students, after seeing how much they'd grown, he wasn't as anxious anymore. So he simply told Manjome and Judai about the situation in the Spirit Realm, then set off to investigate.
Reunited for just over a year, only to face a separation that might last even longer—this made Judai a little sad. Fortunately, after Marufuji Ryo's departure, he'd already learned to accept this kind of thing, so he simply made an agreement with Teacher Daitokuji that once the crisis in their world was resolved, they'd go and rendezvous with him.
Tenjo Hikari, meanwhile, was looking at the "Quintet Magician" that had appeared in his hand.
This card was Daitokuji's brand-new "true body" now. As long as this card existed, even if Teacher Daitokuji ran into danger in another Dimension, he could use the card's coordinates to pull out quickly.
Maybe this was one of the advantages of becoming a Spirit.
In any case, Daitokuji handed the card to Tenjo Hikari. On one hand, Hikari was the disciple he trusted the most. On the other, only Hikari's Deck could actually make use of it.
While Judai's Deck did have some Spellcaster-Type Monsters, trying to gather the required Fusion Materials for it was way too hard.
Whereas Tenjo Hikari's Deck was practically full of Mages.
This made Judai feel it was a real shame, because he really wanted to use Teacher Daitokuji's card too.
"You'll get your chance someday," Tenjo Hikari replied with a smile.
"Sigh—"
Judai slumped over the table, looking a bit deflated.
Tenjo Hikari opened the Emerald Book and skimmed through it.
According to Teacher Daitokuji, all the Dimensions he'd specially marked were ones that the mastermind "might have come into contact with," or were "currently under influence"—for example, the "Golden Land."
In this world's Golden Land, Daitokuji had personally gone adventuring. Since that Dimension was also a famous Alchemy research Dimension, Daitokuji had always been very interested. But when he arrived, he discovered that the Eldlich the Golden Lord there had gone mad for some special reason, and it was only thanks to his rescue that Eldlich gradually regained his senses.
After that, Eldlich became his friend and had been gathering strength ever since, preparing to "take revenge."
If nothing unexpected had happened, then according to Daitokuji and Aleister's speculation, the Eldlixir where Eldlich the Golden Lord resided was probably one of the spots that had been "pierced through head-on," which was why the Spirit of Eldlich had gone mad just like in the Card Image.
Although it seemed that there was no longer any influence inside the Eldlixir now—or maybe precisely because it had taken a direct hit, the Golden Land Dimension had actually become one of the places farthest from that "mastermind"—in any case, the Golden Land was still extremely dangerous. Many Spirits there had taken the full brunt of the influence. Aside from Captain Gold, Golden-Eyes Idol and the few Spirits who'd joined later, pretty much no one there was willing to put down their responsibilities and leave their Dimension to follow Tenjo Hikari, so Daitokuji did not recommend Hikari go there.
Of course, if he wanted to earn Eldlich the Golden Lord's acknowledgment and obtain some special Alchemy Materials, Tenjo Hikari could still give it a shot.
Other than that.
The dark world was also one of the danger zones. Teacher Daitokuji strongly advised that Tenjo Hikari not go there, but if he really wanted to challenge his "self," it wasn't entirely out of the question.
The only Dimension that Teacher Daitokuji truly and unequivocally opposed Tenjo Hikari visiting was this one——
Ecole de Zone!
Tenjo Hikari rubbed a card in his hand, repeatedly stroking his chin.
[Ecole de Zone was the focal point when the Dimension split, and what's more… the exact center!]
The exact center!
Even more central than Eldlich the Golden Lord's location, it was the very first point where the splitting began and also the place most deeply affected by that mastermind. Daitokuji had once reached that Dimension, but he'd pulled out at light speed after just a single glance.
Back then, his conclusion had been: "It's a Dimension humans must absolutely never visit," "Visual and mental destruction that the human body absolutely cannot withstand." And even now that he had turned into a top-tier Spellcaster-Type Spirit, Daitokuji still felt lingering fear.
Because even as the world's most outstanding Alchemist, the moment he entered that Dimension, he too had been "infected" by the art there—he'd even felt the urge to abandon Alchemy and devote himself entirely to the art of painting!
That was downright terrifying—his whole life had been spent delving into Alchemy; you could say he was Alchemy's chosen child!
Yet even he had developed that kind of impulse!
So even now, he wouldn't consider going back to Ecole de Zone again anytime soon!