Behind Hoshino, the image of Artoria Caster appeared in a semi-materialized form, looking like an incredibly curious child.
"Oh! Is this the card game Merlin was talking about? It looks really interesting!"
"Hmm? Artoria? Is something wrong?"
It was quite rare for a Heroic Spirit to materialize beside her in this way, so Hoshino asked.
"I just thought it looked interesting and wanted to come out and take a look. Am I causing you any trouble, Master?"
"Ah, well… I suppose you aren't causing any trouble."
This semi-materialized state was similar to the Spirit Form that Heroic Spirits naturally possessed. Only Hoshino herself could see her.
Since she didn't interfere with anyone else around them, it couldn't really be considered a problem.
Artoria leaned her head toward Hoshino and whispered:
"I ran into Merlin just now~ You know, that Merlin, my magecraft teacher. I didn't expect his personality to be exactly the same here. You must have had quite a hard time dealing with him too, Master."
Hoshino looked puzzled.
"Merlin is… a magecraft teacher?"
From the perspective of the other Artorias, Merlin should have been a swordsmanship teacher, rather than a magecraft teacher.
Besides, Merlin himself had once said that because he tended to bite his tongue whenever he chanted spells, he preferred simply taking a sword and charging into battle rather than using magecraft.
That was how he earned the nickname Sword Saint of Avalon.
Considering that, it was no wonder this Caster-class Artoria gave off the impression of someone who was still completely new to the world.
"Merlin told me that if I wanted to understand this world better, I should go and see it with my own eyes. But right after saying that, he ran away. So I came out here~"
Stars of curiosity and anticipation sparkled in Artoria's eyes.
"Using cards instead of our usual method of fighting… this is the first time I've ever seen something like this! It really is fascinating!"
["Why does this feel like Merlin just dumped his assignment on us, Aibo?"]
Merlin: "(･´`･) Well, I couldn't really help it. I'm having a little trouble dealing with this Artoria."
["I see. You couldn't deal with her… wait, Merlin! Why did you hack into the private channel between me and Aibo again?! How the hell did you even do that?!"]
Merlin: "｡◕ᴗ◕｡ How I got in isn't important. The important thing is that although this Artoria is also Artoria, she isn't the Artoria from the world we know~"
["You just started explaining without anyone asking! And what's with that ridiculously cute emoticon?! Is this the technique of the internet-scammer Merlin who managed to trick the Doctor around his finger?!"]
"Wait."
Hoshino interrupted Hoshino Alter's sharp criticism.
"Merlin, I understand what you mean when you say she isn't the Artoria from the world we know…"
After all, the King Arthur everyone was familiar with was the king who pulled out the Sword of Selection and ruled Britain.
Although she looked exactly the same, the impression given by this Artoria holding a staff was completely different.
"So, if I'm not mistaken… this Artoria belongs to a different Dimension, doesn't she?"
Hoshino voiced her theory.
Summoning an entirely new Heroic Spirit with whom she had never formed a bond before was already an unprecedented and mysterious phenomenon.
Combining that with what the Ice King had revealed — the fact that the world had been divided into three ten thousand years ago — and the current situation in which the Dimensions were being forcibly fused together by the power of Super Polymerization, Hoshino arrived at a conclusion.
This Artoria was probably a Heroic Spirit whom Hoshino could never have formed a bond with in her original world.
She was a Heroic Spirit belonging exclusively to the Xyz Dimension.
Merlin: "✧｡٩(ˊᗜˋ)و✧*｡ As expected of Hoshino! You figured out the truth so quickly! That's exactly right. This Artoria is a special Heroic Spirit whom you could only have formed a bond with because you're currently in this world."
["Stop shamelessly acting cute, Merlin!"]
Merlin: "Ծ‸Ծ But here's the really troublesome part. This Artoria seems to have confused me with the Merlin of her world. She even said something terrifying like, 'According to our agreement, I have to cut off your head, and I've even developed magecraft specifically for executing an Incubus who can't die.' So please, help me deal with her, Hoshino!"
"Seriously?"
Hoshino suspiciously glanced at the innocent, cheerful smile on the face of Artoria Caster standing beside her.
She simply couldn't imagine this girl saying something like that.
"Um, Artoria."
"Yes! What is it, Master?"
"I wanted to ask you… how do you feel about Merlin?"
"How do I feel about him?"
Artoria tilted her head.
"I'm not really sure how to answer that question. But the next time I see him… I'll definitely cut off his head!… Hehe~"
So Merlin really wasn't lying!
That innocent, radiant expression combined with such terrifying words somehow made it even more frightening.
Hoshino scratched her cheek and forced out an awkward smile.
"Why do you hate Merlin so much? If you cut off his head, wouldn't he die?"
"No, Master. Merlin is an Incubus. Even if you cut off his head, he won't die. So I specifically prepared a special form of magecraft capable of executing an Incubus~"
That's terrifying.
Everything she said matched exactly with Merlin's warning.
No wonder Merlin had gone into hiding and dumped this Artoria on Hoshino to deal with.
Just what kind of grudge did he have to provoke such a ruthless response?
"So… did Merlin do something really terrible to you?"
"They're all things that happened a long time ago. I didn't expect you to be interested in something like this, Master."
Artoria blinked her jewel-like emerald eyes before answering seriously.
"In my opinion, Merlin's terrible personality can only change a little if that man dies at least once."
Merlin: "Exactly, Hoshino! I'll leave everything else to you! For the time being, I'll stay locked inside my room and operate under the virtual identity of Magical Girl Merli!"
[Merlin's signal has been disconnected.]
["To make Merlin this terrified… in a certain sense, this Artoria really is something else."]
"Master, it looks like they're almost finished over there! How amazing!"
The final clash between Dystopia the Despondent and Utopia had Artoria's eyes sparkling with excitement.
She was absolutely captivated by the spectacle.
"Finish him! Hope Sword Mars Double Slash!!"
The Duel ended.
After securing her victory, Akasha snapped her Duel Disk closed and arrogantly pointed at Minazuki.
"Finish him — I won, Minazuki!"
Minazuki reluctantly put away his Duel Disk and complained indignantly:
"Damn it! Why did you have to say 'Finish him!' twice? Are you doing a rerun or something?!"
Akasha answered:
"Because you said it once earlier, so I had to say it twice!"
"Alright, time for me to get to work."
Since the situation didn't seem particularly serious, Hoshino hadn't interrupted the Duel midway through.
Instead, she waited until it officially ended before walking over.
"Huh? H-Hoshino-nee!"
Akasha immediately looked guilty upon seeing Hoshino.
"When did you get back? Yugi-nii said you went out because you had something to take care of…"
Minazuki, who had just suffered a crushing defeat, was even more afraid to meet Hoshino's eyes.
"Crap… I still got caught!"
"Minazuki!"
Hoshino deliberately put on a stern expression.
At times like this, she had to display the dignity expected of an Academy Principal.
"Give me a one-sentence explanation for why you decided to pull out a Dystopia the Despondent and have a Duel during a period this dangerous."
Compared with the fact that the two of them had Dueled each other, summoning a Dystopia the Despondent under the current circumstances was clearly the more serious problem.
After all, the island was currently under lockdown, and everyone was already on edge.
The darkened sky and violent thundercloud effects accompanying the Summoning of a God Card could easily cause even greater panic.
Minazuki protested:
"One sentence is a little…"
"You have half a sentence left."
"…It's not really a problem because after the Iron King observed a possible location where Supreme King Jaden might appear, Akasha and I both wanted to go beat some sense into Jaden so we could determine whether his best friend or his childhood friend was more important to him, and the Duel we had afterward was meant to determine who was more qualified to fight the Supreme King, so naturally we had to bring out our best and give it our all, but I still lost in the end, sumimasen!!"
Minazuki rattled off the entire explanation at lightning speed without even pausing for breath.
He then finished with a deep bow of apology.
Everyone present was left completely dumbfounded.
"As expected of you."
Alexis and the others burst into spontaneous applause.
"So the Iron King detected a possible location where Supreme King Jaden might appear? This is actually the first time I've heard about that."
Although Minazuki's rapid-fire explanation had contained an absurd amount of information, Hoshino had still managed to pick out the most important point.
"However… neither of you is allowed to fight the Supreme King. It's far too dangerous!"
Having personally Dueled Supreme King Jaden before, Hoshino knew better than anyone just how dangerous the darkness hidden within the Supreme King truly was.
It was a darkness from the universe itself — something even more dangerous to Duelists than a Shadow Game.
If someone lost a Duel against the Supreme King, there was a very real possibility that even the concept of their existence could be erased.
How could Hoshino possibly entrust such a deadly Duel to two kids who seemed to be treating the whole thing like a game?
"Best friend? Childhood friend? You two really haven't understood the situation at all, have you? A Duel against the Supreme King isn't some ordinary Duel. It's a life-or-death battle…"
Eve quietly muttered:
"But Hoshino, earlier you said that nobody could possibly die from playing cards."
That… at the time, Hoshino had merely been making an off-the-cuff joke to deal with the situation.
After all, quite a few Duelists had actually died because of Marik's abuse of Shadow Games.
So in the end, Dark Marik had also received his punishment and paid the price, disappearing into the darkness forever.
"In conclusion… neither of you is allowed to fight the Supreme King."
Hoshino's tone was firm and absolute.
"And I've already defeated the Supreme King before. I'm also Jaden's teacher. Whether you look at it emotionally or logically, I'm the one who has to do it!"
"Hoshino-nee!"
Akasha immediately wrapped herself around Hoshino's leg and begged on her knees.
"I have to go find Jaden! I already promised that I would bring Jaden back! Whether he's the Supreme King or an Evil HERO, I won't lose! Please! This is a request for my entire life!"
"Didn't you already use the 'request for my entire life' condition the last time you came to my room and asked me to sleep with you?"
"..."
"W-This is a request for my next life!"
"Master…"
Artoria, still in Spirit Form behind Hoshino, spoke sympathetically.
"This girl truly means it. It seems that this person called Supreme King Jaden is really important to her."
"I know."
Hoshino nodded toward Artoria.
"That's precisely because I understand that better than anyone…"
Akasha and Jaden could practically be said to be children whom Hoshino had watched grow up together.
Although Akasha sometimes mixed a little tsundere attitude into her behavior, the bond between childhood friends was absolutely no weaker than anyone else's.
Therefore, Hoshino understood perfectly well just how important Akasha was to Jaden.
Even after Jaden's personality had transformed into that of the Supreme King, at the moment he was about to leave, Akasha's words had still managed to make him stop for a brief moment.
And precisely because Hoshino understood that better than anyone, she absolutely refused to allow Akasha to fight the Supreme King.
Even if there were only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of it happening, if Akasha were to disappear during her Duel against the Supreme King, then even if Jaden eventually regained consciousness, once he realized what he had done, he would undoubtedly completely break down.
And the problems that could emerge from that would go far beyond the Supreme King himself.
Jaden possessed an enormous amount of Spirit power within his body.
And in his previous life, he had been the Prince of the Spirits.
If Jaden completely lost control after suffering a mental breakdown, he might do more than simply fuse the worlds together.
He might tear the entire world apart.
"Not happening. I'll accept your request for this lifetime. But your request for your next life? I'll pass~"
Hoshino pulled Akasha off her leg and walked toward the Obelisk Blue Dormitory.
She intended to first investigate exactly where the Iron King had supposedly detected a possible location where Supreme King Jaden might appear.
Meanwhile, inside Supreme King's Castle…
Using the power of the darkness of the universe, Supreme King Jaden had created a dark fortress resembling the Field Spell Supreme King's Castle.
Seated upon the throne, Supreme King Jaden had been sitting with his arms crossed and his eyes slightly narrowed.
Suddenly, he opened them.
"What is it, Jaden?"
Standing behind Supreme King Jaden, a Duel Spirit wrapped her slender arms around Jaden's neck.
She pressed her lips close to Jaden's ear and spoke softly.
"Jaden… what happened?"
"Yubel."
Supreme King Jaden's expression became serious.
"I have a feeling that Sensei's… no. Hoshino Chiyuki should already be close. So I really can't escape it. This battle was destined to happen from the very beginning."
The Duel Spirit standing behind Jaden and gently embracing him was none other than Yubel — the Duel Spirit of the card Jaden had possessed since childhood.
"Ah, Jaden… my beloved Jaden! I won't allow anyone to hurt you. And I won't allow anyone to stand in the way of your ambitions. As long as the two of us join forces, there isn't a single person in this world capable of opposing us."
"Yubel, it's better not to become careless."
Supreme King Jaden remained cautious.
"I can sense something. Something has suddenly appeared beside Hoshino Chiyuki. A Spirit that belongs neither to the Fusion Dimension nor to the Synchro Dimension connected by the Star Relics. And it possesses a power opposite to Super Polymerization… a power capable of repairing the world."
...
"Achoo!"
Artoria Caster, who had been walking beside Hoshino in Spirit Form the entire time, suddenly sneezed.
She innocently rubbed her nose.
"That's strange… didn't Merlin say that Servants can't catch colds?"