The next scene following Behemoth could only be described as bloody. El Shaddoll Gilford swung his blade again and again, cutting into the Behemoth with every strike. Its flesh was torn apart with each swing, only to quickly regenerate moments later.
"Stop it!" Jesse shouted toward Alice, the worry in his expression obvious to everyone around him. "It has suffered enough. You don't need to keep doing this!"
"Suffer enough?" Alice repeated, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him from the corner of her eye. "You aren't my Master, so why should I listen to you?"
Her tone carried a clear you aren't my employer attitude, and she showed absolutely no concern for his feelings.
Before Yumi picked her up, Alice had been nothing more than a weak little Doll Spirit who couldn't even maintain a physical form without using a doll as a medium. Once Yumi got his hands on her, he gave her power that her former self couldn't have even dreamed of possessing.
The doll body she had now was far more durable and powerful than her previous vessel. She also possessed and controlled the Shaddoll Deck, a deck that was practically made for her and represented her perfectly. On top of that, Yumi had granted her Sub-Shadow Manipulation, allowing her to store herself within shadows and move freely through them.
Her doll anatomy also gave her another advantage. Unlike her Master, she didn't need air to survive, meaning she could remain inside the Shadow Space without worrying about breathing. The lack of oxygen inside the Shadow Space meant that normal living beings could only remain there for a short period of time, usually by holding their breath.
Yumi can't swim and was terrible at holding his breath, so he almost never used the ability himself. The last time he tried, Dark Law had to drag him out before he ended up getting himself killed by his own power.
Aside from the abilities he gained from the Shadow Charms and the Alchemy he had learned, most of Yumi's other powers came from his Spirits. He called this Extension Technique, which essentially allowed him to use his Spirits' abilities without actually summoning them.
One of the reasons Yumi's Alchemy had improved so much faster than Lyman's was because, quite frankly, he had cheated.
He had created a Yumi Spirit specifically specialized in Alchemy. Whenever he needed to use Alchemy, he simply overlapped his body with the Spirit's and activated the Extension Technique he had developed. It allowed him to borrow the Spirit's power directly, giving him an instant mastery of Alchemy.
Anyway... back to the current matter.
Because of everything Yumi had given her, Alice held a deep sense of respect and loyalty toward him. Even if Jesse dropped to his knees and begged her to stop, she wouldn't care. Her loyalty belonged to her Master, not him.
Her cold black eyes shifted back toward the screaming, bloodied Behemoth. The beast had taken her Master's kindness for weakness. It had dared to bare its fangs.
Alice didn't care much for most of the students at the academy. There were only a handful of people she had any real affection for, mostly the innocent and kind-hearted ones who had done nothing wrong.
Her Master's heart might have been a little... black, but even Alice knew that he was far kinder than most people she had encountered.
And she could already tell that Yumi was troubled enough by everything happening around him. The last thing she wanted was to add another burden to his shoulders, especially when she knew his health was already fragile.
So, as far as Alice was concerned, there was no reason to stop. The Behemoth had made its choice. Now it simply had to deal with the consequences.
Jesse clenched his fists, his troubled heart struggling to make sense of everything happening around him.
The injured students were lying across the ground while Miss Fonda did her best to patch them up with the limited medical supplies the academy had available. Some were groaning in pain, others were too exhausted to say anything, and the low murmurs spreading through the room only made the atmosphere heavier.
Then there was the Behemoth.
Its painful cries continued from the corner of the room, where El Shaddoll Gilford stood over it with its blade still in hand.
All of it hit Jesse at once, leaving him unsure of what he was supposed to do.
He wanted to become the bridge between humans and Spirits. That was the reason he had chosen this path in the first place. He wanted humans and Spirits to understand one another instead of constantly treating each other as enemies.
So how could he simply stand by and watch this?
He understood why the Behemoth was afraid. He understood why it had become angry after everything Yumi had done to it. From the beast's perspective, it had been captured, restrained, and mistreated before finally being given a chance to escape.
Jesse could even understand why it had lashed out. But understanding the situation didn't make the sight in front of him any easier to stomach.
The Behemoth could communicate. It could understand them. And yet it was still being beaten until its body was covered in blood.
Worse, its cries were spreading through the room and dragging down the morale of everyone else. The students were already frightened enough after seeing what the beast could do. Hearing it scream in pain only made the entire situation feel even more disturbing.
Jesse gritted his teeth before finally raising his Duel Disk.
"Come! Sapphire Pegasus!"
He placed the card onto his Duel Disk, and a brilliant blue light gathered in front of him.
A white pegasus emerged from the light, its blue crystal horn shining brightly as it spread its wings.
The monster immediately charged forward. With a powerful flap of its wings, Sapphire Pegasus slammed into El Shaddoll Gilford, forcing the reanimated doll warrior several steps backward.
The sudden attack immediately drew everyone's attention.
"I said that's enough!" Jesse shouted, glaring directly at Alice. "You've already beaten it into submission! There's no reason to keep hurting it!"
Alice narrowed her dark eyes at the boy standing before her. She could tell that Jesse was genuinely kind-hearted.
Perhaps a little too kind-hearted.
He had actually taken the time to put himself in the Behemoth's position and understand why it had reacted the way it did. While everyone else saw a dangerous monster, Jesse could see something else: a frightened creature that had been captured, mistreated, and pushed into a corner.
Alice could respect that much.
But understanding something didn't necessarily mean she agreed with it.
"Does it?" Alice asked calmly.
She tilted her head slightly.
"Will you be able to confidently say that you can keep it under control?"
Behind her, Gilford slowly stepped forward.
Its overwhelming attack power meant that destroying Sapphire Pegasus would hardly be difficult. One clean swing of its blade would probably be enough.
But Alice had given no such order. And so, despite Jesse's monster standing directly in front of it, Gilford remained still.
"I..." Jesse opened his mouth, but the words refused to come.
Alice's question struck a weakness he couldn't easily ignore.
Could he really control the Behemoth?
Could he guarantee that it wouldn't attack someone again?
He didn't know.
And that was the problem.
The students' morale was already dangerously low, and their opinions toward the Behemoth were becoming increasingly divided. They had seen how dangerous it was, but they had also witnessed how it had been treated before everything went wrong.
To some of them, it was a monster.
To others, it was a victim.
And to Jesse, it was somehow both.
"What the hell is going on here?"
A calm voice suddenly cut through the tension.
Everyone turned toward the entrance.
Yumi was walking into the room with both hands casually tucked into his pockets, his expression calm enough to make it seem as though he had simply walked into an ordinary classroom.
"AIBO!"
"Yumi!"
"Master!"
Several voices called out at once.
Yumi stopped beside Alice and briefly glanced around the room. His golden eyes first settled on the injured students receiving emergency treatment.
Then they shifted toward the corner.
The Behemoth froze. Its trembling body became even more tense as soon as its eyes met Yumi's. The beast lowered its head and let out a quiet whimper, clearly remembering exactly who had been responsible for capturing it.
Yumi looked between the blood covering the floor and the injured students before slowly raising an eyebrow.
"Oh. I see what happened."
He sounded more curious than surprised.
Yumi then walked toward the injured students, his steps remaining calm despite the uncomfortable silence surrounding him.
He looked down at them for a moment before speaking.
"So these are the idiots who decided to destroy my spellbinds."
His tone was completely nonchalant, as if he were commenting on something as ordinary as the weather.
That casual attitude immediately rubbed several already frightened and irritated students the wrong way.
"How can you even say something like that?" Jesse's voice carried both disbelief and anger.
Yumi tilted his head to look at him. "Then what should I say?"
His expression remained calm.
"These idiots willingly destroyed the spellbindings I placed on the Behemoth. They knew exactly what those bindings were there for, and they broke them anyway."
He gestured casually toward the injured students. "This is simply the consequence of their own actions."
Jesse stared at him. He understood what Yumi was saying, which only made it even more frustrating.
"You don't even care?"
"Their injuries aren't my responsibility."
Yumi's answer came without hesitation. He looked back toward the students.
"The Behemoth was captured and brought here by me. I won't deny that. But I didn't tell them to release it. I didn't tell them to destroy the spellbindings. And I certainly didn't tell the Behemoth to attack them."
His golden eyes returned to Jesse.
"They made their choice."
Jesse's fists tightened again.
"But they're still people!"
"And?"
Yumi's answer was surprisingly simple, that make many nearly stumble in disbelief.
"I just don't think being human automatically makes someone worth saving from the consequences of their own stupidity."
The words were cold, but Yumi wasn't saying them simply to be cruel.
He genuinely believed them. Ever since Kaito's death, something inside Yumi had changed.
He had already caused too many changes to the timeline by interfering.
The moment he stepped into this world and began changing events that were never supposed to change, he had stopped being a casual observer who could simply stand on the sidelines and help whenever it was convenient.
He had become one of the reasons everything was going wrong.
The enemies had grown stronger because of him. The number of enemies had increased because of him. People who were never supposed to be involved had been dragged into the conflict because of him. And now the entire timeline had changed because of him.
So if this mess existed because of his actions, then he had to be the one to deal with it.
It was as simple as that.
If he didn't step up, then who would?
But taking responsibility didn't magically turn Yumi into a saint. It didn't make him a hero. And it certainly didn't make him a good person.
Yumi had accepted that a long time ago. He would protect what mattered to him. He would help those he cared about. He would repay people who helped him and return favors when he believed they were worth returning.
But he wasn't going to pretend that he cared equally about everyone around him.
Yumi was still selfish. He still measured relationships by what people could give him and what he could give them in return.
That was simply who he was.
He wasn't Jaden.
Jaden could give everything he had to his friends without expecting anything back, because that was simply the kind of person he was.
Yumi couldn't do that.
If someone had nothing to offer him, whether it was friendship, knowledge, strength, trust, or something else he could genuinely value, then Yumi saw no reason to reach out to them in the first place.
It might sound heartless. Maybe it was. But Yumi had never claimed to be anything else.
Yumi then raised a Trap Card.
Ominous, dark fiendish chains suddenly shot out from the ground, wrapping around the Behemoth and binding it firmly in place. The beast struggled against its restraints before letting out another painful, pitiful whimper.
Yumi could only let out a tired sigh as he turned away.
"Don't break the chains this time. I'm currently researching how to bring everyone back."
After saying those words, Yumi simply walked away once more.
For the next two days, Yumi had Chaos and BLS work together to figure out a way to bring everyone back.
The process was... painfully slow.
It couldn't really be helped. Having two guys who usually solved their problems with their fists and blades sit down and study was about as effective as asking an electrician to perform surgery just because they were good at dealing with colorful wires.
At least Yumi didn't have to worry too much about food or water for the time being. The academy still had plenty of supplies, and the massive freezer provided more than enough ice. They could melt it and boil the water to make it safe to drink, allowing everyone to survive while they worked on a solution.
As for protection, Slifer the Sky Dragon remained at the academy to keep any Spirits from getting close.
After two days of watching the process go nowhere, Yumi finally leaned back and sighed.
"So the problem is that I lack the necessary intelligence."
It was an unpleasant conclusion, but Yumi couldn't exactly argue with it.
He wasn't a genius. And unfortunately, he didn't currently have any Spirits who could be considered geniuses either.
Yumi looked through the cards he had collected over the years, mentally going through the ridiculous variety of Spirits he had at his disposal.
Dragons. Warriors. Heroes. Gods. Kaijus. Some rocks. A lot of furballs. Schoolgirls in mecha suits. Dragon girls. Nuns. Fiend girls. Dancer girls. Cyborg dinosaur girls. Sword girls. Doll girls. Magician girls. Plant girls. Bird girls...
Yumi paused as he stared at his collection for another moment.
"Now that I look at it, I really do have a lot of female cards."
This fact wasn't exactly useful right now. Putting the thought aside, Yumi returned to the actual problem.
He simply didn't have the knowledge or intelligence necessary to figure out how to restore everyone in the academy.
And if he couldn't find the answer himself, then there was no reason to keep wasting time trying to reinvent the wheel.
BLS suddenly swung his blade.
The space in front of Yumi split apart, forming a dark rift that seemed to cut directly through reality. Yumi looked at it for a moment before stepping toward it.
He would simply travel to another version of Duel Academy where everyone had already been restored and find out how they did it.
Sometimes, the easiest solution to a problem was simply finding someone who had already solved it.
Yumi summoned a clone of himself to remain behind and guard the academy while he was gone.
Yumi then stepped through the rift.
A moment later, the spatial tear slammed shut behind him.
...
Falling from the sky above, Yumi could see the familiar sight of Duel Academy below him.
At first glance, it looked almost exactly like the academy he knew. However, the longer he looked, the more he realized that this wasn't his Duel Academy.
His goal was simple. Find Jaden in this dimension and ask him how they managed to restore the academy.
Yet something immediately felt wrong. From his high vantage point, Yumi couldn't see a single student outside. That was strange enough, but even the staff members were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the entire academy appeared to be closed off, with multiple makeshift barriers surrounding the campus.
A loud roar suddenly caught his attention.
Yumi tilted his head and looked toward the source of the sound.
A massive bird flew toward him, spreading its enormous wings as it soared through the sky. It looked like a giant eagle, although its monstrous appearance made it obvious that this was no ordinary bird.
The creature quickly noticed Yumi falling through the air. Its attention shifted away from the academy and toward him.
"Divine Wind!"
Masked HERO Divine Wind materialized in midair and immediately drove his foot straight through the giant bird's body.
The impact destroyed the monster in a single strike. The massive creature began falling, its body breaking apart into glowing Spirit particles before disappearing completely.
Divine Wind quickly flew toward Yumi and caught him before gently carrying him down to the academy grounds, then disappeared.
Yumi barely had time to look around before the bright sunlight above him suddenly disappeared. The sky had turned completely black.
Yumi looked upward.
A massive swarm of Duel Monsters was pouring out of the darkened sky, so densely packed together that they completely blocked out the sun.
"Don't just stand there! Get back into the academy!"
A woman's voice suddenly shouted at him.
Yumi turned his head and saw a mature woman standing nearby. She had silver hair, golden-brown eyes, and black-rimmed glasses, along with a single ahoge sticking out from the top of her head. She was wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform, making it fairly obvious that she was a teacher.
Yumi didn't recognize her. Still, judging from her appearance and the situation around him, there was little doubt that she worked at Duel Academy.
Yumi simply ignored her warning. Instead, he casually spun a card between his fingers.
"Come, Gandora."
Raye materialized in front of him, completely covered by her black and ominous Gandora mecha suit. She immediately spread her arms before launching herself into the sky, heading straight toward the enormous swarm of Duel Monsters.
The red orbs covering her mechanical body began to glow brightly.
Yumi's voice and Raye's voice overlapped as they spoke at the same time.
"Zero Horizon!"
Crimson beams of energy erupted from Raye's body in every direction. The entire sky was suddenly illuminated by a brilliant red light before the beams converged on the swarm.
A massive explosion erupted above the academy. The force of the blast shook the sky and the island itself, sending a powerful shockwave across the entire campus. Everyone nearby could feel the impact.
Even Yumi could feel the heat wave rushing toward him, though he didn't bother reacting to it.
Then he noticed someone else. A small girl with silver hair and a pink magical-girl dress stood nearby, raising a magical wand in front of herself to shield against the incoming blast.
Yumi's eyes narrowed slightly. Something about her felt familiar. He couldn't explain why, but there was something about the girl that made him feel as though he had seen her before.
"Master, are you alright?" the magical girl asked, turning her head toward the female teacher.
"I'm fine. Thank Illya."
Yumi continued staring at the little girl for another moment. Still nothing came to him.
Raye eventually descended from the sky and landed beside Yumi. The two of them then turned their attention toward the teacher and the magical girl.
At that moment, the blackened sky suddenly cleared. The swarm of Duel Monsters was gone, leaving the bright blue sky visible once more as sunlight returned to the island.
The female teacher finally looked Yumi over properly.
Her expression changed slightly.
"You... who are you?" she asked. "You aren't one of the Duel Academy students."
Yumi glanced down at himself. He was wearing the familiar Slifer Red uniform, but apparently that wasn't enough to fool her.
"Yumi Uzushi. I'm from another dimension." He said it so casually that the teacher stared at him for a moment.
Yumi didn't see any reason to hide it. Whether she believed him or not was up to her. Besides, he had no reason to be particularly cautious. If things went badly, he could simply open another dimensional rift and leave.
He was the Strongest.
There was nothing here that he needed to be afraid of.
"And you are?"
The teacher's eyes widened slightly at his answer, but her surprise quickly faded into understanding.
"I see..." She placed a hand against her chest before introducing herself.
"I'm Hoshino Chiyuki, a teacher at Duel Academy."
AN: Sorry for the late update; new work takes up most of my time, plus since the story is branching off from the main story timeline now, I'll need a bit more time to be creative with the direction and how I want this story to go.