With the appearance of Masked HERO Acid, a massive deep blue vortex instantly swept through the entire corridor.
One by one, red traps emerged along the walls.
At that moment, various Set cards were caught in the vortex and shredded into fragments.
"Masked HERO Acid. When this card is Special Summoned successfully, it can destroy all Spell and Trap cards on the opponent's field..."
Watching the road ahead clear of obstacles, Jaden Yuki removed Acid's card from his Duel Disk and returned it to his Deck.
Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit floated tremulously behind Jaden.
Watching him dismantle such a vast array of traps so effortlessly, Ghost Ogre swallowed hard. She realized that choosing to follow Jaden might have been a very wise decision indeed.
"The Supreme King... he really is a terrifying guy."
"I have no idea why Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring would ever want to provoke someone like him."
On the other side of the academy.
Kousuke Kunisaki had not been idle after being ditched by Jaden.
In his pursuit of scandalous gossip at Duel Academy, Kunisaki had secretly slipped into the academy's archive room.
After more than half an hour of hacking, he discovered that the student records and various secret files within the archive had either been deleted or transferred.
It was as if someone possessed foresight and had predicted his plan in advance.
The information he managed to find was pitifully scarce.
"Damn it! I feel like I've been seen through from the very beginning," Kunisaki growled, slamming his fist onto the computer desk as he stared at the empty folders on the screen.
"Who could be this capable? To move all these secrets ahead of time..."
"And the transfer time... three months ago?"
"No way. Did someone guess three months ago that an outside gossip reporter would infiltrate the academy to investigate this?"
Kunisaki looked utterly bewildered.
Ordinarily, secret archives like these would never be moved from the archive room unless a major incident occurred.
Besides, who the hell could have known he would target the archive room specifically?
"What a nightmare..."
Scratching his head, he left the archive room.
However, Kunisaki's ambition to strike it rich had not faded. He didn't believe that something this big could be hidden so perfectly without leaving a single trace. As long as he asked enough people, he was bound to find a lead.
After questioning students from various branches, Kunisaki finally heard about the "Abandoned Dorm" from a Slifer Red student.
Rumor had it that the Abandoned Dorm, located past the academy's forest, was once a site for Shadow Duels.
"Even if it's just a campus legend, that Abandoned Dorm is definitely worth investigating," Kunisaki thought.
Sensing a big scoop, he grinned and unhesitatingly headed toward the forest outside the academy, camera in hand.
However, as he walked, the carpet of fallen leaves and the dilapidated scenery began to make Kunisaki feel uneasy.
Could it be? Is there really any lead to be found in a place like this?
He snapped a few worthless photos of the forest path. Suddenly, an aura that inspired deep-seated dread surged from the depths of the woods.
"What is this feeling!"
Kunisaki's heart skipped a beat.
It was an indescribable sense of oppression. His intuition screamed that there was danger ahead, but another part of him insisted that a massive story was waiting for him.
"Hmph..."
"Anything to make money."
Bolstering his courage, Kunisaki strode deeper into the forest. Soon, a dilapidated dormitory building appeared before his eyes. From the outside, the building looked like nothing more than an old, run-down ruin.
"So, this is the place where students supposedly went missing?"
"Shadow Duels? Heh, sounds like a fairy tale for kids."
He snapped several photos with his camera. Inwardly, Kunisaki scoffed at the idea of "Shadow Duels." Still, many people believed in that sort of thing. He could use it as a selling point to make a fortune.
Crash!
Just as he was thinking this, a violent sound of shattering glass erupted from the second floor of the dormitory.
Kunisaki jumped in fright and looked up. He saw a youth dressed in red leap from the pile of glass shards. Streaks of black flames whistled past the youth as he fell.
Under Kunisaki's dumbfounded gaze, Jaden Yuki landed on one knee. The Duel Disk on his left arm flickered with a crimson light.
"Hehehehe, to break all my traps in an instant... you truly are the Supreme King."
"Come, play with me a little more, Supreme King."
A petite girl dressed in a black Gothic Lolita dress flew out of the broken window, floating in the sky. The dim blue light surrounding her accentuated the pallor of her face.
She laughed softly as a terrifying black mist instantly enveloped both Jaden and the terrified Kunisaki.
"Let us begin the Shadow Duel our most familiar way of dueling."
"Supreme King!"
A Shadow Duel?!
Kunisaki's heart pounded against his ribs. He stood there, paralyzed, watching Jaden slowly stand up. His gaze darted back and forth between Jaden and the girl in the black Gothic dress.
"W-What is going on?"
"Am I dreaming? This has to be fake, right?"
He slapped his face hard to stay awake. The vivid sensation of the sting told him that this was all very real.
"However, since this is a Shadow Duel, how about we set some stakes?"
the girl's gloomy gaze turned toward the catatonic Kunisaki. She opened her hand, and an invisible force instantly lifted Kunisaki off the ground.
"Aaaah! W-What's happening!"
Kunisaki was suddenly airborne, and his camera fell to the ground with a thud.
"Hey, don't drag innocent bystanders into this, Ghost Belle," Jaden said, his brow furrowing as he glanced at the unlucky reporter.
"Hehehe, a Shadow Duel without stakes is no fun at all," Ghost Belle laughed coldly.
"If I lose this duel, I will obey you willingly."
"But if you lose, you must offer this man's soul to the spirits of the darkness."
"Furthermore, you will have to stay here forever to play with me, Supreme King. How about it?"
As she spoke, countless Shadow Tokens spread out from the surroundings, staring greedily at Kunisaki. Within the domain of a Shadow Duel, even an ordinary human with no spirit power could clearly see these horrifying monsters.
"Aaaah! Help! Save me!"
Kunisaki struggled desperately, the middle-aged man looking utterly pathetic in his panic.
Jaden Yuki closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, a dark gold light filled his pupils.
He deployed his Duel Disk. His silent action was the only answer Ghost Belle needed.
Seeing this, Ghost Belle opened her hand, and a transparent, circular field—serving as her Duel Disk manifested before her.
[DUEL]
[Jaden Yuki LP: 4000]
[Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion LP: 4000]
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