Lyman had gone missing.
Only after he failed to show up at the Red Dorm for days on end, skipped classes in a row, and even missed faculty meetings did everyone finally realize this.
The Academy quickly dispatched a search-and-rescue team to investigate everywhere Lyman had been before vanishing. They also sent squad after squad into the woods behind the Academy to comb the mountains, but so far they had found nothing.
No clues, no sign he'd left the island—almost as if the teacher had evaporated into thin air.
Only his beloved cat, Pharaoh, was still at the Red Dorm. The fat cat couldn't have cared less—ate when it was time to eat, slept when it was time to sleep, utterly unbothered by the disappearance of his poop-scooping human.
To make matters worse, the Academy was in a tense and delicate period, which made everyone all the more worried about a teacher going missing now of all times.
Naturally, many people began to suspect the Shadow Riders.
In the original story, Lyman had been assigned one of the keys sealing the Sacred Beast, so being attacked by the Shadow Riders would have made sense. But the timeline had shifted, and the key that should have gone to Lyman was now with Kira; in theory, he no longer had a reason to be targeted.
Then again, the Chancellor had said every member of the Shadow Riders was a desperado—cruel and ruthless—so who knew what nasty methods they might use. They might be taking hostages, for instance.
Jaden was particularly beside himself. If you didn't count Kira, who was always in the lab getting special lessons from Lyman, Jaden was definitely the student closest to him in the whole school.
He even wanted to drag his dormmates out to the island to join the search and look for the teacher. But there were no leads. On a big island like this, where would you even start? In the end, under Syrus and Chumley's persuasion, he reluctantly dropped it.
Kira, on the other hand, wasn't concerned. Even if it were the Shadow Riders, Lyman was essentially the strongest fighter among them.
Right now, Lyman's alchemically crafted artificial body was nearing its limit, so he was probably off preparing for the end. Once he was ready, he'd naturally show up again and entrust the fruits of his life's research to the student he trusted most.
Of course, you couldn't explain any of that to Jaden. Even though Kira told him not to worry so much, Jaden was still listless. He was even less excited than usual about their nightly trips to the Spirit World; the spark just wasn't there, and many times he couldn't get into it.
That said, he perked right up when there were duels to be had.
The two of them queued up together for several nights in a row, making decent progress.
After getting intel from Ha Des, they headed north and traveled for several days. After about six days on the road, they found a Supreme King army camp, just like he'd said.
Jaden snapped back to life. With a duel lined up, he temporarily tossed aside his gloom over the missing teacher, summoned Elemental HERO Flame Wingman on the spot, and charged in at the head of the assault.
They enjoyed some lively friendly duels with the garrison at the camp. Jaden quickly noticed the spirits there all looked fierce and thuggish, like bullies who'd swallow a man whole. But once you traded cards, you'd find they were all pretty easy to talk to.
Just like music, dueling was a way to make friends across species and dimensions. See? Even demons with faces like that became more polite after a duel.
As Ha Des's side had said, the garrison was very enthusiastic about pointing them onward. From here, the Supreme King's city lay to the northeast, though it was still far, and the road ahead was long.
Before they left, Kira also picked up some supplies from the friendly spirits.
For example, Duel Disks from different dimensions. Spirits couldn't hand over the Duel Disks they grew on their bodies, but the armory had some left behind by fallen duelists from other dimensions.
They also had card supplies. There weren't any super-powerful cards, but the lot together would fetch a decent price.
There were also armors and gear. Duelists in other worlds relied on their cards and didn't need to brawl in person, but armor wasn't completely useless.
Take Chazz from the anime, for example. In the alternate-dimension arc, poor Chazz wanted to duel his opponent, but the evil spirit didn't play by duel etiquette at all—teleported behind him and chop-stunned him before he could even draw a card.
Sure, that was mostly on the new writer for that arc—classic plot contrivance—but it does make you think.
A lot of the spirits' armor had been specially tempered, with magical resistance. If Chazz had been wearing armor back then, maybe that chop wouldn't have knocked him out on the spot; he'd at least have had a chance to counter with a card.
If it hadn't been plot armor and came down to a real duel, that spirit might not have beaten Chazz at all.
Jaden, for his part, scored two mounts from the camp. They weren't horses, though—they looked like chocobos from the Final Fantasy series.
They felt similar to riding a horse—reins in hand—but these birds were a lot more physically capable than Earth horses. They were faster, had better stamina, and could run all day without so much as panting.
Whether that was due to the Supreme King's army's training or not, these chocobos were also very intelligent. Kira and Jaden knew nothing about riding, but after grabbing the reins they quickly got the hang of it.
It really gave Kira the feeling of an open-world, card-battling RPG. Uncover the map, grind mobs, occasionally hit a spirit village for a few side quests, snag a new deck or two, and even get equipment and mounts as drops—pretty solid gameplay.
After leaving the Supreme King's camp and mounting the chocobos, their speed skyrocketed. In just two days they covered more ground than they had in the previous several combined.
…
That evening, after classes and work, Jaden couldn't wait to pull Kira online again. They rode out on the chocobos, and after less than ten minutes, a commotion stirred in the distance.
They exchanged a look, swung their reins, and turned toward the sound.
They approached the source and stopped behind a big rock, then both poked their heads out to get a look.
Sure enough, there was a squad down below. They were all in uniform—not commoners—wearing matching armor like a proper army. Their faces were pale; on a few, you could even see fangs peeking out at the corners of their mouths.
Kira and Jaden glanced at each other.
They'd had dealings with someone similar to the Shadow Riders not long ago, so they recognized the species at once.
They were vampires.