The situation was more serious than Tenjo Hikari imagined.
It wasn't just fainting from playing cards.
It was being hospitalized—
At first, Tenjo Hikari thought Ryu was just unwell due to overwork, and he wanted to advise him to stop playing cards and take a proper rest. He initially thought the physical image's damage knocked Ryu out, but the school's physician had determined otherwise.
Within Ryu's deck, there was a strange darkness power, capable of harming a person's body and mind. His condition was so bad because this power had been lingering within his deck.
Thanks to the Dimension Gate's emergence, this world isn't unfamiliar with Duel Spirits and Spirit Power; in fact, it's quite familiar. It is said that in the civil engineering of a certain eastern country nearby, various massive monster spirits have been used to aid construction, making many civil engineering workers have an easier day.
In short, due to the world's different development, the doctors here, especially the experts at Duel Academy, are very familiar with this situation.
"So, because I used his monster as material, that punch had a huge negative impact from the darkness power on him?" Tenjo Hikari nodded as he listened to Professor Cronos's explanation, understanding, and then asked, "So, will he be in a coma for a long time? How long? Do I have to pay for the medical expenses? I can't afford it..."
He truly had no money; before coming to Duel Academy, he had spent all his savings on cards, surviving every day on dry bread, definitely without money.
"No such thing," Professor Cronos shook his head, "he put it in his deck willingly, and according to Kaiba Company's law, of course he is fully responsible."
Kaiba Company's law?
This world is so abstract.
In short, Ryu brought it upon himself, and even if he's lucky, he'll be in a coma for a year or so, and won't be able to trouble Tenjo Hikari anymore.
However, with what happened, today's card game couldn't continue.
Tenjo Hikari was naturally glad about this, as he's only able to "grind" energy once a day. Dueling with Ryu seemed to have gained him substantial energy due to that inexplicable darkness power, but definitely wouldn't be as much as from dueling Judai; hence, dueling tomorrow would be good.
"Tenjo-san, it's great seeing you make it this far using the Ancient Gear deck," once the formal talk concluded, Professor Cronos turned back, leaned close to Tenjo Hikari, and whispered, "Just now, the principal praised me because you used the Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem so well, you did great, I'll use my authority to add extra points for your grade!"
"Wow, thank you, professor!" Hearing he'd receive extra points, Tenjo Hikari was instantly thrilled, "If the principal asks, I'll definitely say it was all taught by you!"
"Mamma mia, good, good, good, good!" Professor Cronos couldn't stop smiling as his face scrunched into a Pot of Greed, enthusiastically praising.
Previously, the principal subtly criticized him regarding the poor student quality in Blue Academy this year, leaving him struggling to find a good excuse. But then he thought—hey, look at Tenjo Hikari, though he's a member of the Fusion Department, but his ace card was given by me!
He wasn't sure where Tenjo got the Ultimate Giant from, nor would he pry into student's private affairs, but everyone knew it was Cronos's ace card; thus, the principal assumed Tenjo Hikari was his student.
He had never taught Tenjo Hikari anything, it was more like Daitokuji taught him—but still, he accepted the praise.
He couldn't help it, he was vain like that.
But surprisingly, Tenjo Hikari was so agreeable!
"It seems I've been neglecting students from other academies. Many good students are from there," alas, he was pondering his failures in education. Perhaps Red and Yellow weren't hopeless cases, merely overlooked by him.
Professor Cronos announced tomorrow's final qualification match, as students acting as audience cheered and debated over who had the highest potential to win.
Some argued that the Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem's ATK was unbeatable; others believed ATK was just one aspect, and Great Tornado halving the Golem's ATK might not ensure victory over Heroes.
The discussions varied, with no consensus.
"Congratulations, Tenjo, seems you've outdone me," Mitsuzawa Daichi first congratulated him as Tenjo Hikari left the stage.
"Uh, just luck really, since the opponent had a turn left; if they'd drawn a powerful card, I might not have won."
"Haha, excessive modesty can be infuriating!" Mitsuzawa Daichi continued laughing.
Tenjo Hikari scanned the area.
"Where's Judai?"
"Upon hearing you advance, he and Shou along with Hayato rushed out, saying they needed to adjust their decks."
Tenjo Hikari nodded.
Dueling isn't only about on-the-spot performance; making adjustments before a duel is also very important.
"Oh, speaking of which, I have some cards I could lend you, if you want..." Mitsuzawa Daichi shyly scratched his face. Although he lost to Judai, he still wanted to join in, just to feel involved. If his cards beat Judai, that would be good too.
"Uh, no, it's fine."
Mitsuzawa Daichi was a very "wealthy" person, not in family background, but in card quantity.
In the original work, he possessed six complete decks of earth, water, fire, wind, light, and darkness, and beyond these, he also had a "seventh deck," making him extremely card-rich. Compared to the original owner's entire life savings used to gather a single deck, he was truly "wealthy."
For Tenjo Hikari, lacking low-level monsters and needing to scrounge even the "Ancient Gear Giant" from opponents, Mitsuzawa Daichi was an excellent supporter...
But Tenjo Hikari was worried about using Super Polymerization to accidentally fuse his cards and end up unable to return them, which would be quite awkward.
Just thinking about it gave Tenjo Hikari a headache.
Because... his deck didn't contain an "Ancient Gear Golem," his Ancient Gear Golem had entirely transformed into the "Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem." Dueling Judai tomorrow, surely, wouldn't have him pull a Lullaby of Obedience and summon an Ancient Gear Golem from Judai's deck?
Fortunately.
These were actually minor issues in comparison.
"By the way, Mitsuzawa, have you seen where Professor Akuma went?" Tenjo asked thoughtfully.
"Oh, he left when you fused the Ultimate Golem, seemed busy," Mitsuzawa Daichi was puzzled too, frowning deeply. He was intelligent, keen to detail: "Frankly, it's odd, you're the Fusion Department's representative, yet he doesn't seem very pleased?"
What scheme does Old Deng have?
Tenjo Hikari frowned.
Why did that bald head target him through Ryu?
He began recalling his behavior within the Fusion Department, trying to find anything irregular, yet nothing came to mind.
He was simply the most genuine Fusion Faction member!
Meanwhile, Akaba Leo had returned to the Fusion Department's building.
"Excellent professor, that Tenjo Hikari performed extremely well!"
"This time, we have a chance to represent the Academy and duel against the Northern Branch students!"
"Special Dimensional Coordinates, just listening gets the blood boiling!"
Akaba Leo sat in the swivel chair, leaning back, his expression blank, coldly responding with an "Mm," dismissively.
"Professor, shall we go watch together tomorrow?" The Yellow Academy representative eagerly asked. Tenjo Hikari was their newcomer, bringing them prestige.
Akaba Leo glanced at him, with eyes seemingly filled with killing intent, scaring him silent.
Akaba Leo lightly reclined, staring emotionlessly through the floor-to-ceiling windows ahead, gazing towards the Dueling Arena as if watching Tenjo Hikari.
He had never been a man without goals, aimlessly wandering; establishing the Fusion Department, becoming its lead teacher, guiding students towards fanaticism and extremism, was all for his purpose alone.
What he needed was absolute, purpose-heeding, rank-respecting soldiers, doing exactly as told!
Not students of real, pure Fusion belief!
Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem... that's not a card an ordinary student could obtain!
Had Cronos discovered anything?
As expected from a legendary duelist, truly not to be underestimated.
This time, I'll let you win, but after the friendship match concludes...
Bam—
He smashed his fist onto the table, erupting a loud bang, causing the whole room to quiver several times, scaring everyone around into silence!