Flap, flap.
Bastion was so startled that he fell under the table.
The Spirits froze, hands halting mid-task as they stared at Hikaru.
"Oh! So that's how it is!" Celina clapped her hands together, enlightened.
She still had much to learn from Hikaru!
"B-B-Blue-Eyes White Dragon? That... that legendary dragon?" Rosemary pressed her hands on the table, eyes wide as she asked Hikaru.
"Yeah." Hikaru nodded.
Bastion climbed up, leaning on the table as he slowly stood: "No way, Hikaru... Don't tell me, you're aiming for... Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon?"
Hikaru nodded again: "Yeah."
"You should know... It's the only way."
Bastion's gaze shifted from shock to realization, then back to shock.
Shocked that Hikaru's target was Seto Kaiba's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon."
After all, there were only four Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards in the entire world, and all of them were said to be in Kaiba's possession.
Blue-Eyes White Dragon was Kaiba's "soul."
But… In other words;
If Hikaru wanted to collect every Fusion-related card, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" was a target he couldn't ignore. And to get it, KaibaCorp was an obstacle he couldn't bypass.
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon is known as the strongest, the ultimate dragon.
Conventional means wouldn't get him a Blue-Eyes White Dragon!
"But isn't Blue-Eyes White Dragon Kaiba's soul card? No way he'd give that as a prize," Celina raised her hand and asked curiously.
"Yeah... That's true, Hikaru. Remember, Kaiba met Yugi Muto because of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, starting his Duelist path. To him, even the Egyptian Gods come second to Blue-Eyes. There's nothing more important to him. I've heard the legends about Kaiba and that card."
"You're overthinking it," Hikaru said casually. "First of all, remember? During the Friendship Cup in the S-Dimension, Kaiba used Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, which is treated as Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field."
That's true.
Bastion recalled when he was alone in the Fusion Club, eating chips while watching Hikaru's Duels against Duelists from other Dimensions during the S-Dimension arc.
A bit bittersweet.
But the memory was vivid.
"So... besides Alternative, there should be other cards treated as Blue-Eyes White Dragon. If the prize is one of those, then it's possible," Bastion reasoned.
He'd never heard of a Blue-Eyes Dimension.
Though he could bet—
KaibaCorp definitely found one.
And absolutely kept it hidden from everyone else.
Bastion firmly believed that Kaiba would do exactly that.
"Actually, there's another possibility," Hikaru sipped his tea and continued. "Bastion, remember what Chazz said before? KaibaCorp once found traces of Dark Magician in the X-Dimension."
"And not just Dark Magician relics," Hikaru added, "But also Blue-Eyes White Dragon relics, I confirmed that with him later. So really... Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards aren't "unique" across all Dimensions.
"If I do manage to become Champion, I'll apply to KaibaCorp for the chance to visit a Dimension where Blue-Eyes White Dragons might exist."
His two companions each had their own reactions.
Right.
That's also an option.
Bastion clenched his fist.
'Right! If that's the case…'
He suddenly had a spark of realization.
'Yes!'
If so, he could visit other Dimensions, go to the Xyz Dimension, the Spirit World, explore possibilities across Dimensions!
A career that could realize his "idea" while keeping his Duelist identity intact.
But after the thought flashed by, he couldn't dwell on it, graduation was still a ways off.
"I see. Understood," Marjoram, after her initial shock, smiled softly in understanding.
Then the topic shifted away as if it had never been discussed.
Tierra chewed on her cake indifferently, showing zero interest in the following conversation.
To be honest, the cake tasted mediocre.
She was only eating it out of curiosity.
Tierra didn't need food. Or rather, food replenished so little energy for her that watching Hikaru Duel gave her far more.
She liked eating Instant Fusion simply because it was genuinely tasty, like humans snacking on chips while watching TV.
After sampling two mini Aromage cakes, she lost interest and started observing Marjoram.
She could tell.
Marjoram's body might be here, but her mind was already elsewhere.
That's for sure.
In fact, Spirits collaborating with KaibaCorp, like several of the Twelve-Star Duelists, had another role besides being Duel examiners.
They were also Kaiba's "testers."
Seto Kaiba had decided to host the largest interdimensional Duelist tournament ever, to crown the strongest Duelist across all worlds.
But choosing competitors was a huge task.
Kaiba had already noticed there were many interesting students at Duel Academy. So, outside the official tournaments, he entrusted Spirits with observation, after all, there was no better way to assess a Duelist's heart than through Spirit observation.
After Hikaru's group left, even Marjoram, who had only been gardening and helping stray Spirits here, felt stirred. As soon as they were gone, she quickly documented the entire day's events and sent the report to Critical Nexus Dimension KaibaCorp HQ using KaibaCorp's equipment.
Half an hour later.
In the southern part of the Critical Nexus Dimension, near a massive hot spring area known as the "Mind Liberation Zone," a strange "person" with a mask and an upturned smile strolled briskly along the hot spring corridor, inspecting the surroundings. Not long after, a beeping sound came from his wrist.
He glanced at his left hand. There, a silver-winged communicator. Pressing it lightly, a holographic image popped up in front of him.
It was a letter.
He skimmed through it.
"Oh? Interesting..."
Looking at Hikaru's photo, he muttered again.
That student.
Among all the students he'd observed, this one had the most "potential."
"Arrogance or confidence?"
Recently, those annoying Society of Light people had been stirring in this Dimension, perfect timing for a test.
He pulled a phone from his inner pocket and made a call.
"Reroute the train paths within the Critical Nexus Dimension immediately. I want you all to..."