After stocking up on essentials at the Rainforest outpost, Amaki Hikaru's group stepped out.
Unlike the Volcano Zone, the Rainforest didn't have a central duel hub. Twelve-Star Duelists here were more like Forest Zone Duel Spirits, meaning one had to venture into the true rainforest to find opponents.
Which meant a far higher level of danger.
As they walked, beastly roars would echo now and then, accompanied by rustling in the underbrush.
The three moved together, and as they advanced, Bastion and Celina unconsciously edged closer to Hikaru.
The rainforest had poor visibility, thick vegetation, and no clear paths. It always felt like unseen eyes were watching from every direction.
"ROAAARRR."
A thunderous roar shook the forest. Birds scattered, vanishing from sight. Hikaru snapped his head to the right.
Whizz
At that exact moment, an arrow shot from the trees. Bastion shouted, while Tierra glanced at it only once, blue flames ignited it, and it disintegrated to ash mid-air.
This clearly went beyond the ambushers' expectations. Yet, they didn't stop. With a sharp screech, a giant tiger leapt from the underbrush at the group, followed by scantily clad female warriors, bows drawn and aimed.
The tiger lunged, and the group scattered, avoiding injury. But traps and hidden arrows launched from the shadows, aiming to ensnare them all at once.
Then;
Whizz whizz whizz
Countless purple puppet strings shot out from every direction!
Traps, arrows, tiger, warriors, everything froze mid-motion, bound by the strings. It was as if time itself stopped.
Tierra snapped her fingers.
"Snap."
Blue flames flared.
A massive demon with a dragon-shaped right arm appeared beside her, weapon in hand, roaring.
It didn't hesitate. As it roared, it raised its weapon to strike down the tiger.
"Stop!"
A new voice rang out.
An orange-haired, muscular female warrior burst from the forest, clashing her spear against the demon's weapon. A loud crash echoed as both recoiled.
Terrifying strength!
She planted her spear in the ground to absorb the recoil. The silver-gray demon had only been pushed slightly back in midair.
"You passed the preliminary trial! Release my warriors!"
"Foolish mortal," Tierra's eyes gleamed crimson. "You attacked us unprovoked, showed no remorse, and now make demands?
"Do you have a death wish?"
"Urk!"
The orange-haired warrior flinched back instinctively under her pressure.
"Mighty, unknown Spirit, my warriors erred. But we never meant to kill; all weapons were padded," she bowed her head quickly.
"Hmph." Tierra glanced at the ground, confirmed her claim, then waved her hand to dismiss the demon and toss the tiger back into the jungle. She released the puppet strings and floated over to Hikaru without another word.
"Ngh..." Bastion rubbed his wrist.
Tierra had tied him and Celina up too for safety, though not with much finesse. She'd only made sure they didn't get hurt.
Albeit, Bastion didn't care about that.
He was amazed, how strong was this Winda?
Could ordinary Spirits instantly neutralize over a dozen targets like that?
It seemed absurd.
As the Spirits were freed, the trio could finally converse with them.
Bastion immediately recognized them as Amazoness Spirits. After introductions, the Spirits confirmed they were a Four-Star Twelve-Star Duelist group.
The orange-haired one leading them was their chief, Amazoness War Chief.
That said, challenging them wasn't simple.
To pass their test, Duelists needed to demonstrate two core abilities:
Courage and Wisdom.
Courage meant physical prowess, fighting, archery. Wisdom referred to Duel ability, math, strategy. These matched the two Amazoness archetype branches: the power-driven "Courage Amazoness" and the tactical "Wisdom Amazoness."
They set traps to test these fundamentals. Anyone who couldn't even handle that had no business here.
Though anyone who passed would earn recognition, even if they lost the Duel. It was a relatively lenient but still challenging region.
"This is the first I've heard of Dueling needing stuff like this," Bastion muttered.
"Really? In the lab, they taught me hand-to-hand, archery, swordsmanship, and riding," Celina replied, like it was normal.
Regardless, the three passed the initial test. And as an apology for the scare, the Amazoness would gift them some items, supposedly provided by KaibaCorp.
Inside the camp, students could be seen training in archery and hand-to-hand combat.
Duel Academy's main branch did teach this. The original anime didn't, but this world included them, perhaps because it incorporated Arc-V elements like Action Duels.
Still, schools usually only "taught" students these basics, not expected mastery. Like how Professor Banner taught alchemy, "teaching" didn't mean making experts.
"Thwip." After Hikaru's group entered the camp, a silver-haired figure loosed an arrow, nailing the bullseye, then muttered, "Gloria, I'm getting bored."
"Grace, it's a trial. Let's just get through it," replied blonde Gloria. She casually fired an arrow and also hit dead center.
Both were clearly battle types. Even elegant-looking Grace in a skirt didn't hold back. For them, this was easy.
After they fired, hearing new arrivals, they turned to look.
"Ah." Grace spotted Hikaru and immediately lost focus. Her arrow missed the center.
Gloria, ever direct, slung her bow and laughed. "Amaki Hikaru! Haha, perfect timing! We were bored out of our minds!"
These battle-hungry sisters had been expecting intense duels with the Amazoness. Instead, they got trials. Boring. However, now that Hikaru was here, their spirits lifted.
Forget these Spirits, Hikaru was where the real fun was!
But!
Someone else was even more shocked.
"T-Tania!!" Bastion screamed.
At the center of camp stood a muscular woman with a high ponytail and claw marks over her right eye.
It was the one he dreamed about day and night...
The Amazoness Tiger Queen, Tania!