"So pretty!"
It was the first time Aisha had ever seen such a beautiful girl—and not just in terms of appearance. There was a distinct aura about her.
If she had to describe it, the girl's presence was like the mythical landscape around them: so perfect it didn't seem real, like someone who didn't belong to this world.
"Are you seriously stuck on 'pretty' right now, Aisha?!"
Irene immediately cut off Aisha's admiration, eyes wide in disbelief as she stared at the long-haired girl in front of them.
"She says she's the Headmaster? But she looks our age!"
Even the legendary Fiona, who had reached the pinnacle of magic, could only maintain her physical appearance around age thirty with magic.
Meanwhile, this "Headmaster" looked like a flawless teenage girl… if anything, she looked younger than Aisha and Irene.
"Everyone's constitution is different. Nothing strange about that."
Still standing hands-on-hips, the Headmaster's smug expression deepened.
"Besides, who says Headmasters have to be old men like Raiden? I became Headmaster when I was twenty."
"Twenty?!" they all exclaimed.
If one pursued Duel Academy studies, twenty would just be graduation age. To become Headmaster right after? What kind of background and power would that take?
"Mmhm~ Excellent reaction."
The girl nodded, clearly pleased with their shock. That kind of smug Versailles-level satisfaction made her feel great.
"That's enough self-intro. Back to the point... why are you here? I told Raiden those Legendary Dragon cards were for the winning team."
"We are the winners," Kevin said seriously.
"You're joking, right? You're first-years."
"Being first-years doesn't mean we didn't win," Irene added.
"What?!"
Apparently, the Duel outcome completely defied even the Headmaster's plans. Her eyes drifted to the Millennium Puzzle hanging from Aisha's chest.
"Wait... is that the Millennium Puzzle?"
"You know the Millennium Puzzle too, Headmaster?"
Aisha gently cupped it in her hands.
The Headmaster nodded. "Yeah. I had some history with its previous holder."
Miles perked up. "Wait, the previous holder was the Pharaoh, right? This Headmaster knew the Pharaoh? And that thing on her arm… Is that a Duel Disk?"
On the Spirit Continent, magic replaced tech due to the Spirit Eyes system. Duel Disks didn't exist.
Could the Headmaster be a transmigrator like him? No, Miles didn't have a Duel Disk in his world either… He had only seen it in the anime as a crazy piece of sci-fi tech.
"That explains a lot."
Noticing the Millennium Puzzle seemed to ease the Headmaster's confusion a bit.
"If you have that, it's hard to predict a Duel outcome," she said, stroking her chin. "Just wonder how far the person inside has tapped into its power."
"Person inside"—she definitely meant Miles. And since the Headmaster said she knew the former holder, she likely knew about the spirit as well.
However, what concerned Aisha and Miles most was what she said next:
"Wait... the Millennium Puzzle has powers?"
"Judging by your reaction, I'm guessing the most it's done is let you top-deck the perfect draw, right? And even that's probably unstable."
"Unstable perfect draw"—this term together felt bizarrely contradictory.
"Well, I can more or less guess how you won the Festival Duel. But I need the full picture. You brought the Legendary Dragon cards, right?"
"We did... Huh? What are these?"
The three of them raised the cards they had drawn from the treasure chest.
What they saw was utterly baffling.
Because the cards had been face-down in the chest, none of them had seen the actual card faces until now.
Now that they could... they still couldn't.
Each card did depict a dragon—three distinct forms. Yet, beyond that, there was no information. Not even a card name.
Unlike Dystopia, whose information was sealed, these cards genuinely had no data at all.
The Headmaster explained, "That's normal. These are still nameless dragons. Only a 'Hero' can wield the Legendary Dragons."
Aisha beamed. "A hero? Just like in the books!"
"Wait, what do the books say again, Aisha?"
Irene looked awkward. This was one of those moments she regretted never reading.
"They said that when the world faces destruction, the three legendary knights will be sealed into nameless dragons. A Hero is the one who lets them become Legendary Dragons again and save the world."
The Headmaster nodded in satisfaction. "Correct. Spot on, Little Ai."
"...Wait. I'm Aisha, not 'Little Ai.'"
Only now did they realize the Headmaster had no idea what their names were. She must've picked up the nickname from Irene calling her 'Little Ai' this whole time.
"'Little Ai' works just fine, right?"
With that, the Headmaster casually collected the Legendary Dragon cards from their hands.
This was her method of learning the Duel's details:
She could read the card's memories.
"I see... so that's how it went. Two draws and one win. A path I never saw coming."
Having accessed their Duel memories, she now understood the styles of each of their Decks.
"As Aisha said, the Hero is the one who enables the nameless dragons to unleash their power. However, let me be frank… aside from Kevin, your Decks aren't very compatible with the Legendary Dragons."
...
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