"Lorenzo?"
"Lorenzo?"
Lorenzo struggled to open his eyes; his eyelids felt heavy as lead. The bright lights stabbed at them. He tried to get up, but his limbs felt unbearably heavy, and he couldn't.
Then he saw Duel Academy's teacher, Ms. Fonda Fontaine, and beside her, Alexis Rhodes.
"Ms. Fontaine? Rhodes?"
Lorenzo was baffled. He was just a gaming nerd—how did he deserve the attention of these two campus celebrities?
"What… why am I here?"
Ms. Fontaine and Alexis exchanged looks.
"You don't remember anything?" Alexis asked.
Lorenzo frowned and strained to recall.
"I remember I went to Domino City for a tournament—a flight-shooting game competition. I took first place, and then…"
He scratched his head, expression tightening as he tried.
"Ah—can't remember. But I had a weird dream… right, I dreamed about Alexis."
He looked toward her and, seeing her odd expression, hurried to add,
"Ah, not that kind of improper dream—well, it was weird. I dreamed we were dueling, and my damn warship betrayed me and ran over to Alexis's side…"
He clutched his chest, shuddering.
"Good thing it was a dream. Terrifying…"
Alexis: "…"
Moments later, seeing he truly remembered nothing and was weak as if drained, Ms. Fontaine told him to rest in the infirmary. Alexis left the room, stepped into the hall, and pulled out her student terminal.
She connected to Kira.
"How is it?" Kira asked.
"No, he doesn't remember anything. Just like you said," Alexis replied.
"As expected."
"So you know what's going on?" Alexis said. "He mentioned something about the Society of Light… what is that?"
"An evil force lurking in the universe, coveting Earth," Kira said straight-faced. "Alien invaders eyeing our planet."
Alexis sighed. "I'm asking seriously."
"I answered seriously."
Kira was helpless.
He knew how absurd it sounded—but it was the truth. GX Season 2's main plot was exactly that.
"I already have leads on the Society of Light, and I'm about to have a chat with their boss," Kira pivoted.
Their boss was rather unlucky, then.
Alexis thought that, and said, "Okay. Don't worry about the academy. I'll notify the lab; everyone will be careful. If anything happens, I'll inform you."
…
"Good."
The image vanished. Kira put the terminal away and turned to a surveillance feed.
He was at the Knights of Hanoi base, watching a tracking monitor. On-screen was Aster Phoenix, who'd recently lost to him.
Aster rode his bike to a building, parked, hung the helmet, glanced around to ensure no one was watching, then pushed the door open.
Kurozaki leaned in beside Kira, cautiously watching the feed.
"Boss Revolver, is that the Society of Light's…?"
"Possibly," Kira said. "Keep watching."
…
Aster walked through a white corridor, and a blinding brilliance washed over him. He pushed a door and entered a great hall filled with white light.
"Sartorius?"
Aster called, looking around.
"Are you there?"
No answer.
He began to feel uneasy. At this hour Sartorius was always here; never this deserted.
"Sartorius?"
Still no answer.
But deeper in, beyond another door, he found a bedroom-like room—gloomy, utterly unlike the pure white hall outside, like a shadow cast by glaring light.
He looked for a switch—none. There wasn't even a light installed.
The bed was a mess, like a chicken coop. On the table, the mirror before it was cracked, with dried blood on it. Aster could picture a bloodied fist slamming into it in rage.
This was the first time he'd entered this room and seen such a scene.
He thought of what Revolver had told him.
Do you really understand Sartorius now?
Could it be that Sartorius had, without anyone noticing… already fallen into the ruin foretold?
"Sartorius, what exactly… happened to you?"
He stepped to the table and saw Tarot cards scattered messily. In their midst, the central card was the very one Sartorius had used to foretell his destiny back then.
The Devil.
…
"Urrrgh!"
Elsewhere, Sartorius flipped a table in fury. Papers, tools—even Tarot—crashed to the floor.
He panted, livid.
Then another Sartorius's face surfaced in the nearby crystal ball.
"Looks like your fate is slipping out of your control."
Sartorius-in-the-ball said.
"Shut up!"
Sartorius roared.
But things had indeed gone awry.
Revolver had broken his prophecies more than once. Yet that man's destiny appeared trivial—a mere pawn; even now the readings said as much.
But in reality, every subordinate, every ace of Sarina sent against him had been defeated. His prophecies were rewritten again and again. Now even his strongest enforcer, Aster, had lost.
And losing wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was that, now that he looked again, Aster's destiny had diverged from the original prediction… no, that put it lightly.
To be precise, Aster's fate now looked like a runaway horse—completely out of control. Even Sartorius couldn't see through it, unable to tell where the future would go.
He loathed this feeling—unpredictable, slipping from his grasp.
Worse, the vanguard he'd dispatched to Duel Academy to spearhead the Society's expansion had been snuffed out in his very first battle.
He'd even watched that duel through the crystal ball; by the end, even his Light of Destruction fell silent.
He wondered—had Duel Academy's culture become like this?
He didn't like this feeling.
It was chaos—everything in chaos.
His layout should have been perfect; everyone's fate woven into a vast net, with him as its keeper.
But now it was as if an invisible hand had grabbed the net and mashed it into pulp. He seethed, yet hadn't even glimpsed the culprit's true face.
He had a hunch there was a mastermind behind it all.
All these deviations, the root of fate's disruption—were that person. That was his greatest enemy.
"Give it up."
Sartorius-in-the-ball spoke again.
"This only means your destiny ends here…"
"Enough!"
Sartorius chopped the crystal ball to dust.
Silence returned.
He grunted, pulled out his phone, and dialed.
"Sarina?"
"It's me. What is it, brother?"
"Revolver," Sartorius snarled.
"By any means necessary—I want Revolver dead!"