Kira realized he really had been away from the Academy a bit too much lately—he didn't even know about the big news on campus.
Aster Phoenix was coming to Duel Academy.
At first glance that didn't sound surprising, since Aster had registered as a first-year student here at the start of the term.
But in reality, he hadn't shown his face even once since the semester began. He skipped the opening ceremony, cut every class, and even bailed on the midterm evaluations.
Of course, the Academy had been giving him a pass on all that, because Acting Chancellor Crowler valued this pro duelist student highly. Aster's joining had indeed brought positive attention to the school, and it was arguably Crowler's biggest achievement during his interim tenure.
Not to mention the large donation Aster had made to the Academy.
So in fact, Aster's situation was a bit like Kira's. No one doubted that even if the two of them never showed up until the very end, they'd still wrap up the semester with excellent results without causing any ripples.
But now Aster Phoenix had taken the initiative to appear—and he stated his reason for attending.
For one person. A student of Duel Academy.
Jaden Yuki.
In fact, when Aster said he wanted to challenge a student from Duel Academy, everyone—including Acting Chancellor Crowler—assumed he would call out Kira. After all, Kira was the current Duel King, and dozens, if not hundreds, of people wanted to challenge him every day.
As you can imagine, if he accepted every random challenger, he wouldn't have a life—he'd be busy dueling all day. So getting a shot at him wasn't easy now. Even some high-level tournaments outside used "the champion earns a right to challenge the Duel King" as a selling point.
Like the very first KC Cup Kaiba hosted back then.
But to everyone's surprise, the person Aster named was Jaden Yuki, a Slifer Red student.
Which, naturally, posed no difficulty. Jaden's a duel-brain by nature—if there's a duel, he never says no, especially not against a rarity like a pro duelist.
So Jaden cheerfully grabbed his Duel Disk and headed to the Academy arena for a Hero vs. Hero royal showdown with Aster.
Kira himself didn't return to the Academy, but he was interested and watched the duel remotely.
In the original story, this was indeed a turning point in Jaden's fate. Facing Aster should've been his most crushing loss early on. After losing to Aster's Destiny Heroes, Jaden not only lost the ability to talk to spirits—he couldn't even see normal cards anymore, becoming a complete wreck who couldn't duel.
Later, the arrival of the Neo-Spacians gave him new strength, letting him win the rematch against Aster—and even reverse-brainwash him into becoming an ally.
Now that time and space had shifted, Kira was very curious how this duel would play out today.
Well, he could more or less guess the result.
…
"Aster!"
Jaden jumped onto the stage, waving enthusiastically.
"Your Heroes and mine—whose are stronger? I'm super pumped! Let's have the ultimate Hero showdown!"
Aster ignored him and curled his lip.
How could such a shallow guy be the one Sartorius said might change my destiny?
Of course, Sartorius had long since foretold this duel with Jaden as well. The result was the same card as always: The Chariot—absolute victory.
But with everything that's happened recently, Aster's long-held trust in Sartorius had begun to waver.
"Come on, Jaden Yuki!" Aster barked as he unfurled his Duel Disk. "I'll show you what a true Hero is!"
"Okay!"
Jaden answered, thrilled.
"."
Moments later.
Aster: "I activate the Trap 'Eternal Dread'—to place two Clock Counters on my Field Spell, 'Clock Tower Prison'!"
"With that, my 'Clock Tower Prison' now has four Clock Counters!" Aster shouted. "I flip my set card: the Trap 'Dust Tornado'! I destroy one Spell/Trap on the field.
I destroy my own 'Clock Tower Prison'!"
"When Clock Tower Prison with four or more counters is destroyed, I Special Summon my ace from the Deck! Come on—
—Destiny HERO – Dreadmaster!"
"When Dreadmaster is Special Summoned, I Special Summon two other Destiny HEROes from my GY. And Dreadmaster's ATK becomes the total ATK of all other Destiny HEROes I control!
Also, during the turn it's Summoned, all my Destiny HEROes can't be destroyed by card effects, and I take no battle damage—basically absolute invincibility!"
"Whoa, so these are Aster's Destiny HEROes? So strong—crazy strong!"
Jaden was excited.
"Then I Normal Summon 'Neo-Spacian Grand Mole' and declare an attack on 'Destiny HERO – Dreadmaster.'
Grand Mole's effect: when this card battles an opponent's monster, at the start of the Damage Step, return both monsters to the hand without damage calculation!"
Aster: "NANI!?"
He watched, eyes wide, as the Dreadmaster he'd spent forever charging counters for and paid a hefty resource bill to bring out got bumped back to his hand by that damn mole the instant it hit the field.
"So this is the power of Neo-Spacians…" Aster grit his teeth. "Don't get cocky too soon!"
And then, a little later—
"."
"The effect 'Destiny HERO – Fear Monger'! When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY, during my next Standby Phase—this turn—I can Special Summon a 'Destiny HERO' from my GY.
Come on, Destiny HERO - Captain Tenacious!"
"Then I activate the Spell 'Over Destiny,' targetting Captain Tenacious in my GY to Special Summon a Destiny HERO from my Deck with half its Level."
"Then I banish Captain Tenacious from my GY to Special Summon another Captain Tenacious from my Deck!"
"Tribute my three Destiny HEROes—behold my other ace!
Destiny HERO – Dogma!!!"
Jaden got even more hyped. "Whoa, a three-tribute summon—another incredible Hero shows up!"
"Dogma, attack!" Aster commanded.
But Jaden wouldn't be outdone. "I activate my set Trap, 'Intruder Alarm - Yellow Alert!' From my hand, I Special Summon a monster and force it to battle the attacking monster.
I Special Summon the 'Neo-Spacian Grand Mole' you bounced to my hand, and force it to battle Dogma.
Then Grand Mole's effect: both monsters return to the hand."
Aster: "."
You've got to be—
Again.
Once more, after he went stacking setup and burning through piles of resources to land a big boss, the opponent just casually slapped down that damn mole, and with one little drill sent his boss packing so hard even its mother wouldn't recognize it.
And that damn mole was even a spirit—in spirit terms—who, after drilling away his Dogma, had the nerve to wipe its brow and mutter to itself, "Destiny HEROs sure are tough—good thing I outplayed him."
Aster nearly coughed blood.
"So this is your so-called Neo-Spacian Hero power?" Aster snarled. "All you do is keep summoning that busted mole?"
"Of course not."
Grinning, Jaden obliged Aster's wish to see more cosmic heroes on the very next turn.
"I Normal Summon 'Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin.'"
"Aqua Dolphin's effect: discard a card, look at your opponent's hand, and choose a monster—"
"Then I use Aqua Dolphin again, discard another card, and pick another monster—"
Aster: "."