"Are you okay?"
Tenjo Hikari didn't look at the restless and terrified spirits but rushed directly to the spirit that had fallen to the ground and asked while supporting him.
As an alchemist who frequently traveled between dimensions, Tenjo Hikari had accumulated a wide range of experience in this area. From the early days with Crystal to later encounters with One-Eyed Battle, and more recently during the excavation of Akaba Leo's roots, Tenjo Hikari had rescued many spirits and had plenty of interactions with injured spirits. Therefore, he knew exactly what to do and what not to do at this moment.
"Escape..." The spirit lying on the ground was Elemental Hero Mariner. At this moment, its mask was cracked, its flowing black hair scattered all over the ground, and the hooks on both arms were also broken, making it a sight too dreadful to behold.
Serena lowered her head, trying to hear its voice like Tenjo Hikari. Its voice was so weak, coupled with the almost indistinct sobs of the surrounding spirit residents, that she had some trouble hearing what was being said.
Escape?
Tenjo Hikari narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Run quickly!" Mariner, seeing that the two had not reacted, finally used all his strength and shouted loudly.
However——
As he shouted, from within the darkness, a chilling laughter had already softly sounded.
"Another fish takes the bait!"
With this icy laugh, a silvery white flashed across the darkness.
Whoosh—
Thunk!
A few silver-white blades pierced through the air and were embedded in the wall. Serena crouched there, stunned, looking at the knife blade as thick as a finger right in front of her. She saw that Tenjo Hikari had somehow stood up, gripping the blade close to her.
At the same time, in front of them, a "net" made up of a hundred strands of purple threads intercepted most of the incoming daggers in midair.
The shock left her sitting on the ground, taking a long time to catch her breath.
"Hee-hee, these aren't your average human warriors..." In the darkness, a short, rotund, gray-white Archfiend, whose head and body seemed almost melded together, chuckled and snickered, with slime still oozing from its body.
Its right arm wriggled autonomously, slowly forming a Duel Disk shaped like a scimitar. It sneered and said, "In that case, then..."
Swish—
Before it could finish, the blades attacking Tenjo Hikari and Serena fell to the ground, clinking and clattering. Immediately after, hundreds of Puppet Strings darted like needles into the body of this Duel Monster Spirit, forming a honeycomb within it as it watched in horror.
"W-wait..." The monster struggled to say, "Using the warrior's rule..."
However, before it could make any more sounds, the Puppet Strings twisted around it, squeezing it into a compact mass. Its body was torn apart like paper, turning into white light and scattered into the air before it could finish its sentence.
"Where did this trash creation come from, trying to ambush Tenjo Hikari and then challenge him to a duel?" Tierra, uninterested in exchanging words, simply crushed it.
Initiating an ambush without sufficient strength and still wanting to participate in a "Duel Ceremony," isn't that just courting death?
Lying on the ground, Mariner, witnessing this scene, attempted to get up, coughing, and Tenjo Hikari immediately bent down to support him.
"Don't move, you're still injured."
"Cough... cough, cough..."
Tenjo Hikari calmed Mariner down, called out Wanrong to help check Mariner's condition, and then looked at Serena.
At this moment, she was sitting on the ground, gasping for air. Although the blade hadn't pierced her, the feeling of the blade being mere inches away had driven away her initial thrill of exploring with her mentor.
This isn't an outing in the countryside!
Even with a mentor by her side, she shouldn't let her guard down like this!
Seeing her state, Tenjo Hikari, knowing she'd soon compose herself, decided not to say anything.
Serena is a girl with her own understanding.
Unlike Tenjo Hikari and Judai, Serena had never experienced anything similar before. Her first-dimensional exploration had Tenjo Hikari as a senior guiding her, making her feel very relaxed, as if on a simple outing.
Whereas Tenjo Hikari and Judai were imprisoned during their first dimension travel...
The Duel Monster that had just launched a sneak attack was probably Kahkki, Guerilla of Dark World?
Hmm, since there's one assassin, there could be several, or even more Dark World warriors in this dimension.
Luckily, Serena called him along. If a freshman in their first year came to this dimension completely ignorant, they might suffer greatly. After all, these Dark World assassins don't give any advance warning and immediately try to eliminate them.
"Mm... cough, cough..." Mariner slowly caught his breath.
If it were in the past, Tenjo Hikari would have had to wait for an injured spirit to wake up on its own.
But now, his team included "Gem-Knight Lapis," a specialized healing spirit, so simply restoring consciousness to such non-lethal wounded spirits was no longer difficult.
After Mariner awoke, Tenjo Hikari learned from him about the current situation in this dimension.
A short while ago, about two months by human time, this dimension was suddenly invaded by some Fiend-Type monsters who appeared to be searching for something.
Initially, the native hero spirits of Skyscraper had the upper hand against those demons. This was their homeland, and they had the advantage here. But one day, a terrifying white light swept across the entire dimension, drastically weakening the heroes. Even the best among them felt powerless, gradually losing their edge in the attacks.
Moreover, these mysteriously invading demons drastically changed their tactics. Aside from those of elite level, the low-level demons abandoned the "Duel Ceremony" method, switching to ambushes and attacks on ordinary spirits as their primary tactics, even capturing some weaker spirits, waiting for "fish" to take the bait.
Up until a month ago, to ensure the safety of ordinary spirits, the heroes initiated a massive migration, relocating the majority into "Skyscraper 2," isolating it from the Skyscraper to prevent harm to ordinary spirits.
It was responsible for running in to rescue those spirits that didn't make it to safety, but unexpectedly fell into a trap, was ambushed by Kahkki, and nearly lost its life. Fortunately, Tenjo Hikari and Serena arrived in time, otherwise, not just it, even those few spirits might have perished.
So that's how it was.
"Master, what should we do!?" Serena, after hearing Mariner's account, realized the dire situation this dimension faced and all the lurking dangers. She was utterly clueless about what to do and had no choice but to ask Tenjo Hikari for guidance.
Demons versus heroes, protecting the weak citizens, justice vs. evil—these matters were overwhelming, and her inexperienced mind couldn't quite process them.
"Isn't it simple? You've always known what to do, haven't you?"
"Huh? Have I?"
"The highest-ranking demon left here is that Martial God of Dark World," Tenjo Hikari opened his Duel Disk, snapped his fingers, and smiled at Serena, "Then the rest is simple: find it, duel it, win, then make them scram—or die."
"Oh... oh oh oh!! Right!" Serena snapped back to reality, suddenly understanding the situation.
However, she merely understood the current situation.
The mysterious light, the invasion of the Dark World tribe.
No need to guess further.
It's Yubel.