Chapter 199
"Kuri kuri!"
Just as they reached the edge of the forest south of the Academy, the round Kuriboh suddenly let out an urgent cry, its tiny stubby fingers jabbing insistently in one direction.
Rowan felt it too, a distinct pulse of Duel Spirit energy radiating from that same direction.
Clearly, a Shadow Duel was already underway somewhere nearby.
"Found it. Follow me!"
Rowan gestured to Alexis and the others, then immediately took off toward the spot he and the round Kuriboh had both sensed.
Alexis and the rest hesitated only a moment before hurrying after him.
It didn't take long.
By the time Rowan led the group into the heart of the forest, they found Chazz locked in a Shadow Duel against a figure completely shrouded in a gray cloak, face hidden behind a black mask.
Jaden, Syrus, and Zane stood nearby, watching the gray-cloaked figure with grim, tense expressions.
It looked like the duel had only just gotten underway.
"Amnael!" Alexis recognized the gray-cloaked figure at a glance.
It was unmistakably the same person who'd challenged her to a Shadow Duel earlier, taken her Spirit Key, and sealed her brother away in that dark book as a substitute sacrifice.
"Rowan, Alexis, you're here too?!"
Jaden, Syrus, and Zane called out with obvious relief the moment they noticed the newcomers approaching.
Their expressions, previously tense, eased somewhat now that their numbers had grown.
Only Chazz, fully absorbed in the tense, high-stakes duel, and the gray-cloaked figure, who seemed to have anticipated this development already, showed no reaction at all, both remaining completely focused on the match, sizing each other up.
"How's it going?" Rowan asked as he approached Jaden and the others, glancing over the field as he spoke.
On Chazz's side of the field stood a mature, armored dragon, its body a mix of red and gray, alongside a single face-down card.
It was clearly Armed Dragon LV5, summoned just this turn.
[Armed Dragon LV5] [Level: 5] [Attribute: WIND] [ATK: 2400] [DEF: 1700]
But his Life Points had already dropped to a mere 2500, apparently having lost 1500 points in just the previous turn.
Across the field, on the gray-cloaked figure's side, stood a silver metallic dragon, a bronze serpent, and a lead-gray lion, each one an Alchemy Beast with 500 attack and defense.
[Alchemy Beast - Salamandra the Steel / Ouroboros the Bronze / Leon the Lead] [Level: 3] [Attribute: FIRE / WATER / EARTH] [ATK: 500] [DEF: 500]
The figure's field also held an active Continuous Spell, taking the form of a massive red alchemical cauldron, along with one face-down card.
His Life Points sat at a full, untouched 4000.
"We were on our way to lunch together when we realized Professor Banner had gone missing, so Chazz and I went looking for him," Syrus explained briefly.
"We ran into this guy calling himself Amnael, the last Seven Stars Shadow Duelist, right here in the forest. He took Atticus, who's still sealed away, as a hostage and forced Chazz into a Shadow Duel."
"So it really is Professor Banner." Alexis's suspicion hardened into certainty at the sight of the gray-cloaked figure.
The timing was too perfect to be coincidence, Professor Banner vanishing right as this Amnael character appeared.
"Recognized already, am I. Then there's no point keeping up the disguise any longer."
The gray-cloaked figure pulled back his hood and removed his mask, revealing Professor Banner's familiar face beneath.
Except this time, unlike before, while his eyes remained as squinty as ever, his hair had gone completely white, and he was no longer wearing his usual glasses.
His face bore the same kind of bulging veins Titan had shown before, as if his body were straining under some serious affliction.
"It really is you! Professor Banner!" Jaden and Syrus stared in shock, eyes wide.
Even Chazz, currently his opponent in the duel, looked genuinely stunned.
"This is still a Shadow Duel, Chazz. Not the time to get distracted," Rowan said, completely unsurprised, waving a hand as a casual reminder.
"I'm The Chazz!" Chazz immediately snapped back into his usual goofy insistence on the nickname, correcting him on reflex.
Then, cards in hand, he turned back toward Professor Banner across the field and continued.
"Professor Banner or not, as a duelist facing off against a Seven Stars Shadow Duelist, I, The Chazz, am not going to hold back."
"Duel continues!"
Chazz revealed one of the five cards in his hand, slapping it onto his Duel Disk.
It was V-Tiger Jet, a monster with 1600 attack power.
"I activate Armed Dragon LV5's special effect, discarding one monster from my hand to destroy one of your monsters whose attack power is equal to or less than the discarded monster's!"
"I'm discarding V-Tiger Jet from my hand to destroy one of those three Alchemy Beasts on your field, the ones that can all attack directly!"