Silence, who had been pouting, froze in surprise. A faint blush crossed her face, and in the next second she turned into a streak of white light and slipped back into the Deck.
Yugen stared at his hand suspended in midair. Why did that reaction feel like she disliked it?
From the corridor outside came Judai Yuki's voice. "Nothing in this room either. Yugen, did you find anythi… huh!?"
He had apparently caught sight of the white figure disappearing into Yugen's Deck. He blinked twice and rubbed his eyes hard.
"I am not seeing things, right? That just now was…"
Winged Kuriboh fluttered out and flew to Judai Yuki. "Kuri kuri~!"
"So I was right!" Judai Yuki looked delighted. "You can see Spirit too, can't you?"
Winged Kuriboh nodded vigorously, which looked like its whole body bouncing. "Kuri! Kuri kuri!"
Judai Yuki nodded back. "Yeah, I know, partner."
Yugen fell silent. He truly wanted to know how they understood Kuriboh when every syllable sounded the same to him.
Excited to meet someone similar, Judai Yuki grabbed his arm. "Ever since I was little, I could hear strange voices. At first it happened in the middle of the night, like someone calling my name, and I would get up to check my Deck."
"And then a Spirit appeared?"
"No, nothing happened." Judai Yuki scratched his head awkwardly. "Guess it is not that easy to meet a Spirit. After that I stopped hearing them for a long time. But recently, I started hearing them again."
He turned to Winged Kuriboh, who happily rubbed against his cheek. "Kuri kuri~!"
Yugen understood. Judai Yuki remembered hearing voices as a child, but he had completely forgotten his first Spirit.
That first one should have been Yubel, the Spirit who had once sworn to protect him forever. But her protection had gone too far, leaving anyone who defeated Judai Yuki in a coma. She was labeled a cursed card and sent into space by Kaiba Corporation. Afterward, plagued by nightmares, Judai Yuki underwent memory removal surgery and forgot her entirely.
"Your Spirit looks really strong!" Judai Yuki said eagerly. "Can you call her out?"
"About that," Yugen hesitated. "She is shy."
"?"
At that moment, a scream echoed from another room. "Wah!"
Judai Yuki stiffened. "That was Hayato Maeda and Sho Marufuji!"
He rushed out and sprinted down the corridor.
"What happened?"
"Something just went past!" Sho Marufuji stammered. "There is definitely something wrong with this place!"
Yugen stepped out more slowly and caught a glimpse of a small green shape darting down the hallway before vanishing through a door. It looked familiar.
"I did not see anything," Judai Yuki said. "Maybe you imagined it?"
"No way! We both saw it!" Sho Marufuji insisted.
"Do not be afraid," Yugen said calmly. "It was just a ghost."
Everyone stared at him.
He was not joking. It was a Normal monster card he had seen while studying for the Duel Academy exams. Ghost, Level 2, ATK 600, DEF 800. Its description said it was formed from resentful spirits that could not pass on, a real ghost by definition.
But this was the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Even ghosts became cards. At 600 ATK, it would fall instantly to almost anything.
Still, why would a monster Spirit appear out of nowhere in this abandoned dorm?
"Kuri!"
Winged Kuriboh flew ahead, signaling them to follow.
They hurried after it through the corridor into a dark, decaying room. A strange magic circle was carved into the floor, and the walls were covered with complex symbols and images, including designs of Millennium Items long lost.
Judai Yuki brushed dust from a stone slab. "Millennium Items… Did someone study Yami Yugi here?"
"Kuri."
This time Winged Kuriboh sounded serious.
Black Luster Soldier suddenly appeared beside Yugen and warned in a low voice, "Be careful. The space here is unstable."
Before he finished speaking, the carved circle on the floor lit up.
A burst of intense light engulfed Yugen and Judai Yuki. The ground vanished beneath their feet, and the world spun as if they were falling into another dimension.
Yugen had experienced this once before.
It felt exactly like the time he had fallen into Spirit World.
Because he had experienced it once before, Yugen was prepared this time. He half crouched and landed steadily on the ground.
A sharp smell rushed into his nose, and the air felt damp and moldy. The surrounding walls were worn and stained by time, with dark patches of water spreading across them in strange patterns. It was completely different from the green forest where he had landed last time.
"Is this Spirit World too?"
Yugen looked around and turned to see Silent Magician standing guard beside him with her staff raised. He thought for a moment, then stepped forward and gently pinched her pale cheek.
Yes, the same familiar feel.
"So we're in Spirit World again," Yugen muttered.
Silent Magician stared at him in disbelief. When did her face become a testing tool? She puffed out her cheeks and slipped back into the Deck.
In Spirit World, Spirit could also return to their own Card, though they normally remained in physical form there. In the real world they could materialize too, but it required extra energy. Even a powerful Spirit like Ultraman in his later form as Elemental HERO Neos could only stay active in reality for a few minutes.
Yugen turned to Black Luster Soldier. "Is this the same Spirit World as before?"
Black Luster Soldier shook his head. "No. This is not the world I know. But I can sense the same evil spreading through this Dimension. It is another world corrupted by the forces of Dark God."
"Orichalcos? Here too?"
Orichalcos Leviathan clearly had a huge appetite, targeting not only the human world but also many Dimension of the Spirit.
"The barrier between this Dimension and the one where you Duelist live has weakened because of Dark God's invasion," Black Luster Soldier said. "If necessary, I can break through it and return to reality at any time."
Yugen felt relieved. If he could leave whenever he wanted, there was nothing to fear.
After all, this was the legendary Envoy of the Beginning, who wielded the power of Dimensional Slash. With Envoy of the Beginning around, he would not have to worry about getting lost in Different Dimension again. He wondered whether Envoy of the Beginning's spatial power could one day match Yubel, who had once dragged the entire Duel Academy into Different Dimension even in an incomplete state.
"Shall we go?" Black Luster Soldier asked.
"Not yet." Yugen stood up.
Since they were already here, there was no rush. From what he saw before the teleportation, Judai Yuki should have been pulled in with him, even if the two roommates were left outside the light. Perhaps it was because only he and Judai Yuki had been standing inside the drawn circle, or because both of them were Duelist with the power of Spirit.
He decided to search for Judai Yuki first.
After only a few steps, he turned his head and almost jumped in shock. He saw corpses.
Armored warriors lay scattered across the ground, their bloodstained swords tossed aside. There were also mages reduced to dry bones inside their robes, broken staffs lying nearby. A large pile of bodies had been gathered together.
Voices suddenly called out from behind him, shouting as they approached.
"Huh? A stray one got away!"
"A sacrifice for the ritual!" another voice yelled. "Don't let him run!"
Two figures ran toward him. When Yugen focused his eyes, he saw they were walking skeletons clad in armor, holding swords and shields with helmets on their skulls.