Chapter 103: The Seven Stars Gate and the Dark Duelists!

The following morning. The chancellor's office.

Fresh off Professor Banner's alchemy experiment class, Rowan, Alexis, Jaden, and the others were summoned to the chancellor's office.

When they filed in, they found Professor Crowler, Zane, and Bastion already waiting in front of Chancellor Sheppard's desk.

"Chancellor Sheppard, Rowan and the others are here," Banner announced.

"Thank you, Professor Banner."

"So what is it this time, Chancellor Sheppard?" Jaden, characteristically unable to wait for pleasantries to run their course, asked before the chancellor could even get comfortable.

"This time, there is something genuinely important. Something that will require your help."

Chancellor Sheppard set aside any attempt at small talk and nodded with a gravity that settled over the room immediately.

"What I'm about to tell you is one of this academy's most closely guarded secrets. I ask that every student present keep what they hear within these walls."

"If it's a secret, why not ask us to step out before saying it..." Rowan had the thought, but swallowed it.

He let the chancellor continue.

"On this island, there are three cards sealed away. Cards possessing a terrible power, capable of reaching into and affecting the real world itself."

Chancellor Sheppard's hands came together under his chin, his expression grave.

"They are known as... the Sacred Beasts."

"The Sacred Beasts?!"

Jaden, Chazz, and the others reacted immediately, visibly shaken. Even Crowler and Zane were not immune.

None of them had heard the name "Sacred Beasts" before. But they had all heard of something else.

Something rumored to be even more fearsome.

The three Egyptian Gods.

The very beings whose names the dormitories carried as their prefixes.

Legend held that those deemed unworthy by the Gods would be struck down by divine punishment the moment they dared to use the cards.

And now there were entities of a similar order sealed somewhere beneath this island?

Rowan alone showed no particular shock.

His expression settled into something closer to quiet confirmation.

He had already suspected as much before arriving.

If he remembered correctly, a faction bent on breaking the Sacred Beasts' seal was about to make its move.

As it turned out, he was right.

"This academy was built precisely on the site where those three cards are sealed," Chancellor Sheppard continued, exhaling slowly.

"And Duel Academy carries the responsibility of ensuring that seal is never broken."

"Should the Sacred Beasts emerge from their imprisonment beneath the earth, whoever commands their power would be capable of inflicting irreversible damage upon the entire real world."

"And now, based on intelligence I have recently received, a faction seeking to break that seal has resurfaced after years of silence."

"What faction?" Alexis asked.

Everyone else turned to the chancellor, waiting.

"An ancient organization of shadow duelists known as the Seven Stars."

Chancellor Sheppard's voice was deliberate and measured.

"It appears that after years of dormancy, they have once again assembled seven shadow duelists of sufficient power, each wielding their corresponding dark artifact."

"The Seven Stars have existed for that many generations?" Rowan said, mildly surprised despite himself.

He had assumed the Seven Stars were little more than a hastily assembled team, put together by the scheming old man behind the curtain, Duel Academy's Chairman, purely as a means to an end.

A tool for breaking the seal and reclaiming his youth.

But the way Chancellor Sheppard spoke of them suggested something far older.

If the Seven Stars had existed since the time of the Sacred Beasts' sealing, they predated Duel Academy itself by a considerable margin.

The Chairman had simply inherited the name. Revived it. Used it as the framework for recruiting this current generation of shadow duelists.

"The Seven Stars have existed for roughly as long as the Sacred Beasts have been sealed," Chancellor Sheppard confirmed, nodding toward Rowan.

"They originated in ancient times as a cult of fanatical devotees to the Sacred Beasts, who used dark artifacts passed down through the generations to form their order."

"Then how exactly are they planning to break the seal?" Professor Crowler, surprisingly, cut directly to the relevant question.

Because if the answer involved any kind of physical confrontation...

He was going to volunteer for the support role.

Loudly cheering everyone else on from a safe distance.

"Kriiiik."

The round Kuriboh had picked up on the spike of self-serving intent.

Its small voice chirped a warning from somewhere on Rowan's person.

Rowan raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Crowler.

His hand drifted casually toward the small camera in his pocket.

Crowler immediately broke into a cold sweat.

His mouth twitched through several failed attempts at a natural expression before settling on something strained and unconvincing.

The anxiety blooming in his chest was substantial.

Mamma mia.

Was the failing student boy actually going to volunteer him as a replacement?

"Professor Crowler's question strikes exactly at the heart of it," Chancellor Sheppard said, entirely oblivious to the silent exchange happening across the room.

His focus remained fixed on the weight of what he was describing.

"The Sacred Beasts sealed beneath the academy are held within seven massive artifact gates known as the Spirit Gates. In order to open the seal, the Seven Stars must collect all seven keys."

As he spoke, Chancellor Sheppard reached beneath his desk and produced a sealed black case. He opened it.

Inside lay seven keys. Each one was an irregular shape, cast in antique bronze-gold, etched with small clusters of ancient and cryptic writing.