Chapter 119: The Vampire Lady, Camula!

"Could that be... Camula's vampire bat?"

Spotting the faintly odd-looking bat outside the infirmary window, Rowan recognized it at once, muttering to himself under his breath.

Looks like another Seven Stars Shadow Duelist has made it to the island where Duel Academy sits...

He remembered this part of the original storyline clearly enough. A female vampire Shadow Duelist, using a materialized Duel Monster spirit, a vampire bat, to gather intelligence.

Rowan couldn't help but sigh a little at that. The Seven Stars really were coming on strong. Darkness had barely gone down, and already the next Seven Stars Shadow Duelist was moving into position.

"Something wrong, Rowan?" Alexis noticed the change in him quickly enough and followed his line of sight out the window. But by the time she looked, there was nothing there. The materialized vampire bat had already sensed Rowan noticing it and flown off before she could turn her head.

"Nothing. Just some strange bat, that's all." Rowan decided not to bring up the matter for now. Whatever was coming, there'd be time enough to deal with it when it actually happened. Right now, the important thing was getting back to Alexis's feeding session.

Midnight.

Thick fog rolled in over the large lake on Duel Academy's grounds. No one noticed that, somewhere within that fog-covered water, an ancient, dark castle had appeared, standing there on the surface of the lake as if it had always belonged.

"Screech!!"

With the flap of wings and a shriek, the strange, crimson-eyed bat swooped in through a bay window of the fog-wrapped castle.

Inside, a bewitching woman with dark green hair lay soaking in a pristine white, aristocratic-style bathtub, foam and scattered rose petals covering her almost entirely, leaving only her arms and one bent knee visible above the water.

"Screech!!"

The little vampire bat flew straight to her raised hand and settled obediently onto the back of it.

"Such an obedient little thing. Now, tell me everything you saw today."

The green-haired woman said with a satisfied curl of her lips.

"Thrum!!"

A crimson light lit up within the bat's faceted red eyes, transmitting everything it had gathered that day. Soon, the green-haired woman seemed to be watching something unfold before her own eyes, a series of figures and the decks they used flashing past one after another.

Among them, Jaden and Chazz and the others, gathered in the Slifer Red dorm, adjusting their decks, loudly declaring that they'd be the ones to take down whichever Seven Stars Shadow Duelist showed up next.

And Bastion and Kaiser Zane, each doing the same in their own dorm rooms, tuning their decks as well.

"With this, every deck they're preparing, and everything about my opponents, is already entirely in my hands."

Finally, the vision in her eyes settled on the infirmary, on Alexis feeding Rowan, and the moment he'd noticed the little vampire bat.

"Oh? So he's the one who took down Darkness?" The green-haired woman said to herself, a flicker of real interest in her eyes.

"Four Duel Monster spirits, awakened and following him around. He really is a bit different. Still, I won't be reckless like Darkness was, and lose here."

"I haven't even used my true Shadow Duel power yet..."

As she spoke, she turned to look out through the mist toward the lake in the distance. Before much longer, whoever held the key to the Seven Stars gate and answered her challenge would arrive to face her.

"Alexis, something's wrong!"

Almost at the same moment, the infirmary door swung open. Alexis's two close friends, Jasmine and Mindy, came hurrying in just behind Nurse Fontaine, both of their faces carrying a faint edge of panic.

"What's going on, Jasmine, Mindy?"

Seeing the tension on their faces, Alexis, who had been sitting by Rowan's bed chatting happily with him, looked over at them in confusion.

Rowan, meanwhile, resting against his pillow, already had a fairly good idea what was coming. And sure enough, what Jasmine and Mindy said next confirmed his suspicion.

"Alexis, it looks like another Seven Stars Shadow Duelist has shown up." Jasmine spoke first.

"All day today, word's been going around the academy that someone spotted a beautiful woman standing on the surface of that lake on the island, with two sharp fangs at the corner of her mouth. A vampire."

Mindy nodded along, adding the rest of the story.

"Just now, Professor Crowler and Kaiser Zane, and Jaden and the others, all headed over to the lake together, getting ready to duel her."

"A new Seven Stars Shadow Duelist? A beautiful vampire?" Alexis repeated, startled.

"How could this be happening so soon! Another one of those dangerous Shadow Duels, already?!"

Having barely had any contact with Shadow Duels before all of this, the sheer rush of events over the past few days had genuinely shaken her understanding of what a duel could even be. Even though Rowan, for reasons she still didn't understand, seemed to have come through without a scratch, her brother had suffered very real, very serious injuries. And now, with Darkness, that malevolent spirit inside the black mask, barely dealt with the night before, a brand new Seven Stars Shadow Duelist had already arrived on the island, ready to issue another challenge.

Hearing all this, Rowan wore an expression that said, exactly as he'd expected.

That strange little vampire bat he'd spotted outside the window that afternoon, while Alexis had been feeding