Yumi wasn't exactly a genius when it came to dimensional distortion, and while he had learned quite a few tricks over the years, he knew better than to pretend that he understood something he didn't, especially when it came to something as complicated as tearing open a stable passage between different dimensions.
Fortunately, Yumi didn't need to be an expert himself when he had access to monsters that already possessed the knowledge and abilities he needed.
He was currently lying comfortably on the rooftop, his head resting on Raye's lap while she quietly played with his hair, allowing Contrast HERO Chaos and Black Luster Soldier to work together a short distance away as they experimented with their respective abilities.
Even though neither of them was a scientist or an actual expert in dimensional theory, both were warriors who had experienced the power of Chaos and dimensional travel firsthand, and Yumi figured that if anyone could eventually figure out a practical method, it would be the two of them.
He didn't need them to explain the complicated theory behind it. He didn't need to understand every little detail about how dimensions interacted with one another.
All Yumi needed was a method that could actually work, and once he knew it was possible, he could figure out the rest later.
"Wake me up when you two figure something out," Yumi muttered lazily, closing his eyes again.
Raye simply smiled and continued running her fingers through his hair while Chaos and Black Luster Soldier continued their experiments.
Ever since this whole event started, Yumi finally lay down and rested peacefully without much worry.
Just because he is the Strongest doesn't mean he isn't allowed to rest once in a while, especially when everything was getting peaceful.
He had overworked himself the past few days, limiting himself to only drinking water while keeping himself functioning through the effect of the Ring, exchanging his Spirit Energy to keep himself from collapsing.
Then a loud roar suddenly echoed through the academy.
"Heh?" Yumi immediately opened his eyes.
The sound hadn't come from somewhere far away. It had come from below them.
Yumi slowly lifted his head from Raye's lap and sat upright, his golden eyes narrowing as he listened carefully for another sound.
A second roar echoed through the building, this one even louder than the first.
"Don't tell me..."
Yumi already had a pretty good idea of what was happening.
Through the connection within his shadow, he could feel Alice reacting to the disturbance as well, and the Spirit Doll had already begun moving toward the source of the commotion without needing Yumi to give her a command.
Yumi stared toward the rooftop entrance for a moment before letting out a long sigh.
"Of course."
There went his peaceful break.
...
A few moments earlier, after everyone had finished eating and most of the students had returned to their classrooms to rest, the arena had gradually become quiet again.
Most people had already left. Reminder; most.
A small group of students had deliberately stayed behind; however, their eyes repeatedly drifted toward the corner of the room where Behemoth the King of All Animals remained restrained.
The massive beast was still whimpering quietly, its body covered in magical bindings that prevented it from moving.
The students had been uncomfortable with Yumi's method from the beginning.
They believed that what he had done was cruel and that there had to be another way to solve the food shortage without keeping a living creature restrained while harvesting its meat.
There was just one small problem.
They had eaten the meat too.
Every single one of them had been hungry, and when the food was finally placed in front of them, they had eaten it despite knowing exactly where it had come from.
It was rather hypocritical when you thought about it.
But it was easier to blame Yumi than to admit that they had willingly participated in the same thing they were now condemning.
After all, Yumi was the one who had brought the beast back.
Yumi was the one who had ordered his Spirits to prepare the meat.
And Yumi was already infamous among many of the students for being arrogant, selfish, and generally difficult to get along with.
He wasn't exactly popular around Duel Academy, much like his older sister had been during her own time there, so blaming him for everything was considerably easier than looking at themselves and admitting that their own actions had contributed to the situation.
It also gave them a convenient excuse to avoid another fight with each other. Nobody wanted to start arguing over food again.
So instead, they silently agreed that Yumi was the problem.
After waiting until most of the academy had left the arena, the small group of students finally approached Behemoth.
The massive beast looked up at them, its eyes following them cautiously as they walked closer.
One of the girls in a Ra Yellow uniform slowly approached the magical restraints.
"Don't worry," she whispered, looking at the beast with pity. "We're going to get you out of here."
Another student, a boy wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform, nodded beside her.
"Yeah. You don't deserve this."
The irony of him saying that while still having eaten Behemoth's meat only a short while ago seemed to completely escape him.
The group gathered around the restrained monster and began activating their Spell Cards.
"I activate Remove Trap!"
A beam of magical energy struck one of the binding circles.
"Mystical Space Typhoon!"
A violent gust of wind tore through another magical seal.
"Twin Twisters!"
Two more gusts of wind swept across the floor, striking the remaining restraints.
The Spellbinding Circles and Spellbinding Illusions that Yumi had placed around Behemoth began cracking one after another before finally shattering into glowing fragments.
The magical circles disappeared.
Behemoth's massive limbs dropped against the floor. The beast slowly looked down at itself, apparently surprised to discover that it could finally move again.
The students smiled.
"See? You're free now." The Ra Yellow girl stepped backward and pointed toward the exit. "Go on. Run. You don't have to stay here and suffer anymore."
Her boyfriend nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, you're free now. Just get out of here before that guy comes back."
For a moment, Behemoth didn't move. It simply stared at them.
The students waited.
"Come on," the girl encouraged, waving her hand toward the exit. "You can go."
Behemoth continued staring. Then its expression changed. Its muscles suddenly tensed.
The students' smiles slowly disappeared.
"...Uhh?"
Behemoth's eyes widened with anger as the memories of the last several hours came rushing back to it.
Being hunted, captured, restrained. Having its body harvested. Watching its own flesh being cooked. Listening to humans happily eating it.
And now these same humans had released it.
The beast's lips pulled back, revealing its teeth as a deep growl rumbled from its throat.
The students froze.
"Wait..."
Behemoth suddenly threw its head back and released a furious roar that shook the entire arena.
The students stumbled backward in panic.
"What the hell?!"
"Why is it angry?!"
"I thought it would be grateful!"
Behemoth didn't care about their confusion. With its restraints gone, the massive beast immediately raised one of its claws and swung it toward the group.
"AAAAAAAHHH!"
...
The loud roar echoed throughout the academy, drawing the attention of almost everyone still awake, and it didn't take long before Jaden and his group of friends were among the first to reach the arena, only to stop in shock when they saw the scene waiting for them.
Behemoth the King of All Animals was rampaging through the arena, its massive body tearing through anything unfortunate enough to get in its way, while several students were scattered across the floor, some of them injured and desperately trying to crawl away from the furious beast.
"What the hell is going on!?" Jaden shouted as he saw the bloody aftermath of the students' attempt to free Behemoth.
Jaden immediately reacted, raising his Duel Disk and summoning his monster.
"Neos!"
A bright light flashed beside him as the familiar white-body hero appeared, immediately rushing forward and planting both feet against the ground as he caught one of Behemoth's massive arms with both hands.
The hero grunted as he struggled to hold the beast back, his boots digging into the arena floor from the sheer force behind the attack.
For a moment, it looked like he had managed to stop it. Then Behemoth pushed harder. Neos was slowly forced backward.
"He's too strong!"
Jaden gritted his teeth as he watched the beast overpower his monster despite Neos putting everything he had into stopping it.
Behemoth suddenly raised its other arm and swung it toward the injured students.
"Sapphire Pegasus!"
Jesse immediately reacted, summoning his Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus.
The winged monster rushed forward at full speed and slammed its body into Behemoth's massive arm, trying to divert the attack away from the students.
The Pegasus managed to alter the direction of the beast's attack slightly, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop it.
Behemoth's arm crashed into both Sapphire Pegasus and Neos, sending the two monsters flying across the arena before they slammed into the floor and rolled several meters away.
"Jaden!"
Jesse quickly turned toward his friend, the damage their monsters had taken directly transferred back to their master, respectively.
"I'm fine!" Jaden shouted as he pushed himself back up. "But we need to stop that thing!"
"Then let's do it!" Chazz shouted, stepping forward and raising his Duel Disk. "Armed Dragon LV8!"
A powerful gust of wind erupted from beside him as his massive dragon appeared, its wings spreading wide as it immediately charged toward Behemoth.
"Armed Dragon! Stop it!"
The dragon collided with Behemoth head-on, its claws digging into the beast's body as it managed to halt its advance.
"I got it!" Chazz grinned for a moment.
Then Behemoth roared. The beast's muscles suddenly tensed as it pushed forward with even greater force, slowly overpowering Armed Dragon LV8 despite the dragon desperately resisting.
"What!?"
Chazz's eyes widened as Armed Dragon's feet began sliding backward across the arena floor.
"How is that possible?!"
"This doesn't make sense," Jim said, staring at the two monsters in disbelief. "Armed Dragon LV8 has 2800 ATK, while Behemoth the King of All Animals only has 2700 ATK. Naturally, Armed Dragon should be stronger in a direct battle."
"Unless Yumi did something to it," Axel said, his expression becoming more serious as he watched Behemoth.
Everyone looked toward him.
"Think about it. From what I've seen, when a Duel Monster Spirit suffers enough damage to destroy part of its body, it normally disappears and turns into Spirit Energy particles instead of simply regenerating."
Axel's eyes narrowed as he watched Behemoth's body.
"But the Behemoth Yumi brought back was able to regenerate even after having one of its limbs completely cut off."
"So you're saying Yumi modified it somehow?" Chazz asked.
"Not exactly."
A calm, almost emotionless female voice suddenly answered from behind them.
"Master has only placed Furious Max's Curse on it."
The entire group turned around.
Standing a short distance away was a girl wearing a simple black gothic dress, her shoulder-length black hair resting neatly around her face while her calm black eyes observed the battlefield without showing much emotion.
Alexis stared at her for a moment.
"You are..."
She couldn't remember seeing anyone like her at Duel Academy.
There were plenty of students and staff members at the academy, but she had never seen this girl before, and considering the current situation, that was enough to make her suspicious.
"I'm Alice," the girl calmly introduced herself. "I am a Spirit that now belongs to Master Yumi."
"A Spirit?" Jesse repeated.
Alice simply nodded before turning her attention toward Behemoth.
"As I said, Master has equipped it with Furious Max's Curse. The effect prevents the monster equipped with it from being destroyed by battle, which means that unless you can completely overpower it in some other way, simply attacking it with stronger monsters will not be enough."
Behemoth suddenly turned its attention toward Alice.
The beast roared and lowered its body before charging straight toward her.
Jaden shouted. "Watch out!"
Alice didn't even flinch. She simply raised her left hand.
Ominous white mist began gathering around her palm, swirling together before taking the shape of a Duel Disk made entirely from condensed mist and Spirit Energy.
At the same time, Alice calmly drew a card.
"Arise, Reeshaddoll Wendiculhu."
The moment she placed the card onto her Duel Disk, white mist gathered in front of her and slowly took shape.
The mist formed the body of a strange mermaid-like Spirit, with pale white skin, a pink fish tail, and fluffy golden-blond hair that floated around her head as though she were underwater.
Behind her back, rainbow-colored energy formed something resembling a pair of wings, although the colorful strands connecting them to her body made them look more like a collection of thin strings than actual wings.
The mermaid held a staff in her hand as she calmly floated above the ground.
[Reeshaddoll Wendiculhu, 2800 DEF]
"Wendiculhu..." Alice softly called her name.
The mermaid raised her staff.
Behemoth was already halfway toward Alice when an invisible force suddenly slammed down on its massive body.
The beast was forced straight onto the ground. Its legs folded underneath it, causing the massive creature to sit down almost like someone had suddenly commanded it to.
Behemoth looked around in confusion.
It didn't understand what had happened.
It tried standing up. The moment its legs pushed against the floor, the same invisible force pressed down again. Behemoth was forced back into a sitting position.
The beast stared at Wendiculhu with wide eyes.
It tried again. Once more, it was forced down.
Jaden and the others could only stare.
"Did she just make it sit?" Chazz asked.
"Looks like it," Jim replied, equally confused.
Alice calmly watched the beast struggle before speaking in the same quiet tone.
"Just because Master has decided to show mercy to you doesn't mean I have to."
She reached toward her deck and drew another card before placing it onto her Duel Disk.
A thin layer of white mist immediately began gathering in front of her.
The entire Shaddoll archetype revolved around corrupted or transformed versions of existing Duel Monsters.
There was El Shaddoll Winda, for example, which was essentially a corrupted form of Winda, Priestess of Gusto & Pulao, and El Shaddoll Construct, which originated from Gem-Knight Lapis.
That concept gave Yumi an almost ridiculous amount of freedom when creating new Shaddoll monsters.
If he ever ran out of ideas, he could simply look through his collection of Duel Monsters, pick something at random, and think about what it would look like after being turned into a Shaddoll.
Considering the number of monsters that already existed, he probably wouldn't run out of inspiration anytime soon.
Alice placed the card down.
"Arise, El Shaddoll Gilford."
The white mist gathered once again before slowly forming the shape of a tall humanoid warrior.
Unlike a normal human, however, much of the warrior's body had been replaced by mechanical parts, making him look more like a strange machine wearing the remains of a human warrior.
A long purple cape fluttered behind him, attached to several thin purple strings that connected to his arms and legs from behind, giving his movements an unnatural puppet-like quality.
His head was covered by a heavily modified purple helmet that made his face resemble a doll rather than a living warrior, while his right hand held an enormous blade.
[El Shaddoll Gilford, 3300 ATK]
Alice calmly pointed toward the still-restrained Behemoth.
"Go. Show it why it shouldn't annoy Master."
Gilford lowered his massive blade and slowly began walking toward the beast.
Behemoth's eyes widened. The beast clearly understood that something very bad was about to happen.
It immediately tried to stand, only for the invisible force to return. Behemoth was pushed back onto the ground.
It tried again. The same thing happened. Again. And again.
Every time Behemoth attempted to rise, Wendiculhu's power simply forced it back down, leaving the massive creature completely helpless as Gilford continued approaching at a slow, steady pace.
Behemoth let out a frightened growl.