"What the hell is going on here, Quaedes!"
Snatching the transfer documents from Homar's hands, Miles rushed into the imperial palace of the capital at top speed, questioning the emperor seated upon the throne, Quaedes.
"Oh, looks like it made it in time before you set off, Miles."
Quaedes's expression, however, showed that this had long been expected. Resting her cheek on one hand, she appeared unconcerned.
"Isn't this a good thing? Saves you the trouble of making a pointless trip back."
"I guess that's true… after all, dragon carriage fares are pretty expensive…
"Wait, that's not the point! The point is, why am I being transferred to XYZ Academy?!"
"Hmm? What's there to be surprised about? Didn't I ask you yesterday?"
"You asked me?"
"I asked whether you wanted to go to the Spirit Sanctuary this year. And your answer was: yes, you did."
"What does that have to do with suddenly transferring schools?"
"This is my method."
With her fair fingertips, Quaedes tapped the document Miles had placed before her, pointing out the key section within it.
"…Temporarily transferred into XYZ Academy, third year…
"You know this as well, Miles. Only third-year students of Duel Academies are qualified each year to enter the Spirit Sanctuary.
"And after transferring, congratulations: you've obtained that qualification."
"That counts as a solution?"
If simply advancing to the third year could grant access to the Spirit Sanctuary, Miles could have just asked Raiden to let him 'skip a grade' and enter Fusion Academy's third year directly.
That way, he wouldn't have had to come all the way to this unfamiliar Xyz Academy, making it seem like he had suddenly switched sides right before the important Inter-Academy Ranking War.
Seeing straight through Miles' thoughts, Quaedes added, "If what you're thinking right now is skipping grades, then I regret to inform you.
"That won't work."
In fact, according to the rules jointly established by the headmasters of the three major Duel Academies, new students must begin from the first year.
That's also why, when Kaima handled Miles' enrollment, even knowing his true strength, she could only have him start from first year.
And since this rule exists, a newly enrolled first-year student naturally cannot skip directly into the third year. Otherwise, the rule personally set by the headmasters would become meaningless.
"That said, this rule has a loophole," Quaedes explained. "While it states that first-year students cannot directly advance to higher grades within their own academy, it never mentions anything about 'transferring.'"
"So you can't advance from first year to third year through skipping grades… but you can transfer into another academy's third year…"
After hearing the explanation, Miles finally understood.
Quaedes was basically exploiting a loophole.
When the headmasters made the rules, they probably never imagined that one day, among the three academies—each incompatible with the others due to their different summoning methods—a student would appear who could transfer across schools while skipping grades.
To be recognized by all academies and directly transfer into the third year, one naturally had to be a Duelist like Miles, who had mastered all three summoning methods.
Black text on white paper… at the end of the document were the signatures of Fusion Academy's Vice Principal Raiden and XYZ Academy's Vice Principal Wolf, serving as undeniable proof of its validity.
Of course, the most significant signature on the transfer document was that of Emperor Quaedes herself.
Perhaps it was precisely because of seeing Emperor Quaedes's signature that Vice Principal Raiden, under pressure, agreed to release Miles.
After all, Miles' current reputation had yet to reach the level of the name Aisha Carlos.
In Raiden's eyes, Miles was merely a promising student among first-years with considerable potential.
Although it was regrettable for Fusion Academy to lose such a promising student, when the Emperor personally came to request him, as Vice Principal, Raiden inevitably had to consider the academy's position first; he had no choice but to give face.
...
"So, Mr. Miles, you really have become a student of XYZ Academy?"
After returning from Quaedes, Miles explained the whole situation in detail to everyone who had been waiting.
"So to let you qualify for entering the Spirit Sanctuary this year, you were specially transferred into XYZ Academy's third year," Irena stroked her chin, thinking seriously. "Isn't that actually pretty good?"
This year, Irena was already a third-year student at Fusion Academy. At most, she would only remain at the academy for less than two more months. After that, she would have to part ways with Aisha and the others, setting off for the Spirit Sanctuary.
At this moment, with Miles suddenly transferring into the third year of XYZ Academy, he would inevitably be heading to the Spirit Sanctuary together with the Xyz cohort.
Thinking about it this way, even though they belonged to different factions, everyone would still be in the same place. Meeting Miles would remain frequent and convenient for Irena; it was practically a win.
"Isn't that great!"
"It's not great at all! Not great!"
The sulking Princess Nova jumped out right away to loudly refute.
"If Miles transfers to XYZ, then no one will accompany me to chat during class anymore!"
First of all, Nova, you should understand that chatting during class is not a proper thing to do. Secondly, Miles would basically ignore your chatter anyway.
"I don't want you to transfer either, Mr. Miles. Ren-chan, and Kevin and the others… they wouldn't want you to leave either."
Miles himself didn't want such a sudden transfer either. When it came to bonds, Fusion Academy was where his ties ran deepest, and it was also the academy he felt the most attached to.
"Alright, then transfer back!" Nova clenched her fist resolutely. "I'll go talk to Father right now!"
Since on the Empire's side, Emperor Quaedes had stepped in personally, then on Livorden's side, if the King Kaiser stepped forward, it would be an equally matched level of influence.
If word got out that the kings of two nations were competing over a single first-year student, Miles' reputation would rise several more levels.
"No need, Nova. I already told Quaedes that I would prefer to return to Fusion. We've also discussed a solution."
"What solution?!" Dark Aisha asked urgently.
Continuously transferring back and forth within a short period, such a farce, would unquestionably not be allowed by either academy.
So Quaedes proposed a second solution.
Miles' student registration would remain under XYZ Academy's third year, while he himself would return to Fusion Academy as an exchange student to continue his studies.
Alice said, "Transferring from Fusion Academy to XYZ Academy, then returning to Fusion as an exchange student from XYZ… what a complicated relationship."
Not just Alice, even Miles himself felt it was absurd, giving him the strange feeling of being claimed by three different families.
Anyhow, this method was indeed feasible, and Miles would still be able to obtain the qualification to enter the Spirit Sanctuary this year.
"So that means, Mr. Miles will still return to Fusion Academy," Aisha let out a long sigh of relief. "You should've said so earlier… you had me worried for nothing."
Regardless of what identity Miles held, as long as he could stay by her side, Aisha had no complaints.
"That may be so, but there's still one condition."
Transferring schools and then immediately returning the same day as an exchange student would obviously be too abnormal.
Thus, Quaedes's condition was that Miles had to attend at least one full week of classes at XYZ Academy before being allowed to return to Fusion Academy.
"A-a whole week!"
Just being away for one week… this level of compromise was something even Aisha and Nova could reluctantly accept.
The only one who couldn't accept this reality was Aisha's dark side.
Let alone a week… if she couldn't see Miles for even a single day, she would probably fall into complete disarray.
"Then I'll stay too!"
"Huh? The other me?"
"I'll stay and accompany Miles. I don't need to attend school, anyway."
"As expected of… the other me."
Aisha didn't find this decision strange at all; in fact, she understood it with no problems.
If she were the version that didn't have to go to school, she would have made the exact same choice.
"Then the other me, I'll entrust Mr. Miles to your care for now!" Aisha said solemnly.
"Mhm, I'll do my best!" Dark Aisha nodded seriously.
Who exactly was taking care of whom here? This dark-side Aisha, who had absolutely no common sense about daily life, would already be a blessing if she didn't cause trouble for Miles.
"Then, see you in a week, Miles~"
Bidding farewell to everyone in front of the departing dragon carriage, Irena was in the best mood of all.
After all, if things continued this way, Miles would be able to accompany her to the Spirit Sanctuary this year.
As for the Dark Aisha staying by Miles' side, with a face identical to Aisha Carlos, it was impossible to just walk openly into XYZ Academy with her.
Fortunately, before leaving, Viel had taught Miles another way to use the King's Key.
"Here, Miles~"
"Oh."
Dark Aisha very consciously removed the King's Key from her chest and handed it to Miles.
As long as Miles wore the King's Key, Dark Aisha could return to his Soul Room just like before.
And with the King's Key acting as a medium, while Miles was wearing it, Dark Aisha could also appear beside him in a spiritual form visible only to him.
Mm, just like a starlight body.
There was also another piece of good news: since Dark Aisha had returned to the Soul Room, Miles could once again have her help open the deck gates inside the room, allowing him to freely switch between different decks.
There would no longer be the awkward situation like when dueling Quaedes, where he could only use an unfinished deck.
However, that duel with Quaedes also made Miles realize that his current half-finished D/D/D deck was far too immature.
Using D/D/D to crush weaker opponents, of course, was no problem.
But when Miles truly faced a top-tier powerhouse like Quaedes, a half-finished deck proved quite inadequate.
That was also the most important reason why Miles agreed to stay at XYZ Academy.
Since it was a Duel Academy, summoning classes were indispensable.
And as an academy centered around Xyz Summoning, XYZ Academy's courses leaned toward monsters that could easily meet Xyz conditions.
As a Duelist proficient in all summoning methods with his D/D/D deck, among the three major summoning types, Miles was still missing the final piece: the Xyz component of his Different-Dimensional Demon King, D/D/D.
By taking advantage of this opportunity to study at XYZ Academy, there was a high chance he could complete that final missing piece.
Thinking about it this way, even in the face of an unfamiliar academy, Miles' fighting spirit was ignited.
"Ah, Miles." From within the Soul Room, Dark Aisha's voice suddenly rang out. "Why is there an extra door?"
"An extra door?"
The doors representing decks within the Soul Room could only be added through the possession ability of the Millennium Puzzle.
And Miles was certain that recently, he hadn't possessed any strange women.
"It's a door with a wave symbol on it."
"A wave symbol… I see. So it's this, huh."
Miles looked at the ring on his finger: the Emperor's Ring that contained Quaedes's power.
As expected of a nation-level Magic Tool, even without actually swapping bodies with Quaedes, it could still influence the Soul Room of the Millennium Puzzle.
"Swapping bodies with Quaedes…"
At that thought, an idea suddenly surfaced in Miles' mind.
Quaedes's physical traits prevented her from summoning the Gods.
But if he used the Millennium Puzzle to swap bodies with her, allowing Miles to control Quaedes's body, could he then gain the ability to summon and use the God Cards?
Of course, this was only a hypothesis. The Millennium Puzzle was currently with Aisha, so even if he wanted to swap bodies with Quaedes, it couldn't actually be carried out.
"…This scumbag is definitely thinking about getting into another woman's body again!"
...
Riding in the luxurious royal dragon carriage arranged by Quaedes, what would normally take two days of travel, Miles managed to complete by the next morning, arriving from the imperial capital at the Varian Empire Academy.
The XYZ Academy, which specialized in Xyz Summoning, had an architectural style considerably different from the other two Duel Academies.
If Synchron Academy embodied magitek style, and Fusion Academy carried an elegant classical style, then XYZ Academy was defined by its grand and luxurious aesthetic.
From the entrance gates, to the fields, to the Duel Platforms used by students and the teaching buildings… everything exuded one defining characteristic: scale.
With such massive and luxurious Duel Platforms, smashing things here would certainly feel satisfying.
The third year of XYZ Academy had a total of 214 students. The number of students in just one year was already nearly equal to the entire student body of Fusion Academy.
After all, XYZ Academy, which specialized in Xyz Summoning, had been the champion of the Inter-Academy Ranking War for several consecutive years and was publicly recognized as the strongest academy on the Spirit Continent.
With the title of strongest academy, Duelists across the Spirit Continent naturally preferred to choose XYZ Academy for further study.
However, with over two hundred students in a single year, it was impossible to teach them as a single class like in Fusion Academy.
As a result, each year at XYZ Academy was divided into classes of around forty students.
In addition, the Empire upheld absolute power supremacy, so even class assignments were directly ranked according to dueling strength.
The third year currently had five classes, ranging from the strongest A-Class to the weakest E-Class.
From the moment one entered the academy, it was a brutal battlefield. There was a reason it had been able to win the ranking war repeatedly.
Compared to the harsh competition of XYZ Academy, Fusion Academy was practically like nurturing flowers in a greenhouse.
As for Miles, who had transferred in midway, the class he was assigned to…
"Since Quaedes knows my strength, it has to be the strongest A-Class, right?"
—E-Class!
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