Duel Academy Island.
Surging waves battered the island. Thin moonlight barely filtered through the dense canopy, illuminating the moss and ferns on the ground like the only faint signs of life in this silent place.
Professor Cobra from Western Academy walked through the forest, dry branches crunching beneath his feet. The air was filled with an indescribable heaviness and oppression, as though even breathing had become difficult.
Professor Cobra held a device in his hand. He walked, stopped, and walked again, seemingly using it to determine his direction.
This was his first time on the island. Duel Academy Island had given him an indescribable feeling so far, especially in the middle of the night amid this dense forest. The ancient towering trees all around cast enormous shadows that intertwined like an invisible net, tightly wrapping around every outsider.
It felt less like a school and more like the forbidden domain of some Demon King.
Still, the professor eventually found what he was looking for.
An abandoned laboratory buried deep within the island.
The rusted metal door hung half-open, as though it were a gateway to another world. Dim moonlight seeped faintly through the shattered windows, while a cool wind slipped through the cracks with a low, mournful whine.
You could never imagine how many bizarre things were hidden on an island that appeared to hold nothing but a school.
This place had originally been a laboratory focused on animals, intended to explore whether animals could be taught to play cards. It sounded utterly ridiculous at first, but their research had in fact proven feasible.
When Judai and the others were first-years, a monkey that could play cards had escaped from this laboratory and even dueled Judai.
Some scholars believed that animals possessed a greater natural affinity with spirits than humans