Finals

"Hello, dear viewers. You're watching the finals of the Moonflower Cup. I'm Commentator Xiao Du."

"I'm Commentator Sasaki."

The tournament logo flashed across the live stream feed, and the two commentators warming up the crowd before the match immediately appeared on screen.

"After several days of fierce competition, the tournament has finally reached its conclusion today. To be honest, this event has given us quite a few surprises," Commentator Xiao Du said.

"Indeed," Sasaki agreed. "A former legend who had vanished from the scene for years has returned to the arena. The Legendary Duelist, Dinosaur Ryuzaki, has bulldozed his way into the finals with unstoppable force. I don't think that surprised anyone.

"But I imagine no one expected that the one challenging this legend in the finals wouldn't be any of the pre-tournament seeded players, but our No. 39, Fujiki Kira—a newcomer with no prior record to be found."

Xiao Du nodded. "And I believe everyone already knows that this contestant not only has no tournament experience, but his Duelist Level is only one star."

"To be honest, when I first saw the player list for the main event, I thought it had to be a typo," Commentator Sasaki said. "I was thinking, huh? A one-star player? Is this a joke?

"Then I checked the system, and it was actually real."

"Cases like that aren't unheard of," Xiao Du said. "There are precedents. Some players never visit arenas or show their faces in public. They may train in seclusion for years, only to make their debut and become famous overnight."

"True, but it's rare. All we can say is that we're lucky this year to have witnessed the rise of a dark horse. In another year, he might even have won the championship. What a shame."

As soon as he said that, Sasaki realized he was about to let something slip and hurriedly slammed on the brakes.

Sasaki took a deep breath. That was close, that was close. Pre-match jinxing, maliciously manipulating the match with mysterious powers—that was beneath a professional commentator.

Even if what he had been thinking was actually what most people thought.

No matter how dark this dark horse was, could he really take down a Legendary Duelist in an instant?

Running into a legend like Dinosaur Ryuzaki in a small tournament like this was an extraordinarily unlikely event. Normally, a big shot like him wouldn't come to a lower-tier event to stomp beginners. He had probably spent years in seclusion and was using an easy event to get his feel back after returning to dueling.

But for the Moonflower Cup, the appearance of someone like him was undoubtedly a crushing mismatch.

Though this newcomer's strength had been astonishing, he had surely prepared thoroughly before the tournament, hoping to build up his strength and become famous in one stroke. Unfortunately, his luck was bad enough to run into a Great Master like this.

It could only be said that aside from strength, luck was important sometimes too.

"All right, the match has now entered its countdown. Both contestants should already be in their pre-match preparation phase," Commentator Xiao Du said. "Will the suddenly risen dark horse keep riding his streak to the end, or will the legend make a king's return? Let's wait and see!"

Kira stood on the stage, shuffling his deck as he faced the legendary Dinosaur Ryuzaki.

Sure enough, the man before him already looked somewhat different from how he had appeared in the anime Kira remembered. In his memories, Ryuzaki and his best buddy Haga had both been a pair of underdeveloped little runts, probably only reaching Kira's waist. It seemed that in the years since Duel Monsters ended, they had gotten plenty of nutrition and grown quite a bit taller.

Why, Ryuzaki could even barely reach Kira's chin now.

Yet although he had to tilt his head up to meet Kira's eyes, his presence was not weak in the slightest. He carried the faint confidence of a superior powerhouse.

Kira was comparing the changes between Ryuzaki and his anime counterpart from memory, but when Ryuzaki noticed his gaze, who knew what sort of wild interpretation went through his head. He actually smiled faintly and assumed the bearing of an expert. "No need to be nervous. Just perform as you normally would. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Participation is what matters—just show your spirit."

Kira froze for a moment, then quickly realized that this guy probably thought he was feeling pressured by facing a "legend."

And what the hell did he mean, participation was what mattered? He said it like Kira had already lost.

Still, Kira smiled and went along with it. "Thank you, but I'm fine. I just suddenly remembered that, when I didn't know how to duel yet, I saw you fighting in the Duelist Kingdom tournament on television..."

Ryuzaki's eyes lit up at that. Feeling immensely flattered, he unconsciously straightened his back a little. "Haha, so I was unexpectedly half of a dueling guide for you."

"Yes, yes. I especially remember your ace, the 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon.' The legendary red dragon that brings possibility left an indelible mark on my young heart." Kira's face was full of sincerity.

But the moment he said that, Ryuzaki's face darkened.

Damn it, he just had to bring up the one thing he shouldn't.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon had indeed once been the ace Ryuzaki took pride in. But anyone who had watched the Duelist Kingdom tournament back then would know that he had lost Red-Eyes in his very first match of the Kingdom to the legendary gambling freak, Katsuya Jonouchi.

He didn't believe the other guy didn't know that. Mentioning it deliberately in front of him was practically a slap in the face, like saying, "Your wife is great, shame she ran off with someone else."

Ryuzaki wore a gloomy expression and merely grunted without saying anything. He was probably already thinking about how, once the duel began, he would make this ignorant rookie understand just how cruel duels between true powerhouses could be.

"Oh, right. You later continued on to compete in Battle City. I kept following your matches back then too."

Kira's eyes were incomparably sincere. He said it so convincingly that even he was nearly starting to believe it.

"Especially the 'Evil Knight Dragon' you summoned in Battle City. It was so cool."

Ryuzaki's face darkened even further.

He was now certain that this bastard was deliberately messing with his mentality. Evil Knight Dragon had indeed been his ace in Battle City, but damn it, he had lost in his very first match there too—to the duelist Esper Roba, who wielded "Jinzo."

It was like a second slap in the face: your second wife was great too, but she ran off with someone else as well.

No. Stay calm.

Ryuzaki took a deep breath.

The stronger the duelist, the more important their mentality was. Even in the Professional League, pre-match trash talk was sometimes part of the competition. He had to stay steady. He absolutely couldn't let this bastard ruin his mindset before the duel had even begun.

He would use the duel to show this guy just how formidable he was.

"Duel!" x2

Kira, LP 4000

Ryuzaki, LP 4000

The choice of who would go first had randomly fallen to Kira. Naturally, he did not stand on ceremony and took the first turn.

"I'll go first. I draw."

Kira drew three cards from his hand in one go.

"I set one monster in my Monster Zone, then set two more cards in my back row. End Turn!"