Finals

"Hello, dear viewers, you are watching the finals of the Moonflower Cup. I am Commentator Xiao Du."

"And I am Commentator Sasaki."

The tournament logo flashed across the TV broadcast, and the two commentators warming up before the match immediately appeared on screen.

"After several days of fierce battles, the tournament finally comes to a close today. To be honest, this year's competition has given us quite a few surprises," said Commentator Xiao Du.

"Indeed," Sasaki echoed. "It's probably not surprising to anyone that a former legend who had vanished for many years has returned to the arena, and the Legendary Duelist Dinosaur Ryuzaki has made it all the way to the finals with unstoppable dominance.

But I think at first, no one would have expected that the one who would ultimately reach the finals to challenge this legend wouldn't be any of the seeded players predicted before the tournament, but our NO.39 Fujiki Kira, a newcomer with no traceable history before."

Xiao Du nodded and said, "And I believe everyone already knows that this player not only has no competitive experience, but their Duelist Level is even only one star."

"Honestly, when I first saw the player list for the main tournament, I thought it must have been a mistake," Commentator Sasaki also said. "I was thinking at the time, huh? A one-star player? Is this a joke?

Then I checked The System, and it was true."

"Sometimes that happens," Xiao Du said. "There have been precedents. Some players who never go to the arena and never show their face might have practiced in seclusion for many years, and then suddenly make a splash upon their debut."

"True, but it's rare. We can only say we're lucky this year to have witnessed the rise of a dark horse. Maybe they could have won in previous years, but unfortunately..."

Sasaki, who had spoken this far, realized he was about to slip up and quickly pulled back from the brink, stopping himself.

Sasaki took a deep breath. Phew, that was close. Pre-game jinxing or maliciously manipulating the match with mysterious powers were not things a professional commentator should do.

Even though his thoughts were the same as most people's.

No matter how dark this dark horse was, could they really instantly defeat a Legendary Duelist?

Encountering a legend like Dinosaur Ryuzaki in such a small tournament was an extremely low probability event. Normally, such a powerhouse wouldn't come to these lower-tier events to 'fish'. Perhaps the powerhouse was dueling someone for the first time after many years of seclusion and wanted to start simple to test the waters and get a feel for it.

But for the Moonflower Cup, the appearance of such a powerhouse was undoubtedly a dimensional reduction attack.

Although this newcomer's strength was impressive, they must have made ample preparations before the tournament, hoping to accumulate strength and then burst forth to become famous in one go using this opportunity. Unfortunately, bad luck led them to run into such a god-tier player.

It could only be said that besides strength, sometimes luck is also very important.

"Alright, the match is now in countdown, and both players should have entered the pre-match preparation phase," said Commentator Xiao Du. "Will the dark horse that emerged unexpectedly go all the way, or will the legend make a king's return? Let's wait and see!"

Kira stood on the stage, facing the Legendary Dinosaur Ryuzaki, shuffling their decks.

Indeed, the person in front of him looked a bit different from how he remembered them in the anime. He remembered Ryuzaki and his good friend Weevil Underwood as a duo of stunted, short guys; Kira estimated they would only come up to his waist. Now, it seemed they had gotten good nutrition and grown quite a bit in the years after DM ended.

Look, now they could barely reach his chin.

But even though he had to lift his head to look Kira in the eye, his aura wasn't weak at all, exuding the subtle confidence of a high-level expert.

Kira was currently observing the changes in the opponent compared to the anime character in his memory, but Ryuzaki noticed his gaze and, perhaps after some imaginative processing in his brain, smiled slightly and put on the air of a master: "No need to be nervous, just play normally like you usually do. Don't feel burdened, it's about participation, just play well and show off your style."

Kira was taken aback, then quickly realized this guy probably thought he was feeling psychological pressure facing a "legend".

And what the heck did he mean 'it's about participation'? It was like he had already lost...

However, he also smiled and played along with the conversation: "Thank you, but I'm fine. It's just that I suddenly remembered, back when I didn't know how to duel, I saw you fighting on TV in the Duelist Kingdom tournament..."

Ryuzaki's eyes lit up upon hearing this, suddenly feeling very proud. He couldn't help but straighten his back a bit. "Haha, so you could say I'm half of your guide into dueling."

"Yes, yes, I was especially impressed by your ace monster, 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon'. The legendary red dragon that brings possibility, it left an indelible mark on my young heart," Kira said with a look of sincerity on his face.

However, as soon as he said this, Ryuzaki's face immediately darkened.

Damn, he had to bring up the sore spot.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon was indeed his ace monster that he was proud of, but if Kira had really watched the Duelist Kingdom tournament back then, he would know that Ryuzaki lost Red-Eyes in the very first match of the Kingdom tournament to the legendary gambler Katsuya Jonouchi.

He didn't believe Kira didn't know this, so deliberately bringing this up in front of him was like rubbing it in, saying your wife is great, but unfortunately, she ran off with someone else...

Ryuzaki's face was dark. He grunted and stopped talking. He was probably already thinking about how he'd show this arrogant rookie just how brutal duels between true powerhouses could be once the duel started.

"Oh right, later you continued to move on to the Battle City tournament, and I followed that as well."

Kira's eyes were incredibly sincere, making him almost believe it himself.

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

Ryuzaki's face immediately grew even darker.

He was now certain this guy was definitely trying to mess with his mindset on purpose. Evil Knight Dragon was indeed his ace monster in Battle City, but he also lost it in the very first match, losing to Esper Roba, the duelist who wielded 'Jinzo'.

It was like a double dose of taunting right to his face: Your second wife was great too, but unfortunately, she ran off with someone else again...

No, I must keep my composure.

Ryuzaki took a deep breath.

The higher the level of the duelist, the more important their mindset is. Even in professional leagues, pre-game trash talk is sometimes part of the match. He had to stay calm, absolutely could not let this guy break his mindset before the duel even started.

He'd show this guy how strong he was through the duel.

"Duel!" x2

[Kira, LP 4000]
[Ryuzaki, LP 4000]

The right to choose who went first was randomly given to Kira. Kira naturally didn't stand on ceremony and took the first turn.

"I'll go first, draw!"

Kira drew three cards from his hand in one go.

"I set one monster in the front zone and set two cards in the back zone. I end my turn!"