School Legacy

The next day, when Kira returned to the Duel Dojo, everything felt different.

It was not merely that he himself had changed. Of course, after returning as champion, he could clearly feel that everyone looked at him differently. The moment he entered, someone shouted something—he had no idea who started it—and then everyone swarmed over to worship the big shot.

But it was not just that.

When he arrived at the Duel Arena, Kira immediately noticed that the atmosphere was completely different from when he had first come here.

The first time he came, dueling here had felt roughly like the old Axe Raider slugfest era. It was not entirely just one monster attacking another, but the main offense and defense mostly revolved around both sides trying to summon stronger monsters and overwhelm their opponent.

But when he walked in today—

Apprentice A: "I'm going first, draw! I set four cards and End Turn!"

Apprentice B: "What?! Four face-down cards right off the bat? But don't get cocky yet! My Turn, draw! I set five cards and End Turn!"

"..."

Similar scenes were playing out across several different Duel Arenas.

Just a week ago, when Kira had first arrived, anyone who went first without summoning a monster would have been mocked for building their Deck wrong.

Yet somehow, it had suddenly become the norm.

The current dueling style had become downright bizarre. One side would set three cards in the back row and pass, then the other would return the courtesy by setting three or four cards and passing with an empty field.

Then both sides would stare each other down. Often, only after several turns would one side occasionally play a monster, only for it to be immediately destroyed by a back-row Trap, after which both sides would resume staring each other down.

It was practically a mutual prison sentence. The philosophy was: I'm not playing this game today, but you sure as hell aren't playing it either.

Kira: "..."

These brothers had clearly fallen into some strange misunderstanding.

Trap-Beatdown was indeed a classic Deck Building concept that had stood the test of time in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but Trap-Beatdown did not mean you only needed Traps.

At its core, the "Trap" in this strategy referred to disruption—running large numbers of cards that could interrupt the opponent's plays and shut down their engine. But that was only a defensive strategy. Once the defense was in place, you still needed monster attacks—Beatdown—to seize victory.

Put simply, you needed both offense and defense.

That was why this strategy required a compact monster core. It had to combine powerful offense, endurance, and consistency while still freeing up plenty of card slots. Only then was there room for more Traps to interrupt the enemy's plays.

Even a Trap-heavy build was fundamentally about trading resources to create an advantage. A Deck that ran Traps purely for the sake of running Traps only messed with people's heads; it was neither sound nor particularly strong.

That was why everyone knew Traps were amazing, yet not every competitive Deck stuffed itself full of the most obnoxious ones. Some Decks simply had poor synergy with Traps, while others could not spare so many slots unrelated to their core engine.

There was quite a bit of depth to Deck Building. Although old Decks were destined to be phased out, many competitive principles truly never changed. Plenty of lessons in Deck construction still applied even in the hyper-fast environment of today.

But clearly, the dojo brothers had not realized anything was wrong. They had only seen Kira use Traps to bury people without mercy, then win the championship, so red Traps must be awesome.

In just one week, the Duel Dojo's originally wholesome atmosphere had somehow turned dark and shady.

Kira reflected on himself.

Could this really be his fault?

"Oh, right, Kira!"

One of the apprentices seemed to remember something and reminded him.

"Master said that when you got here, you should go see him."

"Alright, got it."

Kira agreed, though inwardly he found it suspicious. Why did that sound like an elementary school teacher telling him to come to the office after class?

Could the old man be dissatisfied with the dojo's overnight descent into a grim, society-hating Trap culture?

But Kira figured he had not taught them that.

Well, not directly, anyway.

With his doubts in mind, he crossed the main hall and headed to the rear. Takeuchi Master was already sitting cross-legged there, his eyes closed as though meditating. Only when he heard Kira approach did he slowly open his eyes, revealing a pleased smile.

"You're here."

"I'm here."

Seeing that the Master seemed to be in a good mood, Kira figured it was probably good news. Reassured, he stepped forward and sat down.

"Congratulations on winning the championship," Takeuchi Master said.

"It was all thanks to Master's guidance," Kira replied politely at the appropriate moment.

But Takeuchi Master smiled and shook his head. "Ha, you're quite polite, kid. But both you and I know it—your current level is not something I could have taught."

After a pause, he lifted his eyelids and carefully examined Kira.

"You're different now. I can feel it," he said slowly. "I don't know what sort of fortuitous encounter you had, but I know that you are no longer like ordinary duelists such as us.

"It is subtle, but sometimes you simply know. When you see a duelist, when you see him step onto the field—his bearing, his posture when he duels—you naturally know that he is different from us."

Kira found that claim somewhat novel.

He had heard that warriors and killers could recognize their own kind at a glance even in a crowd, perhaps because of something like killing intent. But card players could have that too?

What would it be called? Card aura?

Still, he was just a transmigrator. In his previous life, he had at most been an amateur hobbyist, not some professional. In this world where cheats were everywhere, he had neither a cheat nor Spirit Possession. Could someone really tell he had a different aura?

"Actually, I was not the Duel Dojo's first Master," Takeuchi Master said, slipping into reminiscence. "The Master before me was a truly powerful duelist.

"He devoted his entire life to spreading the dojo's philosophy, training outstanding duelists among the younger generation, and searching for someone worthy of being entrusted with the School Legacy.

"But—"

He sighed.

"There was one duel. I do not know who his opponent was, and Master was unwilling to speak of it to anyone. I only know that he seemed to have lost that battle.

"After that, he fell ill and was admitted to the hospital. Yet none of the doctors could determine what was wrong with him; they only knew that his condition was worsening by the day.

"Eventually, he fell into a complete coma. To this day, he has never awakened."

Kira could not help frowning slightly as he listened.

This sounded rather like the legendary Dark Duel.

At this point, one might ask: could someone really die just from playing cards?

Then the special characteristics of the Yu-Gi-Oh! world had to be mentioned. Dark Duels were practically omnipotent. Playing cards could not only kill people, but also capture souls, control minds, and turn losers into puppets in all manner of ways.

That was why, even in the supernatural world, extraordinary card skills still made one an absolute king.

But if it really had been a Dark Duel, then judging from this description, the man had apparently lingered for quite a while after losing before falling into a coma. That Dark Duelist opponent sounded somewhat weak, even by the standards of the original anime.

"Before Master fell unconscious, he passed the position of dojo Master to me, along with the Rare Card that represented our school and served as the symbol of its inheritance.

"But I knew perfectly well that I lacked both the talent and the qualifications to inherit that power. So I sealed that Deck away, just as the previous Master had done, and waited for a young person worthy of inheriting it to appear."

Takeuchi Master let out a long sigh, then slowly turned around and looked at Kira.

"...Until today."