Duelist Times

Nakamura Tsubasa left the field howling.

With a strong start in the first round of the preliminaries, Kira was quite satisfied with his performance this round. He had once again taught someone firsthand what the true essence of Yu-Gi-Oh! was.

He believed that after this contestant went home and reviewed the match, he would surely gain some insight and benefit greatly from it. In the end, he would definitely thank Kira.

On the first day alone, Kira played several matches in a row, so the match density was certainly high. However, the Moonflower Cup had never been a tournament with a particularly high entry threshold, and there were truly quite a few contestants from all walks of life. The preliminaries were held simultaneously across different venues, with many players dueling at once, greatly reducing the time needed for the format.

But nothing was beyond his expectations. None of the opponents he had been matched against in the preliminaries were anyone notable, and based on how things went in the anime, most ordinary background duelists outside the Protagonist Group's perspective were rather average. For now, he had yet to see any deck build that caught his eye.

Of course, Kira would not underestimate his opponents because of that. After the first day's matches, he still took a quick look at the other games and learned a little about the contestants who had advanced.

Though the odds of stumbling against most of them were low, Kira thought it was better to be cautious. The art of war said that knowing yourself and your enemy ensured victory in every battle, and Yu-Gi-Oh! was even more so.

If he could learn an opponent's deck composition and tactical style in advance, then make targeted adjustments before the match, he could effectively improve his win rate.

Before the Moonflower Cup began, the dojo had already given him some funding, saying it was for strengthening his deck and upgrading its configuration.

Naturally, Kira accepted it without hesitation. With this budget, he could further adjust his original strategies. Over the past few days, he had gone on a shopping spree, trying to put together several more decks.

Though Card Destruction had once been a World Champion, relying on that one trick alone in the anime world was clearly unrealistic. Once people learned that was his only move, he would be easily targeted, and that was definitely something he did not want to see.

So after purchasing cards on the market before the tournament, Kira had tried to assemble two or three decks that felt fairly competitive and, more importantly, fun.

He constantly changed decks and adjusted his builds according to the type of deck and tactics his opponents used, making his own strategies flexible, varied, and difficult to predict. On one hand, it allowed him to maintain favorable matchups against opponents; on the other, it made him harder to target.

Master Takeuchi brewed himself a cup of coffee and settled comfortably into a soft sofa beneath the afternoon sunlight, casually flipping through the latest issue of the "Duelist Times."

The "Duelist Times" was a newspaper under KaibaCorp that reported all kinds of strange news and anecdotes from the Dueling World.

He had family matters to handle over the past two days and had not found time to watch his students' matches. Still, he had already heard that the dojo's two students had both successfully made it through the first day of the preliminaries, which left him quite pleased.

When he opened the paper, he found reports on the Moonflower Cup preliminaries as well.

A malicious attack on an opposing duelist nearly occurred at the Moonflower Cup preliminary venue.

A contestant lost control of his emotions during a duel and angrily tried to directly harm the opposing duelist, but failed. He was disqualified from the tournament.

"Hmm?"

Master Takeuchi curiously examined that report more closely.

Something like this had happened?

The quality of duelists these days was really getting worse and worse. There were actually people who got angry and resorted to violence because they could not win. They had no basic dignity as duelists at all.

He briefly read through the report. No True Names appeared in it; everyone was referred to by aliases, apparently to protect the contestants' privacy. One alias was Kento, while the other was Tomoki.

He continued reading.

On the third day of the Moonflower Cup, contestant Shota, an alias, unexpectedly suffered a hemorrhagic stroke during his duel against contestant Kento, also an alias. Fortunately, treatment was administered in time, and contestant Shota was now out of danger.

He had suffered a brain hemorrhage from playing cards?

Master Takeuchi was shocked. Was this year's Moonflower Cup really this dangerous?

Wait, he suddenly felt as though he had discovered something important.

In both incidents, the opposing duelist's alias was Kento. They could not possibly have been the same person by coincidence, could they?

If they really were, then one incident might have been an accident, but two in a row...

Could it be that the other guy was actually the problem?

Master Takeuchi immediately recalled how, when he dueled that dojo student named Kira a few days ago, his blood pressure had mysteriously risen bit by bit as the duel progressed.

He suddenly had a bad feeling.

It could not be that much of a coincidence, could it?

Three days later.

"We're in the Top 8 already?"

The ticket to the Top 8 had come a little too easily, to the point that Kira even felt he had not had enough fun.

As expected, a tournament at this level was only so much. He could not expect too much; most of the opponents were merely so-called local experts. He wondered whether the level of competition would rise a little after entering the Top 8 Match.

Watching Kira advance so smoothly while still wearing a regretful expression, Koji once again felt the urge to hit someone.

Yes, unlike Kira, that Overpowered Player who had steamrolled his way straight into the Top 8 as if he had cheats enabled, Koji Sato had been eliminated on the second day of the preliminaries.

He had no more matches to play and nothing else to prepare, so he could only come stand beside his junior disciple from the same dojo, who had advanced, and be salty.

The good news, however, was that he had at least been eliminated before running into Kira. He would not have to be tortured again in a public arena.

And at least now, he could watch from the front row and enjoy the sight of other contestants being ravaged.

It was strange, really. Whenever he was being subjected to his junior disciple's underworld tactics, his blood pressure would rise uncontrollably. Yet when he saw others being treated the exact same way in the arena, he instead felt incredibly happy.

Humans truly were strange, contradictory creatures.

"By the way, junior disciple, have you seen your matchup list?" he asked from the side. "Who's your Top 8 opponent?"

He desperately wanted to invite the first victim to step forward.

"Oh, he's a student from Duel Academy's Middle School Division."

Kira said.

"His name is Jun Manjome."

"Brother Manjoume is unbelievably strong!"

Jun Manjome of Duel Academy's affiliated Middle School Division was currently sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, leisurely enjoying the extravagant flattery of two little brothers.

Jun Manjome, the Third Young Master of the renowned Manjome Group, was currently first place in the Middle School Elite Class. This year, he had been specially exempted from exams and was about to be directly recommended into Duel Academy's High School Division as a super elite.

Manjoume had been raised by his family as a dueling elite since childhood. According to the family's plans, one of his two older brothers had been arranged to become a business tycoon, while the other had become a high-ranking official in politics. As for him, they expected him to one day rule the Dueling World as Duel King and become a future pillar of the Manjome Group.

At first glance, this "man who wanted to become the king of card games" sounded somewhat ridiculous compared to his two brothers. But one only had to look at President Seto Kaiba to understand that, in this world, being good at card games offered far more prospects than business or politics.

Thus, one could imagine that Manjoume had been made to participate in all kinds of competitions since childhood. He had won so many championships and medals, he could practically take them by the armful.

His participation in the Moonflower Cup this time was likewise his family's decision. It was to be his final trial before advancing to Duel Academy's High School Division.

Just like in many of his previous tournaments, the instructions from his two brothers were clear. He had entered this tournament for one reason: to win the championship.

To the family, runner-up was equivalent to defeat. A competition in which he could not take first place had no meaning.

But this time, even Manjoume felt some pressure.

Because Dinosaur Ryuzaki was among the contestants. That legendary former national runner-up, the man who had even faced the legendary Katsuya Jonouchi!

Could he really defeat such a legend?

Manjoume rubbed his fingers together and stared absently at the floor.

"Still, I haven't heard of Brother Manjoume's Top 8 opponent. What's his name again? Fujiki Kira. Is he a newcomer?"

"Hmm?"

Manjoume came back to his senses and checked his opponent's information.

Duelist Level.

One star?

He even suspected he had misread it.

Wasn't one star the lowest of the low? Someone like that could enter the tournament? And make the Top 8??

Then he looked at the contestant's tournament experience and public honors. They were completely blank.

"His record is a blank sheet. He looks like total cannon fodder," Little Brother A said with a disdainful curl of his lips. "How did someone like that make it into the Top 8 Match?"

"Maybe he just got lucky?" Little Brother B said.

"Even with luck, he must have some ability to make it this far."

And no matter what, if someone could make the Top 8 in his first public tournament, he definitely would not remain at One Star after this competition ended.

"Maybe he's one of those dark horses making his first public appearance. You do occasionally get talented players like that," Little Brother B said. "But in front of Brother Manjoume, he's still just cannon fodder."

"That makes sense."

Little Brother A nodded in agreement, then laughed.

"But speaking of which, this Kira guy is really unlucky. He ran into Brother Manjoume so quickly. Looks like his journey ends in the Top 8."

Manjoume smiled faintly without saying anything, seemingly trying to act cool and put on the air of an expert. Yet the upward curve of his lips and his instinctive tactical lean-back had already exposed the pride in his heart.

Though Manjoume said nothing, he agreed with his little brothers' speculation inwardly.

He had never heard of Fujiki Kira.

Even if he was a dark horse, this was still his first tournament. Could you really one-shot me, the NO.1 of the Middle School Elite Class?