Duelist Times

Nakamura Tsubasa finally left the stage roaring.

Winning his first preliminary round match, Kira was very satisfied with his performance. He had once again personally demonstrated to someone the true essence of Duel Monsters.

He believed that after reviewing the match, this player would surely gain a lot from the experience and ultimately thank him for it.

Kira had several matches back-to-back on the first day, a rather high density of duels. However, the Moonflower Cup wasn't a tournament with a high entry barrier, so there were quite a number of participants from all walks of life. The preliminary rounds were held simultaneously in different venues with many players, which greatly saved on tournament time.

But nothing was beyond his expectations. He didn't face any particularly well-known characters in the preliminary rounds, and based on the anime's portrayal, the strength of most ordinary background duelists outside the main cast's perspective was generally average. He hadn't seen any Deck Builds that particularly impressed him yet.

Of course, Kira wouldn't underestimate his opponents because of this. After the first day's matches, he still briefly looked at other matches and got a rough idea of the duels of the players who advanced.

Although the chance of being upset by most of these opponents wasn't high, Kira figured it was better to be safe. As military strategy says, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' This is even more true in Duel Monsters.

If he could understand his opponent's Deck setup and tactical style beforehand and make targeted adjustments before the match, it could effectively increase his win rate.

Before the Moonflower Cup, the Dojo had already allocated him a portion of subsidies, saying it was for reinforcing his Deck and upgrading his setup.

Kira naturally accepted it without hesitation. With this budget, he could further adjust his original strategy. He went on a shopping spree in the following days, trying to put together a few more Decks that felt strong and could bring him joy.

Although Card Destruction was a world champion move back in the day, relying solely on this one trick to conquer the world in the anime universe was clearly unrealistic. Once people knew this was his only trick, he would be easily countered, which was definitely something he wanted to avoid.

So, after shopping in the market before the tournament, Kira tried to piece together two or three more Decks that felt relatively strong and enjoyable, based on the cards he could obtain.

He constantly changed Decks and adjusted his Deck Build based on his opponent's Deck and tactical style, making his strategy flexible, varied, and difficult to predict. On one hand, this allowed him to always have a favorable matchup against his opponents, and on the other hand, it made it harder for others to counter him.

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

Duelist Times was a newspaper belonging to KaibaCorp, reporting on various interesting news and anecdotes from the dueling world.

He had been busy with family matters these past two days and couldn't spare the time to watch his students' matches. But he had heard that both of the Dojo's students had successfully advanced through the first day of the preliminary rounds, which made him quite pleased.

Opening the newspaper, he saw reports about the Moonflower Cup preliminary rounds.

[Potential malicious attack on an opposing duelist narrowly avoided in the Moonflower Cup preliminary venue.]

[A participating player lost control of their emotions during a duel, angrily lashing out and attempting to directly harm the opposing duelist, but failed. They were disqualified from the competition.]

"Hmm?"

Master Takeuchi looked more closely at the report with a hint of curiosity.

Something like this happened?

The quality of duelists nowadays is really getting worse. To think someone would get angry and resort to physical violence just because they were losing, with not even a shred of basic duelist dignity.

He quickly read through the report. No real names were mentioned, only pseudonyms, seemingly to protect the privacy of the participants. One pseudonym was Kento, and another was Tomoki.

He continued reading.

[On the third day of the Moonflower Cup, player Shota (pseudonym) unexpectedly suffered a hemorrhagic stroke during a duel against player Kento (pseudonym). Fortunately, he received timely medical attention, and player Shota is currently out of critical danger.]

Suffering a stroke from playing cards?

Master Takeuchi was surprised. Is this year's Moonflower Cup that intense?

Wait, he suddenly felt like he spotted something significant.

The pseudonym of the opposing duelist in both incidents was Kento. Could it be the same person by chance?

If it really was, one time could be an accident, but twice in a row...

Could it be that the problem was actually with this guy on the other side?

Master Takeuchi immediately thought of the phenomenon from two days ago when his blood pressure magically rose step by step as he dueled the student named Kira from the Dojo.

He suddenly had a bad feeling.

It couldn't be such a coincidence, could it?

Three days later.

"I'm already in the Top 8?"

Getting into the Top 8 felt a bit too easy, to the point where Kira even felt it wasn't quite satisfying.

As expected, the level of competition at this stage is just so-so; you can't expect too much. Most opponents are just so-called folk experts. He wondered if the intensity would pick up a bit in the Top 8 matches.

Watching Kira's smooth advancement with a look of disappointment, Koji felt the urge to hit someone again.

Yes, unlike Kira, who bulldozed his way straight into the Top 8 like an Overpowered Player, Koji Sato was eliminated on the second day of the preliminary rounds.

He had no matches left and nothing to prepare, so he could only stand beside his junior from the same Dojo who had advanced and indulge in Being Salty.

The good news, however, was that he was eliminated before he even had a chance to run into Kira, so he didn't have to suffer another torture session in a public arena.

And at least now he could watch from the front row and enjoy seeing other players get tormented.

It was strange. When his junior put him through The Netherworld, his blood pressure would rise involuntarily, but seeing others subjected to the same treatment in the arena made him feel incredibly happy instead.

Humans truly are strange, contradictory creatures.

"Oh right, Junior, did you see your match list?" he asked from the side. "Who's your opponent in the Top 8?"

He was eager to call forth the first victim.

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

Kira replied.

"His name is Jun Manjome."

"Brother Manjome is incredibly strong!"

Jun Manjome, from Duel Academy's affiliated Middle School Division, was currently sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, a look of contentment on his face as he leisurely enjoyed the enthusiastic flattery of his two subordinates.

Jun Manjome, the Third Young Master of the renowned Manjome Group, was currently the top student in the Middle School Division's Elite Class. This year, he had been granted a special exemption from the entrance exam and was set to be directly recommended into Duel Academy's High School Division as a super elite.

From a young age, Manjome had been groomed by his family as a dueling elite. According to the family's plan, one of his two older brothers was set to become a business magnate, while the other was destined for a high-level political career. His own expectation was to reign over the dueling world as the Duel King in the future, becoming a pillar for the Manjome Group.

At first glance, the goal of "the man who will become the King of Games" might seem a bit laughable compared to his two brothers' paths. However, one only needed to look at President Seto Kaiba to understand that in this world, being good at dueling was far more promising than pursuing business or politics.

Thus, it was understandable that Manjome had been arranged to participate in all sorts of tournaments since childhood, winning so many championships and medals from various big and small competitions that his hands were practically numb.

Participating in the Moonflower Cup this time was also the family's will. It was his final opportunity for experience before advancing to Duel Academy's High School Division.

Just like in many previous tournaments, the instructions from his two older brothers were very clear. He was participating solely to win the championship.

For the family, being the Runner-up was equivalent to defeat. Any tournament where he didn't take first place was meaningless.

But this time, even Manjome felt a bit of pressure.

Because among the participants this time, Dinosaur Ryuzaki was actually present. The man who was the legendary national Runner-up in his early days, and who had even dueled the legendary Katsuya Jonouchi!

Could he really defeat such a legend?

Manjome rubbed his fingers together, staring blankly at the floor.

"But speaking of which, Brother Manjome, I haven't heard of your Top 8 opponent. What's his name... Fujiki Kira. Is he a newcomer?"

"Huh?"

Manjome snapped back to attention and checked his opponent's information.

Duelist Level.

One Star?

He even wondered if he had misread it.

Isn't One Star the definition of a complete rookie? Such a guy can participate? And even reach the Top 8??

Looking further, his tournament experience and public honors were completely blank.

"His record is a blank slate, he looks like total cannon fodder," Subordinate A said, curling his lip in disdain. "How did a guy like this manage to get into the Top 8?"

"Maybe just lucky?" Subordinate B offered.

"Even with luck, to get this far, he must have some skill..."

And no matter what, to reach the Top 8 in his first public tournament, he definitely wouldn't be a One Star after this competition ended.

"He's probably just one of those dark horses making their debut," Subordinate B said. "Occasionally you get these naturally gifted players. Well, either way, they're all just cannon fodder in front of Brother Manjome."

"Good point."

Subordinate A nodded in agreement, then chuckled.

"But seriously, this guy named Kira is really unlucky, running into Brother Manjome so quickly. Looks like he'll have to stop at the Top 8."

Manjome smiled slightly, not saying a word, seemingly wanting to appear cool and act like a master. However, his uncontrollably rising smile and instinctive tactical lean back had already betrayed the smugness in his heart.

Although Manjome didn't speak, he inwardly agreed with his subordinate's conjecture.

Fujiki Kira - never heard of him.

Even if he's a dark horse, this is his first time participating. Could he really instantly defeat me, the #1 student in the Middle School Division's Elite Class?