Duelists Never Surrender!

Yes, the Book of Moon that Yukikaze gave to Hara Shichi earlier was pulled from a pack at the academy shop.

"Someone even pulled Monster Reborn and Majespecter Princess - Kaguya," Julie said helplessly. "And even if you get good cards, what's the point? Some cards don't fit well with any deck and can't be added."

"Then trade with friends," Yukikaze said as if it were obvious. "Maybe the cards you have are exactly what your friends need, and the cards your friends have are what you need."

"..."

"Besides, if you don't have friends, you can make more. If everyone gets together, maybe you can trade for the cards you want."

"..."

Yukikaze, stop talking. Didn't you notice Julie's face darkening? Hara Shichi secretly tugged at Yukikaze's sleeve, but unfortunately, it was too late.

"Ah, that's right, I don't have friends. I'm a loner. Can you understand that? If you understand, please leave. Honestly, you two have been annoying me like flies buzzing around since a while ago..."

Yes, Julie had no friends.

She didn't know why, but she seemed to blame herself for it.

"Huh? Aren't we friends?" Yukikaze asked, looking shocked.

"Huh? When did I become your friend?" Julie was even more shocked.

"You comforted me by the lake behind the mountain that time, didn't you?" Yukikaze gave an example.

"You were just crying too loudly," Julie said impatiently.

"Then what about the apology letter and candy you put in my mailbox this morning?" Yukikaze blinked.

"What?!" Hara Shichi's eyes widened as he looked at Julie, as if to say, You actually did that?

"I... that was just because you apologized to me... No, I sent it anonymously... Yikes!" Julie, speaking too quickly, almost bit her tongue.

"Because my parents always liked writing me letters, I check my mailbox every morning," Yukikaze stuck out her tongue. "As for anonymous... you just admitted it yourself, so it's not anonymous anymore."

"I didn't expect Yukikaze to have such a 'clever' side," Ai couldn't help but comment.

"I feel a little scared..." Hara Shichi twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Anyway... it's just... forget it. I didn't apologize to you, I just wanted to forgive myself," Julie turned her face away.

"I say, you didn't write one for everyone, did you?" Hara Shichi suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Mhm," Julie replied in a low voice.

"All anonymously?"

"Mhm."

"Are you an idiot? If it's anonymous, the other person won't feel your sincerity at all, they'll just be confused," Hara Shichi said, looking at the purple-haired girl with her head bowed.

"If I put my real name, they'd just get angry," Julie said self-deprecatingly. "Besides, I already sold their decks. The money from the 50/50 split was used to buy new cards. Unless I sell my current deck, no, even if I sold my deck, I couldn't buy back all their decks. And even if I bought them back... they wouldn't be the original cards anymore."

"How should I put it? You're half-hearted. You want to atone but can't bear to part with your deck, so you can only write a few useless anonymous apology letters to comfort yourself."

"No one will forgive me."

"I forgive you," Yukikaze said, taking Julie's hand.

"That's because I didn't take your deck," Julie said coldly.

"That's right, no one will forgive you," Hara Shichi said. "A single apology letter is useless except for your own self-consolation."

"Classmate Hara Shichi..." Yukikaze looked at Hara Shichi's determined eyes and swallowed the rest of her intended persuasion.

"Honestly, I didn't care about what you did to other students before," Hara Shichi said calmly. "To put it bluntly, those people have nothing to do with me. If you foolishly agreed to card duels, you should be responsible for your own actions."

"But now I understand. I was the foolish one for jumping to conclusions," Hara Shichi pointed at Julie. "And you, you did indeed do unforgivable things."

"And that's ultimately your own business. Whether you want to be forgiven or just forget about it, it has nothing to do with me."

"However..."

With that, Hara Shichi extended his hand: "Since you want comfort, it means you feel remorse, right?"

"If that's the case, I have a proposal. Do you want to hear it?"

"What?" Julie looked up at Hara Shichi.

"Let's take down the Crimson Lotus Society together," Hara Shichi said. "The old victims can't be saved, so let's prevent new victims from being born."

"You... you didn't come here just for this, did you?" Julie asked suspiciously.

"It's different," Hara Shichi shook his head. "Before I came, I was thinking about how to move you, and I even prepared a draft of what I would say."

"But now I realize I was wrong."

Hara Shichi curved his lips into a smile. "We've been comrades on the same side from the very beginning."

"You really dare to say that... What if I refuse?"

"Please, do you want me to read out the prepared script now?"

"Forget it, it sounds disgusting. Better not," Julie sighed and extended her hand.

"Your proposal, I accept."

Chapter Forty-Seven: Her Ace Monster Is?

"Five on five? And against the regular team?!"

"Keep your voice down, we're in the library."

Although besides the librarian reading a book, the only ones in the library were Hara Shichi, the other two, and a spirit.

"Do you even know what the regular team means?" Julie said irritably, "They're the ones who represent the entire academy in competitions. In a sense, they're the top five strongest within the academy!"

"Can you give me a more concrete idea? Like, how many of you could they take down?" Hara Shichi asked seriously.

"Heh, I admit I'm not as good as them, but even you would be at best a fifty-fifty against them," Julie said nonchalantly. "If it were Crimson Lotus... it'd be a nine-to-one, them to me."

"Are there any recordings or data?" Hara Shichi asked.

"The National High School Tournament is in a month. The board of directors already destroyed all their previous records," Julie said, resting her chin on her hand, her eyes unfocused. "But as someone who was part of the Crimson Lotus Society before, I probably have a good idea of the decks those five use."

"You know?"

"I don't know the specific builds, though."

Julie stretched, and under Yukikaze and Hara Shichi's expectant gazes, her lips parted slightly. "First is the third-year student, Kazuko Kurosawa. She uses a Blackwing deck focused on Synchro Summons. Her Ace Monster is Blackwing Armor Master, which has powerful effects: it cannot be destroyed by battle, takes no battle damage, and can reduce the ATK and DEF of an opponent's monster to 0."

"Doesn't that just seem like it's missing the 'cannot be destroyed by battle' part compared to your Dragon's Demise?" Hara Shichi quipped.

"Most of the time, it is destroyed by battle! Not everyone has monsters that can destroy other cards by effect!" As if remembering the Pudding Princess in Hara Shichi's hand, Julie's brow furrowed slightly.

"Excuse me, Julie senpai, please continue. Hara Shichi-kun, don't interrupt," Yukikaze quickly interjected to smooth things over.

"Alright, but you don't have to call me senpai, just call me Julie."

"Calling you by your name feels a bit impolite... Julie-chan?" Yukikaze asked, tilting her head.

"No, that's a bit gross," Julie said, her expression darkening.

"Okay, Julie-nee-san, please continue."

"You should just call me senpai..."

And so, the matter of address was settled.

"Next is the third-year student, Akiya Taniguchi. He uses a powerful OTK deck called Cyber Dragon. His Ace Monster, Cyber End Dragon, boasts an ATK of 4000!"

"Isn't that thing just a vanilla monster?"

Julie fell silent, simply gazing at Hara Shichi with her dark red eyes.

Hara Shichi raised his hands in surrender.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Please continue."

"Following him is senpai Emil, whose deck is also a Fusion deck. His deck is the Gem-Knight archetype. I heard he's the eldest son of a declining dueling family. His Ace Monster is Gem-Knight Prism, which can discard 1 'Gem-Knight' card from your hand to target 1 face-up card on the field and destroy it. I heard he actually has Gem-Knight Master Diamond, but he can't use it because his Duel Power level is too low."

"..."

Seeing Hara Shichi's poker face, Julie impatiently kicked his shin. "Just say what you're thinking."

"Why is his name Emil?"

"How should I know!"

"What else? Who are the other two?" Yukikaze asked curiously.

"There's also senpai Lekti Eisenach, who uses a Weather deck. Her Ace Monster... is Skill Drain."

"..."

"..."

"Are you sure?" Hara Shichi twitched his lips.

"Who uses a Trap Card as their Ace Monster?" Yukikaze was even more dumbfounded. She had seen Skill Drain before; that terrifying effect... could a student really use it?

"I heard that because Skill Drain is too powerful, she coughs up blood every time she uses it due to forcing herself to control it," Julie said, as if recalling an unpleasant memory. "Because of that, someone gave her a nickname."

"Blood-Soaked Duelist?" Hara Shichi guessed.

"Sickly Princess?" Yukikaze also guessed.

"Walking Tomato Juice."

"..."

"..."

"As for the last one, and also the strongest, the president of the Crimson Lotus Society—Crimson Lotus. Her deck... I can't describe it, but without a doubt, her skill is far beyond the other four. A duelist on that level shouldn't even be in an academy."

"You haven't seen her duel?" Hara Shichi asked curiously.

"I have, but that's precisely why I don't know how to describe her deck."

Julie's expression turned grave, and a cold sweat beaded on her forehead, slowly trickling down her delicate cheek onto the floor.

"Do you know... the Barrier Statue series?" Julie asked.

"I've heard of that," Yukikaze said, raising her hand to answer. "They seem to be monster cards discovered only in the last couple of years, right? I heard that as long as they're on the field, they can negate Special Summons of monsters of attributes other than their own. I was thinking of including them, but Barrier Statue of the Torrent only has 1000 ATK, and it takes up the Normal Summon, so I didn't consider it."

"Yes, because its ATK is only 1000, it wasn't well-regarded by everyone, and it wasn't too expensive on the black market... but what if you paired it with Moon Mirror Shield?"

"What's that?" Yukikaze asked blankly.

"When this card's equipped monster battles an opponent's monster, during damage calculation: The equipped monster's ATK/DEF become the ATK/DEF of the opponent's monster it is battling, plus 100, for damage calculation only." Hara Shichi casually recited.

"Huh! Doesn't that make it invincible?" Yukikaze blinked in surprise. No matter the opponent's monster's ATK, if it's always a hundred points higher, it can achieve an undefeated state!

The opponent can only continuously set monsters until all monsters in their Deck are attacked and destroyed, constantly defending... and finally, unwillingly, being defeated one thousand points at a time.

"That's right, this way it compensates for the weakness of Barrier Statue," Julie nodded. "Actually, this combo was figured out by professional Duelists a long time ago, but many found that Barrier Statue takes up a Normal Summon and also bricks their own Special Summons. And Moon Mirror Shield is actually quite easy for professional Duelists to deal with, so it never really caught on."

"But for us students, this combo is probably an insurmountable mountain."

"More than that," Hara Shichi interrupted. He actually had a good idea of what kind of Deck this legendary girl was using. "Her Deck doesn't just have monsters like Barrier Statue, does it? Tell me, what's her Ace Monster?"

"You noticed? That's right. If she relied solely on Barrier Statue and Moon Mirror Shield, due to the ATK values, it could slow down the Duel's pace and lead to variables. But her Ace Monster solved that problem."

Julie swallowed, and the image of that fiery girl, and... the giant beast beside her, flashed through her mind.

"Her Ace Monster... is a monster completely crimson in color... named..."

"Crimson Beast Ta-Isha!"

Chapter Forty-Eight: Flash Draw!

Hara Shichi finally understood.

Why Julie said she wasn't sure what kind of Deck it was.

And why everyone said Crimson Lotus was so strong.

Because Revenge Decks... are genuinely strong.

Revenge Deck, full name: A Deck Used for Revenge Against Society.

While a bit exaggerated, its Deck characteristics made many Duelists feel frustrated or even disgusted.

At the same time, many Duelists believed that Revenge Decks were a part of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and if you don't like it, don't play. Although Revenge Decks seem brainless, they actually require an understanding of the environment and skillful play (referring to precisely interrupting the opponent's setup).