Duelists Never Surrender!

"Are you an idiot? You have an opening and you don't attack?" Sera rolled her eyes.

Seeing that the two were about to argue, Hara Shichi could only point at Sera's back row and say, "If I'm not mistaken, you have a trap card set, right?"

Sera stiffened. After a moment of silence, she said in a deep voice, "When did you find out?"

"Because that was your only logical choice," Hara Shichi explained. "Trap Cards like 'Hole' and 'Pit' can generally only be activated when a monster is successfully summoned. If you went second, facing a high-attack monster that's already on the field, your only option would be to use a card like 'Forced Requisition' or... 'Mirror Force' to deal with it, right?"

He guessed my back row?!

Sera subconsciously glanced at a Set Card on her right. It was indeed the Trap Card she had prepared long ago – Mirror Force!

"So what if you guessed it? You can't win without attacking. You know that, don't you?"

Hara Shichi smiled slightly and didn't answer the question. "Senpai, it's your turn."

He's not answering? Fine, it doesn't matter anyway...

"Tsk, my turn. Draw."

Looking at the card she drew, Sera's eyes lit up. "I'll set one card, and then I'll enter the Battle Phase!"

"Watch closely, Julie! You think I'm in a stalemate? Wrong! I knew this situation would arise!"

"I activate the Trap Card – Thunder Break!" Sera revealed her Set Card. She had originally planned to use it to stop Hara Shichi's plays, but since she drew that card, there was no need to keep it. "This card's effect is to discard 1 card from your hand, target 1 card on the field; destroy it."

"I discard 'Entomologist of the Traptrix' from my hand and destroy your Marincess Castle!"

"This way, the ATK of your Marincess monster will return to its original value!"

"Then, I attack Madolche Puddingscess with Marincess BlueTang!"

"The effect of Madolche Puddingcess means the Puddingscess cannot be destroyed by battle," Hara Shichi stated.

"It doesn't matter. I attack Madolche Madeleine with Marincess BlueTang."

Sera continued her command.

"If Madolche Madeleine is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, it returns to the Deck. At the same time, the effect of Madolche Ticket activates, allowing me to add one Madolche Puddingcess from my Deck to my hand."

Although it seemed like a fierce assault, Hara Shichi had actually only lost 200 LP and one Madolche Madeleine.

Speaking of which... another Madolche Madeleine.

Hara Shichi suddenly thought as he sent Madolche Madeleine back to the Deck.

Chapter 54: 5 - 4 = ?

"My turn. Draw."

"Your back row has one attack-position card and one unknown, and your front row has two monsters with no cards in hand," Ai analyzed for Hara Shichi. "This means we only need to worry about that card you just set."

"No, there's no need to worry about it anymore." Hara Shichi looked at the card he drew, and a combo immediately appeared in his mind.

"You were just as confident last turn," Ai said suspiciously.

"Ahem, this time I guarantee there won't be any surprises," Hara Shichi said, revealing his Set Card. "I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card – Creature Swap. This card's effect is to target 1 face-up monster on the field; destroy it. Skip your next Draw Phase."

"I choose to destroy Traptrix Tributing on your field."

"Hmm?" Sera frowned slightly, sending Traptrix Tributing to the Graveyard. "What's the point of destroying my monster at this moment?"

"There is a point," Hara Shichi said, inserting the card he just drew into his Duel Disk. "Next, I activate the Normal Spell Card – Monster Reborn!"

"You don't have any monsters in your Graveyard... Wait?! You don't mean..." Sera realized Hara Shichi's intention, her small face filled with surprise.

"That's right, I'm special summoning from your Graveyard – Traptrix Tributing!"

The cute Traptrix Tributing, having just entered the Graveyard, shook its head and was pulled back. However, this time it didn't appear on its owner's field, but on Hara Shichi's.

"I activate Traptrix Tributing's effect. When this card is Special Summoned, target 1 Spell/Trap Card your opponent controls; destroy that target. I choose to destroy that Set Card on your left!"

That card happened to be the one Sera had Set last turn.

Sera silently sent the Set Card on her field to the Graveyard. It was Lost Wind.

"I never told you that," Sera asked, confused. "Why do you know my monster's effect?"

Do I have to tell her I used to play Traptrix too?

Hara Shichi didn't know how to answer, but Julie said indifferently, "The effects of Traptrix aren't exactly classified information. If you read more, you'll definitely know."

"Damn it, is she a good student?" Sera felt a sense of malice. "But even so, I still have a Trap Card in my back row, and it's an attack-position trap. How will you deal with it?"

"An attack-position trap... Heh heh." Julie looked at Sera with pity. Sera reminded her of her own Sakuretsu Armor. Ever since it was negated by Hara Shichi's Tiramisu of the Tiara, she hadn't set an attack-position trap card since.

Hara Shichi summoned Madolche Puddingcess to the field once more.

"I activate Madolche Puddingcess's effect. I Tribute Madolche Puddingcess to Special Summon Madolche Messenger from my Deck."

"I activate Madolche Messenger's effect to add Mage of the Madolche Night from my Deck to my hand."

"Then I activate Puddingscess's effect, banishing Madolche Puddingcess from the Graveyard to Special Summon Madolche Messenger from my Deck."

"Madolche Messenger activates its effect to add Madolche Ticket to my hand."

"Then, I Overlay the two Madolche Messengers on the field. The two monsters form an Xyz Network. Xyz Summon – Marincess Tiramisu!"

With colorful light, Marincess Tiramisu reappeared on the field.

"Hmph, so what if you summoned it?" Sera eyed the Tiramisu of the Tiara before her. Fusion monsters, Synchro monsters, they were all the same, just with an extra pair of glowing lights. "If you've got the guts, attack me directly."

If you dare to attack, I'll show you what an invincible Mirror Force is! Destroy everything! Turn the tables with one card!

Yukikaze was already covering her face, unable to bear watching her senior, Sera, any longer.

If this continued, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to hold back her laughter.

"I activate the effect of Madolche Tiramisu of the Tiara. Once per turn, I can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card. Target up to 2 'Madolche' cards in your Graveyard; return them to the Deck, then, you can choose up to the same number of cards on your opponent's field as the number of cards returned to the Deck, and return them to their owner's Deck."

"I choose Madolche Chateau and Madolche Messenger from my Graveyard to return to the Deck, and then I choose Marincess BlueTang and that Set Card on your back row to return to the Deck."

"..."

Sera was momentarily stunned, just standing there blankly.

"That's so mean."

A single tear trickled from her green eyes.

"So mean, how can there be such a brainless board-clearing effect?"

"So mean... too mean... Waaah..."

Sera began to sob softly.

"Then, the effect of Madolche Ticket triggers. I add Madolche Messenger from my Deck to my hand. Because there's a Friendly Field Spell on the field, I can Special Summon it. Then, I activate Messenger's effect to search from my Deck..." Hara Shichi continued.

"Hey! I'm crying here!" Sera protested indignantly. To ignore a cute girl crying, was this person's heart made of stone?

Hara Shichi paused, glanced at Sera, and continued, "I search for Madolche Chateau. I activate Madolche Chateau, and all Madolche monsters on the field gain 500 ATK and DEF..."

"I enter the Battle Phase. Direct attack."

"Yaaah!" Sera's delicate body was sent flying, but luckily she landed on a soft bed, so it didn't hurt too much.

Sera: 4000 LP → 0 LP

"Junior, don't you have any consideration for a lady's feelings?" Sera sat up disheveled, pushing back a strand of her green hair. That attack had messed up her hair.

"Your crying was too fake," Hara Shichi replied.

Apart from the first few tears, the rest was just the sound of a child wailing.

"What are you talking about? I really couldn't hold it in," Sera hugged her legs and shook her head. "I thought I could turn things around with Mirror Force, but it was so easily sent back to the Deck. Doesn't that make my previous actions... ridiculous?!"

"Have you considered dropping out and working at a circus?" Julie raised an eyebrow.

"Laugh all you want," Sera waved her hand dismissively. "I was just outmatched."

"Are there any other questions?" Julie asked, hands on her hips. "The duel is ours."

"Barely," Sera rested her face on her knees and looked at Hara Shichi. "It's enough against others, but if your opponent is Crimson Lotus, Junior, you'll need to try harder."

"You don't need to worry about that," Julie said, looking at Sera. "You just need to tell me your current attitude."

"Hmm..." Sera's bare feet lightly tapped the bed. She scanned the three people present and revealed a sly smile.

"This feels like it'll be interesting. Let me join in too."

Chapter Fifty-Five: That's not necessarily true.

In the dormitory, Hara Shichi and Ai sat facing each other on the bed. Between them lay a pile of scattered cards.

"Let's start by taking stock of our current cards," Hara Shichi said, taking out all the cards he had on him.

"Let's remove Double Summon and Gishki Chain from the build," Hara Shichi suggested.

"But then we won't be able to send cards to the Graveyard or make Rank 4 Xyz Summons quickly," Ai frowned slightly. She had carefully considered printing those cards.

"It's too much of a card disadvantage, and summoning a Rank 4 Tiramisu of the Tiara on the first turn doesn't have much meaning," Hara Shichi said, pulling out two cards from the pile and showing them to Ai. "So, I have a new idea."

"Emergency Teleport and Psychic Wheeled Warrior?!" Ai was greatly surprised, looking at Hara Shichi's cards. She didn't remember printing these two cards!

"Where did you get these two cards?" Ai asked suspiciously.

"Don't you remember? When we were in the trial grounds behind the mountain, didn't I have Ghost Ogre knock someone out, and then I casually took his Deck?" Hara Shichi explained.

"Ah, I do remember that," Ai recalled. It seemed to be some guy who was yelling quite arrogantly. She hadn't expected his Deck to contain such rare cards!

"His Deck was mainly a Synchro-focused Deck, but his Ace Monster was..." Hara Shichi said, pulling out another Synchro Monster and showing it to Ai - Lightning Warrior: When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the number of cards in their hand x 300.

"The effect is a bit disappointing."

"In a 4000 LP situation, it might be quite useful," Ai thought it was decent, especially combined with Psychic Wheeled Warrior, it might even lead to a direct kill.

"That makes sense. It seems my thinking is still stuck in the 8000 LP environment," Hara Shichi rubbed his temples. The 4000 LP environment required constant attention to killing and being killed.

"Then let's include it in the Deck... However, the reason I'm showing you these two cards is... we don't have to be fixated on Tiramisu of the Tiara," Hara Shichi explained. "Can you print Pudding Princess now?"

"No," Ai sighed. "If I could, I would have done it already. Madolche Decks with Pudding Princess and Madolche Decks without Pudding Princess are completely different concepts."

"So, before we can print Pudding Princess, we can use some other Special Summoning points as substitutes."

"But the summoning condition for Tiramisu of the Tiara must be Madolche... Wait? Are you asking me to print new Extra Deck monsters?" Ai realized, her cute brow furrowed slightly.

"That's right, like some Seven Star Synchro Monsters or Six Star Synchro Monsters, as well as some Rank 3 and Rank 4 Xyz Monsters," Hara Shichi nodded.

"No, no, Extra Deck monsters aren't that easy to print," Ai shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. "My energy can at most help you print some powerful Trap Cards or Spell Cards, or maybe some points. If we were to print only Extra Deck monsters, I could only make one or two, and their strength might not even be as good as Lightning Warrior."

"I've dueled this much and it's still not enough?" Hara Shichi was dumbfounded.

"You… do you know how often normal Duelists print cards?" Ai retorted impatiently.

"How often?"

"Once every one to three months, and you can only print up to five cards each time, completely at random." Ai leaned over impatiently and poked Hara Shichi's forehead with her tender index finger. "You've only been in this world for four or five days, and you're still not satisfied with once a week?!"

"Only four or five days?!" Hara Shichi was shocked. "I thought it had already been a month."

"How could it be that fast!" Ai said, exasperated.

Hara Shichi finally realized. He started school on Sunday, went to the back mountain on Monday, dueled Julie and Nero on Tuesday, Wednesday… it was only Wednesday today?!

"I originally planned for you to take things step by step, but I didn't expect you to challenge the strongest student in this school after only four days of enrollment. I'm the most surprised one here, okay? You've completely disrupted my original development plan," Ai said, claiming she had worried herself sick over Hara Shichi.

"In that situation, the arrow was already nocked and loosed," Hara Shichi said helplessly. "Is there no way to quickly obtain a large amount of Duel Power?"

"There's no such thing as getting ahead so easily. Take it step by step, step by step… Huh? Wait a minute." Ai suddenly thought of something and looked up at the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" Hara Shichi looked at Ai's smooth, jade-like chin and her slender, swan-like neck, feeling confused.

"Shh." Ai stared intently at the ceiling, or rather, at the light shining on the ceiling. A glow flickered in her light blue eyes.

After a long moment, she closed her eyes, her small lips curving slightly. "I have an idea."

"What? What idea do you have?" Hara Shichi was completely bewildered, not understanding what Ai was talking about.