Emma Metis gritted her teeth slightly. Once the match began, she centered her strategy around the Golden Beast and launched a series of attacks and defenses.
But the second-year senior facing her seemed to have studied her. She used a strategy that completely countered Emma's, and blasted her lineup into
utter disarray—
A crushing defeat!
A defeat she'd expected.
The misery of it, however, was unexpected. Without a Magic Spirit from the Second Tier, first-years were at a tremendous disadvantage when dueling students from higher grades.
Emma reviewed her performance and learned from her mistakes.
As soon as she left the arena, while the details were still fresh in her memory, she recorded everything that had happened before and during the duel. She planned to write a thorough analysis report on the match.
Then came the sixteenth match, at ten thirty.
Sara Swati made clever use of the Sphynx Cat, using its Finisher Card, Shadow Stitch, to lock down her opponent's tributes. In the end,
she became the third first-year to defeat a higher-grade opponent!
After the referee blew the whistle and announced the result,
she waved to the cheering audience, then turned her gaze toward the blond boy on the Ring Belt, as if to say, "I did it too!"
People could only move forward when they had something to strive for.
Sara Swati's victory was no fluke. It was the result of intelligence and hard work.
Professor Jones nodded in satisfaction from the Ring Belt.
That marked the end of the seven rookies' matches.
The fact that three students had won was already a huge surprise to her.
This first battle was meant to be a chance to hone their skills,
and teach them that defeat could be just as valuable,
with a positive effect as a result.