Jaden's palms began to sweat.
He looked at the two monsters on Yūki's field. Mystic Tomato tilted his head, baring his fangs, while Don Zaloog held his twin guns across his chest.
His own field was completely empty.
The pressure was intense.
Yet Jaden's heart began to race, and an inexplicable excitement welled up inside him.
"My turn! I draw!"
Jaden's drawing motion was bigger than on any previous turn.
As he pulled the card from the top of his deck, he put his entire arm into it. The gust from his draw even lifted a section of his jellyfish-like bangs.
He glanced down.
Then his eyes blazed like light bulbs switching on.
The card's green border reflected a dazzling gleam under the projection lights.
Jaden took a deep breath and raised the card high.
"I activate..."
"During the draw phase."
Yūki's voice interrupted him, neither loud nor soft.
Jaden's raised arm froze in midair.
"I activate my face-down card, Drop Off."
The second Drop Off flipped over, and the black iron fist appeared once again on the brown Trap Card.
Exactly the same artwork as the first, with exactly the same cold effect.
"The card you drew during your draw phase goes straight to the graveyard."
"You can't activate it."
Jaden's hand stopped in midair.
His raised arm slowly lowered, and he turned the card around to show Yūki.
Pot of Greed.
The dark green, pot-shaped Spell Card gleamed under the lights.
The endearingly goofy green pot in the artwork grinned, golden light spilling from its opening.
Draw two cards with no conditions-the simplest and most brutal draw power in Yu-Gi-Oh! history.
The audience erupted.
"Pot of Greed! Draw two cards, no conditions!"
"He drew a god-tier card in a desperate situation like this, only to have it discarded outright?!"
"Holy crap, that's way too cruel!"
"Two copies of Drop Off... he runs two?! How much hand disruption did this guy cram into his deck?"
"Jellyfish Head draws once per turn and discards every card he draws. He'll only ever have one card in his hand!"
Jaden lowered his head and looked at Pot of Greed.
The dark green pot was still grinning at him, but golden light no longer spilled from its opening.
He silently sent Pot of Greed to the graveyard.
For the first time, a slightly helpless expression appeared on his normally cheerful face.
"Your setup is just too perfect."
Then he looked up and grinned.
"But that just makes me even more excited!"
Yūki watched him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
He had read something on a forum in his previous life.
Jaden Yuki was the purest duelist in Yu-Gi-Oh! history.
What he enjoyed wasn't winning, but dueling itself.
Only now, seeing it for himself, did he confirm that not a single word of that was an exaggeration.
Zero cards in hand, an empty field, and in three turns, his only successful normal summon had been a face-down defense position Avian.
Any other opponent would have been breaking down or falling silent by now.
Yet Jaden was still smiling.
"I end my turn."
Jaden lowered his Duel Disk, his eyes still full of anticipation.
He was waiting for a chance to turn things around.
Even with no cards in his hand, even with nothing on his field.
He believed his deck would answer him at the most critical moment.
Of course Yūki knew that.
Because this person's name was Jaden Yuki.
So he wouldn't give him any chances.
"My turn! I draw!"
Yūki drew Spirit Reaper Kaiku.
1,800 attack points, graveyard lockdown, and banishment through battle.
It was over!
"I summon Spirit Reaper Kaiku."
A spellcaster in monk's robes stepped out of the projection light.
He held a string of prayer beads in his left hand, faint blue flames swirling around them.
Spirit Reaper stood on the field, his prayer beads gently knocking together with faint, crisp clicks.
[Spirit Reaper Kaiku ATK: 1800]
Three monsters now stood on Yūki's field.
Mystic Tomato (ATK 1400), Don Zaloog (ATK 1400), and Spirit Reaper Kaiku (ATK 1800).
Their combined attack points totaled 4,600.
Jaden had 2,600 LP left.
"Battle."
Yūki didn't hesitate.
"Spirit Reaper Kaiku attacks directly."
Kaiku raised his right hand, and the blue flames on his prayer beads suddenly surged.
A string of prayer beads flew from his wrist, spreading into a burning runic array in midair.
The flames condensed into a spectral blue beam that shot from the center of the array.
The beam crossed the empty space on Jaden's field. With no monsters to block it and no traps to intercept it, it struck him square in the chest.
Jaden grunted, his body rocking backward.
Blue flames burst across him like cold fireworks.
LP: 2600 → 800.
On the projection screen, Jaden's Life Points counter began flashing red.
"Don Zaloog attacks directly."
Don Zaloog leaped up again.
This time, he flipped an extra time in midair, bullets pouring from both guns.
Jaden instinctively raised his arms to shield his face.
The virtual bullets passed through his figure.
His Duel Disk gave a low buzz.
LP: 800 → 0.
On the projection screen, Jaden's LP counter dropped to zero.
All the light effects across the field went out in an instant. The monster projections vanished, the glow of the face-down back-row cards dimmed, and the indicator lights on the Duel Disks settled.
The projection screen froze on the final numbers.
Left: [Jaden Yuki LP: 0] Right: [Fujiwara Yūki LP: 1000]
Silence lasted for three full seconds.
Then Jaden lowered his arms.
Jaden stood with his arms shielding his face for three seconds.
Then he lowered his hands and looked down at his Duel Disk.
He was silent for a few seconds.
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Jaden threw his head back and laughed, his laughter bouncing beneath the main hall's dome.
He rocked back and forth with laughter, nearly flinging the Duel Disk off his wrist.
"That was such a blast! I didn't even get to attack with a single monster!"
"You had me pinned down from the very first turn! Everything I drew got discarded. That was amazing!"
Jaden put away his Duel Disk and strode over to Yūki, his eyes shining as though he had won the duel.
"Your name's Fujiwara Yūki, right? Your tactics are so interesting! You didn't let me play at all!"
Yūki looked at him.
Wait, you're this happy when I didn't let you play at all?
"...You've certainly got a good attitude."
"Of course! It means there are still tactics this amazing out there waiting for me to take on!"
"You know, this is the first time I've ever faced a play style like yours!"
Jaden rattled off a whole stream of words before finally holding out his hand.
"How about another round?!"
"...Let's leave it here for today."
Yūki put away his Duel Disk.
"What?! Why?!"
Because I've already gotten what I wanted.
In Yūki's mind, the system notifications had popped up the instant the duel ended.
[Duel victory] [Soul power +3] [Duel Coins +300] [Opponent detected: Jaden Yuki] [Archetype Pack "Elemental HERO" unlocked] [Booster Pack contents: Elemental HERO fusion series] [Cost: 300 coins per draw]
The HERO Archetype Pack! Unlocked!
Yūki nodded inwardly.
Three hundred coins per draw wasn't cheap.
But every card in the Booster Pack was one of Jaden Yuki's cards. It was precisely targeted, with no strange off-target pulls.
He would take a closer look when he got back.
"Next time."
He said to Jaden.
Jaden looked a little disappointed, clearly still itching to play.
"Then it's a promise! Definitely next time!"
"Yeah."
In the stands, the crowd slowly dispersed.
The people who had mocked Jaden earlier for "losing out massively on a three-for-one trade" now wore different expressions.
A high school student in glasses stared at the final LP numbers on the projection screen. His lips moved several times, but he couldn't get a single word out.
The person beside him spoke first. "That Jellyfish Head... didn't get a single attack off from beginning to end?"
"Forget attacking. He didn't even summon a single face-up monster."
"The only face-up one was a set monster that tomato monster flipped over by attacking it."
They exchanged glances.
"When this guy plays cards... is he even playing the same game as normal people?"
No one answered.
A Kaiba Corporation staff member lowered his head and typed a few lines into his terminal, then looked up at Yūki without saying anything.
An internal record flashed across his terminal screen.
[Duelist ID: Fujiwara Yūki] [Three stars] [Tactical characteristics: hand control] [Notes: pending further observation]
Yūki picked up the schoolbag he had left to one side.
Jaden was still standing on the field, looking down as he gathered his deck, talking to his cards as he put them away.
"Flame Wingman didn't get to come out. Sorry, sorry... Sparkman, you got discarded the moment you came out. I'll definitely let you take the field next time..."
Yūki turned and walked out.
Sunlight streamed through the glass dome, and the main hall returned to its bright bustle.
As he reached the entrance, Jaden's voice caught up with him from behind.
"Yūki! What school do you go to?"
Yūki paused.
"Third Municipal Academy."
"Third Municipal... All right! I'll remember that! I'm going to take the Duel Academy entrance exam! You'll be going too, right?"
Yūki looked back.
Jaden stood in the middle of arena eleven, his red clothes gleaming in the sunlight, a halo blurring the outline of his jellyfish-shaped hair.
He waved from afar, his smile more dazzling than the sun above the dome.
Yūki looked at him for two seconds.
Then he turned away and raised a hand in a casual wave.
He gave no answer, but the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
Duel Academy.
Of course I'm going!
Yūki pushed open Kaiba Land's glass doors, and the afternoon breeze rushed into his face.
The Eight-School League next week.
The Duel Academy entrance exam the week after.
Then, the greatest school for duelists in this world.
He looked up. The sky was impossibly blue.
"...I'll head back first and see what I can pull from that HERO Booster Pack."
The translucent system panel hovered in the upper-right corner of his vision.
[Archetype Pack: "Elemental HERO"] [Unlocked: Defeat Jaden Yuki (✓)] [Cost: 300 Duel Coins/draw] [Current Duel Coins: 7000+]
Yūki did the math.
He could open twenty-something packs. He could give it a try when he got back.
He sat down on a bench at the tram stop and opened the HERO Booster Pack interface.
The Booster Pack cover featured a silhouette of Jaden's Flame Wingman.
A green body, white wings spread wide, a dragon's head hanging low.
A gold-foil [Elemental HERO] logo was printed in the lower-left corner.
Yūki's finger hovered over the draw button for two seconds.
HEROs, trading three cards for one at a card disadvantage.
They couldn't even rank as second-tier in the OCG format.
But this was the world of duelists.
Fusion Summons came with their own flashy effects, and a HERO standing on the field could send the whole crowd wild with a single shout.
Besides, Jaden had used Flame Wingman to break through Rex Raptor's Ultimate Tyranno, Thunder Giant to smash Chazz Princeton's Armed Dragon LV7, and Tempest to take apart Cronos's Ancient Gear Golem.
HEROs weren't strong.
But it depended on who was using them.
Before you continue