"A freshman duel?"
In the Obelisk Blue lineup, Chazz Princeton had barely raised his chin before his gaze drifted uncontrollably toward the Ra Yellow Dormitory.
Fujiwara Yūki stood beside Bastion Misawa, looking down as he checked his Duel Disk, his expression utterly casual.
Chazz's cheek twitched.
Images of last night's duel crept back into his mind.
The field his Inferno deck had painstakingly built had not even survived a single round of attacks.
Especially [Infernal Polymerization].
He had been counting on that rare Trap to steal a Fusion Monster, only for Thunder Dragon Colossus to skip the Fusion Summon process entirely, bypassing the Trap's activation conditions.
It felt rather like rushing to a door with a meticulously polished key, only to discover that the other party had torn down the wall.
Chazz quickly withdrew his gaze.
If Yūki brought out last night's Thunder Dragon deck, was there really anyone among the academy's entire freshman class who could stop him?
An answer surfaced in his mind, and his expression immediately worsened.
Yūki, on the other hand, was quite pleased with this.
The winner received extra credits, duel performance counted toward evaluations, and winning also earned him a reward only he could see.
With three benefits stacked together, this class had been very well arranged.
Besides, he really was short on credits right now.
Under the academy's card-purchasing system, ordinary cards could still be bought with cash, but truly rare research cards, prototype cards, and academy-exclusive cards often came with credit requirements.
Even with enough money, anyone lacking credits could only stare at the card images on a terminal.
The rule was clearly meant to prevent wealthy students from emptying the Card Vault as soon as they enrolled.
Yūki understood that completely.
Understanding it was one thing, but he still had to