The roar of golden energy gradually receded like a retreating tide, and the lingering particles in the air still trembled faintly.
Fujiwara's collapsed figure curled on the ground, his Duel Disk frozen at LP 0 and emitting a sharp, grating alarm. In the silence where even breathing could be heard, it drew a cruelly bright outline of defeat in the middle of the plaza.
The arena was split sharply in two.
On one side stood Yusaku, still upright, back straight, faint traces of light clinging to his fingertips from the summoning of his monster.
On the other side lay Fujiwara, sprawled out flat on his back, eyes shut tight. Several cards had spilled from his loosened grip and scattered around him, his posture a complete mess.
The watching students seemed to have been hit by an invisible pause button. A few seconds ago, the noise had surged to a boiling peak, but now the chatter cut off like snapped strings, leaving only the sound of harsh intakes of breath. The chill evening wind carried that disbelieving shock outwards in waves.
"O… OTK?"
A twin-tailed girl clutching her Deck subconsciously tightened her grip on her Duel Disk.
"Fujiwara-senpai had both [Borreload Savage Dragon] and [Borrelend Dragon] given to him personally by an academy upperclassman! Those are boss monsters that can easily suppress most meta decks. How… how could he lose this hard, without even a chance to fight back!?"
The boy in black-rimmed glasses next to her hastily pushed his slipping frames back up, still half-dazed from the impact of [Accesscode Talker] blazing with blue light and blasting through five monsters in a row.
"It's insane… Starting from the summon of [Linkuriboh], every single Link Summon step was like perfectly meshed gears, not off by even a millimeter. The chain lines developed so fast you could barely follow the actions, and in the end he just used [Update Jammer]'s GY effect to punch straight through Fujiwara-senpai's defenses and end the battle!"
"I was staring at the holo-screen counting," someone in the crowd said, their voice shaking. "[Accesscode Talker] fired its effect five times, right? So as long as the GY is stacked with Link Monsters of different Attributes, it can just keep activating effects in a row!? And you can't even chain to it… that effect is actually real?"
In the back rows, the students from Flame Wolf Dojo were huddled together, eyes full of shock. Their hushed whispers could barely contain their excitement, and someone couldn't help blurting out:
"Holy crap! It really was an OTK!!"
"Just like they said, he really ended the duel in a single turn!"
"The two of them aren't even on the same level. It was like an adult beating a child, completely one-sided destruction from start to finish!"
As the chatter once again surged to a peak and some people had already begun pulling out their terminals to record the replay, a blond boy in a black combat outfit strode slowly out of the dojo's main doors.
He moved with a straight back and heavy, measured steps. A group of students in indigo uniforms followed behind him in a perfectly aligned formation, each with a haughty expression. The whole group radiated a powerful "keep your distance" aura.
Seeing him, the disciples of Takeuchi Dojo froze for a moment before someone gasped softly, recognizing who he was.
It was the mysterious boy who had been seated in the front row of their spectator stands not long ago, watching the match from start to finish without a flicker of emotion on his face. Even then, he had given off an unfathomable impression.
The group of students behind Fujiwara, however, lit up with wild joy the moment they saw the newcomer. Like drowning men clutching at a lifeline, they shuffled several steps forward in a rush.
"It's big bro! Big bro is finally here! Their doom has arrived!"
"Hahaha, you're done for now! Once big bro steps in, you're going to get absolutely stomped!"
"Big bro, that guy named Yusaku is the one who beat Fujiwara-senpai!"
The blond boy ignored the noise around him, walking straight to the center of the plaza. His gaze was cold as a blade as it swept over the unconscious Fujiwara on the ground. His brows creased slightly, almost imperceptibly, then he raised a hand and gave a small, simple gesture to the students behind him to carry Fujiwara away.
Two students immediately stepped forward, carefully lifting Fujiwara by the arms and carrying him quickly toward the edge of the plaza.
Only after Fujiwara had been taken away did the blond boy slowly turn toward Yusaku. His voice was low and icy.
"Oi."
Hearing that call, a tall, lanky student behind him immediately stepped up.
He pushed the silver-rimmed glasses on his nose with two fingers. The lenses caught the cold light of the holo-screens, and the corners of his mouth curled into a chilly smirk.
"Understood, bro. Leave this one to me. I'll make sure he loses even more miserably than Fujiwara did. You can go handle the business on the 21st floor without worry."
The blond boy didn't waste words. He just gave Yusaku a cold glance, then added faintly, "Miki, you and Mizuki stay."
At that, another boy with a sturdier build and darker skin stepped out and answered respectfully, "Yes, bro. We'll get it done. We won't let this brat ruin our plans."
Once the boy had moved into place, the blond raised his hand again in a dismissive flick and, without another look at Yusaku, turned to leave the plaza with the rest of his group.
Their footsteps gradually faded away down the corridor.
Watching them go, Yusaku's brows furrowed slightly. So he just walks away now? Why not just duel me here and now…
The moment he shifted his weight to follow, he was immediately blocked by Mizuki stepping in front of him.
"Yusaku, where do you think you're going?" Mizuki stepped forward to bar his path. "You want to chase after my bro? Did you ask me first?"
"That's not for sure," Mizuki said with an easy, confident smile. He slowly removed his silver-rimmed glasses and wiped the lenses with his fingertips, revealing the face that had been concealed beneath them.
With the glasses gone, the strange ornament set around his left eye was fully exposed to everyone present: a piece gleaming with eerie dark-purple light, its design uncannily similar to the legendary Millennium Eye.
"No."
Takeuchi-headmaster shook his head sharply. After looking him over carefully, his voice grew louder.
"The Millennium Item aura from that eye is extremely faint. It's more like an artificial imitation, a forgery, than a true Millennium Eye! You dare to mimic the Gurus organization and counterfeit Millennium Items? Aren't you afraid of breaking the taboo and incurring the Pharaoh's wrath!?"
"Hm? The Pharaoh?"
Hearing that long-buried name, Mizuki gave a scornful snort.
"The Pharaoh vanished into the river of history hundreds of years ago. Even if some trace of his soul lingers, what 'wrath' could he possibly have left? As for Gurus…"
He paused, the contempt in his eyes deepening, with even a hint of disgust.
"Don't compare that bunch of trash, who only know how to cheat with dark powers, to our Genius Academy. The cutting-edge technology we've mastered isn't something they could even imagine…"
"At best, they can churn out a few low-grade counterfeit cards. We, on the other hand, have already analyzed and replicated the structure of the Millennium Items themselves. Right now, aside from the most mysterious Millennium Puzzle, we've successfully reproduced all the other Millennium Items!"
Hearing this, Yusaku rejected him on the spot without even thinking about it.
"Sorry. I have zero interest in your academy or your tech."
As his words fell, he sharply raised his arm. With a mechanical whir, his Duel Disk snapped open, its card tray popping out and glowing red.
"As you wish, then."
Seeing Yusaku ready himself for battle, Mizuki folded his arms across his chest and abruptly changed tack.
"Yusaku, let's make a bet. I'm not talking about something small like wagering decks. Let's make it interesting."
Yusaku raised a brow, curiosity flickering in his eyes as his fingers lightly tapped the edge of his Duel Disk.
"Oh? What are we betting?"
"This."
Mizuki pulled a small, ornate velvet pouch from his pocket, then took out a fragment that glowed faintly with golden light. The shard's surface was etched with ancient Egyptian glyphs, and a faint energy pulse could be felt if you leaned in.
"The bet is this Millennium Puzzle fragment. You came down to the Lower District for something related to the Millennium Items, that much is obvious. But what exactly you're planning to do… that's academy confidential, so I can't tell you. Anyway, don't let your curiosity run wild. Come on, enough talking. Let's start the duel."
Yusaku didn't respond. He just gave Mizuki's left eye, with its embedded Eye of Horus, a brief glance, then pulled out a deck, shuffled and cut it several times, and slid it into his Duel Disk.
"Duel!" "Duel!"
Both voices overlapped as they shouted. Their Duel Disks flared to life with a hum, pale blue holo-screens unfolding as streams of data rushed across the surface, projecting their starting Life Points clearly.
——
[Yusaku, LP 8000]
[Mizuki, LP 8000]
The screen instantly rolled to determine turn order.
[First Turn: Yusaku]
"Then, my turn!"
Yusaku's fingertips glided smoothly across his Duel Disk as he drew his opening hand in one practiced motion.
Seeing the way Yusaku drew, Mizuki suddenly stiffened, his brows involuntarily knitting.
Yusaku caught that reaction, looked up at him, and the corner of his mouth curved slightly.
"Just as I thought. That imitation Millennium Eye of yours actually inherited part of the real Millennium Eye's power. You can peek at your opponent's hand. But I'm guessing you can't see it as clearly as the real thing, can you?"
… …
Mizuki just gave a cold snort and lightly rubbed at his eye.
The fake Millennium Eye he wore could indeed see his opponent's hand, but he could only make out the general appearance and card names; their detailed effects were still unclear.
Yusaku ran his eyes over the cards in his hand, then returned his gaze to Mizuki.
"Surprised?" he asked. "Every single card in my hand is unique. Not only are they all different from one another, there isn't the slightest synergy between them."
"I know you investigated my deck data in advance. You were hoping to use a peek at my opening hand to infer their effects, right? Unfortunately for you, this deck contains plenty of cards I've never even used myself."
Mizuki let out an icy chuckle.
"So that's why you kept shuffling your deck over and over? Just to guard against me? But doing that is the textbook definition of hurting your enemy by a thousand at the cost of eight hundred to yourself, isn't it?"
Yusaku's smile didn't fade.
"The deck in my hand right now is built by taking every usable engine from all my decks and recombining them into something new. Every single card in here has a very powerful standalone effect. I call this build 'card-effect toolbox'."
"So the scenario you're talking about, hurting myself to hurt you, simply doesn't exist."
As soon as he finished, Yusaku raised one of the cards in his hand.
"My turn continues. First, I activate the Spell Card [Pot of Greed] to draw 2 cards from my deck!"
After adding the two drawn cards to his hand, he revealed another Spell.
"Next, I activate the Spell Card [Tuning]!"
"This card's effect: I add 1 'Synchron' Tuner monster from my deck to my hand, then send the top card of my deck to the Graveyard."
Yusaku took one card from his deck and showed it.
"I add the Level 3 monster [Junk Synchron] from my deck to my hand."
After slipping the searched card into his hand, Yusaku didn't hesitate in the slightest and immediately slammed it onto his Duel Disk.
"I Normal Summon [Junk Synchron] to the field!"
The moment he spoke, the iconic Synchro warrior appeared. Behind the large orange goggles was the unfading arcane glare of a Stardust foot soldier.
[Junk Synchron]
[Level 3 / Warrior / Effect]
[ATK: 1300]
When the monster successfully hit the field, Yusaku spared a glance at the card that had just been milled to the GY, then continued.
"Next, I activate [Junk Synchron]'s effect. When this card is Normal Summoned, I can target 1 Level 2 or lower monster in my GY and Special Summon it in Defense Position. However, a monster Special Summoned by this effect has its effects negated."
"I activate that effect and Special Summon the Level 2 [Junk Synchron] in my GY to my field in Defense Position."
(End of Chapter)
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