Even though it was the weekend, Alexis Rhodes got up early.
She'd been busy lately. Not because of classes—those were easy for a top student like her. Regular lectures and homework no longer took much time.
Ninety percent of her energy was going into the lab.
Not because the lab boss, Kira, was squeezing them—no weekends, no breaks. In fact, Kira's management was pretty relaxed, especially with veterans like Alexis and Misawa. He almost never assigned them hard deadlines.
No pressure or mandates—she simply wanted to work.
The past year's research had dramatically improved her skills and sparked a deep interest in card-crafting research.
Just as she had chosen this path largely out of her love for dueling, the urge to explore the dueling world and forge new results into new cards filled her with passion.
Of course, compared with Misawa's zeal, she felt inadequate. She still had a life beyond card-making, with rest and balance.
Misawa, on the other hand, practically lived in the lab and didn't even want to go back to Yellow Dorm. He'd become the Academy's famed research maniac, the kind you never saw around.
On her self-appointed overtime commute, cutting along a familiar forest path, Alexis noticed a fog rising around her.
She'd never seen fog this thick in these woods; in moments, it was a whiteout, impossible to tell direction.
Then she heard a strange sound.
A crackling flurry of button presses, and some oddly familiar game sound effects.
Puzzled, Alexis followed the noise. As she approached, she was startled to see someone sitting in the grove, clutching a game controller and mashing buttons. Before him were a console and a monitor. On screen, a tiny plane he controlled was charging through a hail of bullets.
Alexis was stunned.
Playing console games in the grove?
"Ah, you finally made it."
The person seemed to notice, set down the controller, stood, and turned.
He stretched his fingers, flexing them lightly, a mischievous smile on his face as he looked at Alexis.
"I've been waiting for you, Alexis Rhodes."
"Waiting for me?" Alexis thought, "You're that Lorenzo, right? The shooting game champion, the dueling prodigy—"
"Hahaha, you know my name? I'm flattered."
Lorenzo grinned.
"So, how about it? Dare to duel me, Ms. No. 1 of Duel Academy?"
Only now did Alexis notice he wasn't in a Blue Dorm uniform—he wore a flashy white outfit.
Did the Academy even have a uniform like that?
The fog thickened, encircling them, hiding even the trees.
Her instincts told her she might not have the right to refuse this duel.
"Either way, if it's a duel, I never turn it down."
Alexis unfolded her duel disk.
"Hahaha, that's Rhodes for you. I knew you'd say that. Then…"
Lorenzo opened his duel disk as well.
"Duel!" x2
[Alexis LP: 4000]
[Lorenzo LP: 4000]
"I'll go first. Draw."
Alexis took the first turn.
"I activate the spell Graceful Charity. Draw three, then discard two."
"Then I Normal Summon Etoile Cyber in Attack Position!"
One of Alexis's favorite low-level monsters—a red-haired cyber dancer—spun onto the field, stretching her long, shapely legs. One eye covered, her red hair blazed like fire.
[Etoile Cyber, ATK 1200]
"Set two and end." Alexis said.
"Alexis's deck has lots of dancers," Lorenzo chuckled. "Beautiful, elegant—flowers in full bloom… but unfortunately, flowers can't withstand superior interstellar firepower!
My turn. Draw!"
As he drew, Alexis had the distinct sense—perhaps not just her imagination—that something about him changed.
A pressure no student should possess, a force so strong that even the instant of his draw made her chest tighten.
It wasn't in her head. Lorenzo had already joined the Society of Light, replacing Chazz's role from the anime to become Sartorius's first wedge at the Academy—the opening move in a plan to build his Society and ultimately swallow the school.
And unlike the nameless grunts infected by the Light of Destruction in the anime, Sartorius had changed plans and not gone to the Academy himself. He had lodged a portion of the Light of Destruction's power within Lorenzo—granting him strength and using his eyes to observe the Academy.
Thus Lorenzo's standing and power were entirely different from the anime: he was currently Sartorius's number one general invading the Academy.
"Alexis Rhodes—one of the earliest to join the Duel King's circle, one of the Academy's top talents."
Watching through the crystal ball, Sartorius looked intrigued.
"Starting the breakthrough here against that king's faction—not a bad choice. Now, show me your power."
Lorenzo said, "I Special Summon B.E.S. Blaster Cannon Core!"
A white beam lanced skyward, as if something shot into the heavens.
The fog churned, as if cleaved by some colossal thing. A vast mass descended from above, revealing a steel body that blotted out the sky—like a scifi spaceship, hovering in the air, a blue core pulsing with deep light.
[B.E.S. Blaster Cannon Core, ATK 2500]
Alexis blinked. "He just dropped a 2500 ATK high-level monster!?"
"Blaster Cannon Core's effect: if your opponent controls more monsters than you do, you can Special Summon this card from your hand!"
Giant Battleship—this was Lorenzo's deck, its concept based on the 2D horizontal shooter Gradius, matching his identity as a bullethell champion.
"Dueling is shooting. My Giant Battleships are stage bosses from shooters. They crush any clueless challenger with absolute force—that's my duel!"
With a sweeping gesture, Lorenzo issued the attack.
"Go! B.E.S. Blaster Cannon Core, attack Etoile Cyber!"