Duel Academy.
"My turn—draw!"
"I activate 'Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin'! Discard 1 card, select a monster in your opponent's hand; if I control a monster with higher ATK, destroy that monster and deal 500 damage!"
"Aqua Dolphin isn't once per turn. I discard another card and destroy another monster in your hand!"
"I contact fuse Aqua Dolphin with Elemental HERO Neos—Form Change! Elemental HERO Marine Neos!"
"Marine Neos's effect: once per turn, destroy 1 random card in your opponent's hand."
"…Excellent! That means you're out of cards, Misawa!"
Misawa: "…"
After a "fun" casual duel, Misawa looked skyward and exhaled.
He'd been working himself to the bone—living in the lab, developing new cards and tactics. He believed he'd improved greatly; compared to last year he was a new person. Maybe not on the absurd outlier level of Kira, but among students he should be top tier.
Then Jaden shattered his dreams without mercy.
And judging by observation, Jaden didn't even study, let alone do R&D.
But the guy's luck shone like a mirror—without working, one day a bunch of aliens fell from the sky: "Kid, your bones are amazing—perfect to become the Light—uh, the Darkness. Hop in and help us save the world!"
So Jaden got a new deck, with that signature hand-shredding cursed dolphin like breathing.
Yep, dropped from the heavens.
Misawa looked to the sky.
Not salty. Not salty at all.
"Misawa? Misawa?"
Jaden waved a hand before him.
Misawa snapped back.
"Hm? Oh… I'm fine," he said. "In any case, this duel gave me good data… but really—aliens."
He glanced at Jaden's deck and couldn't help sighing.
"Incredible."
"Right?" Jaden beamed, struck his trademark pose.
"Victory! That was a fun duel!"
Misawa: "…"
Fun?
Maybe. The Dolphin certainly had fun.
"Big bro!"
Syrus rushed in from outside, out of breath, clutching a flyer.
"What's the rush, Sy?"
"Big brother—my big brother!"
Syrus unfurled the crumpled flyer. It was a pro league poster, with everyone's familiar Kaiser Zane Truesdale at center, his iconic Cyber Dragon looming.
"Oh, Kaiser photographs well."
Jaden grinned.
"But he's in black now—feels weird."
Zane had graduated and joined the pro league, trading his Obelisk Blue tails for a black coat—his aura quite different from his academy days.
"Yeah, but it suits him," Misawa said.
"That's not the point! Look at his opponent!"
Syrus pointed at the matchup.
"Aster Phoenix… huh? That name sounds familiar."
Jaden tried to recall.
"He's the rookie star this year—a first-year!" Syrus reminded him. "He's the academy's big promotional face; the pro league's new star—supposedly undefeated so far."
"Oh, awesome!"
Jaden brightened, then laughed.
"Well, He's Kaiser—nothing to worry about."
…
"Kaiser, huh?"
Before the match, Aster sat in the waiting room, heart heavy.
He hadn't found Sartorius last night. Calls went unanswered—as if he'd vanished.
Since he'd known Sartorius, that had never happened.
What did it mean?
Had Sartorius abandoned him?
Today he faced fellow rookie star, Kaiser. Aster knew he was the academy's reigning king, highly rated.
The schedule was set a week ago, but back then Aster had felt nothing—he never doubted victory, barely considering this Kaiser a rival.
Because Sartorius had already foretold the result.
"The Chariot—absolute victory."
Sartorius, as always, revealed the card symbolizing Aster's victory—the unshaken destiny since his debut.
Aster believed it… until yesterday.
He lost.
His first defeat as a pro. And that man showed him that Sartorius's prophecies weren't absolute. So-called victorious fate was false.
"Those shackled by fate are merely prisoners.
Breaking fate and carving your own path—that's what makes a hero."
That line and the white-clad masked man's image echoed in him all night.
Which path should he choose…?
["Thank you for waiting, everyone—the clash of the century is about to begin!"]
The MC's voice broke his thoughts.
Aster drew a deep breath, strapped on his Duel Disk.
He took his deck from the case and looked at it. The bottom card was Destiny HERO - Captain Tenacious.
His true soul deck—Destiny HERO. He'd never used it on the pro stage yet.
He thought—but put it back, and pulled a different deck from another case.
He chose to trust Sartorius's prophecy for now.
This duel would still be a flawless victory. Zane Truesdale—Kaiser—was just the king of that small academy pond, not worth his full strength.
Today, he'd run this deck.
He slotted it in and headed to the arena.
["Today we welcome the rookie with ten straight pro wins—the Cyber Dragon Kaiser, Zane Truesdale!"]
["His challenger is likewise undefeated, holding a perfect 30-0 record—Aster Phoenix!"]
"The clash of the century—begins now!"