Nakamura Tsubasa was the last to leave the stage with a whoop.
Yugen was quite satisfied with his performance in the first round of the preliminaries. He once again demonstrated to someone the true essence of Yu-Gi-Oh!
He believed that after reviewing the match, this player would definitely have some insights, gain a lot, and ultimately be grateful to him.
On the first day, Yugen played several matches, with a remarkably high match density. However, the Moonlight Cup is not a competition with a very high registration threshold, and many players from all walks of life came to participate. The preliminaries were held simultaneously at different venues, greatly saving competition time.
But nothing was unexpected. The opponents in the preliminaries were not notable, and according to the animation, the ordinary duelists outside the main character group generally did not have strong skills, and he had yet to see any impressive deck builds.
Of course, Yugen wouldn't underestimate his opponents because of this. After the first day's matches, he still took a brief look at other matches to slightly understand the matches of the advancing players.
Although the chance of losing to most of these opponents was not high, Yugen thought it would be more prudent. The art of war states, "Know yourself, know your enemy, and you will be victorious in a hundred battles," and Yu-Gi-Oh! is no exception.
If he could understand his opponent's card deck configuration and tactical style in advance and make targeted adjustments before the game, it could effectively increase the winning rate.
Before the Moonlight Cup, the dojo had already allocated some subsidies to him, saying it was for upgrading the configuration of his card deck.
Yugen naturally accepted it without hesitation. With this budget, he could readjust his original strategy, and these days he went on a crazy buying spree, trying to piece together a few more decks.
[Handwriting Erasure], though a world champion move back then, relying solely on this trick to win in the animation world was obviously unrealistic. Once people knew he relied solely on this move, it would be easy to target, and that was not something he wanted to see.
So, after purchasing in the market before the match, Yugen tried to piece together two or three decks that felt more potent and fun based on the cards he could acquire.
He always adjusted his deck according to the opponent's card deck tactical type, making his tactics more flexible and unpredictable. On one hand, he could always have an advantageous position in front of opponents, and on the other hand, it made him harder to target.
...
...
Master Takeuchi brewed a cup of coffee and comfortably sat in the soft sofa under the afternoon sun, casually flipping through the latest issue of Duelist Times.
Duelist Times is a publication under the Kaiba Group, reporting various anecdotes and stories from the dueling realm.
He had been busy with house affairs for the past two days and couldn't find time to watch the students' matches. But he heard that the dojo's two students had both successfully passed the first day of the preliminaries, which was quite comforting to him.
He opened the newspaper and saw that it also contained reports about the Moonlight Cup preliminaries.
[Nearly a malicious attack on a duelist occurred on the Moonlight Cup preliminary stage.]
[A contestant lost control of his emotions midway through a duel, angrily attempting to directly harm the opposing duelist, but was disqualified...]
"Huh?"
Master Takeuchi looked a bit curiously at this report.
Such things happen?
The quality of duelists these days is really getting worse, to the point where they even lose temper and directly resort to violence without a shred of basic dignity as duelists.
He briefly glanced at the report. It didn't use real names but pseudonyms, seemingly to protect the privacy of the contestants. One pseudonym was Jianren, and one was Tomoki.
He continued to read further.
[On the third day of the Moonlight Cup event, contestant Shouta (pseudonym) unexpectedly suffered a hemorrhagic stroke during a duel with contestant Jianren (pseudonym). Fortunately, the rescue was timely, and currently, Shouta is out of life-threatening danger...]
Playing cards to the point of a stroke?
The master was astonished. Is this year's Moonlight Cup so dangerous?
Wait... he suddenly seemed to notice something unusual.
In both incidents, the opposing duelist's pseudonym was Jianren. Could it really be the same person?
If it is true, then one incident could be an accident, but twice in a row...
Could it actually be a problem with the opponent?
Master Takeuchi immediately thought of how his blood pressure magically increased while dueling with that student named Yugen at the dojo a few days ago...
He suddenly had a bad premonition.
It shouldn't... be such a coincidence, right?
...
...
Three days later.
"Made it to the final eight?"
Gaining the ticket to the final eight was almost too easy, to the point where Yugen didn't quite feel satisfied.
Sure enough, this level of competition isn't much to expect from; the opponents are mostly so-called amateur experts. Not sure if the strength will increase a bit after advancing to the quarterfinals.
Watching Yugen's smooth advancement with a face full of regret, Koji had an impulse to hit someone again.
Yes, unlike Yugen, who seemed to be on a cheat mode, smoothly advancing straight to the final eight, Sato Koji was eliminated on the second day of the preliminaries.
He had no matches to play and nothing to prepare for, so he had no choice but to come by his junior brother's banished side and sulk with envy.
But the good news was, at least he hadn't had a chance to bump into Yugen before being eliminated, so he didn't have to be tortured in the public arena again.
And at least now he could enjoy a front-row seat, watching other contestants getting crushed.
It's really strange. Whenever he's sent to the Underworld by his junior brother, his blood pressure skyrockets uncontrollably, but watching others go through the same ordeal in the arena makes him feel extremely happy instead.
Humans are truly strange and contradictory creatures.
"By the way, junior brother, have you seen your matchup list?" he asked from the side, "Who's your opponent in the top eight?"
He was eager to welcome the first victim to step forward.
"Oh, it's a student from the Duel Academy's Middle School Department."
Yugen said.
"His name is Chazz Princeton."
...
...
"Chazz is really ridiculously strong, huh!"
Chazz Princeton from the Duel Academy's affiliated Middle School Department was sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, enjoying the flattering words of two juniors with evident pleasure.
Chazz Princeton, the third young master of the renowned Chazz Group, was currently the top student in the elite class of the Middle School Department and was granted direct entry into the Duel Academy's High School Department this year without exams, becoming a super elite.
Since childhood, Chazz had been groomed as a dueling elite by his family. According to the family's plan, his two brothers were arranged to become a business tycoon and a political high-ranking official respectively, while the expectation for him was to become the Duel King reigning over the Dueling Realm, becoming the future pillar of the Chazz Group.
At first glance, this "man who wants to become the Card King" seems a bit laughable compared to his two brothers, but just looking at Seto Kaiba as president, you can understand that in this world, being good at card games can be more promising than going into business or politics.
It's no wonder Chazz had been arranged to participate in various competitions since he was young, winning numerous large and small champions and medals effortlessly.
This time he came to participate in the Moonlight Cup for the family, as his last training before moving up to the Duel Academy's High School Department.
Like many competitions before, his brothers' instructions were clear. He was here to win the championship.
For the family, a runner-up is equivalent to defeat. Competitions without the first place have no meaning.
But even Chazz felt a bit of pressure this time.
Because among this tournament's competitors, Ryuzaki Kyoryu was unexpectedly present. The legendary man who was an early national runner-up and had faced off against the legendary Joey Wheeler!
Could he really win against such a legend?
Chazz rubbed his fingers, staring blankly at the floor.
"But speaking of Chazz's opponent in the top eight, I've never heard of him, called... Fujiki Yugen. Is he a newcomer?"
"Hm?"
Chazz snapped back to reality and searched for the opponent's information.
Duelist Level...
...One-Star?
He even doubted whether he saw it wrong.
A One-Star is the epitome of a newbie fighter, isn't it? How can such a guy even compete? And in the top eight??
Looking again at tournament experience and public honors... a complete blank.
"His resume is a blank sheet, looks like total cannon fodder." Junior A scornfully pouted, "How did such a guy get into the top eight?"
"Maybe just lucky?" Junior B said.
"Even if it was luck, to get this far you still need some skills, right..."
Besides, and regardless of everything, getting to the top eight in the first public competition, surely he wouldn't remain as a One-Star after the tournament ended.
"Maybe he's some sort of debuting dark horse, occasionally you'll have such gifted contestants." Junior B said, "Well, but in front of big bro Chazz, cannon fodder is cannon fodder anyway."
"Makes sense."
Junior A nodded in agreement and then laughed.
"But anyhow, this Yugen guy is really unlucky, right, encountering big bro Chazz so soon. Seems like he can only stop at the top eight."
Chazz gave a slight smile, kept silent, seemingly trying to appear cool and act like a master, yet couldn't stop the upward curl of his lips and instinctual tactical recline from revealing his inner pride.
Although Chazz said nothing, he inwardly agreed with the juniors' speculation.
Fujiki Yugen... never heard of him.
Even if said to be a dark horse, it's his first tournament. Can he possibly take out me, the elite of Middle School Department, ranked No.1?
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