Satellite Zone, twenty-seven floors underground.
Asahi Duel Dojo Plaza.
The sunless sky was fractured by layers of crooked metal roofing, scattering light across cracked concrete streets.
Today, the plaza normally used for daily duels was filled with two factions of students—those in red uniforms and those in blue—each equipped with Duel Disks and sitting stiffly in rows.
At the front, a blue-uniformed student named Sato spoke with fiery conviction.
"Since the birth of Duel Monsters, countless summoning styles have emerged—but I believe Fusion Summoning is the strongest! All other styles are a step below!"
"Synchro Summoning has great chain potential and can bring out multiple monsters in one turn, but it relies too much on Tuners—too rigid, too fixed, too predictable!"
"Xyz Summoning has simple requirements and easy stacking, but high-Rank Xyz Monsters are still hard to summon!"
"Pendulum Summoning can flood the field in one move—but too many monsters clog your Spell & Trap Zones!"
"Link Summoning? Crude brute force. Two monsters of any kind become one Link Monster—but there's only one Extra Monster Zone, forever limiting its power."
"But Fusion Summoning? It doesn't even go on the Chain! You can fuse from hand, field, or even the Graveyard—flexible, adaptive, limitless! It's the ultimate summoning!"
…
"Senior Sato's right! Fusion is the noblest summoning method!"
The blue side echoed his every word.
On the red side, however, faces turned crimson.
"Fusion Summon strongest? You dare say that out loud?"
"Forget that Fusion needs tons of support Spells—what about losing card advantage? Three-for-one, four-for-one, sometimes five-for-one trades—you call that efficient?"
"Yeah, exactly!"
The argument was about to break into an all-out shouting match when the Asahi Dojo Master stepped forward, ready to intervene—only to be stopped by the master of the opposing dojo.
"Master Takeuchi, instead of letting them argue, why not have each dojo send one duelist to show how differently we understand the art of dueling?"
Asahi's master thought for a moment, then nodded.
"You're right. I'd like to see what our students have learned."
He paused, eyes sweeping over his disciples before settling on a sharp-featured boy sitting in the back row.
"Yusaku, how about you?"
Shff—
At once, every head turned.
The boy named Yusaku blinked, clearly pulled from a daze.
Under dozens of stares, he awkwardly stood, hesitating before answering haltingly,
"In my opinion… there isn't a 'strongest' summoning style. Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, Link—they all have strengths. A deck shouldn't be restricted to just one. By combining different engines, you can make a deck far more powerful."
Sato froze, hearing such an idea for the first time.
Some students whispered incredulously.
"Did I hear that right? Mix different summoning engines in one deck? Wouldn't that brick like crazy?"
"Hah! This guy's killing me!"
After pondering a moment, Sato shook his head.
"Junior, your idea sounds great—but setting aside bricking, when you mix summoning types, which becomes the main engine? If your opening hand draws mismatched pieces, how do you even start?"
Yusaku frowned. "Why must there be one main engine? Different engines can support each other and pull one another forward."
Sato sighed. "Nice theory—but a bit too idealistic."
"Don't bother arguing, Sato-senpai! He's a rookie who doesn't understand real dueling!"
"One deck with all summoning types? What kind of madman thinks like that?"
"Is their dojo full of these weirdos?"
The jeers rose, faces reddening on both sides.
Only the two dojo masters looked thoughtful.
"Different summoning components working together… interesting concept," murmured the Asahi Master. He nodded toward Yusaku.
"Good thinking. Keep studying it—you might find something powerful. Alright, sit down. Anyone interested may research it further. Continue the discussion."
Students resumed their chatter—some arguing, some musing, some whispering about Yusaku.
Ignoring them, Yusaku sat down and quietly opened his system menu.
Wait a second—where's the Exit button?!
He was still confused.
He'd been testing Konami's latest Yu-Gi-Oh! VR prototype on its third closed beta.
The day it launched, he'd rushed out to buy a neural link helmet, plugged in, and dove straight into the game.
But something was off this time.
The previous betas always spawned him in the Tops—a clean, tech-filled city of dueling glory.
Now he was in a broken, garbage-strewn underground slum—the Satellite Zone—cracked streets and all.
And he was a dojo student?!
He'd thought it was a bug and was about to log out—only to find no Logout option.
Then the instructor called his name to talk about "the strongest summon."
The strongest summon? He had no clue.
If they'd asked for the strongest deck, he could've named that infamous build that was almost entirely banned.
To him, there was no "best" summoning method—each had strengths and weaknesses, and they complemented each other. Many top decks used multiple summon types; even Tearlaments ran Fusion plus other Extra options.
But the Exit button was simply gone.
He tried again and again—no luck. System menu, status screen… everything worked except Logout.
So I… actually got isekai'd into the game?
Wait—he remembered the prompt before logging in:
"Would you like to fully immerse yourself in the game?"
He'd clicked "Yes" without thinking, expecting better immersion.
Turns out it was a soul-transfer clause!
Great… His throat tightened.
From the looks of it, he really had crossed over—into the game itself.
"…Just like that?"
"Oh crap, I didn't clear my browser history!"
His mind was chaos when a loud shout snapped him back.
"Enough talk! You insects don't understand the power of our dojo! With your so-called 'dueling philosophy,' you couldn't even beat the 26th floor above us, let alone invade the Tops!
No more nonsense—let's duel!
You—the kid who said mixing summon engines makes a deck stronger—show me what you've got!"
"Huh?" Yusaku looked up, bewildered. He was still panicking about his browser history, and now someone was challenging him.
"Me?"
He glanced around, ready to borrow a deck—he didn't even have a Duel Disk yet!
Before he could speak, a clear mechanical chime rang in his head.
[Ding!]
A bright yellow exclamation mark flashed before his eyes.
[Quest Unlocked: First Duel]
[Objective: Defeat the opponent before you]
[Reward: 300 Gems | 3 UR Tickets | 1 Forbidden Card Fragment]
A system quest?
Yusaku sighed. Guess I'm really not getting out of this.
"Well… since I'm here, might as well roll with it."
Hmm? Starter rewards came with a deck?
Opening his inventory, he found three classic structure decks—Dark Magician, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Elemental HERO—all pure vanilla versions.
Luckily, he also had 20 UR tickets and 20 SR tickets to craft cards—everything except forbidden or special ones.
Blue-Eyes and HERO are overplayed… I'll go Dark Magician.
After some quick crafting, he assembled a slightly tuned-up Dark Magician deck.
"You don't even have a Duel Disk?" his opponent snapped. "Every real duelist keeps their deck and disk on them at all times!"
He tossed one over. "Catch, junior. And I'll even let you go first—don't say we bullied you."
"Go first, huh?" Yusaku caught it and looked up to see a tall boy with spiky yellow hair—Ushio, not Sato.
"Huh? You're not Sato-senpai?"
"No need to waste the senior's Fusion deck on you. I'll beat you with a normal deck myself!" Ushio slid his deck in and the disk lit up. "Let's see you defend your ridiculous dueling philosophy!"
Yusaku inserted his own deck calmly.
"Duel!" / "Duel!"
[Yusaku LP 8000]
[Ushio LP 8000]
(End of Chapter)
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