Card Trooper, Attack 1900 to Attack 3800 x3.
"Three monsters with 3800 Attack each?"
Wataru Komatsu felt completely stunned.
With their limits removed, the three gunners crackled with electricity as their bodies expanded rapidly. In an instant, the small units grew into towering mechs like mobile suits. The once fierce Ultimate Tyranno had to tilt its head just to see them, cold sweat running as it shrank back.
"First Card Trooper, destroy 'Ultimate Tyranno'!"
Cannons fired, and the black dinosaur was pierced through the waist before exploding.
Rex Raptor cried out.
Rex Raptor, LP 2800 to LP 2000.
With his back row exhausted and resources spent, Rex Raptor had no way left to defend.
"Next, the remaining Card Trooper attack Rex Raptor directly!"
Barrels locked on as shells streaked forward, trailing smoke toward Rex Raptor.
In the light of the barrage, his vision blurred. For a moment, Yugen overlapped with a figure from his memories.
The first Duel King, Yugi Muto.
"No matter what kind of card it is, it has value."
"Even the weakest monster has its meaning. Calling cards trash so easily means you don't deserve to be called a Duelist."
After enduring double trap interference, the field was rebuilt into such a formation. This overwhelming pressure was the power he had always pursued. Card Trooper had only 400 Attack and looked worthless, yet it delivered a lethal chain.
For a brief instant, it felt as if Yugi Muto stood across from him again. The illusion vanished just as quickly, replaced by firepower that swallowed him whole.
Rex Raptor, LP 2000 to LP 0.
"Did I lose?"
Rex Raptor dropped to his knees in a pose that looked like a guilty suspect exposed, both hands on the ground and confusion still on his face. He seemed unable to believe it was real. After years of preparation and a long retreat to train, he had finally decided to return in grand fashion, only to fall at what felt like the tutorial stage.
He could not accept it.
Applause rang out around the arena a few seconds late, tearing apart his illusion and dragging him back to reality. It started as scattered claps, as if the crowd was still coming back from the shock of the duel. Then, led by someone, it turned into roaring cheers mixed with shouted names.
Clearly, they were not shouting Rex Raptor. They were shouting the name of the newcomer who had ground him into the floor.
The Legendary Duelist Rex Raptor had failed in his comeback and instead became a stepping stone for a rising star.
"Congratulations to Yugen Fujiki for defeating Rex Raptor and claiming the championship of this Moonlight Cup!" Wataru Komatsu shouted with excitement.
"What an unbelievable duel this was. A newcomer making his first appearance wins his first match against the returning Rex Raptor, and even held the upper hand for the entire duel. No, more than that, his Life Points never dropped from four thousand until the very end, a true flawless victory in the literal sense."
Rex Raptor thought, please stop, stop rubbing it in.
"Yes, and based on my years of commentary, I dare say this may not even be this player's limit," Takeshi Sasaki added. "'Card Trooper' has another effect. When it is destroyed, its Duelist can draw one card from the deck."
"After Machine monsters receive the effect of Limiter Removal, they self destruct, which means Yugen Fujiki would draw three more cards at once from the destruction of Card Trooper. On the other hand, Rex Raptor has an empty field, and because he activated 'Reckless Greed' last turn, he must skip his next two draw phases. So."
He did not continue, but the meaning was obvious.
Even if Rex Raptor somehow survived this turn and blocked the final assault of Card Trooper, his chance of winning would still be close to zero. Not to mention that Yugen still had two Machina Fortress in his graveyard, ready to come back at any time as long as he had Machine resources in hand. By this point, the gap between the two sides was already overwhelming.
Rex Raptor said nothing.
"What a fearsome young talent," Wataru Komatsu said with growing admiration for the newcomer. "But no matter what, let us congratulate Yugen Fujiki on taking the championship."
He had a feeling. This would not be the last time he saw this player on the stage. Or perhaps for Yugen, this was only the beginning.
"He really won."
Already seated among the audience, Duel Dojo senior brother Koji Sato stared at the scene and blinked in disbelief. Then he pinched himself hard.
It hurt. This was not a dream.
Junior brother had really beaten a Legendary Duelist. All the anger and frustration he once felt when he had been crushed by that junior brother vanished, replaced by a sense of pride. If such an amazing junior brother had beaten him before, that almost felt like something to brag about, and his back straightened without him noticing.
With Yugen taking the title, Dueling Dojo erupted in celebration. Just imagining that this would appear on the front page of Duelist Times tomorrow made the apprentices feel proud, as if even mentioning Duel Dojo outside would carry more weight. The most excited of all was the hall master.
The moment the champion was announced, the hall master Takeuchi rolled his eyes and nearly fell backward. When the apprentices hurried to support him, he waved them off at once and said he was fine, only too excited.
Later, when no one noticed, the hall master stood up and walked deeper into Duel Dojo. He reached out and pressed his palm against an ordinary looking wall, his fingers tapping with a hidden pattern. Moments later, the wall trembled and split open from the center, revealing a hidden door.
No one else in Duel Dojo knew this door existed. He entered the passage, and the door closed behind him. At the end of the tunnel, all the light gathered on a single point.
A transparent display case stood there, holding a single card. The hall master murmured to himself.
"The one who can inherit it is finally about to appear, isn't he?"
"You really are the champion. Even a demon king like Rex Raptor got taken down by you. Junior brother, you are incredible." As they left the arena, Koji Sato looked like a completely different person and eagerly reached for the luggage.
"Junior brother, why are you carrying it yourself? Let senior brother do it."
Yugen tried to refuse, but could not withstand his enthusiasm. "By the way, people say there is no order in learning, so from today on, how about you be the senior brother and I be the junior instead."
Yugen was speechless.
"Still, your mindset is really strong," Koji Sato said. "You won the championship, but you look like nothing happened. If it were me, I would be floating right now."
Of course Yugen was not unhappy. He had expected this result from the start, so there was not much surprise. What he cared about more was when the prize money would be paid.
The more he understood this world, the more he felt that money in the Yu-Gi-Oh! world was not all powerful, but having none was impossible. People like Seto Kaiba or Manjoume with pure spending power aside, even the first generation protagonist came from a card selling family, and the second generation Judai Yuki also seemed to be rich.
The third generation might have come from the slums, but that one could build a perpetual engine from scrap and even print his own cards. As the story went on, protagonists always upgraded their decks and kept gaining new cards. Playing cards was truly a bottomless pit, and unless you had the talent to print cards yourself, most people could only burn money.
It only made Duel Academy look even better with the strong backing of Seto Kaiba.
They left the arena one after the other.