"Did Chazz-sama lose?"
In the stands, Lackey A and Lackey B were both in disbelief.
As fellow students in the Duel Academy's middle school division, they knew Chazz's strength well. No exaggeration, even among the elite, Chazz was the best in their year.
And yet, Chazz had just lost to a complete rookie?
Is this new guy a monster?
The red-haired girl nearby was also stunned, and then turned to the pair. "Looks like your big boss just lost."
The two underlings looked at each other, then said:
"Oh, we must've made a mistake. He just looks a little like our big bro, but look closely—he's not," said Lackey A.
"Yeah, yeah, really looks alike, haha," Lackey B added.
The red-haired girl squinted. "So, does he just happen to have the same name too?"
The two forced out a smile, gritting their teeth.
"What a coincidence."
It was a stunning upset—no one was more shocked than Chazz himself.
Losing was one thing, but he also had a strange feeling—as if his opponent hadn't even tried.
The whole time, his opponent seemed so at ease, as if he'd just come to play, not taking it seriously at all.
He didn't even summon a single high-level monster!
Chazz felt he had maxed out his field and applied enough pressure, but his opponent defused everything so easily—it felt like punching into cotton.
He'd never experienced such a frustrating duel.
Just as his opponent was putting away his Duel Disk and preparing to leave, Chazz couldn't help but call out.
Kira paused and turned.
"Who the hell are you?" Chazz demanded, gritting his teeth.
Kira met his eyes and smiled slightly.
"Just a passing one-star duelist."
With that, he turned and walked away, but Chazz felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart again.
What kind of dumb ranking system is this—how is that guy a level one!?
In any case, Chazz's journey ended in the top 8, and he'd probably get chewed out by his brothers when he got home. If he'd lost to Rex Raptor, fine, but to an unknown nobody—worse yet, the duel was enough to cause a brain hemorrhage. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on NoveI[F]ire.net
He must've had the worst luck imaginable to run into this guy.
One thing was certain for Chazz:
He never, ever, ever wanted to see this scheming bastard again.
Kira reviewed his recent duels, learning from the locals and reflecting on his own mistakes.
Though he hadn't met any real challenges yet, the process made him realize a flaw in his thinking:
You can't just import the real card meta into the anime environment.
Hand destruction decks were top-tier in the TCG, and still strong here, but just using that against anime aces wasn't enough.
First, the anime has draw engines that don't exist in real life. Sometimes a card lets you plow through five or six cards in a turn.
Plus, in the anime, aces can turn things around from empty hands and fields with a single top-deck. This isn't superstition; there's a logic to it. As the original says, "For a true duelist, everything is fate; even your draws can be shaped."
Like how Jaden Yuki in late GX always activates his Supreme King mode in tough duels—not just for style. In this form, he has god-tier top-decking skills. In the anime's supernatural system, this marks a high-level duelist.
Supreme King Jaden, even with a pile of random cards, could crush ordinary players with meta decks.
"If only I could get myself some god-draw abilities..." Kira sighed.
It seems like all you need to succeed in Yu-Gi-Oh! is to know how to play, but without some kind of supernatural edge, you'll get stomped in the later, god-filled meta.
Everyone knows the easiest way to get supernatural in Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't training, but getting a spirit partner. But as far as he knew, all the good ones were already taken, so where was he supposed to find one?
For now, he could only keep studying the meta and optimize his deck and tactics.
He was still experimenting, his deck not yet finalized.
His next opponent was named Kajimoto Makoto, a Level 5 duelist. He'd placed in several official tournaments and was a direct disciple of the Psychic Style Dojo.
Kira racked his brain.
If he remembered right, this style showed up briefly in late GX. It was a rival school to Zane Truesdale's Cyber Style, and in the anime, its ultimate card was Jinzo.
But it made sense that Kajimoto didn't have Jinzo in his deck—after all, Cyber End Dragon was supposed to be Cyber Style's ace, but the dojo only had one, reserved for the true heir.
Kajimoto was just a disciple—no way he'd have the school's ace.
Kira had watched his recent matches and saw Kajimoto's deck focused on Machine King, the signature monster of one of the Big Five, the traitors from KaibaCorp in DM.
According to the anime, Psychic Style's true ace was Jinzo, but clearly, Kajimoto didn't have it.
But that made sense—only the real heir gets the ace monster.
With all this in mind, Kira adjusted his deck for the match.
He double-checked his deck one last time, made sure everything was in order, then slid his deck into his Duel Disk and made his way through the dark tunnel to the arena.
The MC had finished warming up the crowd. Kira climbed the stairs to the stage, seeing his opponent waiting across from him. Their eyes met, sparks flying.
Kira took his place, Duel Disk unfolding.
This match shouldn't be a problem.