After the suicidal attack by the Shadow Monarch, which reduced his LP to zero, Zane was left half-kneeling on the ground, his head bowed, not getting up for a long time.
He looked as if he were pondering the meaning of life—or perhaps some philosophical question like, "It's... over."
A student watching the livestream swallowed hard. He couldn't explain why, but he didn't even dare to breathe too loudly right now.
It was as if speaking would disturb some terrifying existence.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but ever since Caius appeared, he felt as if an unsettling darkness had been swirling around Kira. Even after the duel ended and the projection disappeared, it lingered faintly.
It made him seem even more intimidating.
None of the students spoke for a while, only silently sucking in cold breaths.
It had only been a few days, and yet the Big Boss of Yellow Dorm seemed to have made another breakthrough. He felt even stronger than before.
Just how many people in this world could actually stop this guy now?
Though they weren't checking forums at the moment, the campus forum was probably exploding by now.
"Breaking news! A new king is born," "The end of Kaiser's undefeated legend," "Fujiki Kira is unstoppable"—those were probably the kind of posts filling up the board.
The academy's future looked darker than ever...
Kira walked over to Kaiser, reaching out a hand.
Zane hesitated, but eventually took it, letting Kira pull him to his feet. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveIＦire.net
"You okay?" Kira asked with a smile.
That was what Zane thought deep down, but in the end he just nodded. "I'm fine."
After a pause, he added, "You really are strong. I could feel it during the duel. It seems the rumors are true."
"Rumors?" Kira asked.
"They say you're on a whole different level from the rest of us now." Zane smiled wryly. "The claim that no one in Duel Academy can match you isn't an exaggeration at all.
You're the true absolute king of Duel Academy."
Normally, he would have said, "That was a great duel," but he just couldn't get the words out.
Maybe for Kira, or from the audience's perspective, it was a beautiful duel—but that wasn't how it felt to him.
As the one on the receiving end, all he could feel was overwhelming strength.
"You flatter me. I just got lucky." Kira smiled.
Zane was silent for a moment, then couldn't help but ask, "I heard from Alexis that you've been researching Cyber-style. But I didn't expect you'd get results so quickly."
"Card research is like that." Kira smiled. "If you find the right direction and truly believe the monster you imagine exists, then it does exist."
Zane suddenly remembered that the legendary duel king Yugi Muto had said something similar.
It was said that when Yugi and Seto Kaiba first encountered the legendary Five-Headed Dragon, Yugi fused his own Black Luster Soldier with Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to create a new ace, "Dragon Master Knight."
At the time, Kaiba was shocked. Even the card printing company didn't know those two could fuse—how did Yugi know "Dragon Master Knight" existed?
Yugi replied that he didn't know either. But as duelists, you must always have faith: if you believe it exists, then it does; if it hasn't appeared, it means your faith isn't strong enough.
Was this the essence of printing cards?
Zane looked at Kira again, his expression growing even more complicated.
He suddenly realized that it wasn't just in dueling—this person had already gone far ahead in so many ways. The rest of them could only look up to him.
By contrast, he himself had sat on the throne as Kaiser of the academy for three years, satisfied with the status quo, never breaking through his bottleneck.
Maybe years of dominating in his own environment had made him complacent, convinced he'd found his path and could rank among the top duelists. Little did he know, the world of dueling outside the academy was much broader, and the path he'd insisted on had already come to a dead end.
"I lost. According to Battle City rules, here's my Puzzle Card."
Zane handed the puzzle card to Kira, then drew out another card.
Kira raised an eyebrow.
Whoa—Cyber End Dragon?
Even he was surprised, looking curiously at Zane "Cyber End Dragon? Isn't that...?"
"Yes, it's my ace, my soul, and my most important old friend. No matter what obstacles I've faced, I've always overcome them with it."
Zane stared at the card, somewhat dazed.
"But maybe, at some point, I started relying too much on my old friend.
I used to think this was my style of dueling: always winning together with my old friend. But after dueling you, I realized maybe that was just a nice-sounding excuse.
The truth is, maybe I was just too dependent on it. So maybe it's time to stand up and, as a duelist, seek a new path."
Kira was silent for a moment.
Hmm, looks duel really worked—Zane's having a breakthrough already. Hopefully it's not too much of a breakthrough...
Wouldn't want him to completely lose his nerve.
"For the tournament, the loser has to hand over a rare card, right? This is my rarest one." Zane said seriously. "I hope you'll accept it."
Kira looked at him intently.
Then he pushed Zane's hand back.
"You've already realized what you needed to. That's enough. As a duelist, I'm sure you'll go even further now."
"If you really insist, then let's compromise. Give me that one."
He pointed at Zane's deck.
He doesn't want Cyber End, but wants Cyber Twin?
He had more than one of each, but in terms of rarity and value, Cyber Twin was far inferior to Cyber End, which was the pride of Cyber-style.
"Yes, Cyber Twin is fine." Kira smiled. "If you find your own path and become stronger, come duel me again.
If you win, I'll return Cyber Twin to you. How about it?"
Zane suddenly felt like he understood.
In fact, during the duel, he'd sensed it more than once—the other side seemed to be trying to teach him something through the duel.
His current thoughts and realizations seemed to be exactly what the other had hoped for.
Maybe he was guiding him through the duel?
Then this proposal was probably also meant to encourage him.
Indeed, he could feel now that Kira was already on a different level. Throughout the duel, he'd felt Kira was calmly in control.
It wasn't a showdown between evenly matched rivals, but more like a senior guiding a promising junior.
Feeling he understood, the gloom that had built up in Zane's heart during the duel dissipated, replaced by gratitude.
He took out a Cyber Twin Dragon and handed it to Kira, nodding firmly. "It's a deal. I'll get stronger and one day win it back from you."
Kira accepted the Cyber Twin Dragon, satisfied.
Cyber Twin Dragon—GET. World Champion Deck Completion +1. (LOL)
What? Cyber End Dragon?
That thing's just an overpriced brick.
Zane should be thanking me.