Chapter 414: Everyone Has Their Own Special Skill (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

The first duel of the GX Tournament begins.

Around the world, whether night or day, whether adult or child, everyone with an interest in dueling, everyone pursuing the art of dueling, is now watching this duel.

As the screen lit up, a Kaiba Corporation advertisement flashed by, then a massive white egg appeared before everyone's eyes.

As the white egg emerged, its uppermost part slowly cracked open, and then, like a blooming lotus, it gradually unfolded outward, revealing its interior.

A vast, empty duel arena, spanning several basketball courts, slowly rose upward; after it emerged, lights and cameras flared to life with sharp clicks all around the arena.

Amid a chorus of "Woooo—!" the audience seats within the egg were revealed.

On the audience seats sat students from various branches, some holding signs to cheer for their favored duelists, others simply here to watch the duel and loudly celebrate.

Beyond these students were a special group of spectators: the native Spirits!

They were seated on the opposite side of the arena, able to view both duelists at once; compared to human spectators, they were far fewer in number, yet their presence sparked not only cheers from the students but also gasps from viewers watching the livestream.

It's the legendary Spirits!

These are the first Spirits to appear before humans since the Dimensional Exploration began, watching a duel alongside them.

Many curious viewers felt that sitting in front of their screens for so long had been worth it, just for this glimpse of the Spirits.

But beyond mere spectacle, these Spirits had a purpose in coming here.

In this grandest human competition—the "Genius Clash"—if they encountered an interesting warrior, they were more than willing to support them—

As the audience and lights illuminated the scene, colorful fireworks erupted into the sky.

And so, this grand event finally opened with its first duel.

Duelist 23 versus Duelist 31.

Tenjo Kou was number 19, Wan Wan Zhangmu was 20; right after them came Jim and O'Brien, so Duelist 23 was someone Tenjo Kou didn't recognize.

John was the last to arrive, assigned number 37; earlier numbers meant earlier arrival, but that didn't imply weaker strength.

In total, the finals featured 37 duelists, so there was a high likelihood of byes or revival matches—Tenjo Kou wasn't certain and would have to wait for Kaiba Corporation's official schedule.

Regardless, the first duel of the GX Finals had begun.

Both duelists were strangers to Tenjo Kou; they looked like his classmates, dressed in blue and red, their appearances offering no clue to their branch affiliation—until they introduced themselves, revealing one was from the Eastern Branch and the other from the Nordic Branch.

The Eastern Branch, Tenjo Kou recalled, was the school where "Amon Garam" had been from in the original story—but in this tournament, he hadn't seen Amon.

Perhaps he was still searching for the power of Exodia.

"Duel!" x2.

Two unknown classmates began the first duel.

Tenjo Kou sat on the preparation bench, hands clasped behind his head, watching the livestream; his friends also watched curiously, clearly preparing to analyze potential future opponents.

Even if they were strangers, who knew what kind of duels they might bring?

Every person here should be regarded as a worthy opponent—

And as if responding to this thought…

"Tuning Summon! Level 6, Bomb Magician!"

Holy crap, Tuning!

The audience erupted in loud gasps, but in the preparation hall, after their initial shock, everyone quickly calmed down and began discussing the duel's details.

Occasionally, someone would glance toward Caesar.

Caesar paid no mind to the stares, his gaze fixed intently on the screen.

Because Marufuji Ryo had recently used Xyz Summoning in their dimension—even summoning an Xyz Monster—everyone had begun considering learning Xyz and Tuning Summoning.

Arriving at this Critical Point dimension and meeting its Spirits naturally sparked unique ideas.

Countless individuals here were attempting to master Xyz, attempting to master Tuning!

Yet the vast majority of students could never earn the Spirits' approval.

Even if they did gain approval, those powers could only be used within the Critical Point dimension.

Returning to their own worlds, Xyz or Tuning Summoning would, logically, remain impossible.

Unless… you were like Marufuji Ryo.

Under his opponent's Tuning performance, the other duelist, though startled, showed no fear—he quickly revealed his own specialty: Skill Drain!

"Sss… that's a terrifying card." Wan Wan Zhangmu stared at the trap card used by Duelist 31, inhaling sharply.

Though it couldn't fully stop him, a card that rendered all face-up monsters' effects inactive while it remained on the field was genuinely terrifying.

His VTOZ, the Dragon of Light and Darkness, would become useless, unable to unleash any of their true power.

"So that's how it works—use Skill Drain to nullify the opponent's monster effects, then summon a high-ATK monster with a drawback, turning the duel into a pure stat battle. Because Skill Drain negates the drawbacks, the monster's raw stats become absolute advantage."

Sanze Sanze Dadi nodded vigorously beside him.

As a calculation-based duelist, he found this strategy highly effective.

While everyone chatted, Tenjou Kiyomi quietly drifted over to Tenjo Kou's side and whispered: "Hikari, what was that you threw earlier?"

Tenjo Kou, watching the duel, heard him and lowered his voice in reply: "I got it from an alchemist in the Magic Text Academy dimension—a magnetic resistance potion."

"Magnetic resistance… electric shock… so it wasn't my imagination." After hearing this, Tenjou Kiyomi took a deep breath.

He'd dragged Marufuji Ryo around the Critical Point, dueling wildly—not just to hang out with friends and his sister, but to observe how they were truly faring.

His sister remained the same: brilliant, beautiful, yet never once considering her own future; Marufuji Ryo seemed even "wiser" and more composed than before—but Kiyomi clearly saw Ryo's body deteriorating day by day.

Now… he finally had a definitive answer.

"So what exactly is going on?"

Tenjo Kou thought for a moment and said: "Principal Principal Jiaodao told me that cards from the Electron Stream are too powerful—they deliver electric shocks to their holders. It's essentially a test from the card spirits."

"A test of life?!" Kiyomi's displeasure was unmistakable.

But quickly, he returned to his usual self, scratching the back of his head: "Heh, so that's how it is! Hahaha~ Hikari, if you ever find anything else interesting, you've got to tell me—"

He slapped Tenjo Kou's arm as he spoke.

"Brother, don't bother Tenjo-kun!" Asuka, who had been focused on the duel, turned around, annoyed by her brother's loud laughter.

Tenjo Kou smiled in return: "Haha, yeah. Okay. I'll tell you next time."

Kiyomi nodded solemnly.

He had no interest in the championship—

He wasn't that kind of duelist.

But this time, at least, he had to settle things with Ryo… once and for all!

(End of Chapter)