Chapter 313: First Battle

"The title of Duel King..."

This actually surprised Fujiki You Xuan a bit.

Ever since Yugi Mutou retired, this title had been vacant. After the first Duel City tournament ended, no other tournament had used this title as a gimmick.

In fact, everyone actually knew that now that the Pharaoh had left and Yugi had retired, if Kaiba Seto wanted to, the title of Duel King would be almost within his grasp. There was almost no one left in this world who was his opponent.

But he hadn't done so for so many years.

Maybe it was because Kaiba felt that if he didn't defeat "that person," even if he won against all the duelists in the world, how could he be worthy of being called King?

So Fujiki You Xuan was very surprised. Kaiba not only decided to return to participate in the tournament this time, but also decided to reopen the title of Duel King.

What did this mean? The President finally accepted the fact that Atem had left this world and decided to walk out of the Pharaoh's shadow?

The opening speech ended, and Mokuba stretched.

"Phew~ I've been preparing for the tournament all night and didn't sleep well, I'm exhausted."

Mokuba yawned and turned to Fujiki You Xuan.

"Alright, the tournament is officially started now, you should go to compete too. The opponents are all duelists within the range of New Domino City, so you'd better hurry up."

"The spots are limited; if you can't grab one of those eight spots first, you'll be eliminated."

Fujiki You Xuan nodded to show he understood.

Indeed, this was also a replica of the same rules as the first tournament in DM. This way, even high-level duelists with confidence in their strength had to have some sense of urgency; if they were a bit slow, they might be snatched by others.

"But this tournament isn't that simple," Mokuba said. "You should also be careful. Someone under us has investigated, and people from New Domino might also try to mix in."

"I think, maybe they also have something they must win in this tournament..."

Fujiki You Xuan understood: "'Sealing Vessel', right?"

"Hmm, so you should be careful. The appearance of this thing might be the horn of a decisive battle for them... but speaking of which, there is actually a fox showing its tail."

Mokuba reached out and swiped lightly, and a certain monitoring interface appeared in front of him.

In the picture was a sneaky man in a black robe, with half of his body hidden in the shadows, seemingly looking around for something.

"This guy has been hanging around nearby for a long time, right outside this building. We have already cross-referenced with existing intelligence and confirmed that this should be a dark duelist under New Domino."

"I think, he should be looking for you."

Mokuba scoffed.

"This guy doesn't really think our Kaiba Corporation's surveillance network didn't find him, right?"

Fujiki You Xuan looked at the man in the picture and smiled lightly.

Interesting.

"Thanks, Mokuba," he stood up. "Then it seems, my first prey... no, opponent has been determined."

Night Shadow rested in the shadows, staring intently at the Kaiba Corporation building.

Then he frowned slightly.

Strange, why hasn't the person come out yet?

The tournament has already started; logically speaking, shouldn't he be rushing out to compete now?

Where is he?

Could it be that he came out from another exit?

Thinking of this, he wondered if he should change places to take a look...

So Night Shadow turned and stepped back, preparing to leave this alley. But he froze after only taking a few steps.

Dead end.

But this should be impossible. He was very sure that he should have been heading toward the exit.

Night Shadow began to have an ominous premonition. He turned around, only feeling that he seemed to be facing a cloud of ominous fog. Passing through the fog under the dim light, he only moved forward a few steps, and that pitch-black wall stood in front of him again.

Still a dead end.

After all, he was also a dark duelist who had been in the business for a while, and Night Shadow quickly realized something was wrong. He frowned, turned around, and stood quietly for a while.

Sure enough, soon, a figure walked out through the dark fog.

"Looks like you're looking for me," Fujiki You Xuan chuckled. "Here, I'm here."

"Really confident, kid."

Night Shadow narrowed his eyes. He looked around, sizing up the ominous fog around him.

"A Shadow Game barrier," he frowned and said. "Let me guess, only one of us can walk out of here, right?"

"Heh, as expected of an assassin of New Domino, you understand quickly," Fujiki You Xuan smiled. "Not bad, it is a Shadow Game barrier... anyway, you came to find me with this intention in the first place, right? So I saved you some trouble on my side."

He raised his Duel Disk directly.

"Shall we?"

"Interesting. Indeed, this was my purpose in the first place. But since you're so unafraid of death, I'll end this quickly and finish you off immediately to go back and report."

Night Shadow also deployed his Duel Disk. However, he used a special style made by New Domino, which was different from Fujiki You Xuan's.

Fujiki You Xuan smiled and didn't answer.

"Duel!" x2

【Fujiki You Xuan, LP4000】

【Night Shadow, LP4000】

"Then I'll go first, draw," Fujiki You Xuan said. "Set one monster in face-down defense position, then set three cards, turn end."

A simple opening, but also the norm for competitive play in a slow environment. The scene of exhausting one's hand to make a high-ATK boss monster on the first turn of the first player was still very rare, as there were almost no boss monsters that could stand on the field in the early years, and three or five cards exchanged for one boss monster would be solved by the opponent with one removal card, basically collapsing on the spot, so except in the anime, few people did this.

"My turn, draw."

Night Shadow drew a card and looked at Fujiki You Xuan with some unease.

Night Shadow actually didn't feel as confident as he appeared now.

He thought it was just a Duel Academy student, what could be difficult to deal with? But seeing the real person, his heart began to drum.

Can't say, but he felt this kid wasn't right.

If nothing else, he was clearly the hunter and the opponent should be the prey, but after one encounter, he suddenly had the illusion that he had become the prey.

Actively seeking him out to start a Shadow Game was something he hadn't expected.

And when did this person get behind him, and when did he open this barrier?

Night Shadow also quickly realized that since the opponent had already discovered him, if the opponent wanted to bypass him silently and slip away, he definitely couldn't stop him.

But even so, Fujiki You Xuan still appeared in front of him.

What does that mean?

Does it mean he didn't take this New Domino elite seriously at all?

"Heh, arrogant geniuses always have to hit a wall before they understand the breadth of the world..."

A sharp light flashed in Night Shadow's eyes.

"Let me make you realize this through a duel!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 314 =====