Chapter 8: Duelist Times

Nakamura Tsubasa finally left the stage with a howl.

A successful start in the first round of the preliminaries; You Xuan was very satisfied with his performance this round. He had once again taught through personal example, letting another person feel what the true essence of Yu-Gi-Oh! really was.

He believed that after this contestant went back to review the match, they would surely have some realization, gain much from it, and ultimately would definitely thank him.

On the first day, You Xuan played several matches in a row; the density of duels could not be considered low. However, the Moon Flower Cup was never a tournament with high entry thresholds, and the number of competitors from all walks of life was indeed substantial. The preliminaries were held simultaneously across many venues with different contestants, which greatly saved time for the tournament format.

But nothing had exceeded his expectations. The opponents drawn in the preliminaries were no famous figures, and judging from the anime's portrayal, the strength of most ordinary passerby duelists outside the main cast's perspective was generally quite average; he had not yet seen any deck construction that could make his eyes light up.

Of course, You Xuan would not look down on his opponents because of this. After the first day's matches, he still briefly glanced at other games to slightly understand the competitions of the advancing contestants.

Although the chance of stumbling against most of those opponents was not high, You Xuan figured it was better to be safe. As the art of war says, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles"; this is even more true for Yu-Gi-Oh!.

If one could understand the opponent's deck configuration and tactical style in advance, and make targeted adjustments before the match began, one could effectively increase the win rate.

Before the Moon Flower Cup, the dojo had already allocated a portion of the subsidy to him in advance, saying it was for strengthening his deck and upgrading its configuration.

You Xuan naturally accepted it without any hesitation. With this budget, he was able to adjust his original strategy again; these past few days he went on a frantic shopping spree, attempting to cobble together a few more decks.

Although [Card Destruction] was once a world champion tactic, relying solely on this one trick to conquer all in the anime world was clearly impractical. Once people knew this was his only trick, he would be easily countered, which was definitely something he did not want to see.

Therefore, before the tournament, You Xuan went to the market to purchase cards and, based on what he could acquire, managed to cobble together two or three sets of decks that felt quite competitive and capable of bringing joy.

He constantly switched decks and adjusted their construction based on the type of deck and tactics used by his opponents, making his own tactical style flexible, varied, and hard to fathom. On one hand, this allowed him to always hold a positional advantage against his opponents; on the other, it made himself harder for others to counter.

Master Takeuchi brewed a cup of coffee, sat comfortably in a soft sofa under the afternoon sun, and casually picked up the latest issue of the "Duelist Times."

The "Duelist Times" was a newspaper belonging to Kaiba Corporation, reporting on all sorts of strange tales and anecdotes from the dueling world.

He had been busy with family matters these past two days and couldn't find time to watch his students' matches. However, he had already heard that both students from the dojo had successfully passed the first day of the preliminaries, which left him quite gratified.

Opening the newspaper, he saw there was also reportage regarding the Moon Flower Cup preliminaries.

[Malicious attacks against opposing duelists nearly occurred at the Moon Flower Cup preliminary venue.]

[A certain contestant lost emotional control midway through a duel, angrily lashed out attempting to directly harm the opposing duelist but failed, and was disqualified from the competition.]

"Hmm?"

Master Takeuchi looked curiously and carefully at this report.

There was such a thing?

The quality of duelists these days is truly getting worse and worse; there are actually those who, unable to win, fly into a rage from humiliation and resort to physical violence, possessing not a shred of the basic dignity of a duelist.

He briefly scanned the report details. No real names appeared inside; pseudonyms were used instead, seemingly to intentionally protect the privacy of the contestants. One pseudonym was Kento, and another was Tomoki.

Continuing to read further.

[On the third day of the Moon Flower Cup tournament, during a duel between contestant Shota (pseudonym) and contestant Kento (pseudonym), Shota unexpectedly suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. Fortunately, due to timely rescue, contestant Shota is now out of life-threatening danger.]

Playing cards until getting a brain hemorrhage?

The master was shocked. Was this year's Moon Flower Cup so perilous?

Wait, he suddenly seemed to have spotted the key point.

In both incidents, the pseudonym of the opposing duelist was Kento; surely it couldn't just happen to be the same person by coincidence, right?

If it really was, then once could be an accident, but twice in a row...

Could it be that the problem actually lies with that bastard on the other side?

Master Takeuchi immediately connected this to the phenomenon two days ago when he dueled that student named You Xuan at the dojo, where his blood pressure miraculously rose step by step as the duel progressed.

He suddenly had an ominous premonition.

It shouldn't be that coincidental, right?

Three days later.

"Already in the top eight?"

The ticket to the top eight was obtained a bit too easily, so much so that You Xuan even felt a bit unsatisfied.

Indeed, the level of competition in this kind of tournament was just like this; one couldn't expect too much, as most opponents were merely so-called folk experts. He wondered if the intensity would increase a bit after entering the top eight matches.

Watching You Xuan advance so smoothly yet wear an expression of regret, Koji once again felt an urge to hit someone.

Yes, unlike You Xuan, who was like someone with a cheat code bulldozing straight to the top eight, Sato Koji had been eliminated on the second day of the preliminaries.

With no matches to play and nothing left to prepare, he could only come to the side of his junior brother who had advanced from the same dojo to suck lemons.

But the good news was, at least he had been eliminated before he could run into You Xuan, sparing him from being tortured once again on the public stage.

Moreover, at least now he could still watch from the front rows, enjoying the sight of other contestants being devastated.

Strangely enough, when he himself was being bullied by his junior brother, his blood pressure would involuntarily skyrocket, but when seeing others on the battlefield subjected to the same treatment, he felt extremely happy.

Indeed, humans are truly strange and contradictory creatures.

"By the way, junior brother, have you seen your match list?" he asked from the side, "Who is your top eight opponent?"

He was eager to invite the first victim to step forward.

"Oh, it's a student from the Duel Academy Middle School division."

You Xuan said.

"Named Manjome Jun."

"Brother Manjome is truly strong to an almost divine degree!"

At this moment, Manjome Jun from the prestigious Duel Academy Fushu Middle School division was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, comfortably enjoying the glib, excessive flattery of his two underlings.

Manjome Jun, the third young master of the renowned Manjome Group, was currently the number one student in the Middle School division's elite class; this year, he had been specially exempted from exams and was about to be directly recommended for admission to the Duel Academy High School division as a super elite.

Since childhood, Manjome had been cultivated by his family as a dueling elite. According to the family's plan, his two older brothers were arranged to become a business tycoon and a high-ranking political official respectively, while the expectation for him was to eventually reign over the dueling world as the King of Games, becoming the future pillar of the Manjome Group.

At first hearing, this goal of "the man who wants to become the Card King" might seem a bit laughable compared to his two brothers, but looking at President Kaiba Seto makes it clear that in this world, being good at playing cards is far more promising than engaging in business or politics.

Thus, it is imaginable that since childhood, Manjome had been arranged to participate in various competitions, winning so many championships and medals from all sorts of large and small tournaments that his hands went soft from holding them.

Participating in this Moon Flower Cup was likewise the family's intention; it was his final trial before advancing to the Duel Academy High School division.

Just like in many previous competitions, the instructions given by his two brothers were very clear: he was participating solely to win the championship.

For the family, being the runner-up was equivalent to defeat. A competition where one fails to take first place has no meaning.

But this time, even Manjome felt a bit of pressure.

Because among the contestants this time, there was actually Dinosaur Ryuzaki. That man who was a legendary national runner-up from the early years and had even faced the legendary Jonouchi Katsuya!

Could he really win against such a legend?

Manjome rubbed his ten fingers together, staring blankly at the floor.

"But speaking of which, Brother Manjome, I haven't heard of your top eight opponent; what was the name... Fujiki You Xuan. Is he a newcomer?"

"Hmm?"

Manjome came back to his senses and looked up the opponent's information.

Duelist Rank...

One star?

He even suspected whether he had misread it.

Isn't one star the fighter jet among noobs? How could such a guy even participate? And reach the top eight??

Looking again, his tournament experience and public honors were completely blank.

"His resume is a blank sheet of paper; he looks completely like cannon fodder," Underling A sneered, curling his lip, "How did such a guy even manage to mix his way into the top eight?"

"Maybe he was just lucky?" Underling B said.

"Even if it was luck, to get to this stage one must still have some strength..."

Moreover, regardless of anything, making it to the top eight in one's first public competition meant that after this tournament ended, he certainly wouldn't remain a one-star anymore.

"He's probably just one of those dark horses making their first appearance; occasionally there are talented contestants like that," Underling B said, "Well, but in front of Big Brother Manjome, they're all just cannon fodder, so it makes no difference."

"That makes sense."

Underling A nodded in agreement, then added with a smile.

"But speaking of which, this guy named You Xuan is truly pitiful; facing Big Brother Manjome so quickly. Looking at it this way, he can only stop at the top eight."

Manjome smiled slightly without speaking, seeming to want to act cool and pretend to be a master, but his uncontrollably upturned mouth corners and his instinctive tactical lean-back had already exposed the pride in his heart.

Although Manjome didn't speak, deep down he also agreed with his underling's speculation.

Fujiki You Xuan was unheard of.

Even if he was called a dark horse, he was still a first-time participant. Could you possibly expect him to instantly defeat me, the No. 1 of the Middle School division's elite class?

(End of Chapter)