Chapter 88: The First Contention

"Jaden Yuki, he truly possesses something special that others lack."

Misawa looked at the student below, who was triumphantly flashing a V-sign, nearly mocking Manjoume into a state of social withdrawal.

"It's not through analysis, nor calculation, but dueling purely on instinct and hot-blooded passion, yet he possesses unexpected talent."

Fujiki You Xuan thought to himself that making it sound so complicated was just a fancy way of saying "top-decking."

Jaden, a natural-born duelist, was inherently better at drawing the cards he needed than anyone else. In the early stages of the anime, his Elemental Hero deck seemed to consist of only seven or eight monster cards—each one unique, with no duplicates, and most were even Normal Monsters, while the rest of the deck was filled with Spells and Traps of questionable utility.

If a veteran duelist were to look at that build, their first reaction would definitely be, "Can this thing actually have any combat power?" But if one operates on the premise that "he can always draw the card he needs," then stuffing the deck with dozens of support cards to handle various situations actually seems somewhat impressive.

"I will definitely have a duel with Jaden in the future. But before that..."

Daichi Misawa rose from his seat and looked at Fujiki You Xuan earnestly.

"First, I must resolve the issues within the Slifer Red dormitory. I have no intention of giving up the top spot so easily."

"Then you'd better try hard to keep up, Second Place," Fujiki You Xuan said, rising as well with a playful tone.

"Of course," Misawa smiled. "I've been preparing for today for a long time, and I've specifically completed a seventh deck built for this duel."

In fact, from certain angles, Fujiki You Xuan could see his own shadow in Misawa.

Misawa was the only person he had discovered in the academy so far who, like himself, carried multiple decks to duel with. When he enrolled, he used a specialized experimental deck, and he constantly carried six decks of different attributes and themes, which he called his "Six-Fold Deck."

In the original story, in order to duel Jaden Yuki, who claimed to be number one, he devoted a month of research to complete his seventh deck. But now, it seemed that honor had been yielded to Fujiki You Xuan.

"What a coincidence," Fujiki You Xuan smiled slightly. "I also spent some time, and just yesterday, my main deck was finally completed."

"Oh?" Misawa revealed a smile that was confident yet tinged with anticipation. "Does that mean I am actually the first person to personally experience the main deck of the number one? Then I am truly flattered."

"Likewise, I am also deeply honored to personally learn from the seventh deck you tailored for me, Misawa."

"Then let's do it, let's fight!" Misawa was full of fighting spirit. "Today, we decide who is the strongest in the Slifer Red dormitory!"

The two descended to the dueling field, and the eyes of the Slifer Red students quickly converged there. Currently, both of them were overwhelmingly strong in the preliminary exchange matches, and after today, it would be decided who the true big brother was.

"Duel!" x2

【Fujiki You Xuan, LP4000】

【Misawa, LP4000】

"I'll take the first move, draw!" Misawa took the initiative. "I summon 'Mathematician' in attack position!"

An old man with a white beard and glasses appeared on his field, holding a thick textbook in his hands.

【Mathematician, ATK 1500】

"Mathematician's effect: when summoned, I send one monster of Level 4 or lower from my deck to the Graveyard!"

At a glance, one could see it was a very powerful effect, capable of dumping any low-level monster from the deck regardless of type or attribute. Not only that, but when Mathematician is destroyed by battle, he can draw an additional card.

This card was very versatile in the physical card environment back then, and was even once sent to the Forbidden/Limited list. However, many competitive players familiar with it might not know that this brutal thing was originally Misawa's card.

Although Misawa appeared quite mediocre in the anime, and his main ace cards were quite useless in the physical card environment, many people didn't know that quite a few powerful low-level and support cards used in the competitive environment back then were actually his.

"Next is the Spell card 'Graceful Charity,' I draw three cards from my deck, then discard two cards from my hand." Misawa quickly swapped his hand. "Finally, I set one card on the field, turn end!"

Having finished his setup for the first turn, Misawa narrowed his eyes and sized up Fujiki You Xuan.

In his view, Fujiki You Xuan was actually a rather elusive opponent. Because unlike 90% of duelists, Fujiki You Xuan was the type who was always changing decks and changing strategies. And he had also discovered that, like himself, the opponent liked to study his opponents in advance to find flaws.

At least based on Misawa's current observations, the deck themes, types, and attributes used by Fujiki You Xuan had no pattern at all, and his tactics were ever-changing, making it quite difficult to lock him down tactically.

But this should be the same for the opponent. Misawa's Six-Fold Deck had almost no commonality between them, and the newly completed seventh deck was making its debut. The opponent should also find it difficult to counter.

However, after researching, Misawa still found a starting point.

Thinking of this, Misawa raised the corners of his mouth and smiled confidently.

This duel must be won by him!

"My turn, draw." Fujiki You Xuan said. "I also start by using a 'Graceful Charity,' drawing three cards from my deck, then discarding two cards from my hand."

"Next, I activate the Spell card 'Delinquent Duo'."

Misawa narrowed his eyes.

It really came!

After carefully observing and creating statistical charts for the various cards and tactics Fujiki You Xuan had used, Misawa noticed that the opponent would have similar card choices across several completely different decks.

One of the more frequently appearing ones was hand destruction.

"Pay 1000 Life Points, randomly discard one card from the opponent's hand, then the opponent chooses another one to discard."

【Fujiki You Xuan, LP4000 -> LP3000】

"Not so easy."

Misawa suddenly revealed a card in his hand.

"The monster effect of 'Twin-Headed Behemoth' in my hand!"

"When the opponent activates a card that includes the effect of 'discarding from our hand,' I send this card from my hand to the Graveyard to negate that activation and destroy it!"

"And, afterwards, I draw one card from my deck!"

The invincible Delinquent Duo suffered its first setback, crashing head-on into the Twin-Headed Behemoth manifested on Misawa's field, and returned empty-handed in disgrace.

"Therefore, the effect of Delinquent Duo is negated, and I draw one card!" Misawa smiled.

"I see, you've researched countermeasures for 'hand destruction,' well done, Second Place," Fujiki You Xuan chuckled.

"Because I am facing the number one, I naturally have to be cautious on top of cautious," Misawa said, crossing his arms confidently. "For this duel, I have made full preparations!"

Fujiki You Xuan drew three more cards.

"I set one monster card on the front field, set two cards on the back field, turn end."

Misawa frowned slightly.

Three more sets appeared on the field in an instant. But he didn't attack?

In this way, it was still impossible to see what Fujiki You Xuan's so-called "main force" was.

"Still a defensive-counter-based disruption deck?"

Thinking of this, Misawa couldn't help but smile even more.

"If that's the case, then I'm even more certain to win this duel!"

Fujiki You Xuan smiled slightly: "You'll know once you try."

"Then I won't be polite." Misawa raised his volume. "My turn, draw!"

"I activate the Equip Spell 'Wonder Wand'!" Misawa said. "Equip to a Spellcaster-type monster, the equipped monster's ATK increases by 500."

"Equip 'Wonder Wand' to the Spellcaster-type 'Mathematician'!"

【Mathematician, ATK 1500 -> ATK 2000】

"Next, please watch carefully, Number One. This is the first set of lethal combos designed by my seventh deck to defeat you!"

Misawa revealed another card in his hand.

"Compromise summon 'Variable Machine Beast - Cannon Dragon'!" Misawa said. "This card can be summoned to the field without an Offering. However, when summoned through this effect, its original ATK and DEF are halved!"

【Variable Machine Beast - Cannon Dragon, ATK 2800 -> ATK 1400】

"Next, I activate the Equip Spell 'Shooting Star Bow - Ceal' from my hand, and equip it to 'Variable Machine Beast - Cannon Dragon'!" Misawa said. "The equipped monster's ATK decreases by 1000 points, and it can attack the opponent player directly!"

【Variable Machine Beast - Cannon Dragon, ATK 1400 -> ATK 400】

This series of operations left the surrounding students confused.

Decreasing the Cannon Dragon, which only had 1400 ATK left, by another thousand—even if it could attack directly, what could it do?

"Perhaps he still has 'Axe of Despair' in his hand."

Alexis Rhodes, who was in the stands, suddenly heard a voice from behind. She turned her head: "Ryo?"

The person who appeared behind her was none other than the Kaiser of Duel Academy, Zane Truesdale.

"Are you here to watch the freshman assessment too?"

"Yes, I'm a bit interested in a few of this year's freshmen," Zane nodded and said.

"Indeed, if it's 'Axe of Despair,' it can negate the Cannon Dragon's own effect and gain an additional 1000 ATK boost, which just happens to offset the side effect of the Shooting Star Bow," Alexis pondered. "If it's this combo, Misawa could have a Cannon Dragon with 2800 ATK that can also attack directly!"

But at this moment, Misawa Daichi on the field chuckled: "You must be thinking whether I have 'Axe of Despair' in my hand, right?"

Fujiki You Xuan: "..."

"The 'Axe of Despair' combo can give me a Cannon Dragon that can attack directly, which is indeed a very powerful combination. However, my duel is even beyond that!"

"What I'm doing isn't just to deal you massive damage; I want to win the duel within this turn!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was shocked.

The duel had only just begun; was he really that confident?

"I activate the Spell card 'Machine Duplication' from my hand!"

"Select a Machine-type monster on my field with 500 or less ATK, and special summon up to two monsters with the same name from my deck!"

"What I want to choose is the 'Variable Machine Beast - Cannon Dragon' on my field whose ATK has become 400!"

Spectating students: "!!!"

There's such an operation!?

"The purpose of the Shooting Star Bow wasn't to attack directly, but to lower the Cannon Dragon's ATK to below 500!" Alexis couldn't help but say.

At this moment, the Cannon Dragon on Misawa's field had already been targeted by Machine Duplication, splitting into three, manifesting two other heavy mechs that landed on the field!

【Variable Machine Beast - Cannon Dragon, ATK 2800】 x2

A student in the crowd exclaimed: "Using such means to summon three Level 7 monsters in one breath!"

Chancellor Sheppard, from high above, nodded repeatedly: "As expected of the elite among the freshmen, Misawa is much more capable than that Manjoume, no-ne."

Even the frustration of Manjoume, whom he had deliberately supported, being beaten up by Jaden to the point that the poor student was actually going to be promoted to the Yellow dormitory, was alleviated quite a bit.

Alexis: "However, can it really go so smoothly? That Fujiki You Xuan's duel is..."

Her gaze had already unconsciously shifted to the set cards on Fujiki You Xuan's back field.

Because she had experienced it personally, she had experience; one must absolutely not easily ignore any of this guy's back field cards.

Sure enough, Fujiki You Xuan's back field also flipped open with a wave: "Open set card, Trap card 'Torrential Tribute'!"

"When a monster is summoned, special summoned, or flip summoned, destroy all monsters on the field indiscriminately!"

"As expected," Alexis said.

She knew that Fujiki You Xuan would never let things be so simple.

The duel was just beginning with such exciting offense and defense, leaving the surrounding students holding their breath. Misawa's gorgeous chain had pulled out an OTK lineup within one turn, but after a round of offense and defense, it had instead turned into a situation where his resources would be swept away by just one card, turning into an absolute disadvantage.

But Misawa remained calm, instead revealing a hint of a confident smile: "As expected. Statistical data shows that hand destruction and trap interference are methods you invest heavily in across various decks."

"But this was already anticipated! Watch, Number One, this is the answer I give!"

He raised his hand, and the moment the set card on the back field flipped open, it seemed to release endless pressure onto the entire field.

"Continuous Trap - Royal Decree!"

"As long as this card exists on the field, all other Trap cards on both our fields are negated!"

The trap effect of Torrential Tribute was immediately negated, and the surging torrent turned into a phantom and dissipated under the trap's restraint.

"It's actually Royal Decree," Zane Truesdale pondered for a moment and said. "Indeed, for a deck that relies heavily on traps, the suppression power of this card is a devastating blow. It seems that Misawa has really done enough preparatory research."

"In this way, his opponent seems to be at a disadvantage."

"Traps are completely locked down, and there's a Variable Machine Beast on the field. Regardless of whether he can survive this turn, even if he manages to persist through this wave of offense, breaking through such a lineup next turn is almost impossible."

"That is indeed the case. However..." Alexis crossed her arms, leaned against the railing, and smiled slightly. "Underestimating that guy will come at a price."

"Oh?" Zane Truesdale looked at Alexis. "I heard you've dueled him; do you have any insights?"

"Yes."

Speaking of this, Alexis's mind briefly flashed back to the feeling of powerlessness when she faced that five-fold combined mech, that overwhelming power, and she had exhausted all her efforts, yet was still helpless.

"I think that the impression of being 'extraordinarily biased towards trap disruption' might itself be part of his tactics," Alexis said.

"What do you mean?"

"He deliberately created such an image for himself, letting everyone remember this most prominent feature of his at a glance. In this way, even if someone intends to analyze and counter him, they will undoubtedly start from his most prominent feature."

"If someone is hiding in the dark to collect information and study him specifically, that should have been a disadvantage for him where the enemy is in the dark and he is in the light. But if he deliberately uses this persona he has intentionally created as bait..."

"... Then how the enemy takes countermeasures becomes predictable, and it turns into his advantage instead," Zane Truesdale understood, but frowned, appearing skeptical. "But if that's really the case, this freshman's scheming is too deep."

"And this must be based on a premise: that even if he doesn't use the tactics he usually relies on, he can skillfully master various changing tactics to counter. Are you sure he is such a duelist?"

"I think he might be. He is very strong," Alexis said earnestly.

Zane Truesdale smiled: "As a classmate you've only met once, you have surprisingly high confidence in him."

Alexis: "I-I don't! I just understand because I've dueled him once!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 89 =====