"I lost."
Asuka breathed a sigh of relief.
Although she felt a bit defeated, she wasn't someone who wouldn't admit defeat. Her opponent had completely surpassed her in trap utilization, hindering her duel moves, and field control.
She lost fair and square, with nothing more to say.
"You won." Asuka stood up and said, "But I won't give up just like that. In the next three years, I will strive to become even stronger, and then challenge you again."
Yugen wanted to say something like, "Easy peasy, then next time the credits will be doubled, thanks for your patronage."
Hmm, but looking at the current atmosphere on the stage, it didn't seem very suitable, so he'd save it for their next duel.
Easily gaining ten credits, he felt he wouldn't mind having more such duels.
Student Council member Nakamura cautiously appeared at this moment: "Um... so, Classmate Yugen, who will you cast your vote for?"
Yugen suddenly remembered. Oh right, today's duel was originally for this election, not for his credits.
He didn't care who he voted for; after all, he hadn't paid attention to this event from the start. But Asuka spoke before him: "Vote for Senior Kohinata, she needs this vote more than I do."
"Don't joke around." Kohinata Seika stood off to the side, arms crossed, her eyes somewhat annoyed as she looked away, pouting. "After the duel just now, it no longer matters who the remaining votes go to."
Asuka: "?"
Kohinata Seika turned around and waved her hand: "Never mind, I'll withdraw myself."
The unexpected turn of events left Asuka a bit stunned. She hesitated for a moment and said, "But I hoped to be acknowledged as a duelist, not..."
Senior Seika's movement paused. She glanced at her: "Fool, why do you think I chose to withdraw?"
"Huh?"
"This is Duel Academy. All titles must be won through duels to be meaningful. Precisely because of that, I lost to you."
Asuka was speechless for a moment.
When she turned around, intending to find her opponent from that profound duel again, she found that the person had already disappeared.
It seemed that he only cared about the duel itself, and had no interest in any subsequent negotiations or election results.
Asuka: "..."
This guy... he might just be a pure duelist.
And at this moment, no one noticed that amidst the surging crowd in the hall, a certain Osiris Red jellyfish head was holding a duel disk and looking around: "Oh? Has anyone seen Classmate Yugen go? I want to duel him..."
No one else knew that Kohinata Seika, who had voluntarily forfeited her candidacy and left the hall, found a secluded corner where no one was paying attention. She secretly took out her student terminal, opened the competition interface, and then cast a vote for her junior, Tenjoin Asuka.
Then, she revealed a satisfied expression.
Perhaps this is what they call "turning black to fan."
"..."
Pushing through the crowd in the hall, Yugen contentedly checked the newly acquired credits. He walked along, continuing to use the academy's dedicated student terminal to check if any new cards had been added to the academy's inventory today.
Then, with a glance, he spotted a newly stocked card.
Chaos Sorcerer!
He had been eyeing this card before the entrance exam, but unfortunately, after completing the admission procedures, he checked again and found that the only copy in stock had already been bought. Until today, when a new copy suddenly appeared.
Needless to say, Yugen immediately reserved this Chaos Sorcerer.
Now that he had Opened and Chaos Sorcerer, the world-champion deck he had envisioned before was almost ready to be prioritized.
The [Chaos] theme had consecutively won three world championship titles, and in that year, it was a dominant deck. Yugen naturally couldn't remember the entire structure, he only remembered the general idea, and he was also considering modifying it based on the cards he currently possessed.
He was still missing a few cards he had anticipated, but they weren't particularly rare. He still had a good amount of money, and this duel had also earned him a fair bit of DP points, so he should be able to complete the deck quickly by purchasing from the academy's department.
Yugen was walking when he suddenly heard someone speaking beside him: "Hey, first place."
He stopped, looked up, and found that it was none other than the famous Yellow Dorm resident, Misawa Daichi.
"That was a very impressive duel, truly worthy of first place." Misawa greeted him with a slight smile, "The exchange battles have been going on for a week now, and it seems only you and I have maintained a perfect win record."
"You're very strong too," Yugen returned the polite compliment, then asked, "So, are you saying we should try a duel?"
At the same time, he calculated in his mind how many more credits they could bet on this one.
But Misawa shook his head: "No. We're not scheduled to duel each other in the current list, and I'm not fully prepared either. A duel with you must be with my strongest deck, infused with my blood and soul, and that deck is not yet complete."
Yugen raised an eyebrow. Those words reminded him; he just remembered that Misawa seemed to be a "counter-player."
In the original work, when he first dueled Manjome, he saw through his opponent's use of a Fire-attribute deck. So, he specifically pulled out a Water-attribute set from his so-called "Six-Harmony Deck." The effect of his ace monster, "Water Dragon," was to reduce the ATK of all Pyro-Type and Fire-attribute monsters on the field to 0, leaving Manjome doubting his life.
When dueling Yuki Judai, he even concluded after research that the Elemental HERO deck without fusion was like a tiger with its teeth pulled. So, he printed a "Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell" overnight to directly seal Judai's fusion spell cards, prohibiting their use throughout the entire duel.
Yugen had a realization.
Is he a similar type of counter-player as me?
Then, what Misawa said about "the strongest deck designed to counter me"... could it be?
"Don't worry, first place, it will be very soon." Misawa smiled confidently, "You should know, the first round of the freshmen practical exam is coming up, right?"
Practical exam?
Yugen quickly reacted. That was what happened in Episode 4 of the anime's prelude. Freshmen needed to undergo a staged practical test, and their opponents were usually classmates from the same dormitory with similar strength rankings.
However, in the original work, Professor Cronos secretly manipulated things. Using the reason that "Classmate Judai's strength is too outstanding, having him fight internal duels in the Red Dorm would be a waste," he arranged for Judai to duel Manjome, the top elite of Obelisk Blue.
Well, of course, Manjome ended up being "wasted."
But if there were no secret manipulations and matches were made based on academic performance within the same dormitory...
"That's right, there's a high probability that we'll face each other in the exam." Misawa smiled, "I heard that winning the staged test will grant a large amount of credits, so I won't hold back.
At that time, let me witness it, the duel of the first place."
Yugen felt like he hadn't heard anything else clearly; he only heard "a large amount of credits."
He had initially thought it was just a staged test.
Now it seems, isn't it a must-win situation?