Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

However, since Manjou-me is so determined to become a duelist, and has even set such a strange goal as "even if I can't surpass Kobayashi Hayato to become the strongest duelist king, I must at least defeat Yuki Jaden," then as the older brother, he can only support his younger brother.

The specific implementation involved Wan Zhangmu's two older brothers starting preparations after learning about the academy's exchange competition. Several days in advance, they spent money to hire "shills" within the academy, based on the premise that Wan Zhangmu could advance, and hyped up the related buzz online, just waiting for the competition video to be released so that they could make Wan Zhangmu famous as a star duelist.

However, the Manjoume Group's ability to get things done is rather poor. They actually managed to hire someone who was also a contestant, Caesar. Manjoume himself couldn't help but feel ashamed of the incompetence of his two older brothers' subordinates.

He thought it would be enough to be a star in the academy. He would become famous after defeating Caesar, Jaden, and others and becoming the rightful strongest. His older brother was too impatient (annoying).

"I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it's probably unrelated to the duel, so there's no need to worry about it." Caesar, who had never planned to adjust his deck composition specifically for Manjoume, opened the Duel Disk and entered the duel preparation state. "Nice to meet you, Manjoume-kun."

"Hmph, you really do have the air of someone in a superior position, Caesar. You've been like that since the start of the semester, always so composed, even acting like you're qualified to instruct others." Manjoume also raised his Duel Disk, took out his deck from the card box, hesitated for a moment, but then, remembering that Caesar hadn't adjusted the cards in his deck, he simply inserted the deck into the slot and unfolded his Duel Disk. "No need for pointers, because I never intended to duel with you like it's child's play."

"Victory and then domination! I am the man who will stand at the pinnacle of Duel Monsters, and the strongest throne in Duel Academy is my first goal. You should step down from there, Caesar!"

"Duel!"

【Manjou: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand】

"The strongest in Duel Academy? Just defeating me isn't enough, is it? You probably haven't defeated Jaden Yuki yet, have you?" Turning his head to look at the audience, seeing Jaden's face full of happiness as he looked forward to the duel on the field, as if he were a contestant rather than a spectator, Ryo Marufuji casually said, "In Duel Monsters, victory isn't the only important thing."

"Do you even believe that yourself? You can only say such things so easily because you've always been the victor, right? Stop being disgusting, Caesar." Manjoume sneered, seemingly with some disdain. "Once you've tasted the defeat that others have long since grown tired of, will you still be able to say such boastful things?"

"As for Jaden Yuki, that jellyfish-headed guy, I'll go find him after I defeat you."

Without answering Manjoume's question, Marufuji Ryo remained silent for a brief moment, a hint of confusion and hesitation flashing in his eyes.

Ramses II, Hayato Kobayashi, Katsuya Jonouchi, and Ryo Marufuji had already tasted the bitterness of failure and even crushing defeat several times before graduation, and through Hayato's repeated deliberate guidance, he vaguely realized the problems that existed within him.

Does winning the duel matter? Does it not matter? Does it matter? Does it not matter?

Marufuji Ryo didn't know the answer to the question, but he knew that he could at least defeat Manjoume, who asked the question, in a duel while he was searching for the answer.

"I'm not showing off, I'm just stating my understanding at least at this moment. For me, standing on the dueling field about to duel with you, Manjoume, the important thing about the duel is not only the victory, but also the joy in the process of the duel."

"Joy in a duel? Don't try to amuse me. Only the victor can smile during a duel. How can the loser smile? That's what 'a duel brings smiles' is all about." Manjoume sneered. "Why don't you try it and see if you can still smile after losing to me? Right now, right here!"

Upon hearing what Manjoume said, Marufuji Ryo shook his head and said, "That won't do. I've already made an appointment with someone to meet again in the finals and have a perfect and exciting duel. I can't lose before then."

"That guy, Tenjouin Fubuki?"

Manjou casually remarked, but his eyes widened in surprise at Marufuji Ryo's reply.

“No, right now Fubuki is more interested in dating girls than dueling. After he finished his duel, he asked me if he could just forfeit because he wanted to ask for leave to go to the movies with that Riki Mackenzie,” Marufuji Ryo said seriously. “It was Jaden who made a promise to duel with me.”

"Huh? Judai? That's impossible! I even have the chat history saved here. He clearly agreed to meet me during the finals—"

Manjou instinctively denied it. He clearly remembered that Judai had sincerely made a promise with him to "duel together again in the finals," so how could he possibly fight Caesar again—

"Judai did indeed personally promise me that we would duel again in the finals, he said it himself." Marufuji Ryo reiterated with a frown, while also emphasizing that Judai made the promise to him face-to-face, not online.

Even though the Tenth Generation also made a promise with Manjoume, it's clear that the promise made by himself is more important, right?

The two first looked at each other, then simultaneously shifted their gaze to the same spot, looking at Judai, who was completely unaware in the audience.

"Then it's a promise, Asuka, let's meet again in the finals to determine the champion." Jaden smiled and made a pinky promise with Asuka. "Let's have a fun duel together, it's a promise!"

"Yeah, of course! Hayato-sensei always tells us that we must keep our promises, otherwise an evil swordsman will come and hunt down those who break their promises, asking whether they submit to him or die at his hands. Anyway, I will definitely make it to the finals!"

"Ah, Shizhe, are you going to make a promise with me? Because I mispronounced your name, we don't need to? Eh~~"

Manjoume didn't know what Marufuji Ryo was thinking, but his fist was hard.

The promise to meet again in the finals—will it be just me, or will everyone else be there? Judging from the situation in the audience, hmph, I knew it. I wouldn't be the one left over from other teams.

Reaching the top eight in the inter-college exchange competition for the first time, and making such an important promise with someone for the first time—two happy things combined should have brought double the joy, but how did it turn out like this…

Yuki Judai, how come you're so adept at making promises to others?

Enraged, Manjoume ignored the fact that Caesar hadn't even shouted "Duel" yet, even if it was just a slogan with more symbolism than substance, and directly seized the initiative to draw cards from his deck: "First turn is mine, draw!"

Chapter 1309 Happy Valentine's Day (However, in the story, it's two men playing cards, and the card players are like this)

"Duel".

[Ryo Marufuji: 4000LP, 5 card in hand]

Seeing that Manjoume had taken the initiative, Marufuji Ryo didn't argue with him. In fact, the decision of who goes first or second was made by the computer program. After all, his "Electronic Flow" was all about going second, so he was happy to watch Manjoume take the initiative.

He drew five cards, watching as Manjoumu drew his first.

However, the quarterfinals have already reached the third match, and the procedure for determining who goes first hasn't been used even once, which is quite puzzling...

"My turn, draw a card." Looking at the card he had drawn, Manjoume's lips curled into a smirk. He glanced at Marufuji Ryo opposite him and sneered, "Hmph, a perfect hand indeed. But you don't object to me taking the first turn? Are you thinking your [Cyber ​​Dragon] can easily break through my control, Caesar?"

"However, my [Dragon of Light and Darkness] is invincible, and I will summon it in the first round!"

"First, in Defense position, Normal Summon [Awakened Dragon - Young Hellfire God]!"

Before Wan Zhangmu, a seven-colored magic circle appeared and spread out on the ground. Accompanied by the swaying of lightning and demonic fire, a young dragon with a silver-gray body rose from the magic circle and appeared on his field.

However, what's more intriguing than the appearance of the [Demon Awakening Dragon - Young Hell Wind God] that appeared on the field of Manjoume is that it actually has a powerful stat sheet with 0 attack and 0 defense.

【Awakening Dragon - Young Hellfire God】【1☆/Dark】

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[0/0]

"Attack power and defense power are both 0?" Marufuji Ryo frowned, becoming wary.

Even now, there are still many students in Duel Academy who foolishly believe that the higher the attack power of a Duel Monster, the stronger it is. As a result, there have been cases where rare cards that are rarely seen in card packs sold on the market have been treated as trash by students who do not know their value.

Even though they treated the cards as trash, those students who didn't know their value didn't throw them away carelessly. Instead, they casually placed the cards in a "redundant card storage box"—also known as a "donation box"—located near the school store. The cards there were either already owned or no longer needed by others, and anyone who needed them could go there to "pan for gold" and see if there were any cards they could use.

Marufuji Ryo didn't need to search for cards there, but he happened to glimpse that someone had even put the extremely rare card [Sacrifice Demon] into the "donation box" as if it were trash.

He was clearly not the kind of person who only cared about the monster's attack power. Not to mention anything else, he had heard Hayato say countless times that "0 attack and 0 defense are all monsters," so naturally he would not take the [Awakened Dragon - Young Hellwind God] in front of him lightly.

"No need to be too tense, Caesar. While [Awakened Dragon - Young Hellfire God] has a decent effect, at least for now, it can't activate its own effect when I Normal Summon it. All I need is to make it appear as a DARK monster." Manjoume drew a card from his hand and sneered, "Targeting one of my DARK monsters on the field—that is, [Awakened Dragon - Young Hellfire God]—I activate the Spell Card [Light of Shadow]!"

(It's actually the card from the manga, but Misawa uses it first in this book.)

As Manjoume inserted the card into the Spell & Trap Zone, a burst of black energy suddenly erupted from the body of his [Awakened Dragon - Young Hellfire God], shrouding Manjoume's field in darkness. However, within this darkness, a ray of light suddenly shone forth.

Although Misawa used the card "Light of Shadow" earlier, it can actually be used in almost any deck that primarily uses the Light and Dark attributes. Although Manjoume's deck is themed around Dragons, it does indeed have a predominance of Light and Dark attributes, so he can also use the card "Light of Shadow".

Manjoume retrieved a card from his Duel Disk, drew it, and showed it to Marufuji Ryo: "【Light of Shadow】I can Special Summon a LIGHT monster from my Deck or Fusion Deck that is the same as the original Type and Level of the targeted monster. If I target the Level 1☆ Dragon monster 【Awakening Dragon - Young Hellfire God】, the monster I will Special Summon is this one."

"Level 1☆ Light-attribute Dragon Monster, [Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara]!"

The light dispelled the darkness, revealing a purple young dragon to the vast field of vision. Its body was adorned with numerous precious stones, making it look somewhat like a Buddhist rosary, but it was hard not to associate it with the [Fierce, Hungry, and Poisonous Fusion Dragon], which also had purple as its main color.

【Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara】【1☆/Light】

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[0/0]

Like the previous [Awakening Dragon - Young Hellfire God], [Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara] is also a Level 1 monster with 0 ATK and 0 DEF. The only difference between the two seems to be that one is a LIGHT attribute while the other is a DARK attribute. However, unlike [Awakening Dragon - Young Hellfire God], [Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara] at least has an effect when it is on the field.

"The first effect of 【Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara】 is that when a Dragon-Type monster is Tribute Summoned, this card can be Tributed as two of them."

Upon hearing Manjou's explanation, Marufuji Ryo said, "However, since you've already used your Normal Summon on [Awakened Dragon - Young Hellfire God], you can't perform a Superior Summon this turn, right?"

"Logically speaking, that seems to be the case, but I, Mr. Manjoume, am a man who can turn the impossible into the possible!" As he spoke, Manjoume played a card and said, "I'll activate this Quick-Play Spell Card, [Super Regeneration]. During the End Phase of the turn this card is activated, I draw cards from my Deck equal to the number of Dragon-Type monsters I discarded from my hand this turn, plus the number of Dragon-Type monsters I Tributed from my hand or field this turn."

The card "Light of Shadows," which had just been sent to the graveyard, returned and was displayed by Manjoume again. He said, "Next is this card. Each of the two effects of 'Light of Shadows' can be used once per turn. During the turns when these effects are activated, I cannot enter the battle phase, but for me, who has already won the first turn, such a side effect is negligible."

"Ban [Shadow Light] from the Graveyard to activate its second effect: During this turn, I may Summon one LIGHT/DARK monster once, except during my Main Phase!"

"Now, I will release the two Dragon-Type monsters on the field, [Reincarnation Dragon - Sanghara] and [Awakening Dragon - Young Hellwind God], to Tribute Summon this Level 8 LIGHT Dragon-Type monster from my hand!"

"Emerge yourself from the gap between light and darkness, O dragon who negates all things and phenomena, and clear away all obstacles before me!"

"Superior Summoning! Level 8☆"

A phantom of a giant dragon rose behind her. The card spirits, which could only be seen by a few people with the talent of "spirit master", instantly materialized into physical images that most people could see with the help of the virtual projection system. The black and white dragon roared behind Manjoume, announcing that she had arrived!

"【Dragon of Light and Darkness】!"

【Dragon of Light and Darkness】【8☆/Light】

[Dragon Clan/Effect]

[2800/2400]

Compared to the past, Manjoume now easily summons his ace monster, the "Dragon of Light and Darkness," using only three cards. He no longer needs to rely on "Star Blast" to reduce the "Dragon of Light and Darkness's" level or spend a lot of cards to gather the tribute required for its release, unlike in the past.

"Dual attributes, all-around suppression of monsters, spells, and traps—this is the formidable power of the [Dragon of Light and Darkness]. Now that I've taken the first turn, can you break through such a defense?" Manjoume said, opening his arms as he inserted the remaining two cards into the spell and trap zone. "Set two cards face down, my turn ends."

"At the same time, because of the effect of [Super Regeneration], I Tribute Summoned two monsters this turn, so I can draw two cards from my Deck during the End Phase."

【Manjou: 4000LP, Hand 0→2】

【Dragon of Light and Darkness】【ATK2800】

【Signature Card】【Signature Card】

Looking at the giant dragon on the field, Marufuji Ryo remained silent, only thinking to himself.

'So that's the trump card Principal Hayato mentioned, the one that houses a Spirit, Manjoume? While one is extremely strong and the other extremely weak, I can definitely sense a similar aura to Jaden's [Winged Kuriboh]. However, for someone like me who lacks any real Spirit Master talent, there's ultimately no difference.'

As a Duel Monster card, "Dragon of Light and Darkness" can negate all monster effects, Spell Cards, and Trap Card activations as long as it's on the field. The cost is that each time this ability takes effect, its ATK and DEF decrease by 500 points. This means it can take effect a maximum of four times in a maximum scenario.

'However, it doesn't mean you have to use up all four cards. Just like Jaden did in the past, you can reduce its attack power to a certain level and then destroy it with a monster battle to achieve the breakthrough.' Glancing at Jaden in the audience, Ryo Marufuji, who had previously asked Asuka about Jaden and thus knew about the first duel between Manjoume and Jaden after entering school, thought to himself, placing his finger on his deck.

"My turn, draw a card."

This card arrived just in time!

Glancing at the magic card he had drawn, Ryo Marufuji looked up at Manjoume without changing his expression and said, "Is that the strongest dragon you use to control the battlefield? However, I will completely dominate the battlefield this turn!"

"Here it comes, Manjoume!" Marufuji Ryo said without hesitation, playing the card he had drawn: "In my Main Phase 1, I activate this Spell Card, [Electronic Emergency Call]!"

"Add one Cyber ​​Dragon monster or one Machine-Type LIGHT monster that cannot be Normal Summoned from my Deck to my hand!"

Upon hearing the effect of [Electronic Emergency Call], Manjoume raised an eyebrow: "The Special Summon of [Cyber ​​Dragon]'s own effect is indeed an ability that [Light and Darkness Dragon] cannot negate with an effect chain. You want to search for [Cyber ​​Dragon], is that it...? However, with [Light and Darkness Dragon] present, I won't give you the chance to search for it!"

Before Manjoume could even give the order, [Dragon of Light and Darkness] had already been forced to activate its effect due to Marufuji Ryo's [Electronic Emergency Call]. A bolt of black and white lightning shot out from the horn on its forehead and struck the [Electronic Emergency Call] card that had just appeared in Marufuji Ryo's back field!

Amidst the flickering lightning, Manjoume failed to notice the barely perceptible smirk on Marufuji Ryo's lips.

[Dragon of Light and Darkness] [2800/2400→2300/1900]

Because its effect was used once, the attack and defense values ​​of [Light and Darkness Dragon] decreased, but it was still higher than the attack power of a lower-level monster that could be Normal Summoned directly without using its effect. Manjoume put one hand on his hip and arrogantly said, "Muda, in front of [Light and Darkness Dragon], no effect can be used. Muda muda muda!"

However, looking at Manjoume, Ryo Marufuji maintained a calm expression: "Yes, I understand that, but..."