Next! Alice and Liliana!
"Oh, it's our turn!" Alice excitedly looked at the group of girls.
"Good luck, Alice~" The group of girls all cheered and encouraged her.
Then both of them went up to the stage and looked at each other.
"Alice, please go easy on me~" Liliana waved and said to Alice.
"No way~" Alice replied cheerfully.
"DUEL!"
After that came the 10-second summoning that took the longest time a card battle should ever have.
"Come out! Ribbon Bunny!" Alice summoned.
"Come out, Fish!" Liliana summoned.
J-Just fish?
Immediately on the field appeared two tiny monsters.
White Bunny with Black Ribbon (lv 1)
Type: Fairy
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Beast
F-Fairy type?!!
No, calm down. I don't have a Dragon type to worry about, and besides, it's just a starting monster, what's there to worry about?
Fish (lv 1)
Type: Water
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Atlantis
Whoa, its name is really just "Fish". Maybe in the future it can become Kyogre if it tries hard enough.
"Fish, use the skill 'Water Gun'!" Liliana ordered.
Fish immediately shot a water orb toward the bunny.
"Bunny, quickly use 'Protect'!"
Right away, the white bunny with black ribbon was surrounded by a round shield, completely blocking all damage.
"Ah!" Liliana saw her attack get blocked and didn't know what to do, so Alice took the opportunity.
"My cute little bunny! Quickly run over and attack it!"
The white bunny with black ribbon immediately charged forward and delivered a kick to Fish.
Fish collapsed on the spot.
"Alice win!"
"As expected, I'm really not suited for fighting..." Liliana sighed.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Lili? This is just the beginning for us!" Alice happily walked over to comfort her friend.
"Alice..." Liliana was touched and reached out to pinch Alice's cheeks.
"W-What are you doing, let me go!" Alice struggled as her cheeks were pinched, but Liliana only pinched harder.
"Are you two coming down or not?" PE teacher Riffon said.
"Yes!"
"Alright, next is Lu-"
"YOSHAAA!! IT'S TIME FOR THEM TO SEE OUR POWER!!"
"PIPI!!"
"Lucas, quickly return your monster to the card right now."
"What?! I'm not allowed to use it right away?!"
"Pipi?!"
"Are you going to do it or not?"
"Ugh... Go back to the card, Vulcan."
"Alright, Lucas and Bob."
So the two of them went up to the stage. Unfortunately, I wasn't very interested in this match because there was a more important match happening in Arthur's class.
Aelith and Kent.
Of course, since this was the protagonist's match, it would be stupid not to watch her fight and instead watch Lucas.
Aelith stood there summoning for 8 seconds, then a round bat wearing a skull appeared.
Summoning in 8 seconds... As expected of the protagonist. She also used a Dark type monster, the same type as the other half of her.
"Metal Wall! Quickly use 'Defend Boost'!"
Metal Wall raised two iron plates and slammed them into the ground. Its body immediately became much harder.
"Demon Bat, keep your distance," Aelith ordered, her face still very calm.
'Demon Bat, one of the 18 types of starting monsters she could choose. Demon Bat is a dual Dark and Flying type monster, with the skill Hidden Dart, which always strikes first if the opponent attacks. Its passive increases crit rate by 25%.'
It could be said that Demon Bat is the starting monster with the best attack power, very strong in the early game.
"Damn it, why isn't she attacking? Does she want to drag out time?" Kent gritted his teeth and complained.
He had already stacked defense on Metal Wall twice, so the damage it received would be extremely low.
This meant Kent was in a strong position, because unlike Demon Bat which needed many hits to take down Metal Wall, Metal Wall only needed one solid hit to finish it.
'Hmph, if she doesn't attack then it's her loss. I'll just keep using Defense Boost since unlike other skills, Defense Boost has no cooldown and can be used continuously!'
"Metal Wall, use 'Defense Boost'!"
Metal Wall once again slammed the two iron plates down.
But this time was different, because Aelith's eyes widened and she immediately ordered Demon Bat.
"Attack the left side of its neck right now!"
Demon Bat flew over and slashed its claws straight into Metal Wall's neck.
"Haha! You forgot that my Metal Wall has stacked defense three times? Those attacks won't do anything!"
However, unexpectedly, that slash caused Metal Wall to lose 15 HP out of its total 100 HP.
"What? Why does the damage still seem so high?"
This was ridiculous. Metal Wall was Steel type and had triple defense boost. It should have only taken 5 or even 1 damage, right?
"Because that was a crit. I found the right spot to strike. Demon Bat, continue attacking that same spot!" Aelith explained and continued giving orders.
"What?! Metal Wall, defend!"
However, Demon Bat was still faster. It kept slashing, flying away, then slashing the same spot again.
Crit!
Crit!
Crit!
Crit!
Before long, Metal Wall lost another 45 HP, leaving it with only 40 HP.
"I-Impossible!"
"Why don't you try attacking? Who knows, you might hit and win?" Aelith smiled kindly, but to Kent it looked full of mockery.
"Grr! Metal Wall, attack—"
"Hidden Dart, target the neck."
Demon Bat immediately fired three darts straight into Metal Wall's neck.
Crit!
Crit!
Crit!
45 damage!
Metal Wall was defeated, disappeared, and returned to the card.
"Aelith win!"
"Kuhh... Just you wait!" Kent angrily left, while Demon Bat flew over, landed on Aelith's shoulder, and they left the stage together.
"..." I looked at her, sweat running down my cheek.
No joke, she really knows how to fight. If I had to fight her, the chance of me losing would be very high!
"I won!!!" Lucas shouted, making everyone cover their ears.
"SHUT UP!" Someone angrily threw a rock at Lucas's head, knocking him down.
"Why is everyone so mad?" Lucas scratched his head and walked down.
"Next, Kaiser and Mint!"
Hearing his name, Kaiser adjusted his glasses and went up to the stage. Mint was a bit nervous so she took deep breaths to calm down before walking up.
When the two faced each other, there was only silence. One wasn't interested in talking, and the other was too shy to speak.
"Duel."
"D-DUEL!"
Both held their cards and began the summoning time.
Surprisingly, both summoned in 9 seconds.
"Come out, White Dragon Hatchling."
"C-Come out, Poisonous Octopus!"
White Dragon Hatchling (lv 1)
Type: Dragon
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Dragon
Poisonous Octopus (lv 1)
Type: Poison
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Atlantis
"White Dragon Hatchling, attack immediately," Kaiser ordered right away. The White Dragon Hatchling ran forward and opened its jaws.
"Octopus, quickly dodge!"
The Poisonous Octopus jumped up, and the White Dragon Hatchling's bite missed.
"Use the skill 'Energy Blast' on that thing now."
"W-What?! Q-Quickly defend—"
The White Dragon Hatchling opened its mouth, gathered an energy orb, and fired it straight at the octopus, which couldn't defend in time and took the hit directly.
Needless to say, Mint failed right there.
"Kaiser win!"
"Hmph, what a waste of time." Kaiser recalled his White Dragon Hatchling and left, while Mint could only sigh and recall her octopus.
Both left the stage, and it was the next person's turn.
"Igor and Siutsu."
'Oh, it's my turn.' I adjusted my clothes and went up to the stage.
Right in front of me was Siutsu, who smiled friendly and greeted me.
"I'm Siutsu, please take care of me, Igor!"
"...Yeah, me too," Igor said, though he didn't really want to greet back.
Because that smile looked so fake it was disgusting, and just looking at it made him not want to talk.
"DUEL!"
I immediately held the card, gathered mana into it.
My mana moved through the card toward my monster.
Fluffy inside was trying to sleep but didn't like its sleeping spot much, then felt its master's mana calling it out.
"Wu~" Even though it was lazy, it wouldn't disobey its master. Plus, being near its master made it easy to sleep, so it came out immediately.
Right after, I felt the response and called out.
"I normally summon Fluffy Snowflake, come out!"
Everyone was stunned because only 6 seconds had passed!
Siutsu, who was still trying to summon, was also stunned and slowed down his summoning progress.
And as no one expected, Igor's monster had already been summoned!
Fluffy Snowflake (lv 1)
Type: Ice
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Fairy
Passive: Thick Cotton
Skill: Cold Wind
As the owner of the monster, I could see additional information about my monster, so I knew the cooldown time, skill details, and passive.
I then looked at the opponent's life core. Since everyone only had one monster and summoning speeds were similar, the life core was just left there.
But now I had summoned 4 seconds faster than others, and speed was always the deciding advantage.
"Fluffy, quickly attack the opponent's life core!"
"Wu~~" Fluffy floated over and slapped the life core once.
500 lp > 400 lp
"What?!" Siutsu's face twisted.
"Attack again!"
400 lp > 300 lp
"Damn it, don't mess with me!!" The friendly face from earlier had cracked, now showing only a sour and annoyed expression.
"Attack one more time!"
300 lp > 200 lp
"UOHHH!! I SUMMON IMP! COME OUT!!"
Finally he managed to summon his monster.
Imp (lv 1)
Type: Dark
Atk: 100
Hp: 100
Race: Demon
"Ignore that imp, keep attacking the life core," I ordered.
"You think I'll allow that?! Imp, quickly use the skill 'Continuous Scratch' on that cotton ball!!"
Imp ran over, raised its clawed hands, and prepared to scratch.
"Change target, use Cold Wind on that Imp's legs," I gave a different order.
Fluffy took a breath and blew a stream of freezing cold air toward the Imp.
Its legs were frozen, making it unable to move.
"Damn it! Defend, Imp! If it hits you we'll lose right away!" Siutsu said.
Hearing that, Imp took a defensive stance.
Unfortunately, Igor had no interest in the Imp. After all, in a monster card battle, the core objective was to destroy the life core to win.
"Fluffy, attack the life core."
Fluffy obeyed and slapped the life core once more.
200 lp > 100 lp
"This— If you're going to attack, attack my monster! Attacking my life core?! Are you even a man?! Attack my monster already!"
Igor just smiled friendly at Siutsu.
"Sorry, I prefer winning over fighting in a manly way. Fluffy."
Fluffy responded to its name and delivered the final blow to the opponent's life core.
100 lp > 0 lp
"Ah..." Siutsu could hardly believe it, staring as the match ended so quickly and his monster was recalled back to the card.
He barely had a chance to show any talent before being defeated instantly.
Even worse, Igor didn't even pay attention to his monster and only targeted the life core.
It was as if in Igor Snowy's eyes, his monster was too weak to even care about.
Watching Siutsu's internal monologue, Igor ignored him.
He also had a feeling this guy wasn't a good person. He seemed like the type who would seize any chance to show off his insignificant talent for recognition.
That was also shown through his starting monster being Dark type and a demon.
Definitely a future villain.
Right as Igor walked down, Siutsu gritted his teeth.
'Fine! Not only did you steal all the attention I was supposed to get, you even acted like you didn't care?! You're such a hypocrite, you must be secretly enjoying it, right?!'
'I will definitely tear off your mask and show everyone that I'm the one who deserves it!'
Ah yes, a classic line for a third-rate villain. Hopefully he doesn't use a fourth-rate deck.
"Whoa! You're that good? Have you used monsters to fight before?" Lucas came over and asked, his eyes sparkling.
'It's because I watched a lot of Pokemon...' I scratched my head.
"Hmph." Kaiser looked at me, said nothing, and turned his face away.
Don't act exactly like Seto Kaiba, okay? Are all you types tsundere?
"So you can fight like that... I still have a lot to learn," Alvin whispered.
Then time passed, each person went up and each won their matches.
Since there was only one monster, these matches were quite fast and simple, so there was no need to explain much.
The people I knew also fought each other afterward. Alvin fought Alice and Alvin won. Lucas faced Kaiser right away.
Honestly, the match between Lucas and Kaiser was very entertaining, not because of high-level strategy, but because both of them...
"Hmph! A guy like you thinks you can challenge me with that weak creature? Don't you know Fire type has no effect on Dragon type?!"
"Shut up! So what if it's Fire type?! No matter how strong you are, my Vulcan will never lose and I'll kick your ass!"
"Vulgar and uncivilized language. You don't deserve my respect and never will!"
Yes, both trash-talked extremely well. As an outsider, I found it hilariously funny.
After that, Kaiser naturally won. Lucas was furious while Kaiser only looked at him with contempt and left.
On Arthur's class side, Aelith fought her friend Amila and won.
...Honestly, I didn't think I would make it to the finals to challenge Aelith, but I really wanted to try fighting her.
Well, I'll just have to try harder then.