Kaiba Seto closed his eyes and took the hit from the Masked Hero whose attack power had shot past seventy thousand.
The Ultimate Dragon he was so proud of was pierced straight through by the Hero's flying kick, the storm tearing the dragon's body into shreds. His meager remaining Life Points plummeted to zero, the cold numbers silently announcing his defeat.
He lost again, and again, and again, and again.
The holograms vanished one after another. Masked Hero Divine Wind folded his arms as he landed back at Youyu's side. The two exchanged a glance; like comrades who had just walked through life and death together, they gave each other a small nod of acknowledgment, then Divine Wind also dissolved into light and disappeared.
The entire venue fell into a brief, uncanny silence.
Immediately after, thunderous applause erupted.
All the teachers and students stood up, offering heartfelt applause. The sound converged into a rolling thunder as if it were going to blow the roof off the arena.
This was without a doubt a duel that would greatly benefit the future dueling careers of every Duelist present. The clash between true powerhouses showed them that the borders of dueling were not confined to the little world visible to the naked eye, that this card game actually held possibilities like this.
Through this duel, every one of them had gotten a peek at a new world. The showdown between two top-tier elites revealed just the tip of that iceberg to them—but even that alone was already an immense stroke of fortune.
Youyu walked up to Kaiba. Before he could say anything, Kaiba snorted. "You won. So as promised, that brat stays in the Academy."
Youyu knew he meant Judai, but he didn't take it to heart at all.
To be fair, Youyu felt that even if he lost, President Haima wouldn't bear to actually kick Judai out of the Academy. After all, the Yuki Judai from the future had left too deep an impression on the President back then, and it was hard enough for him to find a dueling buddy with that level of skill, so there was no way he'd really have Judai withdraw.
To put it bluntly, his goal in the first place was still just to play cards...
Still, Youyu had gotten something out of this.
President Haima was a man of his word. Since he'd said that from now on Youyu had full say in Academy matters and he wouldn't interfere, then he really wouldn't interfere.
Although in the past, whenever Youyu clashed with the President on some decisions, it usually ended up going Youyu's way anyway, they still had to go through the "duel to decide it" procedure.
And while Youyu hadn't lost so far, dueling the President was not the same as stomping random roadside small fry; it was exhausting. Every time they finished a duel, he felt completely drained, like his body had been hollowed out.
Now this was great—if the President wasn't going to bother asking anymore, they didn't even need to duel. Things would surely get a lot easier from here on.
President Haima really did seem to have come all this way purely for the sake of dueling. Once they were done, he didn't even bother with pleasantries; without another word he turned on his heel and left.
Principal Samejima politely tried to keep the President for a meal, but Kaiba refused with the excuse of "pressing business."
Pressing business and he still made a special trip just to duel? Doesn't look like he's that busy...
That's what he thought, but of course Principal Samejima didn't dare say it out loud. He just kept smiling and saying it was only natural that President Haima had no time to spare when he was handling so much every day...
"Pressing business but still dueling, sounds like the President isn't all that busy..."
Hearing that, Principal Samejima jolted.
Nani, that's something I only dare think in my heart—who's this clueless enough to actually say it out loud?
He turned his head and saw... oh, the Duel King. Then it's fine.
Sure enough, Kaiba only shot Youyu a vicious glare, snorted, and said nothing.
What could he do? He didn't win the duel—he didn't even have the confidence to talk smack...
Others might not understand the President's situation, but how could Youyu not?
Saying President Haima was "handling so much every day" wasn't exactly wrong, it's just that the "machines" he was handling were probably AIs...
"I may have lost this time, but don't think this is over." Before leaving the venue, Kaiba said coldly to Youyu, "Just you wait, Yo↑u↓yu."
Yeah yeah, I'll be waiting, Youyu thought to himself.
It wasn't like this was the first year or two. Every time they finished dueling, the President had to throw out one or two lines like that. Youyu had long since gone numb.
But precisely because of that, Youyu failed to realize that this time, the President was referring to something else.
...
A few minutes later, somewhere outside the venue.
"Sensei's strength really is extraordinary." Manjome stood before Kaiba. "I've never seen anyone as powerful as Sensei..."
"Enough." Kaiba's tone was icy; he looked quite displeased. "I'm just someone who lost. There's nothing to praise."
"Y-Yes..." Manjome lowered his head. "But even though Sensei lost this time, it was only on the very last move. Mr. Youyu was just lucky..."
The moment he said that, Kaiba's eyes widened. "What did you say!?"
Manjome immediately wised up and clamped his mouth shut.
"Hmph, losing is losing. Don't look for stupid excuses!" Kaiba snorted. "If you don't even have that much magnanimity, you're not fit to be my student!"
Lucky? Him, Youyu?
Other people might not know this Duel King Youyu, but how could Kaiba Seto not?
He had studied Youyu for so long; of course he knew all about Youyu's "non-lucky" attribute. He knew Youyu's luck was so bad it was practically paranormal—call heads and it'd land tails, call tails and it'd land heads, he was practically the polar opposite of the luck-god Jonouchi Katsuya.
But rather than seeing that as a flaw, it only made Kaiba appreciate Youyu more.
Kaiba had always despised "Dice War Gods" like Jonouchi. To him, victories won purely on dumb luck were completely unconvincing.
Duelists like Yo↑u↓yu, who absolutely refuse to entrust victory and defeat to luck, are the ones who are truly strong!
Besides, if he, Kaiba, lost to Youyu once, you could blame it on luck. But he'd been losing for six years straight—was he going to chalk all of that up to luck too?
Manjome's shoulders jolted; he hurried to correct himself. "Mr. Youyu is the Duel King after all, the man who stands at the very top. Even if you lose to him, Sensei, it's only normal..."
"Hm!?" But hearing that only seemed to make Kaiba even angrier. "So what you're saying is, you think I can't beat him?"
"No, that's not what I meant..."
Manjome was suffering inside.
If he said Sensei was stronger than Youyu, he wasn't happy. If he said Sensei wasn't as strong as Youyu, he was even less happy. So what exactly did Sensei want to hear?
Fortunately, Kaiba didn't keep tangling on that topic.
"According to Academy tradition, it should soon be time for the league match with Northern Academy," Kaiba said flatly.
Manjome immediately focused. "Northern Academy? Are they strong?"
"Hmph, compared to the main campus they're all third-rate Duelists." Kaiba snorted, then said solemnly, "But what you need to focus on isn't the league itself, but earning the right to compete.
Duel Academy will only select a single student to represent us. Which means..."
Manjome caught on quickly. "Sensei, you mean I have to take the championship in the internal selection... I have to defeat that Yuki Judai in the qualifiers?"
"Correct." Kaiba said coldly. "I've told you already—that is your biggest objective at this stage, the opponent you must defeat no matter what."
Manjome understood at once.
He remembered: Kaiba-sensei had said he would only reveal Manjome as his student when Manjome was ready.
And that would be the moment he had to defeat his destined rival (assigned by Kaiba)—that Yuki Judai!
It seemed that time had come.
"Don't worry, Sensei!" Manjome suppressed his excitement. "I definitely won't let you down!"
"Hmph, of course." Kaiba declared domineeringly. "I do not permit defeat in my name!"
But Sensei, you just lost...
That's what he thought, but Manjome still snapped to attention. "Yes, Sensei!"