Nakamura Tsubasa finally screamed out the result.
The first round of qualifiers started well, and Yugen was very satisfied with his performance in this round. He had personally taught someone what the true meaning of Yu-Gi-Oh was.
He believed that after this player returned and analyzed the match, he would surely feel something and gain a lot from it. In the end, he would definitely thank him.
On the first day, Yugen played several matches; the density of duels couldn't be said to be low. However, the Moonflower Cup wasn't a tournament with a high registration barrier to begin with, so there were quite a lot of participants. The qualifiers were conducted simultaneously across many different arenas, which greatly shortened the tournament duration.
But nothing exceeded his expectations. The qualifiers didn't feature any particularly important figures, and based on the anime's portrayal, the strength of ordinary passerby duelists outside the protagonist's perspective was mostly average. He hadn't yet seen any deck constructions that made his eyes light up.
Of course, Yugen wouldn't underestimate his opponents because of this. After the first day's matches, he still briefly watched other duels and got a general understanding of the advanced players' matches.
Although the probability of him losing against most of these opponents wasn't high, Yugen still thought it better to be safe. As the art of war says, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated." Yu-Gi-Oh was even more so.
If he could understand his opponent's deck composition and tactical style beforehand, and make targeted adjustments before the match began, he could effectively increase his win rate.
Before the Moonflower Cup, the dojo had already provided him with a portion of the subsidy, saying it was for strengthening his deck and upgrading its configuration.
Yugen naturally accepted it without hesitation. With this budget, he could further adjust his original strategy, and in the following days, he went on a mad shopping spree, trying to piece together two or three more decks that felt relatively strong and could bring a good amount of "joy."
Although [Card Destruction] was a world champion card back then, it was clearly unrealistic to rely solely on this one move to make a living in the anime world. Once people knew he only had this one "axe," he would be easily targeted, which was definitely something he wanted to avoid.
So, after shopping in the market before the tournament, Yugen, based on the cards he could acquire, tried to piece together two or three decks that felt relatively strong and could also bring a good amount of "joy."
He continuously adjusted his deck structure based on the opponent's deck type and strategy, making his tactics relatively flexible, diverse, and hard to predict. This allowed him to always maintain a positional advantage against his opponents, and also made it harder for others to target him.
Master Takeuchi brewed a cup of coffee and comfortably sat on the soft sofa under the afternoon sun, casually flipping through a copy of the latest "Duelist Times."
The "Duelist Times" was a newspaper owned by Kaiba Corporation, reporting on various strange and interesting happenings in the dueling world.
He had been busy with family matters for the past two days and hadn't had time to watch his apprentices' matches. But he had heard that both of his apprentices had successfully passed the first day of qualifiers, and he felt a little happy about it.
He opened the newspaper and saw that there was coverage of the Moonflower Cup qualifiers.
[A near malicious attack on an opposing duelist occurred on the Moonflower Cup qualifier stage.]
[A certain participant, unable to control their emotions halfway through a duel, furiously lashed out and attempted to directly harm the opposing duelist, leading to their disqualification.]
"Hmm?"
Master Takeuchi looked closely at this report with some curiosity.
Something like this happened?
The quality of duelists these days is really getting worse and worse. To think someone would get angry and resort to physical violence just because they couldn't win, showing no basic dignity as a duelist.
He briefly skimmed the report. No real names were used, only pseudonyms, seemingly to protect the participants' privacy. One of the pseudonyms was Kento, and another was Tomoki.
Then he looked further down.
[On the third day of the Moonflower Cup tournament, participant Shota (pseudonym), during a duel with participant Kento (pseudonym), unexpectedly suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. Fortunately, medical assistance was timely, and participant Shota is currently out of life-threatening danger.]
Playing cards until you have a brain hemorrhage?
The master was surprised. Is this year's Moonflower Cup that dangerous?
Wait, he suddenly noticed a key detail.
In both incidents, the opposing duelist's pseudonym was Kento. Could it be the same person?
If it really was, one time might be an accident, but twice in a row...
Could it actually be a problem with this guy across the field?
Master Takeuchi immediately thought back to the phenomenon two days ago when his blood pressure mysteriously rose steadily during his duel with the apprentice named Yugen.
He suddenly had a bad premonition.
It couldn't be that coincidental, could it?
Three days later.
"I made it to Top 8?"
Getting the Top 8 spot was a bit too easy, to the point where Yugen even felt a little unfulfilled.
Indeed, the level of competition in this kind of tournament is just so-so. You can't expect too much; most opponents are just so-called "folk masters." I wonder if the intensity of the matches will pick up a bit after reaching Top 8.
Watching Yugen's smooth advancement and his regretful expression, Koji felt an urge to punch him.
Yes, unlike Yugen, who advanced to the Top 8 like a cheat, Sato Koji was eliminated on the second day of the qualifiers.
He had no matches left to play and nothing to prepare for, so he could only hang around his advancing junior from the same dojo.
The good news, however, was that at least he was eliminated before he had to face Yugen again, avoiding another public torment.
And at least now he could spectate from the front row and enjoy watching other players being ravaged.
It was strange, too. When he was tormented by his junior, his blood pressure would uncontrollably spike, but when he saw others being put through the same thing on the field, he felt immensely happy.
Humans truly are strange, contradictory creatures.
"By the way, junior, have you seen your match list?" he asked from the side. "Who's your Top 8 opponent?"
He truly wanted to invite the first victim to step forward.
"Ah, it's a Duel Academy Junior High student."
Yugen said.
"Named Manjome Jun."
"Brother Manjome is truly unbelievably strong!"
Manjome Jun, from Duel Academy's affiliated Junior High, was currently sitting casually on the sofa, thoroughly enjoying the fawning praise of his two sycophantic lackeys.
Manjome Jun, the third young master of the renowned Manjome Group, was currently the top student in the Junior High's elite class. This year, he was granted special exemption from exams and would directly be promoted to Duel Academy's Senior High, an ultimate elite.
Manjome had been trained as a dueling elite by his family since childhood. According to the family's plans, his two elder brothers were designated to become business moguls and high-ranking politicians, respectively, while their expectation for him was to one day become the King of Games and rule the dueling world, becoming the future pillar of the Manjome Group.
At first glance, this "man who wants to become the King of Games" might seem somewhat ridiculous compared to his two brothers. However, looking at President Seto Kaiba, it was clear that in this world, being good at cards was far more promising than pursuing business or politics.
So, it was understandable that Manjome had participated in all sorts of tournaments since childhood, winning numerous large and small competitions and collecting badges with ease.
His participation in this Moonflower Cup was also his family's wish, serving as a final refinement before his promotion to Duel Academy's Senior High.
As with many previous tournaments, his two older brothers' instructions were very clear. His participation was solely to win the championship.
For the family, being a runner-up was equivalent to a defeat. A tournament without a first-place finish was meaningless.
But this time, even Manjome felt a bit of pressure.
Because among this year's participants, Dinosaur Ryuzaki was present. The legendary former national runner-up, the man who had even dueled the legendary Katsuya Jonouchi!
Could he really defeat such a legend?
Manjome intertwined his fingers, staring absently at the floor.
"But speaking of which, I haven't heard of Brother Manjome's Top 8 opponent. What was his name? Fujiki Yugen. Is he a newcomer?"
"Hmm?"
Manjome snapped back to attention and checked his opponent's information.
Duelist Level.
One star?
He even doubted if he had read it wrong.
One star? Isn't that the fighter jet among rookies? How did a guy like this even participate? And make it to Top 8??
He then checked the tournament experience and public honors: empty.
"His record is a blank slate, seems like a complete cannon fodder," Junior A said with a dismissive pout. "How did a guy like this even make it to the Top 8?"
"Maybe just lucky?" Junior B suggested.
"Even with luck, to reach this stage, he must have some skill, right?"
And no matter what, for someone to participate in their first public tournament and make it to the Top 8, they definitely wouldn't remain one star after this competition.
"Maybe he's that kind of dark horse, a talented duelist who's making their debut," Junior B said. "Oh, but he's still just cannon fodder in front of Brother Manjome, no difference."
"Good point."
Junior A nodded in agreement, then chuckled.
"But then again, this guy named Yugen is really unlucky, facing Brother Manjome so early. Looks like he'll just have to stop at Top 8, huh?"
Manjome smiled, not speaking, seemingly trying to appear aloof and like a true master. However, his uncontrollably curling lips and instinctive lean back in his chair betrayed the smugness in his heart.
Though Manjome didn't speak, he agreed with his junior's assessment in his heart.
Fujiki Yugen, never heard of him.
Even if he's a dark horse, it's still his first tournament. Could you possibly instant-kill me, the NO. 1 of the Junior High elite class?