In the shadows, a figure in a black robe stood in the corner, watching Yugen's departing back from afar. Under the hood, the corner of his mouth curled into a dangerous smile. A green glint flashed beneath the hood, and in the darkness his eyes briefly shone with an eerie green light, flickering like ghost fire within his pupils.
The next day, when Yugen returned to Dueling Dojo, everything felt different. It was not only about changes within himself, though those were real enough. After winning the championship, he could clearly feel how people looked at him differently, and the moment he stepped inside, someone shouted first and the rest rushed over in a crowd, treating him like some revered master.
But that was not the only change.
When he reached the Battle Arena and looked around, Yugen immediately noticed that the entire atmosphere was nothing like his first visit. Back then, duels here had felt like old-fashioned slugfests, where both sides focused on summoning bigger monsters to overpower the other. It was not completely mindless, but most offense and defense still revolved around brute force on the field.
Today was a different sight.
Deshi A: "I go first, Card Draw! I set four cards and end my turn!"
Deshi B: "Nani?!! Four set cards on the first turn?! Do not get cocky! My turn, Card Draw! I set five cards and end my turn!"
"..."
Similar scenes were playing out across several different dueling fields at the same time. Just a week ago, when Yugen had first arrived, setting no monsters on the opening turn in Duel Dojo would get you mocked for building your deck wrong. Now it had somehow become the norm.
The current dueling style had taken a strange turn. One side would set three cards in the back row and pass, and the opponent would politely respond with three or four sets and also pass with an empty field. Both players would then stare at each other for several turns until someone finally summoned a monster, only for it to be destroyed immediately by a trap, after which the staring contest resumed.
It was practically a mutual prison match, built on the idea that if I am not playing the game today, you are not allowed to play either. Yugen had no words.
These brothers had clearly fallen into some kind of misunderstanding.
Trap Beatdown was indeed a classic deck-building concept in Yu-Gi-Oh! that had stood the test of time, but Trap Beatdown was not just about running traps. At its core, the traps were meant as disruption, cards used to interrupt the opponent and stop their plays, which was only a defensive layer. On top of that defense, you still needed monsters and attacks to actually steer the duel toward victory.
Put simply, a deck had to balance offense and defense.
This kind of build required a tight monster core that could hit hard, sustain resources, and stay stable, while still leaving enough deck space for disruption. Even heavy trap builds were ultimately about trading resources to gain advantage, and decks that ran traps just for the sake of annoyance were not only unreasonable but also weak. That was why, despite everyone knowing how strong traps could be, not every competitive deck went all in on them.
Deck building was a discipline with real depth. Even though early-era decks were destined to be phased out, many competitive ideas never changed, and the same principles still applied even in today's high-speed environment. Unfortunately, it was clear that the brothers in Duel Dojo had not realized this.
They only saw that Yugen trapped people to death and won the championship, so they concluded that more traps meant more power. In just one week, the dojo's once straightforward atmosphere had taken a very questionable turn. Yugen could not help but reflect on himself.
Was this really his fault?
"Oh right, Yugen!"
One of the apprentices suddenly remembered something and called out to him.
"Master said that if you came, you should go see him."
"Alright, got it."
Yugen replied, though he felt uneasy inside. The phrasing sounded exactly like a schoolteacher saying, come to my office after class. Was the old man unhappy about the sudden spread of these miserable, anti-social duels in Duel Dojo?
He thought about it carefully, and at least it was not something he had taught directly.
With questions in mind, he walked through the main hall toward the rear. There, Hall Master Takeuchi was already seated cross-legged, eyes closed as if meditating. Hearing Yugen approach, he slowly opened his eyes and showed a pleased smile.
"You are here."
"I am."
Seeing that the hall master seemed in a good mood, it was probably good news. Yugen relaxed and sat down across from him.
"Congratulations on winning the championship," Takeuchi said.
"It was thanks to your guidance, Master," Yugen replied politely.
Takeuchi chuckled and shook his head. "Ha, you are being courteous, kid. But we both know your current level is not something I could have taught you."
He paused and lifted his gaze, studying Yugen carefully.
"You are different now. I can feel it," he said slowly. "I do not know what kind of experience you have had, but I know you are no longer the same as us ordinary Duelist. It is subtle, but sometimes you just know when you see someone step onto the field."
"When you watch a Duelist, their presence and the way they duel, you can naturally tell that they stand apart."
The idea felt novel to Yugen. He had heard that warriors or killers could recognize their own kind at a glance in a crowd, but he had never thought duelists could be like that. He wondered what that would even be called, some kind of card aura?
In his previous life, he had only been an amateur at best, and in this world full of people with cheats and spirit partners, he had neither. Could someone really see a difference in him?
"In fact, I was not the first hall master of Duel Dojo," Takeuchi continued, slipping into memory. "The master before me was the truly powerful Duelist. He devoted his entire life to spreading our dojo's ideals and nurturing outstanding duelists among the younger generation, hoping to find someone worthy of carrying on the Style Succession."
He sighed softly.
"There was one duel. I do not know who his opponent was, and he never told anyone. I only know that he seemed to lose that match. After that, he fell ill and was hospitalized, but no doctor could find the cause, only that his condition kept worsening."
"Eventually, he fell into a coma and never woke up again, not even to this day."
Listening to this, Yugen frowned slightly. It sounded uncomfortably similar to the legends of dark duels. In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, such duels could do anything, from killing people to stealing souls or controlling minds, turning the loser into a puppet.
That was why supreme skill in dueling was absolute power here. Still, if it really had been a dark duel, the fact that the master lingered for so long before collapsing made the opponent sound less impressive than expected.
"Before he lost consciousness, the master passed the position of hall master to me," Takeuchi went on, "along with the Rare Card that represents our style and serves as its symbol of inheritance. But I knew I did not have the talent or the right to wield that power."
"So I sealed that deck away, just as the previous master once did, waiting for a young duelist worthy of inheriting it to appear."
Takeuchi let out a long breath and slowly turned to face Yugen.
"Until today."
Sealed Heirloom of the Dojo, the Emblem of the Style.
To be honest, that description made Yugen think of a saying passed around among card players. You should give up every mainstream deck and play my unbeatable Cyber Dragon, which meant Cyber Dragon. The joke was old, but it stuck in his head right away.