"Have you heard, Kevin?"
"Oh?"
"That first-year prodigy Liam, the one who's always mentioned in the same breath as you, is dueling that new student who stirred up all the buzz tomorrow."
"Oh."
"Why are you so unexcited?"
"What's there to get excited about?"
"Kevin, don't you care about who's going to win?"
"Who's going to win? Isn't that obvious?"
"True. I really can't picture that Liam Carl losing to some commoner duelist who showed up halfway through the year."
"No. I can't picture him winning…"
"Eh?"
As expected, a duel with this much buzz spread even faster within Fusion Academy—by the end of a single night, everyone knew about it.
The collision between the mysterious new student who had 'accidentally' summoned a powerful monster, and Liam, the rising star of the Carl family who was on the verge of being promoted to marquis, was destined to ignite discussion.
On top of that, there was another piece of gossip spreading even faster—far juicier, and drawing even more attention.
No one dared to talk about it openly; it was all whispered about in private.
Miles and Liam seemed to be staking their pride as men in this duel, competing over the little princess.
Of course, rumors like this never come from nowhere.
News that the handsome, youthful transfer student had caught the little princess's eye was no longer fresh.
Because of this, quite a few Fusion Academy students had secretly formed mysterious clubs devoted entirely to shipping the two of them.
And the fact that Liam had repeatedly struck up conversations with Princess Nova, openly showing interest, was equally common knowledge.
Two 'knights' clashing over a princess—such an unserious rumor was far more captivating than a simple duel, which was why it spread so explosively.
However, the hotter the duel atmosphere became, the more likely it was to attract those with ulterior motives.
For example…
"Place your bets, place your bets~"
On the day of the duel, outside the arena, any matchup with hype would inevitably feature the busy figure of the scummy witch Irena.
Using her oversized witch's hat directly as a container for money, Irena weaved through the crowd, raking in cash until her grin practically split her face.
"Freshman Miles versus veteran powerhouse Liam—current odds are 2:8! Place your bets while you can!"
Usually, Irena would open the book as the house, playing it safe and earning only the brokerage fee; however, this time, she personally threw her own money into the fray.
Because getting personally involved this time was even safer than being the house.
"Irena, who do you think will win this time?"
After her singularly accurate call in the duel between Aisha and Kevin, many students had already realized that Irena's judgment was anything but simple—she had a keen eye for people.
So from time to time, someone would try to ask for her opinion before placing a bet.
This time, however, Irena's answer was:
"Do you even need to ask? The Carl family is about to be promoted to marquis. Who you should bet on should be obvious, right~"
"Alright then, I'm betting everything on Liam Carl."
"Thank you for your patronage. Wishing you great fortune and overflowing wealth!"
As Irena took the money, the greed in her eyes—wanting to squeeze every last gold coin out of these ignorant nobles' pockets—was almost impossible to hide.
Watching this scene, Ren, driven by a sense of justice, almost couldn't stop herself from exposing Irena. This was blatant fraud.
So, guided by her creed of 'what I do is justice,' Ren quietly sidled up to Irena.
"All in on Miles!"
Ren made a righteous all-in.
While the witch's casino outside the duel arena was in full swing, inside the arena, the first-year practical duel tests were proceeding just as intensely.
That said, first-year duels were essentially 'axe kings' trading blows with each other, and with the nerfed rules of 2000 Life Points and 20-card decks, they really weren't much to watch.
Low-level monsters taking turns punching each other—without the 2000 LP cap, those duels might've dragged on until nightfall.
The only match that truly caught Miles' eye was the little princess Nova's duel.
As everyone knew, Nova's Dragonmaid deck currently contained only five monster cards.
Even with the nerfed 20-card deck, it was still possible to open with a 'perfect hand' with no monsters at all.
However, Nova seemed to have found a way to solve the problem of low monster density in her deck.
It was just that, in Miles' eyes, the method was a bit too extravagantly brute-force.
"—Spell Card [Painful Choice], activate!"
[Reveal 5 cards from your Deck to your opponent. Your opponent selects 1 of those cards. The selected card is added to your hand, and the remaining cards are sent to the Graveyard.]
With a flick of her fingers, the Spell activated. The five cards selected from Nova's Deck floated onto the field one by one for display.
[Dragonmaid Laundry]
[Dragonmaid Kitchen]
[Dragonmaid Chamber]
[Dragonmaid Nudyarl]
[Dragonmaid Tinkhec]
Using the A-rank Forbidden Card [Painful Choice] as an opener was extravagance in its purest form.
Being able to casually pull out a card like this in the first year was the kind of luxury tactic only royal duelists, born straight into Rome, could afford.
Meanwhile, the girl standing across from Nova wore a deeply troubled expression, perfectly illustrating the true meaning of [Painful Choice]: the one who suffered was the opposing duelist.
"I choose… Nudyarl!"
After weighing all five monsters, the girl ultimately chose the high-Level monster Nudyarl, which couldn't be directly summoned after being added to the hand.
According to [Painful Choice]'s effect, the remaining four cards were all sent to the Graveyard. And once the opponent had made her choice, little Nova's strategy was already fully in motion.
Bouncing lightly with her petite, adorable frame, Nova continued by flinging a card from her hand forward. "Hehe, I'm activating Spell Card [Monster Reborn]!"
Following an A-rank Spell Card came another widely used B-rank Spell. Guided by the holy light of revival, the Dragonmaid just sent to the Graveyard was resurrected.
"I Special Summon [Dragonmaid Chamber] from the Graveyard!"
[Dragonmaid Chamber] Level 4│DARK│Dragon│500 ATK
The newly added bedchamber Dragonmaid, clad in elegant black attire, slowly stepped forth from the pure white holy light.
[When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Dragonmaid" Spell/Trap Card from your Deck to your hand.]
"By the effect of [Dragonmaid Chamber], I add Spell Card [Dragonmaid Changeover] to my hand—and activate it right away!"
First chamber duties, then a change of clothes. Using precise searching, Nova activated the Dragonmaid-exclusive Fusion Spell.
[Send Fusion Materials listed on a Dragon Fusion Monster Card from your hand or field to the Graveyard; Fusion Summon that monster from your Extra Deck.]
"Fusing Dragonmaid Chamber with Dragonmaid Nudyarl from my hand—fly forth in your shining, sacred form! Fusion Summon—[Dragonmaid Sheou]!"
[Dragonmaid Sheou, ATK: 3500]
In a duel against an ordinary first-year student, Nova successfully Fusion Summoned the strongest Dragonmaid, Sheou. Setting aside its tri-color ability to negate all types of card effects, that 3500 Attack alone was already a dimensionality-breaking blow.
"I win! Bloom forth, Dragonmaid Sheou—Judgment of the Four Radiances!!"
Gathering the magic of the other four Dragonmaid cards, Nova's finishing strike claimed victory in the practical duel test with ease amid dazzling light.
"I've lost… I really can't beat Princess Nova."
Losing to the overwhelming financial power of royalty, the first-year girl could only accept defeat with heartfelt resignation.
Hopping back off the platform, Nova beamed at Miles and said happily, "So? Miles, I've gotten really strong too, right? Praise me! Come on, praise me!"
With a duel crushed this thoroughly, how was he even supposed to praise that?
"Dragonmaid Chamber… is really big."
"Is that what I told you to praise?!"
Before the words could even finish, Professor Field cut their conversation short.
"Next duel: Student Miles versus Student Liam Carl. Both sides, please take your positions."
At last, it was Miles' turn. As the professor read out the matchup, the entire venue erupted.
The princess's duel had only just ended, and the knights competing for her immediately went to war.
Perhaps what everyone wanted to see was an intense duel fueled by both of their obsessions with the little princess.
But only Irena and a few others knew:
This duel was never going to be intense at all.
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