The quality of duelists these days was really getting worse. Losing a match and then lashing out physically showed no basic dignity as a duelist at all. He skimmed the details and noticed that no real names were used, only aliases, apparently to protect the participants' privacy.
One alias was called Kento, and the other was Tomoki. He continued reading further down the page. Another report followed right after.
"On the third day of the Moonlight Cup event, participant Shota, an alias, suffered a sudden hemorrhagic stroke during a duel with participant Kento, also an alias. Thanks to timely medical treatment, Shota is now out of life-threatening danger."
Getting a brain hemorrhage from playing cards? The master was shocked. Was this year's Moonlight Cup really that dangerous? Then he suddenly noticed something important.
In both incidents, the opposing duelist's alias was Kento. It could not possibly be the same person, right? If it really was, one incident might be an accident, but two in a row felt strange.
Could it actually be a problem with that guy? Kageru Takeuchi immediately thought of the duel he had with that trainee named Yugen from the Duel Dojo a few days ago, when his blood pressure had mysteriously risen as the duel went on. A bad feeling crept into his mind.
It could not be that much of a coincidence, could it?
Three days later.
"So I'm already in the top eight?" Yugen said.
The ticket to the quarterfinals came so easily that he even felt a bit unsatisfied. As expected, the overall level of this kind of tournament was just so so, and most opponents were only so-called grassroots experts. He wondered if the intensity would finally increase once the top eight began.
Watching Yugen advance so smoothly while still wearing a regretful expression, Koji Sato felt the urge to punch someone again. Unlike Yugen, who steamrolled his way into the top eight like he had cheats enabled, Koji Sato had been eliminated on the second day of the preliminaries. With no matches left to play and nothing to prepare for, he could only come over to his junior who had advanced from the Duel Dojo and nurse his jealousy.
The good news was that he had not run into Yugen before getting eliminated, so he did not have to suffer another public beating. At least now he could watch from the front row and enjoy seeing other players get crushed. Strangely enough, when he himself was tortured by his junior's tactics, his blood pressure would skyrocket, but watching others suffer the same fate made him feel very happy.
Humans really were contradictory creatures.
"By the way, junior, have you seen your matchup list?" he asked. "Who's your opponent in the top eight?"
He was eager to call for the first victim to step forward.
"Oh, it's a student from the middle division of Duel Academy," Yugen replied. "His name is Jun Manjoume."
"Manjoume is insanely strong!"
At that moment, Jun Manjoume from the affiliated middle division of Duel Academy was sitting on a sofa with his legs crossed, enjoying the sweet talk of two lackeys with a relaxed expression. Jun Manjoume was the third young master of the famous Manjoume Group and currently ranked first in the elite class of the middle division. This year, he had been specially approved to skip exams and was set to advance directly to the high division of Duel Academy.
Manjoume had been trained as an elite duelist by his family since childhood. According to the family's plan, one of his two older brothers was placed in the business world, the other in high-level politics, while the expectation for him was to one day reign over the dueling world as a Duel King. He was meant to become the future pillar of the Manjoume Group.
At first glance, being "the man who wants to become the King of Games" sounded a bit funny compared to his brothers' paths. However, just looking at President Seto Kaiba made it clear that in this world, being good at cards was far more promising than business or politics. Because of this, Manjoume had been sent to all kinds of tournaments since he was young, collecting championships and medals from competitions of every size.
His participation in the Moonlight Cup was also a family decision, serving as his final trial before advancing to the high division of Duel Academy. Just like many previous tournaments, the instructions from his brothers were clear. He entered to win the championship.
To the family, second place was the same as defeat. Any competition without first place was meaningless. Even so, Manjoume felt some pressure this time.
That was because Rex Raptor was among the participants. The legendary duelist who had once been a national runner-up and had even faced the famous Katsuya Jonouchi. Could he really defeat such a legend?
Manjoume rubbed his fingers together and stared at the floor in a daze.
"But Manjoume, I've never heard of your top eight opponent," one lackey said. "What's his name? Yugen Fujiki. Is he a rookie?"
"Huh?" Manjoume came back to his senses and checked the opponent's information. Duelist rank, one star.
He even wondered if he was seeing things. One star was the very definition of a rookie. How could someone like that even participate, let alone make the top eight? His competition experience and public honors were completely blank.
"His record is a blank sheet. He looks like total cannon fodder," one lackey said with a dismissive curl of his lip. "How did someone like this even get into the quarterfinals?"
"Maybe he just got lucky," the other said.
"Even with luck, getting this far should still take some ability," the first replied. Besides, no matter what, reaching the top eight in a first public tournament meant he would not stay one star after this event.
"He's probably one of those dark horses making their first appearance," the second lackey said. "Sometimes there are talented players like that. But in front of Manjoume, he's still just cannon fodder."
"That makes sense," the first lackey agreed with a nod. Then he laughed and added, "But really, that guy named Yugen is pretty unlucky. Running into Manjoume this early means he can only stop at the top eight."
Manjoume smiled faintly and said nothing, trying to look calm and aloof like a true expert. However, the upward curve of his lips and his instinctive relaxed lean already gave away his satisfaction. Even without speaking, he agreed with his lackeys deep down.
Yugen Fujiki was unheard of. Even if he was a dark horse, this was his first tournament. Did he really think he could instantly defeat the number one of the middle division's elite class?
Yugen walked onto the dueling field and faced his first round opponent, Jun Manjoume, standing still across from each other.
"Duel!" both of them shouted.
Yugen, LP 4000. Manjoume, LP 4000.
The two were strangers, so there was nothing to say before the match. In Manjoume's eyes, Yugen was nothing more than a stepping stone to advancement, while Yugen was looking forward to using this chance to test how strong a story character really was in actual combat.
Among duelists, it was common knowledge that many anime decks were built more for show than for consistency. Plenty of people once copied those decks as kids, only to discover that once a duel started, their hands completely locked up and none of the cards could even be played. Six cards would just sit there doing nothing.