That day, the silhouette of the colossal girl bloomed against the sunset of the slums, drawing everyone's eyes toward the heavens. As the duel ended, the giant Priestess vanished, leaving only the two duelists on the field. The Duel Contract that had been floating in the sky shattered and dissolved the moment Amano Zero secured his victory.
"I... I actually lost. Wait, wait a minute!"
Nikaido, who had been sent tumbling by the Priestess's staff, sat on the ground and frantically checked the Eva Terminal on his wrist. The 3,200 Eva Points he had left after a night of drinking were disappearing at a terrifying speed right before his eyes.
The counter hit zero, but it didn't stop.
[-5,300]This was Nikaido's remaining balance after being "Overkilled" by Amano Zero.
A debt of 5,300 points.
If he didn't find a way to fill that hole within a week, Nikaido would face exile from Eden. Even with Nikaido's usual income, scraping together 5,300 Eva Points in seven days was a perilous prospect.
On the other hand, the Eva Terminal on Amano Zero's wrist had skyrocketed from a single point to 8,501.
"(｡♥‿♥｡) Oh my god!" Shio's eyes sparkled with starry-eyed admiration. "I've never seen so much money! Brother, I want to eat grilled tofu tonight. Can we? Please?"
"I want some too!" Wangchuan You and Yui shouted in unison.
Wait, do you three want grilled tofu just because you saw You-You get sliced and diced by a fire blade until he was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside?
That is way too cruel.
"Phew!" While the three of them heatedly discussed their celebratory dinner, Amano Zero finally let his guard down. As the adrenaline from the duel faded, his legs turned to jelly, and he slumped directly onto the ground.
"Zero, are you okay?" Wangchuan You hurried over to help him up.
"I'm fine... just relaxed all of a sudden, and it's a bit..."
A bit terrifying in hindsight.
It had taken an extreme stroke of luck to pull off a perfect victory in that duel. The only way this "junk" deck could win was through a surprise defensive counter-kill. To make it work, he needed to assemble at least three of the four specific components.
Even though the difficulty was lower than Yugi Muto drawing all five pieces of Exodia in the original anime, the actual success rate—without a "Destiny Draw" level of luck like Zero's—was still incredibly low. Of course, pulling all four components together resulted in a terrifying scene: an 8,000-point Overkill.
At least the ending was perfect. In his debut as a Duelist, he hadn't just settled the debt his father left behind; he had also earned enough Eva Points to upgrade his deck.
With 8,500 Eva Points, he could now go to an Eva Terminal and apply for a "Duel Gene Evaluation." The central AI, Eva, would analyze an individual's genes and identity to match them with a corresponding monster archetype and unlock exclusive purchase channels for that series.
In Eden Tower, this was the primary way most Duelists obtained their monster cards.
He wondered what kind of archetype the AI would identify for him. If it was a powerful "field" or "archetype" from his past life's knowledge, he might truly be able to change his fate against all odds!
Wait, speaking of changing fate, Amano Zero suddenly remembered he had forgotten something.
The System!
The duel had been so intense that he'd pushed the System to the back of his mind. That agonizingly slow-loading System hadn't been any help at all during the fight.
Zero tried to pull up the interface.
[System Loading: 98%]
Oh, it's almost done!
Even if it hadn't helped just now, there were plenty of duels waiting for him in the future. With a System's assistance, everything would surely be twice as effective. Besides, the name was so cool—wasn't it something like the "Duel King System"?
Meanwhile, at the top of Eden Tower, within the Cybernetic Central Management Zone, countless translucent screens were being flooded with massive, bright red "WARNING" icons. The top-tier engineers responsible for the daily maintenance and cleanup of the Eva System were in a total panic.
"Viral data is invading the Eva System?"
"An intrusion from outside the tower? Impossible! The exterior is no longer habitable for humans!"
The team leader analyzed the situation calmly. "Maybe it's not human. It could just be residual viral data."
"Then... what should we do, sir?"
"Do nothing. Just leave it to Eva."
The Cybernetic Host, Eva, possessed the most brilliant performance capabilities of the era. The massive Eden Tower, rising from the wasteland, was proof of its power. After centuries of self-upgrading, these "top-tier" human engineers were relegated to routine maintenance; Eva hadn't needed excessive human interference for a long time.
Sure enough, just as the team leader predicted, the flashing red warnings vanished after a few minutes. Everything returned to normal as if nothing had ever happened.
"It... it's handled?" a young engineer asked in disbelief.
"The invading data must have been completely purged by Eva," the leader said proudly. "Alright, don't just stand there. Get back to work!"
On the surface, it seemed like nothing more than a minor, inconsequential glitch.
[System Loading: 99%]
At the dinner table, Amano Zero's brow was furrowed, his expression grim.
"Why has it been stuck at the final stage for so long?"
After hitting 99%, it had been stuck for nearly three hours. It felt exactly like installing a pirated game on a PC in his previous life—the progress bar moves smoothly until the very end, where it hangs at 99%, leaving you anxious and frustrated. Experience told him that when an installation stalls at 99%, there's a high probability it will eventually throw an "Installation Failed" error, rendering all previous effort moot.
The systems of the future can't be this crappy, can they? You're not some pirated software!
Just as he thought that, he finally heard the melodious chime of a notification.
[System Loading: 100%] [System Loading Complete]
"Success!"
Zero suddenly leaped up from the table in excitement. Wangchuan You, who had just picked up a piece of tofu, was so startled that his chopsticks slipped, crushing the tofu and sending it splashing onto the table.
"W-What's wrong all of a sudden, Zero?"
Wangchuan You obviously couldn't understand Zero's excitement. After waiting eighteen years, he finally had a System.
Zero couldn't wait to check the interface.
[Welcome to the Love Cultivation System.] [The host can use this system to pursue targets of affection and earn 'Favorability' rewards~] [Current System Skill: Favorability Check.]
Zero turned into a statue on the spot. His pupils dilated, and he even forgot to blink as he stared at the gaudy, pink-themed system interface.
I say... did someone get something wrong here?
If he remembered correctly, weren't you originally called the [Duel King System]?! Why did the entire art style change once you finished loading?
This was bad. He had fallen for a "telecom scam."
To put it bluntly, these two systems—Dueling and Romance—were polar opposites. As the famous Duel King Jack Atlas once said: I will become the world's greatest; women are just in the way.
Romance? Hmph! Women only slow down a Duelist's drawing speed.
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My : https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
Yu-ki-oh:King of the Scraps (86 Chapters – Ongoing)
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