Morgan sharply drew a card and added it to her hand. In truth, her hand had already been enough to make plays, so what she drew now didn't matter much. Her next moves were simple—these two cards were staples in her past life's Decks for breaking boards, and she knew exactly how to use them.
At that moment, every eye was fixed on Morgan. Everyone was wondering whether she could break through Syra's nearly unassailable field. Honestly, no one had expected today's main duel to be sparked by Syra, of all people—the underachiever that no one had thought twice about. It seemed every so-called "hopeless case" was actually a hidden dark horse.
Seeing the seemingly unbreakable field, Isla frowned. From her perspective, there was simply no way through Syra's setup.
On the field, [Lunalight Leo Dancer], the monster with the highest Attack, could not be targeted or destroyed by card effects, and at the end of the Damage Step, it could destroy all Special Summoned monsters on the opponent's field.
That was fatal, because it meant that after inflicting damage, every monster would be wiped out.
And Syra didn't only have [Lunalight Leo Dancer]—her other two Fusion Monsters were equally troublesome.
Jade was dumbstruck. She had thought this duel was surely in Morgan's favor, yet it had flipped entirely—Morgan looked like the one about to lose. And this was still only the first turn! Such overwhelming suppression in the very first turn left Jade breathless.
She looked at Morgan with worry, uncertain how she would respond.
Meanwhile, An'er, sitting beside Jade, was staring at Syra in bewilderment. This so-called underachiever was clearly incredible. A Deck like this, a field like this—even at Forest Academy, very few could manage it.
Could this level really be considered "bottom-tier" here?
Or maybe at Solitary Island Academy, being called a "bottom-feeder" was a title reserved only for true elites?
An'er's pulse quickened—she suddenly understood why the old man had told her to stay here.
Still, she was puzzled. If Solitary Island Academy had so many strong duelists, why had they lost to Forest Academy?
It made no sense to her.
Hannah, too, nodded to herself at Syra's performance. She had already become quite skilled at using the Lunalight Deck. Even Hannah herself would struggle against a field of multiple Fusion Monsters like this. If Morgan couldn't find an answer this turn, she would surely be defeated on the next.
What would Morgan…
As Hannah wondered, her phone buzzed—another message. She sighed. Yet another dinner invitation from Milo. This was the third time this week, always with the same excuse, and the restaurants kept getting fancier. Was asking girls out to dinner really his only move?
Ever since Milo had dragged Hazel and the others away, he had somehow gotten her contact information and would send messages every so often.
At first, Hannah had thought he was testing her. However, it turned out Milo genuinely just wanted to ask her to dinner.
The more earnest he seemed, the angrier Hannah became for no reason. Only by completely ignoring him did she regain her peace of mind.
She was more and more certain she must have known Milo in the past; even so, she had no desire to dig into it.
On the stands, discussion rose again—but the tone had shifted. Instead of predicting Syra's loss, they were now asking whether Morgan could possibly break through Syra's field. No one was calling Syra an underachiever anymore.
Syra herself didn't realize it yet, but the recognition she had long sought was already hers.
She was completely immersed in her duel with Morgan. Perhaps that was Morgan's true charm—once you faced her in a duel, everything else faded away.
And Syra believed that even Morgan would struggle to break her field.
Abruptly, just as her confidence peaked, she saw Morgan smile. Her heart sank.
Morgan casually slid a card from her hand onto her Duel Disk and said with a grin:
"I activate the Spell Card [Dark Ruler No More] from my hand!"
"The effects of all face-up monsters your opponent controls are negated until the end of this turn!"
"What?!"
Syra froze, stunned that Morgan would pull out such a card at the critical moment. All of her monsters' effects were negated—even the resistances of [Lunalight Leo Dancer]. Her seemingly flawless field suddenly became fragile.
Still, Syra swiftly steadied herself. A card this powerful had to come with a price. And even without effects, her monsters' Attack Points remained. Morgan couldn't destroy them so easily.
She wasn't wrong. [Dark Ruler No More] was strong but came with the drawback that all damage the opponent took this turn would be zero.
Despite that, as a board-breaking card, that drawback was perfectly acceptable.
When Morgan negated all of Syra's monsters, the crowd was stunned into silence. They hadn't imagined Syra's field could be unraveled so easily—with just one card.
Yet, with Morgan, it felt completely natural.
"That's Morgan for you. If it were me, I'd already be finished."
"Exactly. I'd have no idea how to deal with Syra's monsters."
"Morgan only needed one card. With one card, I couldn't even summon anything."
"But the monsters are still there, with Leo Dancer at 3500 Attack. How will Morgan handle that?"
As the crowd debated, An'er's eyes lit up. Morgan's method was so clean—rather than complex sequences, she used one card to negate everything. Following Morgan, she really could learn so much.
And then Morgan's next move shocked her even more.
"I activate [Evenly Matched] from my hand!"
"If you control no cards, you can activate this card from your hand!"
"At the end of the Battle Phase, if your opponent controls more cards than you do, they must banish face-down cards from their field until they control the same number as you!"
Morgan skipped her Battle Phase and moved straight to Main Phase 2—after all, she could still make plays there.
In an instant, Syra's entire field was wiped clean. Every monster was banished face-down, leaving only the lonely [Lunalight Wolf] in the Pendulum Zone. Everything else was gone.
Syra stood frozen. The field she had spent minutes building was gone in seconds.
She felt like a joke.
She had been so certain Morgan couldn't break through that she hadn't even considered what would happen if her field was destroyed… She immediately looked down at her hand—thankfully, she had held onto some resources just in case, so she wasn't completely out.
Still, she would now have to face Morgan's development with an empty field.
At least her [Lunalight Wolf] remained, so next turn she could still attempt Graveyard Fusion. And since Morgan had skipped her Battle Phase, no damage would be dealt this turn.
"..."
Hannah was speechless. Even she had never seen such a ruthless board-break.
Step one: negate all monster effects. Step two: activate a Trap straight from hand to clear the field.
Who could withstand that?
After a brief silence, the spectators erupted.
"What the hell did I just see? How is Syra's field empty?!"
"I don't even know. That card of Morgan's was insane!"
"Banishing face-down means she can't recover anything—that's brutal."
"In the end, Morgan's on another level. A sudden dark horse like Syra could never compare."
The voices reached Syra's ears. She bit her lip, her expression darkening.
Anyhow, Morgan paid no attention. In a duel, she rarely thought about anything else.
Now that the field was cleared, she could finally start her combos—with the Deck she had always dreamed of using.
"I Normal Summon [Swordsoul of Mo Ye] in Attack Position!"
...
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