"Surrender?"
Kazuki completely ignored Yusaku's words. He pressed his palm on top of his Deck, took a deep breath, and his gaze sharpened like a drawn blade.
"In my dictionary, there has never been the word 'surrender'! I believe in my Deck!"
As his voice fell, he shouted in a deep voice.
"My turn, draw!"
His fingers flicked; a card slid out of the top of the Deck. He only gave it a quick glance before his eyes instantly lit up.
"Hahaha! Yusaku, in the end, luck still stands on our side!"
Before the laughter faded, he slammed the card decisively onto his Duel Disk.
"I activate the Spell Card, 'Dark Ruler No More'!"
"The effect of this card: negate the effects of all face-up monsters your opponent currently controls until the end of this turn! And after this card resolves, until the end of this turn, you take no damage from any effects!"
He deliberately stressed his tone and added, "Most importantly, your monsters cannot activate their effects in response to this card's activation!"
After explaining the effect, Kazuki's face was full of confidence as he lifted his eyes to Yusaku.
"How about that, Yusaku? Now, all of your monsters' effects are completely sealed!"
…Huh?
The moment he finished, he noticed Yusaku was looking at him with a rather strange expression.
Even the local duelists in the crowd around them were pulling odd faces, staring at him like they were watching an idiot.
"You're sure… you can actually activate that card?" Yusaku lightly shook his head and spoke in a calm tone.
Kazuki froze, immediately lowered his head, and looked at his Duel Disk. Sure enough, he discovered the card had not been read by the system at all.
Yusaku lifted his gaze, his voice ringing clearly in his ears.
"Did you forget about my Field Spell, 'Secret Village of the Spellcasters'? Its effect states that if you control a Spellcaster-type monster and your opponent does not, your opponent cannot activate Spell Cards."
Kazuki stiffened, then snapped his head up to look at Yusaku's field, his voice full of incredulous shock.
"You… have a Spellcaster monster on your field?"
"No Spellcaster monster?" Yusaku gave him a sidelong glance. "Wouldn't that mean I'd be locking myself out with that card?
The monster behind me, 'Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon', is a Spellcaster-type monster."
"…What?"
Kazuki stared in disbelief at the Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon behind Yusaku.
"You're telling me that thing with scales all over its body, that looks completely like a dragon, is actually a Spellcaster-type monster?!"
"Believe it or don't, 'Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon' is indeed a Spellcaster." Yusaku shot him a brief look. "If you want to activate a Spell, you'll need to summon a Spellcaster to your own field first."
He paused for a beat, then continued.
"But as far as I know, your 'Beetrooper' / 'Inzektor' style Deck doesn't run any Spellcasters at all.
And more importantly, with my current board, I've got no fewer than seven forms of disruption ready. You don't even have the chance to successfully summon anything."
Hearing this, Kazuki gripped the last card in his hand tighter. He looked down at that card, then up at the fully formed lineup of monsters on Yusaku's field, his expression shifting unpredictably.
Yusaku folded his arms across his chest and watched him calmly, the corners of his lips curving in open mockery.
"What's wrong? Are you thinking of summoning a monster just to try and clear my lowest-ATK Apollousa first?
Even if you still lose in the end, at least shaving off a bit of my LP would help you save some face, right?"
He deliberately paused, then went on.
"Unfortunately for you, 'Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying' has a continuous effect.
The moment you summon any monster, that monster's ATK and DEF will be reduced by 3200 points on the spot.
So all those little scenarios you're imagining? They're never going to happen."
Kazuki clenched his teeth hard, fell silent for a long time, then finally gave a cold snort, his voice full of unwillingness.
"You win."
He put away his Duel Disk, then looked up at Yusaku, the corner of his mouth slowly twisting into a strange smile.
"But everything I came here to do is already done."
Yusaku frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Just what it sounds like." Kazuki's smile grew more and more playful as he lowered his gaze to his own feet.
"Right now, the lower six floors beneath the Satellite Zone are probably already completely fallen. The upper floors won't last much longer either."
At these words, the surrounding players exploded into an uproar. One of them couldn't resist opening the in-game forum.
The moment he saw the sudden flood of new posts and the threads pinned to the top, his pupils shrank as he blurted out in shock:
"Holy crap! The top 15 floors of the Satellite Zone have collectively rebelled and defected to Uptown! Now they've joined forces with Uptown and are launching a full-scale counterattack on the lower 18 floors of the Satellite Zone. Below the 27th floor, almost everything's already fallen!"
"Not just that! My feed shows the 21st floor has already been lost too!" another player shouted right after.
Hearing these reports, Kazuki threw his head back and laughed wildly.
"Who knows how they got the intel, but the result is exactly what we wanted!"
He pulled a small communication device from his pocket, quickly scanned the live feed on it, then looked back up at Yusaku and spoke.
"Right now, we control most of the Satellite Zone. Only a few stubborn floors are still resisting."
Then he turned to the players around them, his tone dripping with naked temptation.
"I don't see any dojo uniforms on you, so you're all free duelists, right? How about it? Want to join Uptown's side?
Help us capture the 27th floor, and all the card resources of every dojo on this floor will be given out as rewards, split among you!"
Yusaku's frown deepened.
Before crossing over, he had read about something like this in the game's background lore: competition between the Satellite Zone's floors was brutally intense, and cross-floor wars were officially allowed.
All the duelists of two floors could go to all-out war. The winning side would seize every resource from the losers.
The losing side wouldn't just lose their dojos; every duelist would have their Deck forcibly stripped away.
And for duelists, losing your Deck is no different from becoming trash.
For a moment, Kazuki's offer actually made a few players hesitate.
But they quickly came back to their senses and started cursing him out.
"Tch! Who'd join you? We're here to follow Yusaku!"
"Uptown already hogs most of the game's resources, and now you're trying to loot what little the Satellite Zone has left? You're shameless to a whole new level!"
"Satellite Zone will win! We'll never submit to Uptown's tyranny!"
Looking at the furious players, the smile on Kazuki's face faded a little.
He then turned to Yusaku again, his eyes full of bafflement.
"I really don't get it. Why do these people trust you so much?
But whatever. With just this few of you, you can't stir up any real trouble."
Yusaku completely ignored the provocation. All his attention was pulled toward the system window that had suddenly popped up in his field of vision.
The moment Kazuki began speaking, a familiar system voice rang in his mind.
[Hidden Quest triggered, please select whether to accept]
[Quest Name: Savior of the Satellite Zone]
[Quest Objective: Stop Uptown and the rebel floors' joint offensive and save the Satellite Zone from complete collapse]
[Quest Rewards: Crystals ×10000, Forbidden Card Shards ×200, Exclusive Title: "Savior of the Satellite Zone"]
Crystals ×10000, Forbidden Card Shards ×200?
Yusaku's heart stirred. The system, normally stingy to a ridiculous degree, was suddenly throwing out such a generous reward.
There was no doubt: this quest's difficulty was going to be anything but simple.
Interesting.
He didn't hesitate for even a second and tapped "Accept Quest".
Then he looked up at Kazuki, his voice turning ice-cold.
"So all this time, that duel you just had with me was just to stall me?"
Kazuki folded his arms across his chest, his smile full of smug satisfaction.
"That's right. The only reason I came here was to keep you busy.
Now the dojos on the 14th floor are already in motion. The other dojos on the 27th floor have already fallen one by one. The only one left is your weakest Takeuchi Dojo."
Hearing that, Yusaku stowed away his Duel Disk and turned to run in the direction of the Takeuchi Dojo.
But he had barely taken two steps when he suddenly stopped as if something had just occurred to him. He turned back to look at Kazuki.
"Right. Our duel isn't actually over yet, is it?"
Kazuki: "?"
"Battle!"
Before Kazuki could react, Yusaku had already given his command.
"Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying! Direct attack!"
Throughout their duel, cards had been banished over and over, and the ATK of "Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying" had already climbed to a terrifying 6400.
The instant the attack command was given, golden sword qi erupted around Chengying, his figure blurring as he lunged straight at Kazuki.
Watching that terrifying strike devour his field of vision in a single moment, Kazuki's pupils shrank. He shouted at the top of his lungs:
"I surrender! I surrender right now!"
The duel system simulated real pain feedback. The higher the ATK of the attack, the stronger the pain when you were hit.
He only had 1600 LP left. If he really ate a 6400-ATK direct attack, the agony would be unimaginable.
"Too late." Yusaku folded his arms again, his tone utterly flat.
"I already gave you a chance to surrender earlier. Now, the attack command has been confirmed."
As his voice fell, Chengying's attack pierced straight through Kazuki's body.
The overwhelming impact sent him flying.
"Aaahhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Amid his wretched screams, the Duel Disk system beeped in unison.
[Kazuki, LP 1600 → 0]
Kazuki's LP dropped cleanly to zero. The duel was officially over, and the monsters behind Yusaku slowly faded away.
He didn't spare so much as a glance at Kazuki, who was lying on the ground groaning in pain. Yusaku simply put away his Duel Disk and strode off at a brisk pace toward the Takeuchi Dojo.
…
Watching Yusaku's back as he left, Kazuki struggled to his feet and broke into crazed laughter.
"Yusaku! I admit you're strong. Even against the monsters at our Uptown Genius Academy, you might not lose out.
But with so many rebel floors' duelists in the Satellite Zone, how much can you really handle alone? Can you keep dueling endlessly, one match after another?"
After Yusaku left, several players walked over to Kazuki. One of them rubbed his hands together, a probing grin on his face as he asked:
"Just now, you said if we joined you and helped you take the 27th floor, the library's resources would all be ours, right?"
Kazuki blinked, then nodded.
"That's right. As long as you join our side, once we completely suppress the Satellite Zone, we'll absolutely make good on our promise."
"So in other words, you're just dangling a carrot. With how stingy you are that you won't even give us any immediate rewards, you think you're going to 'suppress' the Satellite Zone? Keep dreaming."
The moment he finished, that player spat in disdain, then turned around and sprinted off in the direction Yusaku had gone, yelling as he ran:
"Yusaku-san! Wait for me! I'm willing to fight alongside you to protect the Satellite Zone!"
Kazuki: "???"
…
Very soon, Yusaku ran out of the commercial street. As expected, along the way he saw plenty of Uptown duelists and rebel-floor duelists clashing fiercely against the native duelists of the 27th floor.
"Yusaku! Don't run! Stop and duel me! You're a priority target up top. If I defeat you, my contribution will skyrocket straight to first place!"
"…I've watched a ton of your dueling videos already. Today I'm going to fight you for real and see if you're really as strong as the rumors say!"
"Block him! Don't let him reach the Takeuchi Dojo!"
One after another, duelists and players from Uptown rushed out to try and stop Yusaku.
He frowned. He really didn't have time to get bogged down with these people right now. The other dojos on the 27th floor had already fallen; only the Takeuchi Dojo remained.
If the Takeuchi Dojo fell, the quest he had just accepted would be a complete failure.
He was just about to unfold his Duel Disk for a quick, decisive fight when several urgent shouts sounded from behind him.
"Yusaku-senpai, wait for us! Leave these fence-sitters and Uptown trash to us!"
"And me!" Kouki pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, eyes firm as he stepped in behind Yusaku.
"Same here!" Kazetaro gripped his Duel Disk tightly, his voice ringing with resolve.
"We're helping too!" The other players who had been following Yusaku also stepped up, forming a human wall in front of him.
The moment those players spoke, they suddenly noticed a new notification appear in their field of vision.
[Congratulations, your affinity with player Yusaku has increased by +1]
Seeing this prompt, their jaws all dropped.
"Huh? I actually got Yusaku's affinity!"
"Me too! So just by helping Yusaku, we can farm affinity points with him?"
"Damn, this is Yusaku's affinity we're talking about! Who knows what kind of benefits that'll unlock later!"
Yusaku took out three Decks and handed them to Kouki and the other two, patting them on the shoulder.
"Guys, I'm leaving this place to you."
These three Decks were ones he had won earlier through wager duels.
He had no use for them himself, but for newbie players still stuck on the system's starter Deck, they were incredibly powerful upgrades.
The three of them accepted the Decks, and when they looked down and saw the card lists, their pupils shrank. Their faces were flooded with shock and joy.
"Holy crap! 'Aleister the Invoker'! A full Dogmatika Invoked Deck! And you're just giving it to me?!" Kazetaro's voice trembled with excitement.
"'Gem-Knight Master Diamond'?!" Kouki's eyes went wide, his tone full of disbelief. "I'm running a Gem-Knight Deck!"
"Xiaomi!? I got a Shaddoll Deck!!!" Cheese Crit blurted.
Hearing their cries, the nearby players all crowded over. The moment they saw the Deck contents, the air filled with howls of envy.
"Damn! He's just handing out complete top-tier Decks? I'm still stuck with the system starter; I don't even have a single rare card!"
"Invoked, Shaddoll, Gem-Knight… those are all meta decks! I'm dying here, I want one too!"
"Just casually tossing out three high-tier builds like that… this is what a real protagonist looks like. If Yusaku isn't the main character here, who is?"
"The forum was right. Stick with Yusaku and you'll eat well. Uptown only knows how to draw pie in the air, but Yusaku hands out real benefits. From now on, I'm following him no matter what! Anyone badmouths him again, I'm the first to step up!"
"Yeah! Follow Yusaku and protect the Satellite Zone!"
(End of Chapter)
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