Hearing that, Yugen slowed his steps. Rex Raptor? The one from Yu-Gi-Oh! DM? Early on he had been framed as a strong duelist and even placed second nationally in the Duel Tournament back when many top figures like Seto Kaiba did not participate.
"But is that real?" someone said nearby. "Isn't the Moonlight Cup a non professional secondary event? Why would a Legendary Duelist be here?" Another replied, "I heard he trained in seclusion for years and never showed up in public. This is his comeback match."
"Then the contestants this year are unlucky," someone laughed. "They ran straight into a big boss." Another added, "Yeah, the champion sounds decided already."
Yugen tried to recall what he knew. His impression of Ryuzaki was vague, though he clearly remembered the insect duelist who always followed him around. Both were known for doing anything to win, though Ryuzaki was slightly stronger, since the other had once thrown Muto Yugi's entire Exodia deck into the sea.
In a strange way, that act had saved every later boss in DM. If Exodia had not been thrown away, with Atem's absurd top deck luck later on, even the Egyptian God Cards and other legends would have stood no chance. Marik, Doma, and Bakura would all owe that insect duelist a deep bow.
After losing to Atem and to Katsuya Jonouchi, both of them seemed to shift from competitive duelists to comic relief. Their dueling style only became more exaggerated over time.
Speaking of which, Jonouchi's soul card, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, had been won from Ryuzaki himself. After that, Ryuzaki never won another match. DM never explained what became of him, and he never appeared in GX, but considering GX was only eight years later, running into him now was not strange.
Even though Atem had returned to the Underworld, DM era figures like Yugi Muto and Jonouchi should still exist in this time, just without clear accounts of their lives. As a veteran from that era, Ryuzaki now carried the title of someone who had fought Katsuya Jonouchi, enough to be labeled a Legendary Duelist.
These days, even former nobodies dared to call themselves legends, and some lived well off that title. Some had real skill, but others were just fishing in muddy water, and the value of "fighting the Duel King" was often no higher than bragging about fighting the First Hokage next door.
Since neither Ryuzaki nor the insect duelist appeared in GX, their current strength was hard to judge. Yugen decided to stay cautious, and if he met Ryuzaki later, he would show basic respect and adjust his deck accordingly.
Yugen bought a milk tea and sat down, casually checking the registered player list. The contestants were generally higher level than those at the duel hall, so after this event he should reach four stars without trouble. That would solve the academy application requirement.
Scanning the list, most names were unfamiliar aside from Rex Raptor. Then his gaze stopped on a name that felt oddly familiar. Manjoume Jun?
The GX era eternal runner up who managed to drop from elite to comic relief in a single year? He checked the personal details. An elite school affiliated with the Duel Academy middle division, expected to be recommended directly into the Duel Academy high division this year.
By age, that meant the GX main cast should be around the same generation as him. No problem.
He then checked his first round pairing in the Preliminary Round. Nakamura Tsubasa, duelist level four. It looked like there would be little pressure.
In fact, when Nakamura Tsubasa stepped onto the preliminary duel stage and stood opposite Yugen, he thought the same. Yugen Fujiki, level one, no major event experience, no honors, an entirely blank record. After reading the short profile over and over, Nakamura saw only two words.
Free win.
Sometimes you matched with this kind of opponent when luck was good. In the scene, they were called charity duelists, weak but obsessed with playing, just there to hand out points. This one was settled.
What Nakamura did not know was that when Yugen stood across from him and drew his opening five cards, he immediately apologized in his heart. Sorry, brother, but I opened godly. It looks like only one of us is going to play Yu-Gi-Oh! this duel.
Yugen took the first turn. He activated the spell card "Confiscation," paying 1000 life points to look at his opponent's hand and discard 1 card from it. Then he played "The Forceful Sentry," looked again, and returned 1 card from it to the Deck.
After that came "Delinquent Duo," paying another 1000 life points for a third strike. One random discard and one chosen discard followed, sending two more cards away. The legendary hand destruction trio came out in a clean three hit combo.
Before Nakamura even had a turn, he was already down to a single card. Because he had seen the hand, Yugen knew that last card was the spell "Double Spell," which let you discard 1 Spell Card to use a Spell Card from the opponent's graveyard. It was not very useful.
After the combo, Yugen did not summon any monsters. He set one card and ended his turn, looking very calm. Finally, he raised a hand politely. "I am done. Please."
Nakamura Tsubasa felt awful. Before his turn even started, he only had one card left. How was he supposed to play?
Still, as a duelist, he did not give up. Nakamura steadied himself and drew a card from his deck. Immediately, the opponent flipped a trap card, "Drop Off."
The card he had just drawn went straight to the graveyard before it even warmed in his hand. Nakamura froze in place. Was this guy determined not to let him play at all?
With no choice, he stared at the useless "Double Spell" in his hand. He had no other card to discard as a cost, so he could only end his turn in frustration. It felt like his turn had ended before it even began.
Now it was Yugen's turn again. He activated the spell "Reinforcement of the Army," searching his deck for a Level 4 or lower Warrior-Type monster. He took "Don Zaloog," then normal summoned Don Zaloog and attacked.
After dealing battle damage, Don Zaloog's effect triggered, forcing the opponent to discard one random card from their hand. Nakamura Tsubasa stared blankly.
Now he had zero cards left. What kind of sin had he committed in a past life to get matched with something like this?
Tsubasa Nakamura left the field howling in the end.
Winning the first match of the Preliminary Round was a perfect start, and Yugen was very satisfied with his performance in that round. He had once again shown someone, through both words and actions, what the real essence of Yu-Gi-Oh! was. He believed that once this opponent went back to review the duel, they would gain a lot from it and would probably end up feeling grateful to him.
On the first day, Yugen played several matches in a row, and the match density was far from low. However, the Moonlight Cup was not a tournament with a high entry barrier, so the number of participants from all walks of life was huge. The preliminary matches were held simultaneously at many venues, which greatly reduced the overall schedule time.
None of this was outside his expectations. The opponents he drew in the preliminaries were not any big names, and judging from what he knew of the anime, most ordinary duelists outside the main cast's perspective were fairly average in strength. For now, he had not seen any deck builds that really caught his eye.
Even so, Yugen did not underestimate his opponents. After finishing the day's matches, he still took some time to watch other duels and get a rough understanding of the players who advanced. Although the chance of losing to most of them was low, he felt it was better to stay cautious.
As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never lose, and this was even more true in Yu-Gi-Oh!. If he could understand his opponents' deck setups and tactical styles in advance and make targeted adjustments before the match, it would effectively raise his win rate. Preparation mattered as much as execution.