The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　This might be the first duel match for the young mages!

　Darke then pumped his fist at them and replied, "Definitely!"

　He then walked onto the contestant's stage.

　……

　The students of the Knights Academy looked at the Noble Academy with some envy. In fact, no one wanted their own academy's students to not make it to the finals, but their Emma had already done her best.

　"There's nothing we can do, a loss is a loss."

　"We can only blame ourselves for not doing our job well enough."

　"I'm definitely going to make it back next semester!"

　……

　Witt noticed that no one mentioned him and suddenly felt a little uneasy.

　……

　Dak and Sara then walked onto the contestant's platform.

　Professor Jones then solemnly stated, "I know you've all been eagerly anticipating this moment for a long time. Dark Dimon from the Noble Academy and Sara Swati from the Magic Academy have both demonstrated exceptionally high levels of dueling skill in this competition. Perhaps next semester, you'll be able to see them in the real dueling arena! And this is only three months later. Three months ago, they were just like you, freshmen who knew nothing about magical duels. Today, three months later, their level has already surpassed that of many. I hope you will reflect on the reasons for this after this competition. In the second semester of your first year, I wish even more students will join the dueling club and become members of the arena! Enough of the small talk, let's begin the finals!"

　……

　As expected of a professor, even someone as careless as Pava Jones can completely kill the students' interest with just a few words.

　Looking at the completely silent crowd outside, Dark couldn't help but smile.

　He casually placed a total of seven magic cards into the card slot on the table before looking at the person opposite him and saying, "You've come."

　Sarah raised her chin slightly and said smugly, "I told you so."

　Dark nodded and said, "Then let's begin the second duel."

　Sarah: "This time, the outcome will be different!"

　Dark: "That's not necessarily true."

　……

　Although the exchange between the two sides seemed ordinary, it was actually quite sharp.

　The enthusiastic atmosphere that had subsided after Professor Jones's words was reignited.

　Led by Doron, the boys from the House of Nobles suddenly began chanting: "Dark! Dark! Victory! Victory!"

　The unexpectedly uniform chanting made Dak's ears turn red.

　Even the Magic Academy was stirred by the atmosphere. Heidi, with her braided pigtails, immediately shouted, "Sara! Sara! Invincible! Invincible!"

　Don't you feel embarrassed at all?

　……

　"Preparation Phase" [30 seconds]

Chapter 178 Darkdemon's Unexpected Move [23]

　[Preparation Phase] [30 seconds]

　Once duelists stand on the dueling ring, they must get used to switching states the instant the countdown begins.

　Although Dark is not yet a formal duelist, he has already gained considerable experience in this area.

　His ability to control his own emotions surpasses that of most people.

　"Draw a card!"

　Five cards to start!

　The moment the fingertip touched the magic card, a ripple of coolness spread through it.

　In the blink of an eye, he had five magic cards in his hand.

　【Fantasy Beast: Eevee】

　【Paradise III】

　Sylveon

　Tailmon

　【Teapot】

　"Choose five out of seven, and you only have one 'Arrogance I' and one 'Trash Slime' left!"

　A thought flashed through Dak's mind and a plan was formed.

　With the five cards in his hand, the safest approach would undoubtedly be to start with "Pot Pot".

　If Sarah has "Sphinx Cat" in her hand, she will definitely summon "Sphinx Cat" at the start.

　After that, he could only summon "Eevee".

　In order to prevent "Eevee" from being instantly defeated, he had no choice but to activate "Elysium III" as soon as possible to evolve it.

　However, an Umbreon that evolves from Elysium III will almost certainly run off the field unless it is attacked head-on.

　This is extremely dangerous without "Arrogance I" in hand.

　But if we summon it in reverse...

　Looking at the magical spirits that Sarah possesses, apart from the two-star "Anubis Hound", there are almost no powerful offensive magical spirits.

　In addition, Dark's summoning magic is much faster than hers...

　Hey, (uДu〃).

　Sometimes too many choices can be an annoyance.

　……

　"Battle Phase" [30s]

　"Tick!"

　It was like a gentle reminder dripping into one's heart.

　Dark immediately took out "Eevee" and summoned it as quickly as possible!

　Starting by summoning a magical beast demonstrates confidence in one's summoning speed.

　This is also because the opponent's summoning speed is slightly too slow.

　Eevee landed directly above the Magic Ball and slammed it to the ground!

　Then, it rolled towards the corner of the arena, stepping on the magic ball.

　Since "leaving the field against one's will" does not count as giving up, a corner of the field is actually an excellent defensive position.

　But before it could succeed, Sarah had already summoned her first magical spirit, which was indeed the "Sphinx Cat"!

　Dark's lips curled into a smirk as he immediately drew out his second magic card—"Elysium III"!

　At this point, his normal summoning spell cooldown is over, and he can complete the next summoning in just a few seconds!

　"That's enough, Ibu."

　Before the words were even finished, Eevee had already put down the Magic Ball and was running towards the other side with its short legs.

　Its running speed was not fast at all, so much so that students on the sidelines couldn't help but want to pick it up and run for it.

　……

　"This is……"

　Sara was not surprised by Ibrahimovic's "suicidal" behavior.

　Dark had already demonstrated the potential of this magical Pokémon by showcasing the evolution of Umbreon in their last match!

　"Are you planning to use that enhancement card?"

　After a moment's thought, Sarah immediately commanded, "Sphinx Cat, lock onto it!"

　That being said, as long as Eevee isn't "boosted," she'll not hesitate to instruct Sphinx to tear it apart!

　Upon hearing the command, the hairless black cat immediately sprang into action.

　It is much faster than Ibrahimovic, but it still takes time to start, accelerate, and catch up.

　During this time, Dark had enough time to complete the activation of the "Elysium III" summoning!

　The sudden burst of ambiguous light caused the Sphynx cat to be momentarily dazed. When it recovered, the tiny Eevee had evolved into the wicked yet alluring Umbreon!

　Unlike the yellow markings of a regular Umbreon, this Umbreon, which evolves using "Elysium III," has a pinkish hue in both its ring-shaped markings and the faint aura emanating from its body.

　It let out a soft call, its nose twitching slightly, and naturally turned towards Dark on the contestant's platform.

　"Miyo!"

　Then, an irresistible allure began to emanate from her eyes.

　So much so that they completely ignored the approach of the Sphynx cat.

　"it is good!"

　Both players showed a hint of joy on their faces.

　Sphynx suddenly stomped its front paws on Umbreon's shadow, activating Shadow Tag!

　The dark power of shadow climbed onto Umbreon's body, completely imprisoning it!

　Using an uncontrolled Umbreon to lure out a Sphynx's Shadow Tag is not a disadvantage in Dark's strategy.

　But what happened next was beyond Dak's expectations!

　He originally planned to let Umbreon take the Shadow Tag, and with Umbreon's power far exceeding Shuckle's, it would definitely be able to break free in a shorter time. Then he could use the "Pride I" he drew in the next turn to control it.

　During this time, he was able to summon the next magical spirit, "Jug," faster than Sarah!

　By positioning the Magic Ball in a corner, even "Shuttle" can protect the Magic Ball for a certain period of time.

　With Sara's summoning speed, she can only summon two magical spirits in the first round.

　Besides the "Sphynx Cat", there is only one left.

　However, Sara does not have a three-star offensive magic spirit like "Bear Spirit" or "Golden Beast".

　Whatever is summoned, "Potpot" has plenty of room to spare.

　Next, simply wait for the start of the second round, summon "Trash Slime," and then perform the sacrifice summon.

　With two four-star magical spirits, one for defense and one for offense, the goal is to destroy the blue team's magical ball without killing the magical spirits as much as possible, and victory will be assured.

　……

　However, the reality is...

　After being bound by "Shadow Tag", Umbreon first froze, then turned its gaze to glare at the Sphynx.

　"Meow!" Sphinx cried out, enduring Umbreon's glare.

　But in the next instant, an extremely terrifying evil aura erupted from Umbreon's body!

　The Sphynx cat was overwhelmed by that aura, its fur standing on end in terror.

　But even if that were all, the Sphynx cat wouldn't let go of "shadow stomping".

　After struggling with its muscles to no avail, Umbreon immediately unleashed a Dark Pulse!

　However, the evil aura had just begun to spread when it was abruptly suppressed.

　Obviously, these kinds of skills cannot be used while in the "Shadow Stepping" state.

　But then Umbreon opened its mouth wide, and another special move—Shadow Ball—slowly gathered inside!

　Even more astonishingly, the shadow energy (Shadow Tag) binding Umbreon's body was also gathering into its mouth!

　Umbreon is absorbing the energy of "Shadow Tag" and transforming it into "Shadow Ball"!

　As the shadow orb grew larger, the shadow energy on it became extremely thin.

　The Sphinx cat gritted its teeth and struggled to hold on, but its magic power was rapidly depleting, and its output power could not even match the absorption power of the "Shadow Ball"!