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

　The audience and contestants who initially didn't take it seriously now had to start paying attention.

　Mars Carey has advanced to the quarterfinals of the "Golden Cup" as a complete dark horse!

　He proved with his strength that his initial declaration was not just empty talk!

　In the subsequent interview with the losers, Regina Milton, who was unexpectedly eliminated, gracefully offered her blessings to Mars.

　"This is really unexpected. I didn't expect there to be such a strong duelist among the fourth-year students."

　Dak looked away from the stage and couldn't help but sigh.

　Elurly Clarissa agreed, "This year's fourth-year students are indeed formidable. Winnie from the Magic Academy and Philomena Bach from the Fool's House are not to be underestimated. Even if I were to face Mars Carey just now, I wouldn't say it was an easy victory."

　Pandora Drogon said nonchalantly, "It's a good thing we don't run into each other." Eluri Clarissa glared at her and said, "I'll leave right after I finish watching the third duel here."

　Dark politely asked, "Aren't you going to the cafeteria together?" Eluri Clarissa replied, "No!" Pandora chuckled and said, "I'll be waiting for you tonight."

　Dark looked at the two of them and said helplessly, "It's my turn to play next, give me some space."

　"Then I'll go over there," Pandora pointed to the edge of the barrier. Eluri immediately stood up, carried the sofa to the side and back. Dark nodded in agreement, "Okay."

　Pandora said, "Don't feel pressured."

　Dark smiled and said, "That won't do. You need pressure to make breakthroughs." Pandora smiled and said, "Keep it up!"

　Dark: "Hmm."

　With only twenty minutes remaining before the start of the third match, Dark took a deep breath and retrieved his adjusted deck to examine it. He then used this deck as a basis to mentally visualize possible scenarios and devise countermeasures.

　Just now, when Mars Carey and Regina Milton were dueling in the arena, Pandora clearly stated that Silas Andy's level was superior to Regina Milton's.

　As for Mars Carey, that's uncertain.

　They all suspected that Mars Carey still had a trump card up his sleeve. This fourth-year student at the Knights Academy certainly had reason to be arrogant. Dark tapped his temple, pulling himself away from such thoughts, and quickly focused entirely on his preparations.

　Meanwhile, Pandora listened quietly to the music performance that had resumed.

　Senior Eluri was also leaning against the sofa with her eyes closed, but she was actually plotting how to deal with Senior Pandora.

　Outside the venue, the clamor of the audience gradually subsided, and people looked at the schedule that appeared on the projection, all beginning to look forward to the upcoming third duel.

　Compared to the second duel, the two fighters in this third duel have a greater apparent difference in skill level.

　However, the audience did not overwhelmingly believe that the older students would win, as they had before the second duel began.

　Even in the underground gambling dens across various regions, many people are betting their chips on Dark Dimon, who is only a second-year student.

　Simply because they had witnessed too many miracles in Dak Dimon over the past year.

　Many people involved in online gambling have made a fortune because of him... Of course, many more have climbed to the rooftop because of him, shouted "Onion will bring misfortune," and jumped off the rooftop.

　Inside the Duel Arena in the Royal Capital, Claire reminded Arvit that the next match was Dark's.

　Prince Charles held up a Darkie doll and examined it from side to side in the sunlight.

　Many more people who had been watching Dark Dimon quietly took out their pens and paper to take notes.

　Inside, a ring-shaped band.

　The members of Dark Dimon's fan club are already excited. They expect Dark Dimon to shine even brighter than Mars Carey on the dueling stage.

　And a huge banner was prepared to celebrate their victory.

　The second-year and first-year students, who had the most contact with Dak Dimon, were also talking about it.

　Of course, there were also those among them who hoped to see Darke make a fool of himself. Evan Pearson and Tommy Smith, on the other side, were just as eagerly anticipating it.

　Amidst these mixed thoughts of goodwill and malice, time passed little by little, and soon... the time for the third match to begin had finally arrived!

　Dark had already put away the deck he had organized two minutes earlier, and now he looked serious, not relaxed at all.

　Senior Pandora approached him, and after he stood up, she straightened his collar and combed his bangs. Then she leaned close to his ear, gently breathed into it, and whispered with a smile, "Can you feel the power?"

　To be honest, Dark felt only itchy!

　But the first thing he said was, "Your thoughts are even more chaotic now." Pandora looked up and glared at him with a hint of reproach.

　Dark said in a serious tone, "If we lose, it's your fault for messing with my mind."

　"Hehe." A soft laugh came from behind them.

　Dak's expression relaxed, and he regained his composure: "I'll be right back."

　Pandora dispelled the barrier.

　Dark emerged from the crowd, where staff members were already waiting to guide him. Silas Andy, on the other side, was also ready.

　On the stage, Judy took to the stage again, raised the microphone, and announced loudly: "I believe that all the gentlemen and ladies in the audience have been waiting as long as I have. But the longer the wait, the more moving the reward will be. So, the highly anticipated third match of the first day of the 'Golden Cup' is now beginning! Please welcome the two players to the stage! Now, let's hand the microphone over to the commentators."

　On one side of the arena, on a high platform in the center, a male and a female commentator were sitting on a rectangular platform floating in the air. They immediately began to speak: "Hello, viewers. This is Kingsley, who aspires to be a professional commentator in the future!"

　"This is the unprofessional commentator, Donya, who was forcibly dragged in by Kingsley to be a supporting character!"

　"Welcome to the Duel Arena of St. Marian Academy! Next up, we'll be having an absolutely spectacular duel between fifth-year Magic Academy student Silas Andy and second-year Noble Academy student Dark Demon!"

　"Let me introduce them again for those viewers who are not familiar with them."

　"First up is the red team player in this match, Silas, who is known as the 'Man of the Ocean'..."

　As the two commentators spoke, Darko and Silas Andy, led by staff, walked onto the lift platform and arrived at both sides of the arena.

　Since Silas Andy initiated the duel, he is on the red side. Dark Dimon, on the other hand, is on the blue side.

　As he walked upwards, Dak could clearly feel the shouts from the audience gradually increasing.

　When he officially stepped onto the blue team's platform, the audience outside the stadium was already like a boiling tide.

　He was well aware that he had accumulated a huge number of fans over the past year.

　However, many of these fans are extreme "performance fans." Once his performance declines or fails to meet their expectations, these fans will not hesitate to turn away, and may even become anti-fans.

　The audience's evaluation of "strength" often comes very simply from the outcome of a duel.

　If this duel is lost, countless fans will surely leave. Therefore, we cannot be arrogant and complacent just because we have a large fan base now. In fact, there is nothing to be proud of.

　Dark took the deck out of the card pack, placed it in the card slot on the table, and activated it with magic.

　The projection appeared, and the loudspeaker was turned on.

　Following dueling etiquette, he addressed his opponent, Silas Andy, saying calmly, "Hello, Senior Andy." He then added, "Hello, Dimon. Are you ready to receive your good fortune?"

　Dark paused for a moment, then chuckled, "It's been so long, and Andy still remembers."

　Silas Andy paused, speechless for a long moment. But Kingsley on the commentary desk spoke for him, saying, "My God, is Darko Dimon implying that Silas Andy is petty?"

　Donya said, "First of all, I'm not called 'Oh My God.' Secondly, I personally think Silas Andy should have retorted. We can't let our senior's prestige be diminished, can we?"

　Kingsley said, "You just want to see people argue." Donya said, "No, I'd rather see people fight." [I want to see rivers of blood.jpg] Silas Andy took a deep breath and finally said, "I take back what I said before. I have to say, you're really lucky."

　Dark asked, somewhat surprised, "How so?"

　Silas Andy, however, did not answer directly: "But I want to tell you that luck alone cannot determine the outcome of a match!"

　Silas Andy's expression suddenly hardened, becoming extremely serious. He struggled to suppress his urge to speak, preventing a large amount of sourness from rising in his throat.

　To end the conversation, he went straight to the point: "Enough with the small talk, let's prepare for a duel!"

　"Are you lucky?"

　Dark pondered Silas Andy's words and finally understood. He smiled slightly, and couldn't help but think of his own "jealousy" index, which he could never seem to increase, and muttered to himself.

　Jealousy is the original sin.

　Of course, the loudspeaker faithfully amplified his whispers to the point that the audience outside the venue could hear them.

　Archbishop Caleb Norris, who had arrived at the ring of lights sometime earlier, couldn't help but repeat, "Is jealousy the original sin? Perhaps..."

　......

　A flush of color rushed to Silas Andy's face, and he instinctively clenched his teeth.

　Dark's casual sigh nearly pierced his lungs. With his inner thoughts exposed, Silas Andy's heart cracked, and shame and anger welled up within him.

　But this time he kept his mouth shut and said nothing.

　……

　Kingsley, on the commentary desk, couldn't help but complain, "I hate riddle people the most, they only say half of what they mean."

　Donya exclaimed in surprise, "What's wrong? Kingsley, do you hate yourself that much?"

　Kingsley's face darkened, and he couldn't help but say, "Donya, don't talk nonsense." Donya smirked, pointed the microphone at the audience, and shouted, "Dear viewers, am I talking nonsense?"

　Of course, a chorus of "No!" erupted from the audience...

　Claire remarked with surprise, "This is quite interesting for commentators. Perhaps we could invite them to give it a try sometime when the simulated duel tournament becomes a big event."

　Alvitt retorted, "Stop joking around. I'm more interested in knowing what that Andy guy is jealous of."

　Claire shrugged and said, "Jealousy is human nature, as long as it doesn't lead to evil, it's fine. Besides, mediocre people don't attract envy."

　"That's true," said Alvitt with satisfaction. "After all, the baby is so outstanding." Claire shook her head, her smile somewhat helpless.

　However, it must be said that the two commentators' joking remarks successfully masked the atmosphere of conflict between the players on the field, preventing the audience from focusing on the "behind-the-scenes story".

　The "preparation phase" discussion session is finally coming to an end.

　"Wow—"

　The referee blew his whistle to give a warning.

　Silas Andy on the red team's platform and Dark Dimon on the blue team's platform immediately cleared their minds, focused their attention, and prepared for their duel.

　Whatever hidden conflicts exist between them, losing in a duel would render it meaningless.

　Silas Andy kept his inner thoughts bottled up inside, waiting to unleash them all at once after winning the duel!

　Dark finally understood the source of Silas Andy's hostility, and he no longer had any doubts about it. But he became even more obsessed with the outcome of this duel.

　At this point, neither fighter had left themselves any way out. "Both fighters are in position, the duel enters the preparation phase!" the referee blew the whistle again.

　On both sides of the field, the words "Preparation Phase" appeared simultaneously. Immediately after "Preparation Phase", a countdown of "30 seconds" appeared.

　Both inside and outside the venue quickly fell silent.

　Only the voices of the two commentators could still be heard clearly.

　Kingsley said, "There are 30 seconds left before the duel enters the battle phase. Both players have drawn five cards each, and they must complete the initial tactical plan for this duel before the 30-second countdown ends. Let's guess whose cards are better based on their expressions."

　Donya couldn't help but remark, "High-level duelists have excellent facial expression control; how could you possibly see through them so easily... Wait, they're smiling."

　Kingsley immediately shouted, "What did I say? What did I say?" Tonya: "Childish! It seems both players are quite satisfied with their initial hands. Perhaps the start of this duel will fast-forward directly to the most exciting phase."

　Dak was not distracted by the commentator's voice.

　He was indeed smiling, but not because of the cards in his hand; it was just a polite smile.

　Of course, his hand wasn't bad.

　"Fairytale Animal? Little Rabbit" [Pride 4]

　"Paradise 3? Moon" "Paradise 4? Moon" [Moon Divine Beast]

　There are three "Sin Cards" in total, one of which is even a flawed "Pride 4"!

　The other two, "Paradise i3? Moon" and "Paradise 4? Moon", are not perfect, but they are still quite good.

　More importantly, from his initial five cards, he drew the most crucial Magical Spirit card in the current deck's design—"Moon God Beast"!

　"Moon God Beast" is the only Magical Spirit Card in Dark's possession, besides "Ball-Ball Sea Lion," that possesses the "Water" attribute.

　Moreover, unlike "Pokémon," "Lunamon" has an extremely high potential and can evolve into different levels of magical spirits by combining with "Paradise Cards" of different levels.

　Nowadays, whether you use "Elysium i3? Moon" or "Elysium i4? Moon", you can evolve it into a six-star magical spirit - "Rexmon"!

　However, in a duel of this level, a single "Rexmon" is not capable of ending the match.

　Moreover, if it is summoned rashly, one must bear the risk that the opponent will take the opportunity to destroy it.

　The core of this deck is "Crescent Beast," which is the perfect form of "Luna Beast" evolved from "Elysium 4."

　Therefore, he needed to ensure the safety of the Moon God Beast before extracting the "Elysium 4".

　But if that's the case, the only card he can summon from his hand is the two-star "Fairy Tale Animal - Little Rabbit"!

　But this is not the worst possible outcome.

　Instead, it's an extremely auspicious sign!