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

　Because his situation is actually somewhat similar to that of "Beast God Reincarnation" Mephissglam.

　However, their purposes are completely opposite.

　Therefore, he will not actively interfere with the process of the ceremony, and the final result may be different.

　But these are all uncertainties.

　Mavis wants to be among the top three, one of the final three. She then intends to use this identity to interfere with the ritual, thereby achieving her own goal: to revive the "Beast God."

　He neither wanted to interfere with the ceremony nor would he interfere with it.

　However, given his current situation, even if he doesn't interfere with the ritual, he can't be 100% certain that he won't be affected by it.

　If he really does become one of the final three...

　He originally had no such idea.

　Especially after losing to Professor Jones.

　He clearly felt his own shortcomings.

　But after his duel with Professor Lily, he suddenly realized that Professor Cazell also had no reason to continue winning.

　If his next duel opponent is not Professor Kazel, but Pandora, then he does have a chance to win.

　Ok……

　Although saying this might upset her senior, Dark felt confident he could win.

　If he defeats Pandora, he will be firmly in the top three and become one of the final three.

　If something goes wrong at that point, it will be too late to fix it.

　Originally, his demonic bloodline was as stable as a rock, but after the last incident, the remnant consciousness of the demonic god had actually awakened once.

　This necessitates careful consideration of the potential impact. "Fourth place in the World Cup is actually a better result than expected."

　"Next, if the opponent we face is Senior Pandora."

　"Losing to my senior doesn't really matter."

　"It is truly meaningless to risk one's life for a trivial top-three finish in the World Cup."

　"But we'll have to wait and see how it goes." Dark looked up at the window.

　His gaze passed through the glass and landed in the center of the duel arena, where two fighters were stepping onto the rising platform one after the other.

　One of them is Pandora Doragon, a recent graduate from St. Marian's College.

　On one side is Kazel, a professor of magic theory who also comes from St. Marian Academy.

Chapter 1621 Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and the Calamity of the Undead (1/2)

　The second match of the fourth round of the losers' bracket. It's student vs. professor again.

　The audience had by then accepted that all six finalists were from St. Mary's Academy.

　However, the fact that two of the six contestants were students still seems absurd.

　However, the supporters of those two students will only cheer for it.

　Moreover, in the previous duel between student and professor, both contestants displayed exaggerated strength commensurate with their rankings, and the final winner was still the student.

　This inevitably makes people feel the so-called "changes of the times".

　This scene of the old giving way to the new always evokes a sense of joy mixed with a profound melancholy.

　But then again.

　The two fighters in this duel are actually facing off for the second time.

　Moreover, in their last encounter, the student's side emerged victorious. However, it was precisely the professor who lost that had previously eliminated the tournament favorite, Mavis Graham, from the competition.

　All of this makes it difficult to discern who is stronger between the two.

　The average viewer has a limited access to information, and even slightly in-depth magical knowledge is difficult to understand, so it's naturally difficult for them to comprehend the story.

　In reality, even if a highly skilled mage couldn't understand Professor Kazel's methods, they should still feel awe towards him during his duel with Mavis.

　Therefore, it is not difficult to determine who is stronger in this duel.

　But this is ultimately a duel between a student and a professor, and the final outcome is still hard to predict.

　Those underground betting platforms don't dare to easily set high odds.

　As Dark watched his senior and professor gradually ascend the dueling platform, his thoughts continued to race.

　He wasn't too fixated on winning or losing this match, but he did have a strong desire to win.

　Otherwise, he could have simply settled things after achieving his goal; why bother fighting Professor Lily to the death in the previous duel?

　Putting yourself in Pandora's shoes, what would she be thinking at this moment?

　Even though we haven't been in contact all day.

　But Dark could still imagine that she was not satisfied with her previous duel with Professor Cazell.

　She enjoys victory and can accept defeat, but what is the true meaning of victory gained through an opponent's deliberate loss?

　Dak actually has a similar idea now.

　Firstly, he wasn't as competitive as Pandora, and secondly, he couldn't be sure whether Professor Lily had held back, or by how much.

　However, compared to that, Professor Cazell's leniency was far too obvious. It's inevitable that those with a strong competitive spirit would feel resentful.

　And thinking about it that way...

　If Professor Kazel goes easy on his opponent again in the upcoming duel, will he incur the dislike of his senior?

　This problem really stumped Dark. A worried look appeared on his face. He didn't want the professor to be disliked by the female student.

　But the duel that is about to take place on the field is not something he can interfere with.

　How the final duel will unfold depends on the professor's own plans. He knows why Professor Kazel held back in the previous duel.

　Now, the professor has no reason to continue winning, but he also has no reason to lose.

　But after a while, Dak realized that he might have been worrying unnecessarily.

　At this point, what he should have done was trust the professor. "Trust the professor; he'll handle it."

　His mind-reading skills were taught by Professor Cazell, whose understanding of human nature was certainly no less than his.

　After understanding Pandora's mindset, perhaps I will truly give it my all.

　However, based on Dark's understanding of the professor, there are many ways to "go all out".

　He looked at the dueling platform again.

　I feel like both sides are equally precious, making it really hard to choose.

　But on the dueling platform...

　Senior Pandora looked at the person opposite her with a serious expression and a solemn gaze. Professor Kazel, on the other hand, was as kind as ever, like a gentle old man without any sharp edges.

　Judging by his appearance alone, no one would guess that he would become a master alchemist who had reached the pinnacle of alchemy.

　Even excluding alchemy, his magical skills alone are at a level that leaves others far behind.

　He was, after all, a professor of magic theory, possessing incredibly solid theoretical knowledge.

　When he first stepped onto the dueling ring.

　Pandora Doragon looked at Professor Cazell, her lips slightly parted, as if she had something to say.

　But perhaps considering it was a public stage, she ultimately refrained from speaking. However, her unspoken words had already reached the other side. Professor Kazel stood on the stage, pondered briefly, and made final adjustments to the deck he was about to use.

　The two players then engaged in a duel within the battle zone. They then activated their Life Cards.

　In the 【Preparation Phase (1)】, make final deck adjustments. Professor Kazel reaches into his card pack, and as his thoughts wander, he readjusts and refines the deck, finally taking it out of the pack and placing it into the Duel Disk.

　Only then did he look up at the opposite side and see that Pandora was ready, so he nodded slightly.

　Both sides agreed, and the duel proceeded to the next stage after the countdown – [Preparation Phase (2)]. Each player drew five cards. After a final thirty-second countdown, the duel entered the official battle phase.

　At this moment, Dak's attention was completely focused.

　Although he considered the necessity of continuing to strive for victory in the next duel, he couldn't help but focus on his limits when his next opponent began the duel, trying to gain a deeper understanding of them.

　First up is Senior Pandora.

　Pandora's strength is her specialization, and so is her weakness.

　As the intensity of the competition has continued to rise, the decks she can use have become increasingly predictable and lack variety, making them easy for opponents to anticipate.

　This is related to the path she chose, but it is also related to the fact that she did not have enough time to process and organize her thoughts after discovering the remains of Nighold, the "Dragon of Despair".

　Her arrival was rather hasty, and the new system was already in place. Moreover, in Dark's view, her shift from a pure white dragon path to a "light-dark fusion" and "fallen white dragon" path wasn't really an enhancement.

　Ultimately, the power of Nighold, the "Dragon of Despair," was not compatible with her.

　Forcibly incorporating the power of "Dragon of Despair" into her own deck system will only make her path more chaotic and unclear.

　Only the purest and most flawless white dragon system truly aligns with her principles.

　She should continue climbing the ranks within the White Dragon system, rather than changing course midway.

　Of course, timing and fate play a part. Darko made it sound easy from the sidelines, but the reality was not so simple.

　To create higher-level Magic Spirit Cards, you need higher-level materials.

　If she could find the tomb of the "Sky White Dragon," she would naturally not need to delve into the path of the "Dragon of Despair."

　However, errors in the route cannot be ignored.

　Dark felt that perhaps after this match ended, he should take this opportunity to have a proper talk with Pandora.

　On the one hand, her course needs to be revised.

　On the other hand, Dak himself also needed help. In the past, he was simply a beneficiary.

　But what he wants in the future is mutual support and cooperation.

　On top of the area.

　Pandora's opening strategy remained predictable; she opted for the "Fallen White Dragon" archetype, albeit with some adjustments to the original deck. However, given the established framework, the variations she could make were quite limited. Meanwhile, on the other side...

　Professor Cazell's actions, however, were a complete departure from the previous duel!

　Many people, once they realize that he is an alchemist of such high skill that he can touch the truth, will subconsciously overlook the fact that he is a professor of magic theory.

　But now, in this duel, he is prepared to face his student's challenge entirely as a mage.

　After limiting himself to not using alchemy, how will he perform in magical duels?

　Professor Kazel's starting hand summon is a Ritual card - "Ritual of the Elements".

　"Elemental Ritual" can be considered a fairly versatile magic card. Its effect is to Special Summon a 3-star Magical Spirit of the corresponding elemental attribute from your hand or Deck, depending on the elemental environment on the field.

　After Professor Kazel used "Elemental Ritual", he Special Summoned a Flying-type Magical Spirit corresponding to the Wind element from his deck - "Wind Serpent".

　Afterwards, he used "Wind Serpent" as a tribute to Special Summon "Wind Feather Serpent," the superior magical spirit of "Wind Serpent," from his deck once again.

　The "Feathered Serpent of the Wind" has a star rating of nine.

　Jumping from three stars to nine stars... isn't that outrageous. After all, Dark's White Dragon deck also has this type of synergy. And after summoning "Wind Feathered Serpent".

　Professor Kazel controlled the "Feathered Serpent" to deal with Pandora's attack.

　He drew a Magical Spirit card from his hand to summon a three-star Magical Spirit – "Firebird". Then, as expected, he sacrificed "Firebird" to Special Summon the nine-star Fire-type "Firebird" from his deck.

　[Wind Feathered Serpent] and "Fire Black Bird".

　The two nine-star magical spirits linked up and unleashed a combined wind and fire elemental attack.

　That combo attack was the initial demonstration of this deck's strength. Pandora's preemptive summon of a twelve-star dragon was instantly annihilated by the combo attack of two nine-star magical spirits!

　The match then continued.

　For Pandora, the fall of a twelve-star dragon wouldn't be enough to seriously damage her.

　The core of her deck was to quickly summon high-level monsters to overwhelm the enemy. She then quickly added a new 12-star dragon.

　Professor Kazel's combo attack, however, was on a long cooldown. After the turn switch, Professor Kazel activated the "Fire Bird" ritual again, Special Summoning the newly acquired 9-star mage "Earth Shield Turtle".

　He then unleashed the combined attacks of "Fire Bird" and "Earth Shield Turtle," as well as "Wind Feathered Serpent" and "Earth Shield Demon," posing a significant threat to Pandora.