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

　Jimmy's appearance on the contestant's platform clearly indicated that he wasn't there to just go through the motions.

　Dak decided to take it seriously.

　……

　Good afternoon, Dimon.

　After Jimmy stepped onto the red player's platform, he activated the table and greeted the players.

　Good afternoon, Abbott.

　Dark returned the greeting, and then casually asked, "How's the astrology class going?"

　Jimmy immediately looked troubled: "Can we not talk about that? It's just too difficult..."

　Dark laughed and said, "That's true."

　The two became much closer at once.

　Jimmy composed himself again and said seriously, "I look forward to your duel!"

　Dak nodded and said, "Please give me your guidance."

　Then the two of them quickly got to work without any further pleasantries.

　Dark had already put the deck into the card slots before Jimmy arrived.

　Once Jimmy has placed his deck into the slot, the cards are shuffled simultaneously for both players.

　Above the card table, the words "Preparation Phase" are displayed.

　The referee in charge of the match looked at both sides and then blew his whistle to remind them: "Both players, get ready. The countdown is about to begin!"

　The commentator, who was giving a brief introduction to the two players, immediately stopped and waited.

　The atmosphere of a duel gradually built up.

　Dark placed his hand on the top of the deck, ready to draw cards quickly.

　……

　"Beep——"

　The referee blew the whistle again.

　Immediately after the "Preparation Phase" appeared a countdown of "30 seconds"!

　The expressions of both players instantly turned serious.

　That solemn expression was revealed to all the viewers as the projection magnified.

　The facial expressions of duelists during a duel are also one of the elements that attract viewers to watch dueling matches.

　Among the audience members today, some had come specifically to support the "designer" Dark Dimon after receiving advance notice that he would be taking the stage for a duel this afternoon.

　Some spectators even made signs and banners with slogans overnight and waved them vigorously in a corner of the audience.

　Although it is far smaller than those veteran star duelists, it is already quite impressive.

　Therefore, never underestimate the power of fans.

　—No matter the era.

　As Dark drew his cards, he heard the audience calling his name. But he quickly focused his mind and dismissed these external distractions.

　With all five magic cards in hand, he was completely immersed in the duel.

　Let's see how lucky we are today!

　Lion Beast

　[Magic Secretary]

　【Teapot】

　【Paradise III? Moon】

　Pride IV

　"One 'Elysium III: Moon' and one 'Pride IV'!"

　"Drawing these two magic cards at the start of the game can almost determine the outcome of the match."

　"However, among the five magic cards in my starting hand, there was no Magic Spirit Card that could directly utilize these two Great Sin Cards."

　"Although Leomon can evolve into Mad Leomon using Pride IV, it is a five-star Magical Spirit card..."

　"Hmm, not bad luck, the offerings are all there."

　Dark looked at the two Magical Spirit cards in his hand that were the only two that could not be evolved using "Sin Cards," and couldn't help but smile helplessly.

　……

　The third-year commentator, responsible for providing commentary on the match, suddenly brightened up and exclaimed, "We can see that Dark Dimon is wearing a very confident smile. It seems he's very satisfied with his starting hand of five magic cards. We might very well witness a high-level opening hand..."

　……

　The commentator's words reached Jimmy Abbott's ears, causing him to frown slightly.

　To calm himself down, he quickly whispered, "Don't worry, I got good cards too!"

　“Looks like we’re all in luck,” Dark suddenly said, looking up.

　Jimmy gave an awkward smile.

　Then both players simultaneously noticed that the 30-second countdown for the "preparation phase" was down to single digits!

　……

　"Tick."

　The "Preparation Phase" instantly switches to the "Battle Phase".

　The 30-second countdown for the first round of the "Battle Phase" has begun!

　……

　Almost simultaneously, both players drew a card from their hands and quickly cast a normal summoning spell.

　Jimmy's normal summoning spell is actually quite fast.

　However, when compared with the DAX index in sync, the gap became apparent.

　"In the name of Dark Demon, a magical summoning—'Potpot'!"

　The white light that shot out from the card face of the Magic Card landed in the blue side's summoning zone.

　The insect-type magical spirit, resembling a small turtle, instantly materialized.

　"Sizzle!"

　"Potpot" focused its eyes, certain that it was the first to be summoned, and its mood instantly lifted.

　And in its line of sight, a light also appeared on the platform of the red team player on the opposite side.

　But just as it was wondering what kind of magical spirit it would be facing this time, the white light emitted from the magic card in Jimmy's hand enveloped the magic ball on the red team's stage!

　—He did not choose to summon a magical spirit in the first round!

　Seeing this, Darke raised an eyebrow and took notice.

　In the first round, choosing to summon other types of magic cards instead of magic spirits is actually a common tactic in high-level duels, but it is very rare in lower grades.

　There are many reasons why a mage might summon a magical spirit at the start of a fight.

　The most obvious reasons include "protecting the magic orb from being attacked immediately" and "preparing offerings for the second-tier magic spirits as soon as possible."

　The reason of "protecting the magic ball" accounts for a large proportion of the reasons.

　But what if there were other ways to protect the magic ball?

　……

　"In the name of Jimmy Abbott, a magical summoning—'Instant Invisibility'!"

　Jimmy pointed, and the red magic ball suddenly disappeared completely from everyone's sight!

　He surprisingly used one of the "invisibility spells" right from the start.

　Dark was quite surprised when he saw it.

　"Invisibility" can be considered a superior derivative of "Fade Charm". It almost eliminates the invisibility animation of "Fade Charm" while increasing the invisibility time from five seconds to three minutes.

　With Dark's current skill level, he could have crafted spell cards like "Instant Invisibility" and "Obstacles" long ago, but his research focus has never been on that.

　Jimmy not only mastered "invisibility," but he also put it to good use in duels, which is quite impressive.

　However, this invisibility can be easily broken with just one "Phantom Insect".

　But Jimmy started with Invisibility, gambling that Dark hadn't included "Phantom Bug" or any other card that could break Invisibility in his deck.

　This gave him six rounds of maneuvering time.

　This can also somewhat compensate for the disadvantage caused by the relatively slow summoning speed.

　He released his magic and in the next moment pulled the invisible magic ball into the sky!

　……

　However, Dark Dimon began his second summoning at the same time he did so.

　"In the name of Dark Demon, a magical summoning—'Magical Secretary'!"

　The initial reason for including "Spellbook" in the deck was to allow it to cast spells in sync, thus summoning magic cards at a faster speed.

　But once the duel began, Dark quickly discovered that, at least within this "Silver Cup," the "Magic Book" was not very practical.

　Therefore, he summoned it this time to use it as a sacrifice!

　……

　Three seconds passed after the "Magic Secretary" was summoned.

　Jimmy's normal summoning spell had just finished its cooldown, and there were no offensive magical spirits in his field, so he posed no threat at all.

　Dark was able to concentrate fully on casting the summoning spell and complete the summoning of two first-tier magical spirits at the fastest speed.

　Then, in the third summoning, he chose "Sacrifice Summoning"!

　As for the object of the sacrifice and summoning, it is naturally "Leomon"!

　"There's one three-star and one two-star. I offer 'Juglucho' and 'Spellbook' as sacrifices, and at this time and place, I summon the embodiment of justice. Come forth, 'Leomon'!"

　Although "Potpot" in the audience had some complaints about going from "top star" to "sacrifice," she still followed Dark's wishes and became light.

　As the three beams of light converged in the air and quickly outlined the sacrificial summoning circle, the righteous "Leomon" was finally summoned!

　……

　"A five-star magical spirit from the second tier, Leomon!"

　The commentator shouted excitedly.

　"Dark Dimon summoned a five-star magical spirit right from the start! And it's one of his trump cards, 'Lionmon'! Many new viewers may not know that once 'Lionmon' wields a longsword, it becomes unstoppable!"

　……

　Leomon calmly stepped out from among the sacrificial summoners, then frowned and looked at the opposite side.

　There were neither magical spirits nor magical balls in the opposite arena, leaving him momentarily at a loss as to how to proceed.

　"Protect the Magic Ball."

　Just as it was feeling lost, Dark's instructions came gently, calming it down.

　But Dak was actually somewhat helpless.

　Not only did he not include "Phantom Bug" or "Reveal Powder" in his deck, he also replaced "Flying Spell" with "Fusion".

　However, let's not even talk about how demanding the conditions are for using "fusion".

　Without the "Flight Charm," even if "Leomon" evolves into "MadLeomon," it is still powerless against aerial units.

　Therefore, Dark decisively abandoned the idea of ​​summoning "Mad Lionmon" in the first round.

　"It seems this duel cannot be decided in the first round."

　He glanced at the two "major sin cards" in his hand and waited patiently.