As the afterimages of the B.
Skull Dragon and the Dragoon dissipated into the void, the violent energy currents within the underground palace finally subsided.
Nate walked over to the collapsed Tendo with a blank expression and looked down at him from on high.
“By the rules we set earlier, the winner gets to pick one card from the loser’s Deck.
You haven’t forgotten, have you?” At that, Tendo’s face went through a series of shifting shades, livid then pale.
However unwilling he was inside — ten thousand times over — under the crushing dominance of absolute strength and the gaze of everyone around him, he could only grit his teeth, give a cold snort, and humiliatingly hand over his Deck.
Nate took the Deck and flipped through it casually.
His gaze swept across those Fusion behemoths glowing with high-grade luster, and finally his fingertips paused, drawing out a vanilla monster: [Red-Eyes Black Dragon].
Seeing the card Nate had chosen, Tendo was visibly taken aback.
He’d assumed Nate would seize the chance to take his most precious rare card, [B.
Skull Dragon], or that exceedingly rare [Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon].
He never would have imagined his opponent would only take a Normal Monster you could find anywhere.
Nate pocketed the [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] without the slightest interest in explaining.
Someone like Tendo, who valued only attack stats, had no understanding whatsoever of what truly made up the soul of that Deck.
“I’ll take the card.” Nate looked at him coldly.
“Now, hand over Kai’s card.” Tendo gritted his teeth hard, let out a cold snort, deflating like a punctured ball, fished the card he’d stolen earlier out of his pocket, and flung it over with force.
Nate raised a hand and caught it steadily, then curved the corner of his mouth into a meaningful arc.
“By the way, if there’s ever another good chance to wager cards like this, you’re welcome to come find me anytime.
And if you want to win this [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] back, I’ll be happy to oblige whenever.” With that, Nate turned around and casually tossed the card in his hand to Kai behind him.
“Nate!
I…” Kai fumbled to catch his beloved card, lost and recovered, his eyes growing a little red with emotion.
“Alright, enough chatter.” Nate cut off his sentimentality, his gaze turning toward that unknown darkness deep in the palace.
“Let’s go.
We came all this way, can’t very well leave without exploring deeper.” With that, he stuck both hands in his pockets and headed straight for the depths of the Ruins.
Seeing this, Kai and Rio Kastle immediately followed.
…
After walking along the ancient stone steps for about three minutes, the three of them found their view suddenly opening up as they arrived at the true core of the palace.
This was an exceedingly wide underground plaza, ringed by broken stone pillars.
And right in the center of the plaza, a large crowd of students in uniforms of every color was gathered together, pointing and murmuring at something ahead.
At the center of the crowd stood a massive ancient stone tablet, carved with a terrifying evil dragon, savage-faced and winged.
Seeing this, Kai scratched his head and spoke up in puzzlement.
“That’s strange.
We’ve reached the end already?
In your typical ancient Ruins, shouldn’t there be a powerful guardian Spirit holding down the place?
Why isn’t there so much as a ghost in sight?” At that, Rio Kastle beside him looked coolly at the stone tablet and said mildly, “There is a guardian Spirit.
It just hasn’t been activated yet.” Kai blinked and followed her gaze to the tablet carved with the giant dragon.
“Then how do we activate it?” “According to what the academy teachers said in theory class, when you encounter a slumbering ancient tablet like this, you have to call out the name of the monster sealed within it for real, loudly, to wake it.” Rio Kastle explained.
Kai was completely in the dark.
“Then do you recognize which big guy this is, carved on here?” At that, Rio Kastle shot him a sidelong, exasperated glance.
“There are tens of thousands of recorded monster cards in the dueling world alone.
How could I possibly recognize every single one?” With that, she turned her head, her beautiful eyes carrying a trace of inexplicable anticipation, and looked at Nate beside her.
“What about you?
Do you know?” Hearing this, Kai immediately crossed his arms and grinned.
“Rio, this is where you don’t know the half of it!
I know Nate too well.
The guy’s dueling skill really is incredible, but during theory class at school, he’s either asleep or on his way to falling asleep!
He hasn’t taken in a single word of the Spirit history the teachers cover.
How could he possibly recognize the name of such an obscure monster…” But Kai’s words had barely finished when Nate’s calm voice rang out.
“Not certain it’s the one I’m thinking of.
Have to try it to know.” Under Kai’s astonished gaze, Nate started walking, heading straight for the massive stone tablet in the center of the crowd.
Seeing someone suddenly walk toward the tablet, several students watching from the outer edge furrowed their brows.
When they saw the uniform on Nate, the one marking the bottom-feeder class, contempt flickered through their eyes, and someone opened his mouth, about to sneer at a poor student butting in where he didn’t belong.
But when that boy got a clear look at Nate’s face, his voice was choked off in his throat as if by a giant invisible hand!
“Holy crap…
is, is that him?!” The person beside him asked, puzzled, “What’s wrong?
You know this poor student?” “Poor student my ass!
Shut up!” The boy was so frightened a cold sweat broke out, and he dropped his voice low.
“You didn’t see it back inside.
This is the guy who one-shot Tendo, ranked 12th in combat in Class 5, outside the Ruins!
And it didn’t even take him a full turn!!!” The instant these words came out, that small circle of students around them sucked in a sharp breath.
When they looked at Nate again, the contempt in their eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by deep awe and fear.
The once-packed crowd, as Nate approached, instinctively retreated to both sides, forcibly opening up a wide path for him leading to the tablet!
Under the gaze of several hundred pairs of eyes across the whole scene, Nate arrived before the stone tablet, his expression unchanged.
He slowly raised his hand, his fingertips lightly stroking those ancient, rough patterns on the stone.
Looking at the relief of that giant dragon with demon’s horns, radiating destructive desire from every inch, a familiar name flashed through Nate’s mind in an instant.
So it’s you.
Nate’s gaze sharpened, and a low, penetrating voice echoed through the empty underground palace.
“The guest has arrived.
Won’t you come out and welcome them?
[Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World]!” Boom!!!
The instant that name landed, the entire palace suddenly began to quake violently without any warning!
“What’s happening?!
Earthquake?!” Amid the terrified screams of the surrounding students, all at once horrifying cracks split open across the massive stone tablet before Nate!
Then, dark-purple light dazzling to the extreme came surging wildly out along the cracks, carrying a violent miasma belonging to the Dark World, sweeping out in all directions, so blinding that no one could keep their eyes open at all!
Crack…
boom!!!
Along with a deafening crash, the heavy ancient stone tablet shattered completely!
As the light and dust slowly dispersed, a horrifying pressure that nearly suffocated descended upon the whole scene.
Everyone forced their eyes open through their fear, and there, atop the ruins of the shattered tablet, a terrifying demon dragon, vast as a mountain, clad head to toe in pitch-black thorned armor, was proudly stretching out its sky-blotting wings!
Its crimson eyes were like two bright lamps from hell, gazing down coldly at the crowd, insignificant as ants.
Then, a low, soul-shaking dragon’s voice boomed and exploded in everyone’s minds.
“Who is it…
that calls upon me!”