“Interesting…
truly interesting.” Grapha lowered its massive head, and in those three pairs of crimson dragon eyes there was something that looked almost like amusement.
“I noticed you the moment you walked in.
Most of the people here look down on you.” “Yet what I never expected was that even now, dueling me at this stage, you still had the presence of mind to turn around and explain card effects to them.” It paused.
“You really are something, boy.” Nate heard this and only smiled faintly.
“We’re all from the same academy,” he said, his tone easy.
“I can’t let the attitude of a few people color how I see everyone else.” “Besides, explaining a few effects on the fly costs me nothing.” At those words, several students in the crowd who had mocked him earlier quietly lowered their heads, a flicker of shame crossing their faces.
Then, from a corner of the crowd, a bespectacled younger student spoke up in a low voice, a barely perceptible tremor running through it.
“Does anyone…
does anyone else feel like what he just said wasn’t really about explaining card effects at all?” “What do you mean?” The people nearby turned toward him with puzzled looks.
The boy lifted his head and fixed his gaze on Nate’s back, a light slowly kindling in his eyes.
“He’s worried that those of us in the bottom-ranked classes are going to be crushed to nothing by this academy’s system, where the strong keep getting stronger and the weak keep falling further behind.
So he deliberately stopped to tell us the things that won’t ever be taught in a proper class.” The words landed, and the people around him went still.
“You’re right…
when has the academy ever taught us any of this?
The people in the upper classes guard these tricks like their lives depend on it.
They’d be horrified if we ever caught up…” “Yeah, in this place, the strong climb on the backs of the weak, and the weak never get a chance to turn things around…” “He didn’t have to say anything, and yet…” The more they spoke, the brighter their eyes became.
Among them, the students from the lower-ranked classes looked at Nate with something approaching reverence.
They thought of the academy’s cold, rigid ranking system.
A single score line that divided people into tiers.
The strong hoarded every resource; the weak were discarded without a second thought.
From the moment of enrollment, fate seemed already nailed in place.
And yet the person standing on that field seemed to want to break all of it.
Nate, on the field: ???
He could feel that something had shifted in the air around him.
Those glances that had been dismissive and scornful a moment ago were now, somehow, glistening with what looked like tears.
He could even catch stray words drifting over, something about a heartless system and thinking of us and wanting to change things.
The corner of Nate’s mouth twitched.
Hold on.
Since when did he have convictions like that?
The reason he had stopped to explain just now was purely because he had played too many offline duels before transmigrating.
When you were facing someone across the table and a newcomer got stuck because they didn’t know a ruling, you just naturally talked through the effect.
It had become muscle memory by this point.
Hard to shake in the moment.
That was all.
But looking at all the faces around him, every one of them wearing an expression that said I understand you…
This misunderstanding had gotten a little out of hand.
“Oh, COME ON!” Kai, always a half-beat behind, suddenly slapped his thigh hard, then gave a series of deep, solemn nods.
“I can’t believe it, Nate.
You actually had convictions like this all along!” He swiped a hand across his face, his expression more serious than Nate had ever seen it.
“Alright.
Starting today, I’m putting in more effort.
I’m not dragging you down or embarrassing you anymore!” Nate: “…” He opened his mouth, wanting to explain, and found he had absolutely nowhere to start.
He could hardly say in front of all these people, “Actually, I’m just used to it.” That would kill the moment entirely.
A little further back in the crowd, Rio Kastle stood quietly watching the figure on the field.
Those eyes of hers, always cool and still, now carried the faintest ripple across their surface.
Breaking the academy’s ranking system.
Those words had turned over and over in her mind through more nights than she could count.
She had seen too many talented people fall into the low-ranked classes after a single poor result at enrollment and never find their way back.
She had seen too many people who should have been peers get split by this system into two entirely separate worlds.
She wanted to change it.
She had thought about it for a long time, and never found a way through.
And one person’s strength had its limits.
Then today, she encountered this strange boy named Nate.
Even though so many people looked down on him.
Even though he had every reason to view this academy with cold indifference.
He had still stopped, in the middle of a duel where his soul was on the line, to explain card effects to everyone watching.
He had still, at a moment when he could easily have kept to himself, said, “We’re all from the same academy.
I can’t let the attitude of a few people color how I see everyone else.” Standing at the very bottom, he had done what she had always wanted to do and never managed.
She was quiet for a moment.
In the end, she couldn’t help herself, and turned toward the field.
“Hey.” Her voice was soft, but just loud enough for Nate to hear.
“What you said just now…
did you mean it?” “Do you really want to change this academy?” At that question, the noise around them fell away.
Countless eyes locked onto Nate all at once, waiting for his answer.
Nate: “…” He met all those burning, expectant, almost reverent gazes, and his throat moved.
The words “I should clarify, it’s not that deep” had made it all the way to the tip of his tongue.
Then he swallowed them back down.
He could feel it.
If he said right now, “You’re reading too much into it, I just said it off the top of my head,” the light that had just come into those eyes, especially the eyes from the lower-ranked classes, would go out on the spot.
Fine.
Nate sighed inwardly, but kept his usual composure on his face, and slowly raised his head.
“…Yes.” He met Rio Kastle’s gaze and, against all logic, nodded.
“That’s what I intend.” Well, it was already said.
Might as well own it.
That single “yes” was quiet as a feather, but it struck every person present like a thunderclap.
A cheer broke out in the crowd, immediately stifled as everyone forced themselves to keep it down, terrified of disrupting the duel.
Rio Kastle stared at him, those ice-blue eyes clearly reflecting a person’s face for the first time.
So there really was someone who felt the same way she did.
She hadn’t been alone in this all along.
After a long moment, the very corner of her lips curved upward.
It was the faintest smile, barely there, but completely real.
Like ice beginning to thaw.
Like the first warmth of spring.
“I see,” she said quietly.
“Then you had better win this duel.” She stepped back into the crowd, but the way she looked at Nate was nothing like it had been before.
It was the steady, certain gaze of someone who had found a kindred spirit.
Nate watched her retreating figure and quietly pressed a hand to his forehead inside his own mind.
Oh no.
This misunderstanding had spiraled completely out of control.
“Ha!
Hahahahahaha!” At that moment, Grapha’s laughter rang out again, cutting through the atmosphere on the field.
It watched the scene with great interest, those crimson dragon eyes brimming with amusement.
Several hundred years ago, it had seen that look in the eyes of those around it before.
It was the look of soldiers who had fought alongside it against the Dragon Mark bearers, who had offered their backs to it at the swearing of an oath.
But some things couldn’t be changed by one person alone.
“More and more interesting.
Human feelings truly are a fascinating thing.” Grapha’s dragon eyes flickered, and when it spoke again, the edge of violence in its voice had softened just slightly, a rare note of something almost like wistfulness entering it.
“Boy…
you are far more interesting than the one who sealed me away, all those centuries ago.” “If I had met you back then, perhaps we could have been friends.” Nate raised his head, a slow smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
“Several hundred years ago?
I hadn’t even been born yet.” He paused, his gaze meeting those three pairs of dragon eyes head-on.
“But that’s fine.
Once this duel is over, we can still be friends.” “Because the one who wins is going to be me.” A low, rolling rumble rose from Grapha’s throat.
“I admire your confidence, boy.” Its bladed tail rose slowly.
“But the outcome is still far from decided.” “That Savior Demon Dragon of yours can only carry you through this one turn.” As it spoke, its claw lifted, revealing a new card.
“Now then, let us continue.
I activate the Spell Card, Dark World Corridor!” It turned the card toward Nate and slowly read out the effect.
“The effect of this card is to add one Dark World monster from my Deck to my hand.
After that, I discard one card from my hand.” “So, by this effect…” Its claw reached into the deck and drew out one card with precision.
“I add Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World from my Deck to my hand.” The card settled into its claws.
Then it drew out another from its hand and fed it slowly into the Graveyard slot.
“And then I discard from my hand, Silva, Warlord of Dark World!” The instant that card sank into the Graveyard, Grapha’s voice rose sharply.
“In this very instant, the effect of Silva, Warlord of Dark World, just discarded to the Graveyard by a card effect, triggers!” “When this card is discarded from the hand to the Graveyard by a card’s effect, it Special Summons itself!” Its claw swept upward.
“Rise again, my servant!
Silva, Warlord of Dark World!” The Graveyard slot blazed to life.
A pillar of deep grey light surged up from the ground.
From within it, a humanoid monster clad in heavy armor stepped forward, slamming a long spear into the ground, dropping to one knee, then rising, radiating a fierce and battle-hardened presence.
Silva, Warlord of Dark World Level 5 / Fiend / Effect ATK: 2300