Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

“It’s incredible, the quality of this year’s newcomers is so high!”

"It has only been two months since he entered the professional dueling world, and Marufuji Ryo has already successfully defeated last year's world champion, Ed Phoenix!"

"This does not mean that Amity became the champion just by luck as the rumors say, because everyone can see that he is not a pretty face with a slender body, but a duelist with great strength."

"It's just that Marufuji Ryo is too strong. He successfully completed the challenge that most people didn't think highly of at the beginning. He proved the value of outstanding graduates from the Duel Academy and also proved his own strength!"

"No, maybe we shouldn't call him by his name anymore, just like Ed has the title of 'The Prince of Destiny'. Friends in the audience, let's cheer for the winner together--"

"'Caesar'!"

"'Caesar' bright!"

"'Caesar of Hell'!"

The voices of the commentator and the audience were still ringing in his ears. Ed could clearly hear their shouts, but his brain was temporarily unable to process the information. The only thing echoing in his mind was the attack that the [Cyber ​​End Dragon] had just made.

Looking at Ed, who was knocked back and lying on the ground by the attack of the Cyber ​​Terminator Dragon, which was supposed to be insubstantial but seemed to be real, Caesar had no intention of caring about his defeated opponent. He just shook his head with a little regret.

Although during the duel, he couldn't help but associate and compare Ed with another user of the [Hero] deck, Yuki Judai, he knew very well that Judai and Ed were completely different. The best evidence was that Judai was able to beat him, while Ed lost to him.

【D·hero】? I feel it is not as good as 【E·hero】.

Although the action when activating [Future Fusion] was very cool, Caesar is not like Hayato, who can let the elves in the cards he threw help him pick up the cards. So as the price of showing off by showing off his deck, Caesar now has to honestly pick up the deck he threw on the ground around him and sort it out slowly.

That was why Caesar did not turn around and walk towards the exit like most winners, but had to move closer to Ed who was sitting on the ground to pick up the card.

When Ed noticed Caesar approaching him and bending down to pick up the card in a rather destructive manner, he raised his head and looked at Caesar. After a moment of silence, he slowly said, "You are so powerful that you have actually broken fate?"

"First, let's redefine what 'fate' means."

Caesar said as he picked up a [Electronic Laser Dragon]. Because he raised twenty cards in one go, Caesar, who couldn't pick up all the cards in a short time, had time to say a few words. He was not good at comforting people, but he was very good at taking the opportunity to say some trash talk to belittle people. After all, that's what they were taught in school.

"Redefine 'fate'?" Ed frowned. "Fate is fate. What else can it mean?"

"What determines your so-called 'fate'?"

Thinking back to the fate he had encountered, the tragic fate that led to his father's early death, the epic fate that led to his encounter with Hayato Kobayashi that night, and the divination that Saiou had made with such confidence before the duel, Ed answered without hesitation: "What determines fate is naturally fate itself."

"No, that's not right." However, upon hearing Ed's answer, Caesar immediately denied it, "What's the difference between that answer and 'Why climb the mountain' or 'Because the mountain is there'? It sounds profound and powerful, but it's just a rubbish answer that's not even as good as a riddle, right?"

Ed was a little dissatisfied with Caesar's comments. He had just lost to him, and even a duel couldn't make him shut up. Especially since Caesar didn't even have time to think. It was as if he had to deny and suppress him no matter what answer he would give. Ed couldn't help but ask, "Then tell me, what is fate and what determines fate?"

Ed thought Caesar couldn't answer his question, but unexpectedly Caesar gave his answer without hesitation: "It is power. There is no doubt that fate is a powerful force, and it is also a powerful force that determines fate."

".Power?" This answer was a completely new perspective that Ed encountered for the first time. He looked at Caesar with a puzzled look on his face.

"I said it at the beginning, a true duelist will never succumb to so-called fate, because fate is something that is to be conquered and even trampled upon by duelists from the beginning. Why can birds fly? Because as weak creatures, they have no choice but to fly. But if birds were strong enough, they would not have withdrawn from the competition with their compatriots like dinosaurs and would have continued to stand tall on the earth."

"And the same is true of fate. Why did the weak die? Was it because of fate? No, it was simply because he was weak. What was the fate of the weak in front of the strong? The so-called fate would only be determined by the strong at that time. The essence of fate is like this - that is, the strong will humiliate the weak!"

"If you were in the same situation as the round you lost, what would be the reason for your failure? 'My strength surpasses fate'? Nonsense!" Caesar picked up the last card and looked down at Ed and said, "It's just because you are a weakling, a weakling who is much weaker than me."

"What would happen if your admired duel king, Hayato Kobayashi, faced the situation? I'll tell you the answer. That situation would not have occurred from the beginning. Before your first round, Hayato-san would have been able to completely suppress my arrangement. And my second round would not even come, and the duel would have ended."

If Caesar told others this, some people might think he was exaggerating. How could he suppress others before his turn? In comparison, "one turn kill" or OTK is not too exaggerated, but the praise for the Duel King is too much.

But Ed had long been a die-hard fan of Duel King and a solo pusher. He had also watched the duel between Caesar and Hayato when they graduated, and knew that what Caesar said was not exaggerated at all, but completely realistic, because he was the one who was suppressed by Hayato in his turn, and then was completely defeated because he could not have his second turn. Ed had originally sneered at Caesar's answer, but Caesar actually used Hayato as an example? Wow, now I have to believe it.

"The essence of destiny is power?"

Caesar was a little surprised to hear that Ed was not paying attention to him at all but was belittling him as a weakling. Instead, he was thinking about the part he had made up before. However, he continued with a matter-of-fact tone, "That's right. As long as you are strong enough, even the arrangement of fate can be beaten to change the decision. So fate is determined by powerful forces, and weak and powerless beings can only go with the flow of fate."

"Divination, prophecy, the essence of the so-called 'spying on fate' is nothing more than a powerful force arranging the fate of the weak in advance, but as long as it is strong enough, such a fate can be easily broken. Even if we don't count this duel, the video recording of the Duel City in the millennium, the duel between the Duel King and the opponent who was said to have the ability to predict in the quarterfinals is also evidence."

Caesar never believed in divination, not just because Ed was his opponent. The reason was simple. During the classes at the Duel Academy, they often played the video of the Duel City where many legendary duelists gathered. One had to admire the foresight of Kaiba Keihei, the vice president of Kaiba Group.

  While watching the duel video of the Duel King and his wife flirting with each other and learning how to duel, Caesar was full of disdain for the so-called fate since then. If fate really could not be changed, wouldn't Ms. Isis, who could see the future more clearly than those fortune-tellers and riddle-tellers, have defeated Mr. Hayato and become the Duel King herself?

"That powerful force is the reason for transcending fate. How can a mere trick like divination manipulate a truly powerful person?"

"So, fate is not important at all. What's important is strength, the powerful Pawa!" Looking at Ed, Caesar sneered, "My fate is to lose to you? That's just an illusion caused by your unclear understanding of your own strength. Even if you have won the world championship, you are just an ordinary person active in the professional duel world without me."

"The power of the Duel Academy is far beyond your imagination. So--" After sorting out the cards and preparing to leave, Caesar did not forget to leave one more sentence to further hit Ed, the loser.

Caesar put his index and middle fingers together and pressed down from top to bottom, then sneered and said, "--Disappear, loser!"

"Tsk, will that guy die if he doesn't act cool?" Looking at the video, Manjomu leaned his head against the back of the chair and said dissatisfiedly, "Before he turned dark, he was always cool and had a very high popularity. Even after he defeated me and turned dark, his popularity is still so high. Do those girls in school like the dark side so much?"

"And the way he looks now, is he going to have a professional fight or an exhibition match? He has already gained so many fans after graduating so quickly, it's too outrageous."

As he spoke, Manjomu imitated Caesar's actions and shouted coldly, "Disappear, loser!"

Although he spoke with all kinds of dissatisfaction towards Caesar, his actions exposed his mentality completely - it would be a lie to say that he did not envy Caesar's popularity.

Manjōme is a person who cares a lot about his reputation, and this has never changed from the beginning to the end. No matter how he gets along with Juudai and the others, even if he can get along with the poor student "Osiris-Red" in the eyes of others without any idol burden, he has never given up his ambition to "become the emperor of the Duel Academy" when he entered the school.

Not only must one dominate the campus in duels, but without popularity, even if one is the strongest, one is only strong and independent of the world, and is far from being an "emperor". In addition to being strong, it is also necessary to be "popular" and "extremely popular", and one must have male followers and female fans, only then can one be considered healthy.

As luck would have it, while surfing the Internet during the summer vacation, Manjome accidentally learned about Fubuki's brilliant achievements in school before her disappearance. He also found out that the serious Fubuki in the past also had popularity and strength that was extremely consistent with her nickname "King", which is exactly what Manjome needs at the moment.

Although he did not go so far as to worship him as his master, after all, both Manjome and Fubuki were among the top four in the Duel Academy exchange competition, and Manjome considered himself to be on par with Fubuki in terms of strength, but Manjome still seriously asked Fubuki how to improve his popularity in school.

"Ruiji-chan, give me a bite of the marshmallow—Ah, what did you say, Manjome-san?" Fubuki, who seemed to be shopping with someone, replied after hearing the phone call from Manjome at that time, "The secret of being popular, I won't be sleepy if you tell me that."

"I have something urgent to do so I can't go into detail, but I can briefly mention a few points. For example, you must be able to maintain your composure and elegance for a long time, even if you lose the duel. People who easily become hysterical or resist the fact of failure like a little devil, and say things like "Don't do that, I will lose at least ten years later" will not be popular;"

"Then you need to say cool and profound lines, such as 'What can't be fixed is the so-called human heart' or 'Do you remember how many slices of bread you have eaten', but never say lame lines like 'XX is the woman who can become my mother'."

"Also, there are recognizable poses or gestures, like Judai-san who waves his hands after a duel. Ryo also came up with a similar gesture at my suggestion recently, and it seemed to work well in professional duels, and some people have started to imitate it."

"Hmm? It's our turn in the Ferris wheel queue? Well, that's all. Manjome-san, you can also watch more duel videos of professional duelists for reference. I'll hang up now, Ciao~"

Coming back to his senses and watching the stopped video, Manzhangmu stood up with a confident look on his face: "Calm and elegant, I didn't even get embarrassed when I lost to Caesar, so I can obviously do it; handsome lines, hum, with my literary talent, I can come up with them easily. But the recognizable movements, I need to think carefully."

Walking into the living room, Manjome put on a blanket he picked up as a cape, spun around on the spot to make the blanket fly up, and then made an arrogant pose with one hand pointing to the sky: "For example - one, ten, hundred, thousand, Mr. Manjome!"

Reciting the lines he had just come up with, which he thought were extremely cool, Manjome nodded with satisfaction. He turned around and saw the eldest of his three brothers - Manjome Nagasaku.

"Big brother? When did you come?"

".When you walked out of the room." He had just called Manjyoume several times, but his brother was completely immersed in his own world and didn't hear his voice at all. Manjyoume Nagasaku rubbed his temples and said, "What nonsense, is this what you are learning in the Duel Academy?"

"I suddenly feel that it is necessary to visit the Duel Academy, as a parent." (End of this chapter)