Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24

  After everyone was dealt their cards, the first player of the first round immediately used a duel card, and the person chosen as their opponent accepted readily.

  The two Spirit-branded Retainers walked into the dueling arena. One side was a girl with a pretty one-piece dress, short orange hair, and a fox mask strapped to the side of her head. On the other was a girl with curly blue hair. The blue-haired girl was wearing a more ceremonial dress.

  "Let the duel begin," Shunsuke Furukawa, who was acting as the judge said.

  At this, both of the Spirit-branded Retainers immediately began casting spells at each other. They cast many spells and fought in melee combat. They dodged nimbly, clashed fiercely, used combo attacks, fired ranged attacks… their fierce battle was difficult to follow.

  One minute later, the blue-haired girl succeeded in immobilizing the orange-haired girl's legs with a chaining spell.

  Furukawa immediately declared that the blue-haired girl was the victor.

  It was apparent that neither Spirit-branded Retainer had been going all-out. Even so, was still a nice duel… or at the very least, Seiji, who lacked this type of dueling experience, felt that it was nice.

  He also enjoyed watching all the duels that followed after as well.

  When it was time for a handsome boy wearing dark blue Sakura Island clothing to take his turn, Natsuya whispered to Seiji: "That's Akatsuki Mitarai."

  Seiji took special note of him.

  He was a handsome boy who seemed gentle, elegant, and bursting with charisma. If he were put into a television drama, he would certainly be either the male lead or a popular compassionate male love interest.

  Akatsuki noticed Seiji's gaze upon him and looked over at Seiji. The two of them exchanged looks. Akatsuki smiled faintly, and in response Seiji furrowed his brows slightly. Their exchange of looks only lasted a short instant.

  "I activate my duel card and choose as my opponent… Natsuya." The dark blue-haired boy used a duel card.

  'As expected.' Seiji felt many glances focusing on him.

  He ignored all the glances and focused on his opponent's Spirit-branded Retainer. Seiji saw that the person he would be dueling against was a handsome boy with a cold and distant expression. This boy had short dark purple hair. He was wearing a dark brown windbreaker, and both his hands sported black gloves.

  "Akatsuki Mitarai's Spirit-branded Retainer's name is Naruo Yashuu. His bonded spirit is a Hannya, and his claws are incredibly fierce——be especially careful of them," Natsuya warned. "It's fine even if we lose this duel; don't force yourself."

  "I'll be careful," Seiji replied.

  He and Naruo Yashuu both entered the dueling arena.

  After they were both a certain distance away from each other, Shunsuke Furukawa indicated for them to begin the duel.

  The purple-haired boy's figure instantly vanished.

  'He's above me!' With his evolved [Astral Vision], Seiji was able to see Yashuu clearly. The purple-haired boy was in the sky, and he was about to bring his leg, bolstered by the force of gravity, down upon Seiji.

  At the last moment, Seiji backflipped to dodge the attack and counterattacked with a football-style bicycle kick!

  *Thud!* Yashuu blocked this kick with his arm.

  They instantly separated from each other, putting some distance between them. But before long, they clashed again in a fierce battle involving their fists and feet.

  From the bystanders' perspective, "Shiroya" was at a disadvantage and was forced to continuously retreat. Suddenly, "Shiroya" grew enraged out of embarrassment. He used a barrier spell to take Yashuu's attacks head-on while viciously punching!

  Yashuu backpedaled in midair and stood there. He lifted his hand and formed a gigantic purple-red claw, which he controlled to attack Shiroya from a distance!

  *Boom!!*

  The gigantic magical claw hit its target. Shiroya's defensive barrier was shattered, and he was knocked away.

  But while he was in midair, he suddenly shot out a [Mana Bullet]!

  *Boom!!*

  Yashuu, caught off guard, was sent flying.

  Shiroya flipped through the air and landed on the ground. Yashuu also adjusted his posture and landed on the ground.

  "Stop!" Shunsuke Furukawa shouted. "The winner has been decided. It's Shiroya-san's victory."

  Naruo Yashuu instantly furrowed his brows and was about to say something when he came to a realization. He looked at his feet and noticed that one of his feet was out of bounds.

  In this duel, someone who was forced out of bounds would be declared the loser!

  Seiji revealed a smile which said "all according to plan."

  He had intentionally led his opponent to the edge of the dueling arena, then used what appeared to be a rash counterattack followed by a surprise [Mana Bullet], which knocked his opponent out of bounds.

  It would be difficult to succeed if his opponent noticed his intentions, so the fact that he succeeded could largely be attributed to luck.

  "Yoruhana-san's Spirit-branded Retainer… is rather clever."

  "His opponent set up a trap using the rules of the duel. That was pretty good."

  "For the famous 'Hanyuu Yashuu' to actually fall for such a tiny trick… he must have been overconfident.'"

  "Although it was a devious trick, it was indeed done beautifully."

  "That's right! Especially the Mana Bullet at the end—that was quite precise. It was timed perfectly in the period after Shiroya's opponent relaxed his guard. A truly wonderful use of an opportunity!"

  The other Yin-Yang Masters present at the table all gossiped with each other.

  Natsuya had a delighted expression, while Akatsuki's expression became somewhat grimmer.

  "Would the winner like to steal two cards or discard two cards?" the judge Ryouta Moritama asked.

  "Steal two cards," Natsuya replied.

  And so, the judge took Akatsuki's hand of cards, showed it to Natsuya, and allowed her to take two cards before returning the hand to Akatsuki.

  During this entire process, Akatsuki's expression didn't change. However, his expression got noticeably grimmer again when he noticed what cards had been taken from him.

  "Yoruhana-san, your Retainer… what's Shiroya-san's bonded spirit? I can't tell, so could you enlighten me?" Kanna Fujihara, who happened to be sitting next to Natsuya, blinked curiously.

  "My apologies, but that's a secret," Natsuya said.

  Seiji returned to the round table. Natsuya grinned widely at him, and Seiji gave her a big thumbs-up in response.

  Their first battle was a success… but it was only the first battle.

  The game continued.

  It was now Natsuya's turn.

  She decided to use up one of her duel cards. She chose a girl wearing a flower hair accessory and pink Sakura Island clothing as her opponent. This girl's Spirit-branded Retainer was… Yuuki Oyokumo! It was the little red-haired boy who had chatted a little with Seiji in the garden.

  Seiji and Yuuki both headed to the duel arena.

  "Shiroya onii-chan, I'm going to battle seriously because I don't want to lose!" Yuuki warned.

  "I don't want to lose either… or, I should say that I can't lose, Oyokumo-kun." Seiji's voice was calm, but Yuuki felt the unshakeable will behind it.

  'No, I can't let myself be pressured by this onii-san.' Yuuki turned around to look at his own master. 'As Ayase onee-san's Spirit-branded Retainer, I must win! I can't make her lose face in front of so many people!'

  They entered the dueling arena and prepared to fight.

  "Duel, start!" the judge said.

  "Rahh!" Yuuki roared ferociously. His skin lit up with a crimson glow, and a vicious-looking demonic shadow with blood-red fur materialized behind him. This demonic shadow opened its huge maw, revealing two rows of dagger-like fangs!

  Seiji's eyes twitched when he saw this. 'Hey, hey, you're going with your ultimate ability right off the bat?'

  Supported by the demonic shadow behind him, Yuuki bounded towards Seiji and struck out with a vicious punch!

  Seiji cast [Mana Barrier] on himself and dodged. Despite this, the demonically empowered fist grazed him lightly, and he was sent flying.

  Yuuki stepped on the air and chased after him.

  *Pound! Smack!! Boom!!!*

  One punch, one kick, and a second kick—just three attacks were enough to shatter Seiji's barrier! The impact sent him hurtling upwards; he went so high that he passed through the barrier that blocked out the wind and snow, causing him to feel the chill of winter again.

  'Not bad, little brat.'

  When Seiji reached the apex of his flight, he reoriented his body and descended with the force of a meteor.

  The little red-haired boy's expression was solemn as he waited for Seiji to come down. When Seiji saw Yuuki's grave face, a phrase suddenly popped into his mind, and he couldn't resist the urge to say it.

  "Do you recall that there's a palm technique which descends from the skies?"

  Yuuki's expression changed. 'I remember. That palm technique is…'

  "Buddha's palm technique!"

  Seiji cast his evolved form of [Telekinesis], materializing a huge golden palm! As he descended, the huge golden palm slammed down upon Yuuki with unbelievable force.

  Yuuki was momentarily stunned at the sight, but he quickly regained his senses. He shouted loudly to steel his nerves and cast the powerful spell that he had been preparing.

  [Demonic Rampage—Red Demon Form!]

  His hands pushed out towards the sky and released the gigantic demon-spirit behind him in an explosive attack!

  *Boom!!!*

  The huge golden hand and red demon-spirit crashed into each other, and the spectators were deafened by a large noise resembling that of two trucks colliding head-on.

  As a result of the two powerful forces' collision, the golden hand was… broken! The vicious demon-spirit broke through the golden hand and rushed towards Seiji.

  'I won…' Just as Yuuki was thinking this, he was astonished to see the reappearance of the huge golden hand!

  Seiji struck a Buddha pose. "Buddha once said this: 'If one palm strike cannot take care of the problem, then use two palm strikes.'"