Chapter 107: Top 8 Assembled
As the ancients say, if you can't beat them, join them. Little Lin Durant Hayato looked at the extra Deck in his hand and once again marveled at the System's ability of Creation out of thin air.
However, although he had exchanged for a new Card Series, Hayato did not add it to the Deck he would use in tomorrow's Match. This was a surprise he had prepared for Pegasus, and because the Type of this Card Series was relatively singular, it would be easily countered once exposed.
"Although without the [Ojama] as a buffer between the two series, using it might be a little bit awkward. But I've filled it with Draw Cards, so I shouldn't get a Bricked Hand, right?" After organizing his Deck and putting it away, Hayato heard a knock outside his Room and went out.
———The Ojama Monsters still with Keipei———
In the evening, inside the Castle's Banquet Hall.
"That Pegasus guy, even though he's a scoundrel, he actually prepared such a lavish meal for us." Having learned the correct way to use them from Tristan , Joey Wheeler somewhat awkwardly used a knife and fork to cut the foie gras placed before him. Cutting off a piece and putting it in his mouth, he savored it carefully.
"So greasy. Is this foie gras?" He glanced at the foie gras on the plate in front of him. "Eating it is just a mouthful of oil. I think steak is better."
Hayato twirled a forkful of pasta and was about to put it in his mouth: "The fat content in foie gras is about 40% to 60%, roughly equivalent to the frosting on a cake. Strictly speaking, when you eat foie gras, you really are eating oil."
"More than half is oil? Tsk, isn't that just fatty liver?" Joey Wheeler pushed away the foie gras in front of him with some distaste and looked at the others. Because the meal provided by Pegasus didn't include Joey Wheeler 's favorite curry, he ended up getting a cream of mushroom soup and a croissant instead.
"You guys are really relaxed." A female voice came, and Joey Wheeler looked over, it was Kujaku Mai.
"Aren't you guys worried about tomorrow's Match at all? You don't even know who your Opponents are, yet you can still eat so casually." Kujaku Mai said, looking at the several empty plates in front of Joey Wheeler .
Hayato wiped the cheese powder from the pasta off his mouth with a napkin: "If you're hungry, you can't even concentrate on Dueling. Besides, even now, the Top 8 aren't all here yet."
Pegasus had installed a giant display screen in the hall, showing in real-time how many people had qualified for the Top 8. Currently, seven Avatar Frames on that screen were lit up, but perhaps to create a sense of mystery, none of the Avatar Frames showed who the person was.
"Bandit" Keith, Kujaku Mai, Joey Wheeler , Yugi, and Hayato. There were five known Top 8 Duelists so far, meaning that besides these five, two more people had qualified for the Top 8 throughout the day. However, up until now, Hayato and the others hadn't seen those two people.
Although Pegasus said the time limit to qualify for the Top 8 was 48 hours, from 9 AM on the first day of the Match until 9 AM on the third day, which was tomorrow morning, Hayato learned from the Butler that the Castle gates would be completely closed after 8 PM tonight and would no longer accept new Players joining the Top 8.
"'The Duelist Kingdom Tournament is selecting the Strongest Duelist. If it takes that long just to qualify, such a Duelist is not qualified to become the strongest.'" This seemed to be Pegasus's original words, of course, after removing his strange English Catchphrase.
But Kujaku Mai shook her finger somewhat proudly and said: "That's not necessarily true. Just because you don't know who the Opponents are doesn't mean I haven't gathered Information on the other Players~"
As soon as she said this, not only Hayato and Joey Wheeler but even Yugi's attention was drawn. But just as the few of them thought she was about to say something, Kujaku Mai sat down by herself, picked up a taco roll, and started eating.
This made Joey Wheeler anxious: "Don't just say half of it! Do you really know who the other two are?"
"If you don't believe me, then forget it. And here I came specifically to share Information with you."
"I do believe you, Mai, of course I do."
Looking at Joey Wheeler sitting beside her with a fawning expression, Kujaku Mai couldn't help but feel a bit smug. She slowly took a sip of the Red Wine beside her before saying: "Among the other two Top 8 Duelists, one comes from that quite famous Duel Dojo in the Duel Monsters World, and is even a sure-fire future Master."
"Duel Dojo?" Yugi was slightly startled upon hearing this name, then asked with some uncertainty, "Miss Mai, you're not talking about that 'Cyber Style' Dojo, are you?"
"Cyber Style?!?" Hayato was shocked. "The Cyber Style that uses 'Cyber Dragon'?!"
"Oh? Hayato, you actually know about that Cyber Style Dojo too?" Kujaku Mai looked at Hayato and Yugi with some surprise. "Seriously, I thought only professional Duelists knew about the Cyber Style Dojo and was planning to show off a bit in front of you guys. Turns out you all know."
'Oh, I know it very well. Cyber Style is something etched into the DNA of countless duelists! It can even make people abandon all mainstream strategies and join the invincible Cyber End Dragon.' Hayato thought to himself.
Speaking of the representative figure of "Cyber Style", it's none other than the super popular character from the second Yu-Gi-Oh! series that inherited the Yu-Gi-Oh! DM worldview, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX—Ryo Marufuji. His Dueling technique of Deck Destruction was extremely popular, and compared to a bunch of incompetent teammates, he was practically one of the Protagonist Judai Yuki's rare god-tier teammates.
However, that was years later. Hayato was more concerned about the present: "That guy from the Cyber Style Dojo, is he strong?"
"It's not a matter of whether he's strong or not. After all, I was there to probe for Information, and others wouldn't willingly reveal their Decks." Kujaku Mai said, thinking for a moment, "That guy said he actually had already Assembled the Star Chips yesterday, but something happened on the way, which caused him not to arrive at the Castle immediately."
"However, the other Top 8 Player Dueled against him." Pausing, Kujaku Mai noticed "Bandit" Keith also walking into the Banquet Hall with an arrogant stride not far away. She lowered her voice, "That guy from the Cyber Style Dojo is very good at increasing a Monster's ATK, and he can often perform OTK Operations."
"OTK?" Joey Wheeler didn't quite understand. "What is OTK?"
"OTK stands for 'One Turn Kill'. It refers to defeating your Opponent in a single Turn, such as emptying their Deck in one Turn, or dealing 4000 Damage Points in one Turn."
"Oh, I see." Joey Wheeler nodded understandingly, but he immediately sensed something was off. Turning his head sharply, he saw an unfamiliar smiling face.
"You few are really relaxed. I just barely managed to rush to the Castle." A strange man with long blue hair said with a smile, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lemuria. It's finally nice to meet you all, fellow Top 8 participants~"
The large screen installed in the Banquet Hall updated in time, the last Avatar Frame lit up, indicating that all eight Duelists had arrived.
(End of Chapter)