CHAPTER 334: CHAPTER 333: THE ACADEMY’S KAISER (BONUS)

"Seriously, this is supposed to be a major Doma base, and this is all they had?"

Kira walked out of the dimly lit base, stepping back into the sunlight as he counted the loot he’d confiscated from this raid.

To be honest, he wasn’t too impressed.

It wasn’t that there weren’t any rare cards, but most of the rare cards these people had were the kind that were considered powerful and valuable among the local natives, but to him, they were pretty much useless.

Take, for example, the "Chainsaw Insect"—a four-star monster with an impressive 2400 attack points, but its minor drawback was that whenever it battled, the opponent drew a card.

Well, at least it could fetch a good price.

With this, the Doma forces stationed here in Domino City were basically wiped out.

"But... is this really okay?" Jaden sounded a bit worried.

He’d been so caught up in the duel just now that he hadn’t thought much of it, but now that it was over and he recalled the intel they’d overheard, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

"They just said something about headquarters having already arrived in Duel City or something, right?" Jaden glanced at Kira. "Sounds like some pretty tough people are coming?"

He was reminded of Shell—one of the New Doma Three Swordsmen. Back then, it took both of them together to defeat him.

If it was someone like that, the threat level would be on a whole different scale compared to the grunts they’d just faced.

"Who knows, maybe." Kira shrugged. "Anyway, we’ve done what we could for now. Whatever comes next, we’ll deal with it as it comes. How’s your puzzle card collection?"

"Oh."

Jaden fished out a handful of puzzle cards from his back pocket.

"Four pieces," he said. "Still missing two."

"Hah, I’ve already got five." Kira pulled out five pieces.

This raid on New Doma not only cleared out the threat and grabbed some cards, but both of them also won quite a few puzzle cards. After all, there were only a handful of qualified duelists in such a huge base; the rest of the cannon fodder didn’t even have puzzle cards.

"All right, time to find the last opponent," Kira waved his hand and smiled. "See you at the finals—though we’d better hurry. It’d be a joke if we didn’t even qualify for the playoffs in the end."

The two bumped fists and then split up.

"So it’s just the last match left..."

Kira wandered the streets, glancing around.

Honestly, with duelists scattered throughout such a large city, it wasn’t that easy to bump into one.

Especially since most duelists made an effort to hide themselves. If you walked around Duel City during the tournament blatantly wearing a duel disk, it was like declaring yourself open prey. Anyone could instantly tell if you were a participant and decide whether to challenge you.

But if you hid and observed from the shadows, you became the hunter. You could watch for easy prey to make your move—or keep hiding if you thought you’d lose against someone.

So, Kira and Jaden managing to farm five puzzle cards each at a duelist hotspot was already pretty fast. For others, just wandering the streets wasn’t likely to net them opponents quickly.

Not to mention, 90% of duelists—even if they got the chance—would have a hard time winning all their matches. The higher-ranked and more famous the duelist, the more likely they were to face opponents just as strong or even stronger. Others who recognized them would avoid them entirely.

So even though it seemed like he only needed one more win, finding that last opponent might not be so easy.

After walking down another street without seeing any duelists, Kira realized he was getting a bit hungry after a morning’s activity, so he decided to grab a bite to eat.

And as luck would have it, just as he pushed open the door to a restaurant, he bumped right into someone.

It was Duel Academy’s Kaiser, Zane Truesdale.

Both of them froze in surprise.

Their eyes met—yes, it was the right person.

Half a second later, Kira smiled. "What a coincidence. You here for lunch too?"

"Yeah." Zane smiled and casually asked, "How many pieces do you have?"

"Five."

Kira showed his puzzle cards.

"Missing just one."

"What a coincidence."

Zane smiled as well, pulling out his own pile.

He also had five pieces.

Kira figured it probably had something to do with his school uniform. Although Zane Truesdale—Kaiser—was one of the strongest characters in GX, his reputation as Kaiser was mostly within the Academy. Before graduation, he wasn’t famous in the outside world.

Many Duel City participants probably hadn’t heard of his name, and seeing his school uniform, figured he was just some student experiencing the tournament—an easy target. That’s probably how he managed to win five matches so quickly.

"So, we’re both at match point," Kira grinned.

"Yeah." Zane’s eyes sparked with fighting spirit. "Looks like one of us will qualify for the finals right here."

"Oh, right here?"

"Well, if both our goals are to keep advancing, we’d run into each other eventually. Besides, we never had a chance to duel in the Academy, but sooner or later, we had to face off, didn’t we?"

"True."

Kira smiled.

"Yeah, since we’re both here, we might as well take the chance."

Zane nodded, took two steps back, and prepared his duel disk.

But Kira raised a hand in a "stop" gesture.

"Wait."

He said very seriously,

"I need to eat first."

Zane: "..."

...

So, a few minutes later, Kira was sitting inside the restaurant, digging into his meal. Zane sat across from him, arms folded, patiently waiting. (He’s watching Mukbang. xD)

"The food here’s so-so, beef’s a bit tough. Want to order something?"

Zane waved it off. "I just ate."

"No worries, you can always order more. My treat," Kira offered.

"Really, I’m fine."

Zane smiled.

"By the way, I’m surprised you already managed to win five pieces so quickly. Impressive."

"Haha, just lucky," Zane laughed. "I just give every duel my all and fight with everything I have."

Kira nodded. "I understand."

He knew Zane’s philosophy—one of the defining traits of his early character: Respecting your opponent’s dueling.

Zane was the classic idealistic duelist—always positive, placing great value on the honor of duelists, even more than his desire to win.

The bonds with his deck, respect for his opponent and the duel itself—that was what he pursued, as shown in the anime when he reflected on himself after turning dark in the underground duels. He used to think that respecting his opponent was enough, and victory didn’t matter.

This conviction made him strong but also became his weakness.

In the Academy, he was the invincible Kaiser, not even losing to protagonist-tier duelists like Jaden. He’d never lost before, so he didn’t crave victory—since it was always within reach.

But once he entered the professional circuit, and was utterly defeated by the genius Aster Phoenix, he felt, for the first time, a genuine desire to win.

But his habitual way of thinking made him suppress that desire. He kept reminding himself to stick to his ideals and tried not to let himself want to win at any cost. This inner conflict ultimately broke his spirit as a duelist.

It was a clear demonstration of a rule in anime: when a duelist loses their nerve, their cards lose their power too. Even someone as strong as Kaiser—after his defeat to Aster and subsequent collapse—kept losing in the pro circuit, never winning another match, even against lower-ranked pros.

It wasn’t until he fought in underground do-or-die duels that his long-suppressed desire finally exploded. He abandoned his old philosophy and began to pursue victory by any means necessary.

But in Kira’s view—even though he knew this opinion might seem heretical in the eyes of most duelists in this world—he preferred the path of the "Hell Kaiser" after he turned dark, compared to the idealistic early version.

Because dueling is cruel. There can be only one winner. The "respect your opponent, winning or losing doesn’t matter" talk never sat right with him—because in this world, victory and defeat decide everything, and the loser loses it all.

Kira narrowed his eyes as he regarded Zane.

Zane was among the strongest characters in GX. It was a shame that he later crashed and burned, his body ruined, becoming one of the few still-competent allies during the fallen era of GX.

If he could use this duel to give him a wake-up call—to make him realize the harshness of the dueling world—maybe he wouldn’t have to wait until the pro circuit to get crushed and traumatized, and wouldn’t have to fight in the underground. Maybe their side would gain a huge power-up in the later stages.

Having made up his mind, Kira wiped his mouth and stood up. "Thanks for waiting. Let’s do this."