ALL NOVEL Chapter 11: Chapter 11: The duel begins
"The last duel before lunch break. Let me take a look."
Because it was an outdoor match without any restrictions, the homeroom teacher, Eileen, who naturally lit a cigarette, scanned the list in her hand.
Her slightly lazy eyes opened a bit.
"The last duel before lunch break is between Kevin Seto and Aisha Yuna Carlos."
"Oooooh!"
As expected, the crowd around the arena erupted with cheers.
The other students, who thought they wouldn't get to see these two duel before the morning ended, found their fading enthusiasm reignited in an instant.
Taking a deep breath, Aisha forcibly adjusted her mindset, calming her heartbeat slightly. "Finally, it's our turn to take the stage."
"Our turn?" Irin asked, confused.
"Ah, I mean, it's my turn... me alone. I got too nervous earlier, hahaha."
Almost letting the words slip, Aisha quickly used her exaggerated acting skills to correct herself.
"Little Aisha, are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine! I'm going in!"
After organizing her deck one last time, Aisha jogged into the dueling arena.
As soon as Aisha entered the arena, the surrounding senior students began to murmur.
"That's the first-year girl who's at the bottom of the class, huh? She's actually kinda cute."
"Such a shame. If she loses this match, she's going to get expelled."
"Do you think she can win?"
"If she could win, she wouldn't be at the bottom. I heard she couldn't even summon a single duel monster during the midterm test."
"Well, even if she's cute, looks don't equal luck on the field."
Meanwhile, in the dueling arena, her opponent, Kevin Seto, was already in position, waiting for Aisha.
"Good luck, Kevin sama!"
"You're the most handsome and strongest duelist!"
"Just win the duel as usual!"
For some reason, Kevin's fangirls were cheering extra enthusiastically today, possibly due to yesterday's comments from Elena.
But Elena, the "culprit," was secretly hiding in the shadows, smiling faintly as if she were quietly discussing something with someone.
"Is that the duelist you said could beat Kevin?"
"What's the matter, Karma? You, who never care about your brother's duels, seem particularly interested today."
"I'm only interested in your judgment."
"Well, who knows?" Elena brushed it off. "Judgment? Maybe it's just my wishful thinking..."
After watching practical duel tests all morning through Aisha's perspective, You Ling had summarized two key points about dueling on the Spirit Continent.
First, on the Spirit Continent, there were no tools like the duel disks from Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, nor were there large-scale duel arenas.
Duelists born with the magical power of the Spirit Eye only needed to throw out the cards they intended to summon or activate, and the cards would respond to their intentions.
In a sense, on the Spirit Continent, the entire land was a duel disk for the duelists.
This made duels on the Spirit Continent appear less like card games and more like summoner battles using cards.
This style of dueling, which leaned more towards physical monster brawls, resulted in a noticeable difference from the complex timing details of Yu-Gi-Oh! duels You Ling was familiar with. It was much simpler and more direct.
The second crucial point was the special rules of the practical test.
To speed up the weekly practical tests, each duelist's life points were limited to 2,000, and decks were restricted to 20 cards.
This fast-paced duel rule was actually advantageous for Aisha's deck.
With the number of Magic and Trap cards unchanged, reducing the deck from 40 to 20 cards significantly increased the concentration of spells in the deck.
"You've got some nerve standing in front of me, Aisha Yuna Carlos," Kevin said coldly, taunting her.
"Cut the crap. Today, it's either you die or I live!" Having already prepared her bold words, Aisha knocked on the Millennium Puzzle. "It's up to you, Mr. You Ling!"
"Heh, let's do this."
— Soul Exchange!
After a day, You Ling once again gained control over Aisha's body.
The lightness of the girl's body gave You Ling a dreamlike and peculiar sensation once more.
Aisha Carlos's petite figure, even among girls of her age, was undeniably delicate... or rather, too delicate.
During the first soul exchange, since it happened in a classroom while seated, You Ling hadn't fully experienced it.
But now, standing in the dueling arena during this second soul exchange, You Ling felt that her chest seemed excessively light.
Shaking his little head, You Ling immediately dismissed the unnecessary thoughts, not allowing them to distract him from focusing on the duel.
"If you want to become the best in the world, women are truly... such a hindrance."
Aisha: "You Ling, what kind of rude comment is that?"
"My apologies. I just recalled a famous quote; it wasn't directed at you, Aisha."
Before the duel began, You Ling first took the deck out of the card case strapped to Aisha's thigh.
As for why the card case was strapped to her thigh...
According to Aisha, it was a recent trend among the girls at the Sacred Talisman Academy.
Strapping the card case to their thigh was both convenient and unobtrusive, and the intricately designed case could also serve as a decorative accessory.
If You Ling had to comment on this trend, he wasn't sure about the convenience, but it certainly felt quite provocative.
Meanwhile, for the boys, their card cases were normally clipped to their waists.
At the same time, across from him, Kevin Seto also retrieved his deck.
"Spirit's Eye, deck assembly!"
Next, both duelists simultaneously placed their decks into the emblem of duels in the Spirit Continent—the Spirit's Eye.
Before the duel began, the Spirit's Eye would appear on the wrists of both duelists, used to read and store the decks that would be employed during the match.
With a cigarette in her mouth, Teacher Eileen announced, "Now then, practical test. Kevin Seto VS Aisha Youna Carlos, begins now!"
Kevin LP: 2000
VS
Aisha LP: 2000
"Duel——!"
After the duel declaration, the Spirit's Eye on Aisha's wrist lit up first, signaling that she would take the first turn.
"My turn, draw!"
Under the rule of drawing a card on the first turn, the starting hand consisted of five cards, plus one drawn card, making a total of six cards at the beginning.
Taking control of Aisha's body, You Ling scanned the hand and smiled.
"Perfect! The 20-card deck rule significantly increases the probability of drawing Spell and Trap cards."
A very synergistic opening hand—it was nothing short of perfect.
It seemed that even after crossing into this world, You Ling's good fortune in card games hadn't diminished at all.
"I summon one monster card in face-down Defense Position and set one card in the Spell and Trap Zone. Turn end!"
Placing the monster card horizontally on the field indicated it was in Defense Position. At this stage, a card could be summoned face-down to confuse the opponent.
With a quick flick, You Ling threw out two cards in succession. Under the influence of magical energy, the backs of the two cards floated into place on the front and back fields in front of Aisha (You Ling).
"How strange... is that really Little Ai?"
Just from the opening moves, Irene noticed something felt off.
"This is the first time I've seen Little Ai duel with such composure and confidence. It's like... she's a completely different person?"