My head was spinning with questions and a burning feeling welled up in my chest. I didn't know why these fiery emotions sprung out, but I knew that my rationale was blinded by them.

Seeing how coldly Mikazuchi defeated Yukina, seeing that message appear in front of my eyes, seeing Yukina's expression after she was defeated... all of it was a blur.

Then, that raised the question of when did Yukina find Mikazuchi? When did Mikazuchi get to the rooftop? How long they were fighting? Why didn't Chabashira-sensei inform us of this vital information?

As I was about to open a communication line to expose Mikazuchi's location, the visor immediately denied me that option and forced me into a fight with Mikazuchi. White noise pierced my ears and I turned to Yukina who was taking her visor off.

"Yukina-san!" I called out to her, but I couldn't hear her reply back due to the white noise.

Everything materialised in front of us automatically. While the board and cards were just projections, it felt like I was playing with the real thing. Down to the touch, it was like I was playing paper Vanguard.

Now in a Cardfight, I had to clear my consciousness. Right now, the King is in front of me, defenceless. If I win in this battle, then I can win us the war. If I beat Mikazuchi, then I'll find out who X is. These were my priorities right now, no matter how much I wanted revenge against him.

I'm not going to let Yukina's sacrifice be in vain.

Yukina left the rooftop to return to the war preparation room, and a private communication line opened up between me and Mikazuchi. He started talking to me before our fight.

"Takanori... I've heard plenty of things about you."

"From your father?"

"Some of it, yes. The rest is my own observations. I don't like formalities, so let's call each other by our first names."

"Huh?"

"I mean it. It's tiresome, being reminded I share a name with my father. After all, I am my own person. I am Kaido."

"Whatever you wish. My name is Yuuto."

"I already knew that. It means "distant person", doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

"It suits someone like you."

Kaido sent a chilly gaze my way. I'm not going to falter here.

I'm going to win the war for E Class. I'm going to find out who X is. I'm going to get revenge for Yukina.

This man... this King... I will beat you. There's too much on the line for me to lose.

"Stand up, Vanguard!"

"Captain Nightkid."

"Barit Dracokid!"

A message appeared in front of us.

"First Turn: Mikazuchi Kaido."

It seems who for the first turn was randomly chosen. Well, that's fine. Going second works in my favour anyways.

"Stand and draw. I ride, Dandy Guy, Romario. Nightkid to draw. Turn end."

Kaido:
Hand: 6
Damage: 0
OXO
OOO

Yuuto:
Hand: 5
Damage: 0
OXO
OOO

"Stand and draw. I ride, Desert Gunner, Gaiban."

I didn't want to give Kaido any counterblast so he could use Romario's skill. Gaiban's base power is 7k, so it's perfect to swing under with. This is why I kept him in my hand instead of trying to mulligan for Demolition Dragon.

"I draw from Barit, and call Rising Phoenix. Gaiban, attack! (7000)"

"No guard."

I hope I don't drive check into one of my front triggers.

"Drive check! (Demolition Dragon)" I breathed a sigh of relief. "Turn end."

Kaido:
Hand: 6
Damage: 0
OXO
OOO

Yuuto:
Hand: 6
Damage: 0
XXO
OOO

"Stand and draw. I ride, Ruin Shade and call Greed Shade and Ripple Banshee."

I felt poor watching this man flex his three triple rares in front of me. The bling was too real, and Mitsuba must've been rolling in his grave.

Considering he's the son of Mikazuchi-sensei, I'm not even surprised. He even has a Rolex on his wrist.

"Ripple Banshee attacks first. (8000)"

"No guard! (Detonix Drill Dragon)"

"Ruin Shade attacks. Her skill, I mill two to give her 4k. (9000 > 13000)"

"Catharina guard! (7000 > 22000)"

"Drive check! (King of Demonic Seas, Basskirk) Greed Shade attacks. (9000)"

"No guard! (Exorcist Mage, Lin Lin) Front trigger."

"Turn end."

Kaido:
Hand: 5
Damage: 0
Drop: 2
XXX
OOO

Yuuto:
Hand: 5
Damage: 2
XXO
OOO

"Stand and draw! I ride, Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-Ou! His skill, I counterblast to bind your Greed Shade! Then, I call Dragonic Deathscythe! His skill, soulblast two to bind Ripple Banshee, and he gets 3k! (9000 > 12000) Rising Phoenix moves back and I call another Cho-Ou. My vanguard attacks! (9000)"

"No guard."

"Drive check! (Wyvern Guard, Guld) Draw, all to Deathscythe! (12000 > 22000)"

"Damage check! (Dragon Undead, Skull Dragon)"

"Boosted by Phoenix, Cho-Ou attacks! (9000 > 17000)"

"Knight Spirit, guard. (9000 > 24000)"

"Dragonic Deathscythe attacks next! His skill, add 5k! (22000 > 27000)"

"No guard. (Dolph the Ghostie)"

"Turn end."

Kaido:
Hand: 4
Damage: 2
Drop: 3
Bind: 2
OXO
OOO

Yuuto:
Hand: 5
Damage: 2
XXX
XOO

"Stand and draw. The freezing depths is your fate. Be judged by the cursed giant that curses the bottom of the ocean! Ride, Ice Prison Necromancer, Cocytus!"

Kaido's vanguard circle expanded ice blue. A nice feature of the visors is the board had animations integrated into it, such as the colour of the vanguard circle.

"This is my Imaginary Gift. Protect I. Cocytus' skill. I counterblast and mill four cards. I call, Dragon Undead, Skull Dragon and Greed Shade. Greed Shade's skill, I discard a card and mill two. I add Ruin Shade to hand, and call her over Greed Shade. Right now, my drop zone has eight cards. Battle! Ruin Shade, attack. Her skill, I mill two to add 4k. (9000 > 13000)"

With that, his drop zone reached ten cards. This is where things become painful.

"Ten cards are in my drop zone now. Ruin Shade's skill, add another 4k. (13000 > 17000) Cocytus' skill, add 10k to himself. (12000 > 22000) Skull Dragon's skill, for each card in my drop zone, he gets 2k. (12000 > 32000)"

"Rising Phoenix, guard! (9000 > 19000)"

"Cocytus attacks next! (22000) Return to Absolute Zero!"

"No guard!"

"Twin Drive. (Ruin Shade, Rick the Ghostie) Heal trigger. I heal a damage and give power to Skull Dragon. (32000 > 42000)"

"Damage check! (Worm Toxin Eradicator, Seiobo) Heal, all to vanguard! (9000 > 19000)"

We cancelled each other's attacks out.

"Skull Dragon attacks. (42000)"

"No guard! (Demolition Dragon)"

"At the end of the battle, Skull Dragon retires. Then, I'll end my turn."

Kaido:
Hand: 6
Damage: 1
Drop: 11
Bind: 2
OXX
OOO

Yuuto:
Hand: 4
Damage: 3
XXX
XOO

"Stand and draw. The thunderclap that rocks the world from the bottom to the top, explode with the rage of a thousand stars, and erase everything in my path! Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon ride!"

My vanguard circle expanded blood red.

"Imaginary Gift: Accel II! I draw a card! Gauntlet Buster Dragon's skill! I counterblast and discard a card to bind your front row! Vanish before my eyes, Giga Sparkle Buster!"

Kaido's front row rear-guards disappeared.

"Gauntlet Buster Dragon gets 5k and a critical for each of your open front row rear-guard circles! (12000 > 22000/1 > 3) Phoenix's skill in drop zone, since your rear-guard was bound, I call him to Accel with 3k power! (8000 > 11000 > 16000) Gauntlet Buster Dragon attacks! (22000/3) Big Bang Knuckle Buster!"

"Imaginary Gift: Protect I."

"Twin Drive!! (Lightning of Hope, Helena, Spark Edge Dracokid) Critical, all effects to Cho-Ou! (9000 > 19000/1 > 2) Next, Dragonic Deathscythe attacks! His skill, add 5k! (9000 > 14000)"

"No guard. (Mortal Mimic) Critical trigger. All to vanguard. (12000 > 22000)"

I gritted my teeth. Bad time to get a trigger, since it doesn't let my Phoenix hit.

"Boosted by Phoenix, Cho-Ou attacks! (19000 > 27000/2)"

"Ripple Banshee, guard. (22000 > 32000)"

"Turn end..."

Kaido:
Hand: 3
Damage: 2
Drop: 13
Bind: 3
OXO
OOO

Yuuto:
Hand: 6
Damage: 3
XXXX
   XOO

OST: Clavar la Espada

"Stand and draw." Kaido looked down at me, and sighed coldly. "I've fought your type way too many times before. You're all so narrow minded and tunnel too hard on your personal hardships. I'm sick of it."

I'm also sick of people preaching to me unnecessarily. I wondered what he wanted to say about me now, but considering he's Mikazuchi-sensei's son, he must feel similar to him. He pointed a card at me.

"You're one of the worst, disgusting, selfish people I've ever met, Yuuto. I hope you're aware of that."

Somehow, these words pierced straight through my head. The nonchalant tone, the icy gaze, and the dismissive body language.

For a moment, I took his words to heart. For a moment, I truly believed those words.

"Suffocate under the sea of fate, and drown in your own well of evil. Freeze over the bodies of the lost and harvest their weak souls. Persona Ride, Ice Prison Necromancer, Cocytus!"

My thoughts were dispelled when Kaido's vanguard circle expanded ice blue once more.

"This is my Imaginary Gift. Protect I. I use Cocytus' skill. I counterblast and mill four, and call three cards. Resurrect from the depths of hell, Stormride Ghost Ship, Greed Shade, and Ripple Banshee. Ripple Banshee's skill, I soulblast to draw and give her 4k. (8000 > 12000) Greed Shade's skill, I discard a card and mill two. I return Captain Nightmist to my hand. I call Nightmist and use his skill. Counterblast and call another Ripple Banshee to rear-guard, and use her skill to soulblast and draw a card. She gets 4k. (8000 > 12000) Now, I have nineteen cards in my drop zone. Cocytus gets 10k. (12000 > 22000)"

Annoyingly, he was both setting up to kill me and recovering cards after I blew up his board. Even though he was overcommitting a bit, he had calculated a solid risk to take. After all, since he was only one card away from twenty, Stormride Ghost Ship is able to retire at the end of his battle, so he can make Cocytus a very threatening vanguard against me. Luckily, I have Guld in my hand, but these columns are getting scarily big.

His deck is pretty thin now, but on the flip side it just increases his trigger chances. Being on three damage helps, but I can't afford to intercept since these are my only offensive units I have right now. My hand was mostly grade 1 and 0s. I need to somehow survive this turn and manage to kill him next turn, or else he'll kill me.

"Boosted by Ripple Banshee, Stormride Ghost Ship attacks. His skill, add 15k. (9000 > 21000 > 36000)"

"No guard! (Dragonic Deathscythe)"

"Ghost Ship's skill. I draw a card and retire him. Now, I have twenty cards in my drop zone, which activates Cocytus' effect. Instead of getting 10k, he gets 20k and a Critical! (12000 > 32000/1 > 2) Cocytus attacks! (32000/2) Return to Absolute Zero!"

"Wyvern Guard, Guld, perfect guard!"

"Twin Drive! (Rough Seas Banshee, Knight Spirit) Double critical trigger. All effects to Nightmist! (9000 > 29000/1 > 3)"

I really can't catch a break when it comes to my luck, huh?

"Boosted by Ripple Banshee, Nightmist attacks. (29000 > 41000/3)"

I looked over my hand and field. I can barely scrape survival.

"Seiobo and Catharina guard! (12000 > 32000 > 47000)"

"Turn end."

Kaido:
Hand: 8
Damage: 2
Drop: 20
Bind: 3
OXX
XOX

Yuuto:
Hand: 2
Damage: 4
XXXX
   XOO

I assessed the situation I was in right now. Overall, this looked bad for me. My hand was minuscule compared to Kaido, and despite my field advantage, Cocytus could easily fill his board without even batting an eye. Not to mention, his low damage yet huge hand. My options are dwindling.

While I would like to go into Detonix Drill Dragon to chip away at his hand, I only had another copy of Gauntlet Buster in my hand right now. I have no choice but to ride into it and see if I can gain any advantage from a spur of multi attacks.

"Stand and draw. The fist of light that carves a path to the future, brawl until the bitter end! Explode with the rage of a thousand stars, and erase everything in my path! Eradicator, Gauntlet Buster Dragon persona ride!"

The vanguard circle expanded blood red.

"Imaginary Gift: Accel II! I draw a card. I call, Cho-Ou (9000 > 14000) and use his skill! Counterblast to bind Nightmist face up! Gauntlet Buster Dragon's skill! (12000 > 22000/1 > 3) My Accel Cho-Ou attacks first! (14000)"

"Ruin Shade, guard. (12000 > 17000)"

"Gauntlet Buster Dragon attacks! (22000/3) Breakthrough, Big Bang Knuckle Buster!!!"

"Imaginary Gift: Protect I."

"Twin Drive!! (Supreme Army Eradicator, Zuitan, Exorcist Mage, Lin Lin) Front trigger! (13000 > 23000) (9000 > 19000) (22000 > 32000) (9000 > 19000) (14000 > 24000) Cho-Ou's skill! At the end of the battle my vanguard attacked, since you have no front row rear-guards, I counterblast to restand him! Rising Phoenix attacks next! (23000)"

"Knight Spirit, guard. (12000 > 27000)"

"Dragonic Deathscythe attacks! His skill, add 5k! (19000 > 24000)"

"Rough Seas Banshee, guard. (12000 > 27000)"

"Cho-Ou attacks! (19000)"

"No guard. (Dolph the Ghostie)"

"Boosted by Phoenix, Cho-Ou attacks! (19000 > 27000)"

"No guard. (Seabed Demon Beast, Scaredick)"

I huffed, exhausting my final attack. I think I levelled the playing field, even if it was just slightly. Even so, Kaido didn't look affected at all. His eyes never wavered for a second. His confidence never shattered at all. He had the personality of a King.

Kaido was like a massive fort with the perfect defence, staring down at me with a steel gaze as I tried to raid his castle. All my attempts at an attack were neutralised, then slung right back at me with even more force.

How was I going to win against such a fierce opponent?

"Turn end."

Kaido:
Hand: 3
Damage: 4
Drop: 24
Bind: 4
OXO
XOX

Yuuto:
Hand: 4
Damage: 3
XXXXX
XOO

"Final Turn."

Kaido declared it as such, and the visors began beeping incessantly. A message appeared on my screen, warning me about what "Final Turn" meant in the war.

This declaration was high risk, high reward. If you didn't finish the opponent in this turn, you would lose and die. If you did finish the opponent this turn, your reward for the war would double.

I was taken back by Kaido's direct attack. He was challenging me through his words.

A glint in his eyes told me everything.

Regardless, I could win right here and now. That's the only thing that mattered.

The game had reached it's climax now. I must survive.

"Suffocate under the sea of fate, and drown in your own well of evil. Freeze over the bodies of the lost and harvest their weak souls. Persona Ride, Ice Prison Necromancer, Cocytus! This is my Imaginary Gift. Protect I! Cocytus' skill. I counterblast and mill four. Resurrect from the depths of hell, Undead Dragon, Skull Dragon, Dandy Guy Romario, Dandy Guy Romario, and Dandy Guy Romario! I have twenty five cards in my drop zone. I call from my hand, Violence Flanger."

This is bad... his drop zone is stacked and he's going to use Flanger to make an unguardable attack. Right now, with my four card hand and his giant offence, I won't survive unless I get a heal trigger...

No, I can't think of the worst case scenario just yet, not when so much is riding on the line. I can't let Kaido's pressure get to me.

"Cocytus gets 20k and a critical, (12000 > 32000/1 > 2) all three Romario get 4k, (8000 > 12000) (8000 > 12000) (8000 > 12000) and Skull Dragon gets 2k for each card in drop zone. Add 50k. (12000 > 62000) Boosted by Romario, Cocytus, attack! (32000 > 44000/2) Return to Absolute Zero!"

I was in the toughest position imaginable. The number of shield in my hand was 45k. The number of shield in my field was 15k. I had 60k worth of shield to stop Cocytus' attack. I only needed 55k for a no pass.

I had to guard this one at least. If I didn't, then Flanger would tear through me.

In the end, it came down to a single critical trigger. If Kaido drive checks at least one, then I'm finished.

"How many critical triggers have you seen?" I asked.

"Check your visor." Kaido said.

Strangely enough, in the corner of my vision was the critical trigger symbol with the header "Mikazuchi Kaido" above it. It seemed that you could use your visor to check public information of both you and your opponent. The number next to it was seven.

Knowing this was Granblue, he must have ran twelve criticals. With only five criticals left in a nearly ten card deck, the odds were stacked against my favour.

"Lin Lin, Spark Edge, Gaiban, Zuitan, guard! (12000 > 27000 > 42000 > 52000 > 57000) Cho-Ou, Deathscythe, intercept! (57000 > 67000) No pass!"

"Twin Drive!!"

For the first time in this fight, I heard a shred of emotion in Kaido's scathing voice.

"First check! (Ripple Banshee) Second check! (Rough Seas Banshee) Critical trigger."

In an instant, that single drive check crushed me.

I couldn't take both of his attacks head-on now. I was going to die.

"Power to Violence Flanger, critical to Skull Dragon. (12000 > 22000) (1 > 2) Boosted by Romario, Violence Flanger attacks! (22000 > 34000) His skill, I soulblast a grade three and discard my entire hand. He gets 5k, (34000 > 39000) and you can't call sentinels or cards with the same grade as the ones I discarded. I discarded a grade of each, so you won't be able to guard, period."

"No guard..."

I reached over to my deck and flipped my damage over. (Rising Phoenix)

I had no hand cards and no means of defence against Skull Dragon. By adding five cards to the drop zone, Skull Dragon gets another 10k as well. He was set-up to win the moment his turn began.

My only choice now... is to get a heal trigger.

"My drop zone is now thirty cards. Skull Dragon gets another 10k. (62000 > 72000) Boosted by Romario, Skull Dragon attacks! (72000 > 84000/2) Curse of the Stone Ocean!"

"...no guard!"

This was it. Everything was riding on my damage checks.

Revenge for Yukina.

Finding out who X is.

Winning the war.

I'm not going to lose just yet... I'm not going to die out here on this battlefield without ever contributing anything.

My entire life, I was an average nobody... but now, in this moment, I could become an extraordinary somebody.

I desperately wanted to search for a way out. In this battle, even if the odds were less than one per cent, I wanted to keep fighting.

With my back against the wall, I had no other choice but to survive. If I didn't, then I'd never forgive myself.

I'd be the worst. I would be no better than him.

Failure is not an option.

Winning is everything.

"First check! (Demolition Dragon)"

One last chance... to salvage myself.

"Second check!"

I turned the card over, praying for Seiobo.

The only card that appeared in front of my eyes was Gauntlet Buster Dragon.

Sending the card to the damage zone, I dropped to my knees.

A red flashing warning came up on my visor.

It read three words.

"You are Dead."