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Chapter 28: The Final Trump Card
🕑 Added 2025-06-30 13:23:38 +0000 UTCOn the second day of the Joint Entrance Exam, the tension in the stands was palpable.
Principal Hawthorne looked over at the frowning Principal Shepherd and chuckled. "Come on now, Shepherd, that's enough gloom. For years, you and I have been fighting for last place. I let you get to the finals this time, and you're still not satisfied?"
Principal Wu, seated nearby, couldn't help but chime in, his voice dripping with condescension. "Hey, there's no shame in losing to Jansen. The boy is a prodigy—a gold card on his first try." He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If Jansen hadn't shown up this year, New Metro First High might have actually pulled off an upset.
Down on the arena floor, Liam Blake looked at Russell, his expression grim. "Nancy and I will go first this time."
It was a sacrificial plan. Even if they could just exhaust some of the Yaksha's energy, it would be worth it. Russell understood immediately. A trump card was only a trump card as long as it remained hidden. This wasn't a life-or-death battle; it was best if Kaneki Ken never had to appear.
He thought for a moment, then nodded.
But if it came down to it, he wouldn't hesitate. The prize for winning—access to an advanced secret realm—was too valuable for a student with no background like him to pass up.
As Liam stepped onto the field, Jansen Crowe, already waiting, smirked. "Trying to wear my Yaksha down with cannon fodder? A classic, but useless, strategy." He wasn't just a show-off; he wasn't an idiot, either. He saw their plan plain as day.
The referee's whistle blew. Liam's Minotaur and Jansen's Sea Warden Yaksha materialized simultaneously.
There was no preamble. Liam, knowing the chasm in power between them, immediately commanded his Minotaur to charge. The hulking beast thundered across the field, head lowered.
The attack was futile. The Minotaur, which had struggled against Yoriichi's purple-rarity power, stood no chance against a gold-rarity monster. The Yaksha didn't even move from its spot. With a contemptuous flick of its wrist, it lunged with its trident. The three-pronged weapon plunged through the Minotaur's chest with a sickening crunch, erupting from its back before the beast dissolved into motes of light.
Liam's face fell. He hadn't even scratched it. "I couldn't even give Russell an opening..."
Nancy gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Leave it to me. Go get some rest."
She took his place, and her Three-Tailed Fox appeared, its new armor gleaming. As before, the fox unleashed its illusionary wave. It washed over the Yaksha to no effect, dissipating against its immense power like mist in the sun.
Nancy sighed. Her fox was great at bullying weaker cards, but against an opponent of a higher quality, its main strength was nullified. No point dwelling on it, she thought. I just have to create an advantage for Russell. Any advantage.
Her fox shot forward, a blur of white fur and flashing claws aimed straight for the Yaksha's throat. Just as the attack was about to land, streams of turquoise water erupted from the Yaksha's body, swirling around it with a hiss to form a shimmering, liquid armor.
There it is! Nancy's eyes widened in alarm. It was the water-control ability they had speculated about.
The fox's claws screeched uselessly against the water armor. In response, the Yaksha's trident moved in a vicious, fluid arc, impaling the fox through the heart and ending the match.
Nancy walked off the stage, a wry smile on her face. "Sorry, Russell. It seems Liam and I didn't cause him any trouble at all." She couldn't help the wave of depression that followed. Her whole life, she had been protected, cherished by her father, Jonathan Whitemore, never wanting for anything. But ever since joining New Metro's top class, she had faced one setback after another.
As she began to spiral into self-doubt, a calm, steady voice cut through her thoughts.
"It doesn't matter. Because..."
Nancy turned. The midday sun was directly behind Russell, casting him in a golden silhouette that forced her to squint.
"...I am the strongest."
Russell, so arrogant, she thought, the exact same words that had crossed her mind during the ranking exam. And yet, she couldn't help but feel a spark of hope.
Russell took his battle station and summoned Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
Jansen's eyebrows shot up. "So they really were just paving the way for you." He had watched yesterday's matches; he knew this was the strongest card New Metro had. Too bad, he thought, that the person you're facing is me.
The whistle blew. Yoriichi's markings flared to life and he vanished.
But Jansen was ready. He'd seen this speed before. Without needing a command, the Sea Warden Yaksha acted, summoning a vortex of high-speed, rotating water currents around itself.
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!
Yoriichi reappeared at the Yaksha's side, but the moment he entered the vortex, the Three Treasures shield protecting him shattered instantly under the barrage of countless micro-attacks. The razor-sharp currents tore through Yoriichi's clothes, leaving bloody gashes all over his body.
Ignoring the searing pain, Yoriichi channeled everything he had into his first and strongest attack. His katana erupted in a brilliant inferno, the blade swinging in a fiery arc toward the Yaksha's chest.
ZZZZZZZZZ!
The sound of hissing steam and extinguishing flames echoed across the arena. The blade met the Yaksha, but due to the quality gap and the elemental disadvantage—fire versus water—the attack was neutered. It failed to kill, only searing a black, charred scar onto the Yaksha's torso.
Before Yoriichi could recover, the Yaksha retaliated. Its trident lanced forward, impaling him through the stomach. With a powerful twist, it flung Yoriichi's body across the field like a ragdoll.
"Cough!" Yoriichi hit the ground hard, spitting up a mouthful of blood.
"You've done well to even injure it," Jansen said, his tone solemn and respectful. Since its creation, his Yaksha had never been so much as scratched. "To damage it is a feat you can be proud of."
He then raised his hand for the final blow. A pillar of dark blue water gathered at the tip of the Yaksha's trident before blasting toward the downed Yoriichi.
BOOM!
Debris and smoke erupted from the point of impact.
In the stands, Principal Wu was beaming, clapping a stunned Principal Shepherd on the shoulder. "Old Shepherd, your student is quite impressive! It's just a pity he ran into my Jansen, hahahaha!"
Shepherd's face was ashen. He ignored the gloating. Principal Hawthorne looked on with something resembling sympathy. Just bad luck, he thought. Any other year, that kid would have been the champion.
"Strange," Marcus, the announcer, said from his booth, his voice laced with confusion. "Why hasn't the referee called the match?"
On the field, Jansen had his arms raised in victory, but seeing Russell's unnervingly calm expression, a knot of unease began to form in his stomach.
The smoke slowly began to clear. The spot where Yoriichi had fallen was empty.
Standing in his place was a young man with stark white hair and a single, terrifying scarlet eye. Four sharp, crimson tentacles extended from the base of his spine like a predator's tail, while another, thicker and serrated like a centipede, coiled menacingly.
Crack.
The white-haired figure casually cracked his index finger. The sharp sound echoed through the silent arena, followed by Russell's cold, emotionless voice.
"Now... round two."
