At first he had assumed that duels in Spirit World were always to the death. But later Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning told him that was not necessarily so. Among Spirits, a Duel could decide life and death, or it could simply stop at the point of victory.
That made sense. If every duel meant death, then the first lesson in learning to duel would be killing one's own teacher.
Soon the two of them stood outside the camp and activated their Duel Disks. Upon hearing that Marauding Captain was about to Duel with the hero from another world, the surrounding Spirits hurried over to watch.
Today's opponent was none other than Marauding Captain himself, the captain who led charges into enemy lines.
"Spell Card 'Dragged Down into the Grave'. I look at your hand and choose one card to return to your Deck."
"Trap Card 'Raigeki Break'. I discard one card and destroy the first card on your field."
"I activate the effect of 'Puppet Plant' from my hand. I discard it and take control of one Warrior-Type monster on your field. I will take control of your second monster."
"'Marauding Captain', attack 'Marauding Captain' directly!"
The Marauding Captain who had been taken to Yugen's side leapt forward without mercy. His blade flashed and came down in a fierce strike.
At the last moment, however, Yugen signaled him to hold back. The sword passed along the side of the original's shoulder and slammed into the ground with a burst of sparks.
Marauding Captain, LP 0.
Marauding Captain, who had nearly been cut down by his own sword, lay on his back staring at the sky.
He began to ponder why a Spirit should live at all, and why he had chosen to duel a hero even stranger than the Dark God.
The cards were played out in only a few minutes. Yet the entire camp of Spirits watching the match fell silent.
How should they put it?
Hero-sama's Duel was nothing like they had imagined.
Among the crowd were two Spirits who had returned from Bone King's cave. When they saw Marauding Captain challenge Hero-sama to a Duel, one of them had wanted to warn him.
But the other pulled him back.
Grinning, he said there was no rush and that it might be interesting to watch first. After thinking it over, the first Spirit agreed.
So they said nothing and stood side by side, munching seeds and smiling as they watched Marauding Captain get crushed.
As expected, it was very entertaining.
After being knocked down by a single strike, Marauding Captain closed his eyes and carefully replayed the Duel in his mind.
Now that he thought about it, he realized he had not really done anything the whole time. The cards in his hand were either discarded before he could play them, destroyed the moment they hit the field, or simply taken to the other side.
Honestly, if it were not for his respect for Hero-sama, he might have torn off his Duel Disk and drawn his sword to attack directly.
But after calming down and thinking it through, especially when he imagined mastering such techniques himself and using this kind of Duel to bring joy to those hateful Dark God Minions, the corners of his mouth twitched.
"Heh. Hehehehe."
He could not help laughing out loud.
The surrounding Spirits looked at one another with concern.
Had Marauding Captain been broken by that Duel?
At that moment, a warrior rushed in from outside.
"Marauding Captain! Report!"
He was breathing hard.
"The outsider you asked me to find, the one in red with hair like a jellyfish. We think we found him!"
At the same time, Judai Yuki was eating.
If it had been any other student who suddenly fell into another world, they might have panicked. But the thick skinned Judai Yuki did not.
After a brief shock, he quickly accepted the situation and wandered around. He even helped an old woman push a cart loaded with goods by the roadside.
Unable to refuse her warm invitation, he joined her for a meal and ate three large bowls before finally walking out, rubbing his round stomach.
"No, no, this is not the time to eat, burp." Judai Yuki let out a long breath. "Yugen seems to be here too. I need to find him quickly. And we have to get back to Duel Academy before dawn, or we will be expelled."
Floating beside him, Winged Kuriboh chirped, "Kuri kuri."
Kuriboh seemed to say that expulsion was not their biggest problem right now.
"Huh?" Judai Yuki suddenly grabbed Kuriboh, only now realizing something. "Wait, why can I touch you, Winged Kuriboh?"
Until now, busy eating, Judai Yuki had not realized this was the world of Spirits.
"Kuri!"
Kuriboh suddenly cried out, flapping its wings and ramming into him, knocking him aside.
Judai Yuki fell to the ground, and in that instant a poisoned needle shot past his face and struck the dirt with a sharp snap.
"What?"
Judai Yuki turned in surprise and saw a figure standing on a nearby slope. It wore armor, carried a sword and shield, and stood upright like a human, but its head resembled an insect.
An insect knight.
"Why does that look familiar?"
He slapped his forehead, then realized.
"Wait, aren't you a card?!"
Insect Knight, Level 4, ATK 1900. A Normal Monster.
The Insect Knight snorted. "So you are a Duelist. That weak Spirit blocked my attack? My scout reported that Bone King fell to an otherworld warrior. Was it you?"
Judai Yuki blinked. "Wh what king?"
The Insect Knight leaped down and prepared to attack again, but suddenly his expression changed as if sensing something.
A fierce sword aura slashed toward him from behind without warning.
It was too sudden for him to react. The soil behind him burst open and an insect Spirit sprang out, throwing itself in front of the blade and exploding into fragments.
It was a subordinate from the Insect Knight's Deck, summoned at the last moment to block the strike. Even so, the remaining force knocked the Insect Knight rolling twice across the ground.
He looked up to see a warrior of chaos descending from the air, blade wrapped in light and darkness, cleaving down with immense force.
"Legendary Warrior!"
The Insect Knight was shocked. But even as he rolled, he had already drawn a card and activated it at once.
"Sakuretsu Armor!"
Trap Card Sakuretsu Armor, a shield capable of destroying powerful Spirits in a single blow.
The explosive energy shot toward the descending Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, only to strike a faint golden barrier and vanish.
It was useless.
"You have protective magic too?" the Insect Knight shouted.
The light surrounding Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning was from Power of the Guardians, an Equip Spell that gathered counters when the monster attacked and could protect it from destruction by battle or effect (ANIME EFFECT).
At that critical instant, the Insect Knight felt a chill at the back of his head.
From the corner of his compound eye, he saw a silver haired mage in white robes already behind him. Magic gathered at her staff, ready to erupt toward him.
He was caught between two sides with nowhere to escape.
However.
"Counter Trap, Negate Attack!"
A powerful vortex burst out from him. The energies from Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning and Silent Magician were twisted into the spinning current, followed by a violent backlash that forced both attackers to retreat.
"Whew. That was close."
The Insect Knight stood up and coldly examined the two Spirits, then shifted his gaze past them.
Toward the direction of the Duelist who had been commanding them from the shadows.
"So there is more than one outsider here?"
Yugen stepped out from where he had been watching. "Looks like we still have to settle this with a Duel."
The brief clash just now felt like a scene from the memory world of a king, where monsters fought directly.