The atmosphere in the auditorium reached a subtle tipping point the moment Thorne set down his glass of water.
Normally, this kind of lecture would fall into an awkward silence during the Q&A session, but perhaps because Thorne's earlier story about Traptrix had been too vivid, the group of high school students below, brimming with excess hormones, suddenly grew restless.
"Teacher Thorne! Just talking without action is all show. How about a live demonstration duel to open our eyes?"
Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted at the top of their lungs.
That single shout was like poking a hornet's nest.
"Yeah! Teacher Thorne, show us what you've got!"
"Let us see the power you brought back from the Spirit World!"
The cheers connected into a wave, accompanied by synchronized clapping.
On stage, Thorne froze for a second. The hand holding the golden quill tightened unconsciously, and the fitted suit at his collar seemed to make his breathing a bit constrained.
After all, he was a writer; deep down, he still felt a bit unsure. If he messed up in a place like this, the persona he had painstakingly built would collapse.
Regardless, the applause below was too intense.
Being surrounded by hundreds of gazes filled with admiration, expectation, and even a hint of scrutiny… this feeling was just impossible for someone as image-conscious as Thorne to refuse.
He straightened his chest, and that reserved arrogance returned to his face.
"Since everyone is so enthusiastic, I would be honored to oblige." Thorne let out a light chuckle into the microphone, his gaze sweeping across the audience. "Then, which student is willing to come up and play the other protagonist in this 'adventure story'?"
The auditorium, which had been as noisy as boiling water just moments ago, was instantly doused with cold water.
Cheering was one thing, but actually going up to duel a well-known pro-level figure… if they got wiped out, they would lose all face in front of the whole school.
A typical high school mentality. They would cheer when it was time to cheer, and shrink back when it was time to shrink.
Amid this pin-drop silence, Raku suddenly felt the chair beside him shake.
"I'll do it! I'll do it! Teacher Thorne, pick me!"
That simple-minded guy, Akira, actually raised his hand, nearly jumping out of his seat. That burst of energy was like a husky just released from its cage.
Raku leaned back in his chair, tilting his head to look at his friend, letting out a sigh in his heart. This guy really was carefree in a way that made people envious.
Seeing Akira's face, which radiated a kind of pure foolishness, Thorne secretly let out a long breath of relief.
This kind of opponent that looked like a "standard textbook example" was simply perfect.
"Very good, student." Thorne stepped forward with long strides, elegantly walking to one side of the Duel field. "Courage is the prerequisite for the start of an adventure, but you also need wisdom to go far.
"Now, let me see your measure as a Duelist."
The words were flawless, maintaining the dignity of a senior while also leaving Akira enough face in case he lost.
Anyhow, Akira couldn't catch any of those nuances. He only heard the word "agreed," and with a grin, he ran toward the challenger's seat on stage, his steps light and quick.
Watching this foolish kid, Thorne even felt a trace of long-lost familiarity.
"Since this is a teaching match, I'll go first to demonstrate."
Thorne's slender fingers brushed across the top of his Deck, the movement filled with performative elegance.
"I Normal Summon—[Majespecter Cat - Nekomata - Nekomata]!"
Lights and shadows flickered on the Duel field as an elegant spirit cat appeared, draped in a dark green hooded cloak, holding a small wooden staff.
"I activate its first effect: when this card is successfully Summoned, during the End Phase of this turn, add one 'Majespecter' card from your Deck to your hand. And the card I add is—the Continuous Trap [Majespecter Supercell]."
Seeing that adorable little cat on the field, Raku's pupils shrank, and he subconsciously muttered under his breath:
"So it's Majespecter… the origin of Majestic resistance."
"What's Majestic resistance?"
A cool voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.
Raku was startled and turned his head.
At some point, Rikka had slipped over from the front seats and was now crouching halfway in the aisle beside him, her blue eyes fixed unblinkingly on him.
"Cannot be targeted or destroyed by your opponent's card effects."
Raku hadn't fully come out of his thoughts yet and answered instinctively, "That's the standard shared resistance across all Majespecter monsters. In the current practical environment, that means most removal methods are useless against them. This kind of resistance… is extremely strong."
Only after finishing did he realize what he had just said.
The air fell into a brief silence.
Rikka stared at him as if looking at an alien, gripping her copy of [Fundamentals of Duel Tactics] tightly, the silver ahoge on her head standing upright in alert.
"Prison bro, be honest."
Rikka lowered her voice, her tone filled with suspicion and a kind of "you've changed" accusation.
"When did you, a guy who can't even write your own name correctly on exams, suddenly become this knowledgeable about dueling?
"'Removal methods'? 'Standard resistance'? Have you been secretly attending some kind of tutoring behind my back these past few days?"
That look was like seeing a brother who always failed suddenly write a perfect-scoring essay in the college entrance exam; shock mixed with a bit of disdain and a strong demand to confess.
Raku didn't redden or skip a beat. Staring at Thorne's shining green suit on stage, he answered simply:
"Been reading a bit lately. Talent, you know."
"Who are you kidding? You use your books to prop up table legs!"
Rikka snorted, and her gaze was soon drawn back to the duel on stage.
"If he's that strong, then isn't the Weasel about to have a really bad time?"
"…Depends on his luck."
Raku turned his gaze back to the Duel field.
"Watch closely. This is what's called tactical synergy."
Standing on the Duel field, the composure with which Thorne controlled the entire scene wasn't an act. He didn't slack off just because he was facing a clueless student; On the flip side, he paid even more attention to the sense of ritual in every movement.
He drew a card from his hand, the motion like pulling a blade from thin air.
"I activate the Quick-Play Spell from my hand—[Majespecter Wind]!"
As the card was inserted into the Duel Disk, a dark green whirlwind rose out of nowhere on the field, whipping the little cat's cloak so it fluttered wildly.
"You can only activate 1 card with this name per turn. You can also Tribute 1 WIND Spellcaster monster you control to activate this card."
Thorne's voice cut through the wind, reaching the entire audience.
"First effect: Special Summon 1 'Majespecter' monster from your hand or Graveyard. If this card is activated by Tributing a monster, you can instead Special Summon 1 'Majespecter' monster from your Deck."
He pointed at the cat still flicking its tail on the field.
"I choose to Tribute [Majespecter Cat - Nekomata] on the field!"
Green particles scattered as the cat dissolved into a breeze and vanished. A card shot out from the Deck and was caught precisely by Thorne before being placed onto the Duel Disk.
"Then I Special Summon from my Deck—[Majespecter Raccoon - Bunbuku]!"
Light gathered once more.
A brown raccoon-like creature wearing large, round glasses and a red cape leapt out from the whirlwind.
Raku's half-lidded eyes suddenly snapped open for a brief moment.
That was…
He could feel it. The moment the raccoon appeared, its gaze wasn't fixed blankly ahead; it subtly scanned the audience, even adjusting its posture midair to avoid the pressure of the wind.
That kind of minute movement, carrying its own will… So this guy really does have Duel Spirits.
Not just projections, but actual spirits residing within the cards. It seemed that the story about "adventuring in the Spirit World" wasn't all fabricated.
Thorne didn't give the audience much time to be amazed. His explanation continued; one could even say he was teaching while playing.
"Next, I activate the first effect of [Majespecter Raccoon - Bunbuku]: when this card is Normal or Special Summoned, you can add 1 'Majespecter' monster from your Deck to your hand."
The Deck searched again.
"I add—[Majespecter Porcupine - Yamarashi]. Then immediately activate Yamarashi's first effect: during either player's Main Phase, if you control a 'Majespecter' monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand."
This time, a hedgehog covered in spikes jumped out. It curled into a ball and rolled onto the field before suddenly spreading out, the small green whirlwind-like spikes on its back gleaming coldly under the lights.
Smooth as flowing water.
No hesitation at all: search, Special Summon, search again, Special Summon again.
The students below were dumbfounded.
While most people were still struggling to gather two Tributes to summon high-level monsters, Thorne had already established two monsters on the field in a single turn, and his hand resources didn't seem to have decreased much at all.
"It's not over yet."
A satisfied curve formed at the corner of Thorne's lips.
"I activate the second effect of [Majespecter Porcupine - Yamarashi]: when this card is Normal or Special Summoned, you can target 1 'Majespecter' Spell in your Graveyard and Set it on your field."
He pointed toward the Graveyard, and the Quick-Play Spell that had just been used popped back onto the field.
"I Set [Majespecter Wind] from my Graveyard."
Resource recycling.
Raku shook his head slightly as he watched from below. The efficiency of this system's operation was simply overwhelming in this environment. Not only did it generate card advantage at an absurd rate, it could also recycle used resources.
"After that, I Set two cards and end my turn."
As the three Set cards sank into the shadows of the backrow, Thorne's field instantly became as solid as a fortress.
Two monsters with absolute resistance stood in Defense Position at the front, three unknown Set cards lay in the back, and he even still had cards left in hand.
For a student like Akira, this field was practically a wall of despair.
Thorne didn't end his performance right away.
He turned around in a quite professional manner and began his "pre-exam coaching" for the bewildered students below.
"Listen carefully, students."
He pointed at the two small monsters on the field, huddled in Defense Position.
"If it's the first turn, going first, when you cannot attack, monsters you Special Summon must be placed in Defense Position.
"Unless your monster has extremely high Attack or requires Attack Position to function, minimizing the risk of battle damage is the first rule of survival."
"This is what we call: stability."
As he spoke, he deliberately used that golden quill to draw a circle in the air. The gesture was exaggerated, but at this moment, it carried undeniable persuasiveness.
The audience erupted into enthusiastic applause, and quite a few girls even began to scream.
"So cool! Is this the composure of a professional Duelist?"
"I used to always leave mine in Attack Position…"
"That was so smooth, I learned something!"
Next to Raku, Rikka was also watching intently.
Although she was still suspicious that something might have possessed her brother, she had to admit that the peacock on stage really did have some skill.
Only Akira, standing on the opposite side, stared at the two small animals that looked cute but felt incredibly troublesome, along with the three pitch-black Set cards in the backrow, and swallowed hard.
...
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