Chapter 1

Inside one of the dueling arenas at Duel Academy.

The practical examination was underway, the very exam that separated hopefuls from the elite duelists the Academy was built to forge.

A middle-aged professor with a bizarre golden mushroom-cut hairstyle and violet lipstick stood across from an examinee whose hair alone announced that he was someone worth watching.

"Listen carefully, Jaden-boy." The professor's voice dripped with contempt. "Dueling requires no such pointless stubbornness as yours."

"Even if you summon that Elemental HERO Flame Wingman with its 2100 attack points, it still falls short of my Ancient Gear Golem."

The golden-haired professor, known as Crowler, lifted a finger and looked down at Jaden Yuki with undisguised disdain.

"The gates of Duel Academy have already closed on you, non!"

"Looks like Examinee 110 is finished," muttered Syrus Truesdale from the spectator seats ringing the arena, his voice heavy with resignation.

Then he noticed something. The easygoing, dark-haired young man sitting beside him, the one who had arrived alongside Jaden, suddenly stood up.

"Examinee 111, are you giving up already?"

"No." The young man waved a lazy hand.

"It's just that Jaden over there is about to win. I'm getting ready."

The words landed like a thunderclap.

He was saying that Examinee 110, the poor soul Professor Crowler had personally descended upon and dragged into a live duel as a final test for the two latecomers, was about to win?

Syrus, along with Bastion Misawa and the others who had recently finished their own exams, stared at him in disbelief.

This Examinee 111, apparently named Rowan. Had the pressure of being personally tested by Crowler finally cracked him?

Rowan, for his part, had only one thought: What am I supposed to say?

That I've seen the anime and I know exactly how this ends?

Because that was the truth.

He was a transmigrator.

And not a gradual one, either. He had been playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! mobile game when he was yanked across worlds and deposited right here, close enough to witness the whole thing unfold barely fifteen minutes ago.

Jaden Yuki and Yugi Muto. Two people whose hairstyles alone screamed I know how to play cards.

They had been rushing in opposite directions and collided in the street, sending Jaden sprawling just as he was sprinting to make the exam on time.

The moment Rowan recognized them both, he knew exactly where and when he had landed. The world of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

He also knew that Yugi would be calling the Academy's chancellor to buy more time for the latecomers, and that Jaden was absolutely heading to that exam.

Rowan had acted immediately.

He introduced himself, made an impression, and smoothly hitched a ride through the Academy's back entrance.

From Yugi's perspective, it was nothing. Instead of vouching for one latecomer, he was vouching for two.

Barely any difference at all.

And Yugi, being Yugi, was more than happy to quietly help a pair of aspiring duelists find their way in.

Once Rowan successfully pulled off that little maneuver, his cheat system activated.

[Supreme Dueling Despair System]

The premise was simple: break your opponent's spirit in a duel.

Push them past their limit, watch their composure shatter, and win.

Do that, and he would earn a bounty of Emotion Points.

With those points, Rowan could browse the System Shop and purchase card decks and special abilities drawn straight from the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, from White Dragon Ninja to Dark Magician Girl to any number of cursed, soul-crushing strategies.

He could also unlock powers like shadow dueling, or the ability to see Duel Spirits.

Rowan's response to all of this was immediate and sincere.

Dark Magician Girl was beside the point.

He was simply a compassionate person at heart. He would hate for any spirit to wander the world unseen, lonely as a ghost.

That was the only reason. Naturally.

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