After Yu Ge finished speaking, he didn’t look at Luna’s blushing face. Instead, he turned toward Inzack, who stood not far away, and stretched.

“You don’t seem to think much of the top student in Class S. Then I, the one at the bottom, will be your opponent.”

Yu Ge paused, then continued.

“After all, an opponent of your caliber doesn’t need Luna to go all out.”

“Heh. What a joke.”

Inzack sneered. He hadn’t expected this transfer student, who’d gotten into Class S through connections, to be so full of himself. Looks like he was another guy trying to save face and bluff his way through.

“Since you’re using a monster card, I’ll use one too. Luna, lend me a monster card. The weakest one you’ve got—the unbelievably weak one.”

Yu Ge glanced at the Blade Queen beside Inzack and made up his mind. You dared insult my favorite girl? I’ll make sure your reputation is in tatters from now on.

“Ha ha! The weakest one? Are you messing with me, transfer student?”

When Inzack heard that Yu Ge wanted the weakest monster card, he froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. Did a monkey hire you to make us laugh? You’re going to use the weakest monster card against my A-rank Blade Queen? Isn’t that suicide? Or are you planning to blame the card when you lose in a minute?

“Yeah, is the transfer student’s brain fried or something?”

“I bet he’s trying to show off in front of Luna.”

“Oh, right. Don’t you remember? Yu Ge has a spell card that can control the opponent’s monsters.”

“That’s true, but that card can only control B-rank monsters at most.”

“Who knows what he’s thinking.”

Yu Ge’s words left Inzack completely baffled, and the Class S students behind him started discussing it too. Was there something wrong with Yu Ge’s head? He was using the weakest monster against his opponent’s strongest one. Even with that “Brainwashing” spell card, he couldn’t control an A-rank monster like the Blade Queen.

“Yu Ge, are you sure?”

Luna did have a few monster cards, but nearly all of them were cute, pet-like creatures with no fighting power. If cuteness counted as combat power, they might just scrape a five out of ten.

“Mm. I’m sure. Absolutely, completely sure.”

Yu Ge nodded and held out his hand to Luna.

“Um, these are all I have.”

Luna took out all the monster cards she’d collected and placed them in Yu Ge’s hand. He looked them over. Most were E-rank white cards, with a few D-rank blue cards. They all had one thing in common: they were cute.

“W-what? A girl can’t have a hobby?”

Yu Ge glanced at Luna without thinking. Blushing, she glared at him—and looked incredibly cute.

“N-no, of course not. Thanks.”

Yu Ge hurriedly waved his hands, then picked out a white monster card that looked weak at a glance. He swept it in front of him and summoned its creature.

E-rank Monster: Guli Qubi.

A flash of white light, and a harmless-looking little monster appeared on the field. It was about the size of Eevee from Pokémon, except it had a pair of tiny, delicate wings on its back. Whether it could even fly was anyone’s guess.

“Qubi?”

Guli Qubi tilted its head and made an adorable little sound.

“Wow, it’s so cute!”

“I want to hug it so badly.”

“The Goddess Luna’s monster is just as cute as she is.”

“My old heart’s going wild!”

The instant Guli Qubi was summoned, students from both Class A and Class S let out squeals. A few girls in particular looked ready to pounce on it if they hadn’t been in the middle of a practical battle.

“Guli Qubi? An E-rank summon? Let’s see what its effect is.”

When Inzack saw Yu Ge summon something like that, he gave it a scornful look and checked its effect. He couldn’t help laughing.

Guli Qubi: When attacked, it enters a flinching state. It can’t be targeted by attacks, but it also can’t block attacks for its summoner.

“Ha ha! What kind of ridiculous effect is that? It’s just there to look cute! Ha ha, I’m dying!”

Inzack doubled over laughing, nearly laughing himself breathless. When the Blade Queen attacked, this monster’s special effect would make it hide. Then the attack would go straight for its summoner, wouldn’t it? What a five-point fighter of a summon—completely useless in a real battle.

“Yu Ge, of all the monsters you could’ve picked, why that one?”

Luna pressed a hand to her forehead, looking utterly defeated. This little thing was the weakest of all her cute monsters. Its effect was practically nonexistent.

“No. I picked it precisely because it’s the weakest.”

Yu Ge smiled faintly at Luna and made a “just wait and see” gesture. Then he turned back to Inzack and continued.

“All right, let’s begin.”

“Transfer student, since you look down on me so much, I’ll make sure you learn your lesson.”

To Inzack, Yu Ge’s behavior was a joke that showed he didn’t take him seriously at all. That only made Inzack angrier. He’d held back the Blade Queen’s power against the other students, but if Yu Ge was going to be this arrogant, he’d show him the Blade Queen’s true strength.

“Blade Queen—Queen’s Edge!”

Inzack secretly lifted the restrictions on the Blade Queen and ordered it to attack Yu Ge. His lips slowly curled into a strange smile. Transfer student, even with the damage-reducing formation on the field, one hit from the Blade Queen will leave you seriously injured—laid up in bed for a month. You might even end up crippled and have to leave the academy for good.

Don’t blame me. Blame yourself for taking my place in Class S.

The Blade Queen’s fierce attack made everyone tense. Even the aura surrounding it seemed different from before. Luna held her hands to her chest and prayed for Yu Ge. She was terribly worried, but kept reassuring herself: Yu Ge wasn’t the kind of person who acted without thinking. If he’d chosen to do this, he must have had a reason.

The Blade Queen was almost upon Yu Ge. Just then, he calmly pulled a spell card from his pocket and lazily swept it across the space in front of him.

“Magic Projection—Monster Transfer.”

As soon as Yu Ge used the spell card, the Blade Queen and Guli Qubi switched places on the field. Guli Qubi appeared in front of Inzack, while the Blade Queen charged from Yu Ge’s direction toward Inzack.

“What’s going on?”

Inzack was completely baffled. Why was the Blade Queen attacking him? And why was there such a useless little thing on his side of the field?

“Forced Transfer’s effect: when an opponent’s monster declares an attack, you can activate this card to switch the two monsters’ places and continue the attack.”

Yu Ge held up the “Monster Transfer” spell card and waved it in front of Inzack.

“H-how is that possible?!”

Inzack’s face filled with disbelief, but before he could finish speaking, the Blade Queen was already in front of him. Guli Qubi’s effect activated; it curled into a ball and hid off to the side. Two streaks of silver flashed, and Inzack was sent flying, two wounds opening on his body and bleeding nonstop.

Inzack stared blankly at the ceiling of the training grounds. Even now, he couldn’t bring himself to accept that he’d lost.

“I declare Yu Ge the winner of the duel!”

When the referee announced the result, the entire training ground erupted.