Yuuki Oyok.u.mo collapsed. Not physically, but mentally.

He was shocked when his opponent s.h.i.+roya brought out a second golden hand, scared when the third came out, and when the fourth arrived...

Yuuki's demon-spirit was crushed, and his mind collapsed as well.

He was unable to dodge the golden hand which grabbed him and lightly tossed him out of the arena. Furukawa immediately declared s.h.i.+roya as the victor.

Seiji obtained victory again just like that.

"Oyok.u.mo-kun, are you injured?"

"No..." the red-haired muttered, looking depressed.

Seiji looked towards him. In all honesty, Seiji felt that this little kid was pretty strong. If Yuuki hadn't lost heart and had fought all-out for the entire battle, the result would've been difficult to guess.

"It's impressive to have such strength at your age. Work hard to become stronger, Oyok.u.mo-kun." He tried to console Yuuki.

Yuuki raised his head and looked at Seiji, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng with a determined light. "Okay... I will. Thank you, s.h.i.+roya onii-san."

Their duel had been the most visually exciting one so far. The clash between the demon-spirit and giant golden hand was rather impressive, and all the Yin-Yang Masters were discussing the duel enthusiastically.

Yuuki Oyok.u.mo's spell, [Red Demon Form], was the well-known signature spell of his bonded spirit, Red Demon.

Meanwhile, s.h.i.+roya's golden hand seemed rather mysterious. Just what spirit could have produced that spell?

The Yin-Yang Masters gathered made various guesses, but they felt like none of their guesses were on the mark.

Natsuya merely smiled as she listened to the discussions taking place.

She already told everyone that s.h.i.+roya's spirit was a secret. All the curious Yin-Yang Masters would have to think about the answer themselves rather than receiving one from her.

The judge, Ryouta Moritama, asked if she would like to steal the loser's cards or discard her own. This time, Natsuya chose to discard two cards that were difficult to use up and turned them into points.

Seiji returned to her side. Natsuya felt rea.s.sured to see him return victoriously.

After the first round was over, the judge released a ranking based on the number of points each Master had acc.u.mulated.

Natsuya was ranked #3. Although Akatsuki lost one duel, he used his cards well, which was why he didn't fall too far behind and was ranked #10.

Everyone was to draw cards again. After everyone drew a card, the second round began. This round, everyone would take turns in the opposite order from last time, so Natsuya's turn came up quickly.

She played a series of cards from her hand and earned a nice amount of points.

When it was Akatsuki Mitarai's turn, he used his second duel card, and as his opponent he selected the person who was currently ranked #1 in points: Kanna Fujihara!

Kanna Fujihara's Spirit-branded Retainer was Ryuuno Izawa. n.o.body present at the party recognized this master-and-retainer pair.

During the last round, the Spirit-branded Retainer Izawa had performed excellently. He won his duel in less than ten seconds, which caused quite a lot of surprise.

The Yin-Yang Masters were able to deduce from the duel that Izawa's bonded spirit was a Yaksha. Thus, they called him Yaksha Izawa.

"The duel between Hannya Yashuu and Yaksha Izawa is surely going to be a great one."

"Yeah... I'm curious who will win."

"I believe that Hannya Yashuu will win. After all, he's famous for his strength in our age group. He was just overconfident, which was why he lost his first duel. He'll definitely win if he gets serious."

"That's not a sure thing. Yaksha Izawa is pretty strong as well. He must have overwhelming strength to defeat his first opponent in such a short time."

"Indeed... it's difficult to predict the winner. Let us enjoy the show."

Everyone looked towards the duel arena, where Naruo Yashuu and Ryuuno Izawa were facing each other.

Izawa removed his eyepatch, revealing his left eye. A triangular blood-colored diagram was inscribed on the surface of his pupil.

Yashuu removed the black glove on his right hand, revealing a diagram shaped like a beast's claw on the back of his hand.

"Let the duel begin," Shunsuke Furukawa declared.

Yashuu instantly manifested a gigantic claw that swiped towards his opponent!

With a large boom, Izawa's figure was torn to pieces and disintegrated into motes of green light.

It was just an illusion!

Izawa appeared to Yashuu's left and formed a jutsu symbol with his hands.

*Boom!!*

Yashuu was doused in vibrant green flames. Suddenly, the flames were split apart by a sharp purple-red light. After piercing through the flames, it shot towards Izawa.

Izawa dodged the light, and it embedded itself in the ground, carving a deep furrow that extended beyond the arena.

Both figures vanished again as they continuously cast spells against each other, seeming like an elaborate performance.

Seiji could tell that Yashuu had the advantage and Izawa could only react. However, thanks to Izawa's powerful illusions, he hadn't been struck by any attacks yet.

But at this rate, Yashuu would definitely achieve victory.

Suddenly, Izawa split, creating six more illusionary clones. All seven Izawas placed their hands on the ground and speedily muttered an incantation.

Yashuu realized Izawa was preparing a powerful attack. A strong light appeared in his right palm, and he flicked his hand. The light split into countless rays which covered all seven Izawas!

When the light made contact with the Izawclones, all seven of them shattered with a sound resembling that of gla.s.s breaking.

The real Izawa appeared behind Yashuu.

From the very start of the duel, he had been secretly making his preparations, and now his spell was complete!

[Killing Formation—Yaksha Dance!"]

A large triangular spell formation suddenly appeared on the ground. Numerous vicious-looking demons of an a.s.sortment of strange shapes emerged from within. Brandis.h.i.+ng swords, axes, and sickles, they surrounded and attacked Yashuu!

Yashuu fought back with his magical claw, but even though he managed to tear through one wave of demons, endless waves of demons continued to emerge from the spell formation.

Victory seemed like it was decided.

Furukawa was about to announce the conclusion of the duel.

At this moment, Yashuu shouted fiercely, and a strong purple-red light surrounded him, preventing the demons from drawing closer to him.

Then, he viciously glared at Izawa with an incredibly ferocious expression. Right after that, a white long-horned demon mask appeared on his face.

[Demon Mask—Hanyuu!] He shrieked loudly, causing everyone's ears to ring. The shriek sounded like a woman's scream, angry shouting, cursing, and yelling all at once. It was incredibly shrill and harsh on the ear.

The purple-red sound waves that emanated from him immediately destroyed all the demons. Izawa's illusion was broken as well, and his real self, which was standing to the side, was forced out.

The mask-wearing Yashuu viciously swung at Izawa with his right claw.

*Boom!!!*

Izawa was sent flying by the gigantic magical claw.

Like a cannon shot, he flew out of the duel arena and hurtled towards the card table filled with Yin-Yang Masters.

At the last moment, Furukawa appeared between Izawa and the card table in a blue flash. He caught Izawa and jumped, leaping over the card table and landing outside the weather barrier.

n.o.body was scared by this scene.

After all, everyone at the table was either a Yin-Yang Master or a Spirit-branded Retainer. They had plenty of ways to deal with a large object suddenly flying at them. Something like this wouldn't scare anyone present.

"Ryuuno!" Kanna Fujihara left the card table and ran towards her Spirit-branded Retainer.

Akatsuki Mitarai also stood up and followed.

"Hanyuu Yashuu used too much force in his attack."

"He probably couldn't stop himself in the heat of the moment..."

"It's a battle, after all. There's no helping it if this type of scene occurs."

"Although the end was a bit much, it really was an excellent duel to watch."

The Yin-Yang Masters discussed the result among themselves.

Using too much force was considered a mistake, but everyone present saw what transpired. n.o.body felt that Yashuu was to blame.

All Akatsuki would have to do was apologize to Kanna Fujihara and pay a compensation fee to treat her Spirit-branded Retainer's injuries.

Seiji hoped that Izawa wasn't injured too seriously. Unfortunately, it wasn't the time for him to be worrying about others.

Seiji now had an idea of Naruo Yashuu's strength when he was serious.

'How can I deal with him?'

Unless someone else was suicidal enough to challenge this Hanyuu spirit, Akatsuki would be certain to use his third duel card against Natsuya again.

In other words, Seiji would definitely have another battle with Yashuu.

At that time, devious tricks like last time wouldn't work. It would be a serious contest of strength.