"Takamine Minoru."

I groaned, my head pounding in pain.

"...ugh."

I slowly raised my head, looking up weakly to the woman who rescued on me.

"From today onwards, you and your friends will belong to me."

I'll never forget the expression on Saionji Yuuri's face that day.

"Welcome to the Sangria Wing."

The day I became her slave...

...it began when me and my three friends, Rizawa Nanami, Kidou Asuji, and Honjou Fuuka, decided to form our very own Wing together.

"Um... any ideas on what we should name our Wing?" Rizawa asked.

I was chilling out with the crew in a vacant club room after school, finding trouble and never working too hard.

Rizawa was drawing a spider diagram in the middle of the whiteboard, Fuuka was busy registering our Wing on the Duel Wing app, and Kidou was analysing the current state of Alba City.

"I don't have a clue." I put my hands up in the air and admitted to my lack of ideas. "Fuuka, you're the creative type, what do you think?"

"I wanted to do Clovers, since there's four of us." 

"Register us with that name and I'll kill you..." Kidou grumbled.

"What do you have against that name? It's fine, right guys?"

Rizawa looked reluctant to agree with her, but he ended up writing the name on the board.

"Oi, Minoru, Nanami, don't stare at me like I'm some kind of alien... answer me before it gets awkward."

"Oh, um..." Rizawa twiddled his thumbs. "It's... uh... a good suggestion!"

"I said not to make it awkward!"

"Rizawa, stop being a wuss and just tell her it's crap already." Kidou looked up from his phone and sighed. "I don't wanna be stuck being called the Clover Wing. It's childish."

"Sheesh, aren't you being uptight. Loosen up already!" Fuuka grinned, grabbing Kidou by the shoulders and shaking him like a rag doll.

"More like you're too carefree about this, Honjou." Kidou grunted and slapped her hands away. "Why the hell did we leave her in charge of making the group anyways? We should've let Takamine do it!"

"I can't be bothered to go through the paperwork."

"It's pressing buttons on an app, there is no paperwork!"

"How about you do it then, huh? Instead of being so obsessed with which Wing has the more Shares in this Sector."

"Hey, Minoru's right! Don't complain about me doing it if you aren't doing anything yourself, ya lazy bum." Fuuka said. "Here."

Then, she casually swapped her phone with Kidou's, making him groan.

"Give me back my phone, you're gonna break it."

"What, no I won't."

"The last time Rizawa handed you his phone, you dropped it into a pond!"

"That was an accident! It's not my fault a pigeon suddenly came flying at me!"

"Oh, so you're scared of pigeons, is that it?!"

"When they come flying at me faster than you can run, then yes!"

"Ha, no wonder you went vegan for a week!"

"It was for the seven day vegan challenge; solves all your problems baby!"

"I can't believe you can quote that sap!"

"That's because I care about Mother Nature!"

Rizawa clapped his hands, grabbing their attention momentarily.

"Guys, please stop... we have a Wing name to be deciding on."

"Not until Honjou gives me back my phone." Kidou crossed his arms.

"I wonder what's on your search history..." Fuuka completely ignored Rizawa in favour of digging through Kidou's device.

"Huh?! This isn't funny, Houjou!"

"You must really like Dark Magician Girl, wow..."

I can't tell if Fuuka was joking or not anymore. Her face went bright pink while she spaced out staring at Kidou's phone screen.

"Oi!" Kidou shot up from his chair and forcefully grabbed his phone from Fuuka, shoving it in his pocket.

"Huh... I'm sorry?"

"Damn right you should be!"

"Can I have my phone back then?"

"Promise you won't enter our Wing name as Clover then."

"I won't, I won't, sheesh. Obviously I wouldn't put in a name that one of us would be against."

"Good..." Kidou grumbled before sitting back down.

Fuuka chuckled, looking over to the board. Her face made a "yikes!" expression as she saw what Rizawa had written down in passive aggressive response to their bickering.

"Dysfunctional Four... Two Sane Two Insane... Please Stop... Nanamin, are you okay? This looks like a cry for help, you know..."

"This is a cry for help! Please suggest names like I asked..."

"Heh... whoops." Fuuka then looked at me. "Minoru, did you seriously not give any suggestions while me and Kidou were talking?"

"It was so entertaining, I completely forgot the task at hand."

I'm not sure I'd call it talking though. Something like "giving each other hell" would probably fit better.

"You really are useless at anything other than duelling."

"That's why I'm ranked the best out of us four."

Not to brag, but I was ranked 24th in our Sector of Alba, Eight. To put it into perspective, Rizawa was ranked 220th, Kidou was ranked 93rd, and Fuuka was ranked 152nd.

While it may have seemed like there was a huge gap between everyone's abilities, this ranking only factored in pure duelling ability. It didn't account for their other strengths, which is a shame since they're all exceptionally talented at what they specialise in.

Rizawa was a brilliant technician who helped build, repair, and customise our Duel Runners. Kidou was a keen analyst who knew the ins-and-outs of the meta like the back of his hand. Fuuka was a walking, talking database who memorised all cards in the game.

Of course, while this is all well and good, their ability to actually play the game paled in comparison to mine. If they were the support cards, then I was the boss monster. Essentially, I was the glue tying our deck (Wing) together.

Originally, due to my high skill at playing Duel Monsters, I was a Free Agent sought out by many Wings fighting for control over the Sector since I had yet to align myself with any group. However, I never joined any that invited me, since their Wings didn't fit my taste or ideals.

Simply put, if I was going to join a Wing, then they'd have to let my friends join too. Unfortunately, none of them did.

That's why I brought up the idea of starting our very own Wing to them. To my surprise, they all agreed, and now we're trying to brainstorm a name— actually, that's not a half bad Wing name...

"How about Brainstorm?" I raised my hand.

"What are we, Psychic types?" Rizawa joked as he wrote down my suggestion.

"Your suggestion was even lamer than Honjou's..." Kidou muttered.

"Instead of complaining about our suggestions, how about you suggest a name of your own?"

"Platinum Centaurs, or Platicen for short."

"Okay, that's actually pretty cool..."

At least Kidou proved he could walk the walk and talk the talk.

"Platicen sounds too chuuni for my tastes." Fuuka said.

"You have the mind of a child."

"So do you!"

"Technically speaking, we're all children. None of us are adults yet." Rizawa said.

"There's a difference between children and teenager, Nanamin." Fuuka stuck her tongue out at him.

"With the way you act, I can't tell the difference." Kidou grinned smugly.

"Isn't that a good thing? That means I'm not becoming a crusty old fart like you are, Kid-ojisan!"

"Whatever you say, Hoe-jou."

"Hoe-jou?! Hey, what the hell!"

"You started it!"

And once again, Fuuka and Kidou were back at each other's throats. Me and Rizawa sighed.

The sun was setting by the time we finally decided a name. Rizawa, the poor boy, had the life drained out of him trying to mediate Fuuka and Kidou's constant bickering. I was feeling pretty fine though, since I kept out of it.

While these guys were busy trying to come up with names, I was on Nexus (a Duel Monster simulator) pwning some randos with a deck I threw together in five minutes. Pend best deck, let's go!

"Kidou."

"What?"

"Do you think Nanamin is still alive?"

"You killed him."

"No, you killed him."

"No, you killed him."

"No, you—"

"PLEASE LET ME REST IN PEACE, YOU TWO!"

Rizawa suddenly rose from the dead, only to pass out again.

"Oh man..." Fuuka poked Rizawa's cheek. "Seriously, are you going to be okay?"

"Just leave me alone..." Rizawa sobbed.

"U-understood... sorry for the trouble?" Fuuka looked genuinely guilty for driving Rizawa insane, but Kidou shrugged.

"It's whatever, we decided on a name in the end."

"Yup! That was a really cool suggestion, Minoru!"

I looked over to the whiteboard, where the clean spider diagram from earlier turned into a web of rage squiggles from a broken Rizawa. However, in the middle of that mess was one suggestion, circled and clearly written.

It was Ulster, the name of our Wing.

"All in a day's work. You can thank all the books I read in my spare time."

Ulster was the name of my favourite light novel. As the name suggested, it focused on retelling the Ulster Cycle of Irish Mythology through the lens of a traditional isekai story.

"Once a nerd, always a nerd." Fuuka nudged me in the ribs with a grin. "Anyways, you guys wanna grab a bite to eat? I'm starving."

"For once, I actually agree with you." Kidou snickered.

I nodded and got up. As we were about to leave the club room we hijacked, I tapped Rizawa on the shoulder.

"Yo, wake up. The Ulster Wing can't roll out without all it's members."

"...I'll only come if you guys pay." Rizawa mumbled. "I blew all my coins on upgrading parts... hehe."

"Understandable." I sympathised with his situation.

I nearly went broke from buying the components of my Extra Deck.

"Shotgun not paying!" Fuuka and Kidou exclaimed together.

"You guys are the worst..."

In the end, I ended up paying for Rizawa's meal at the family restaurant we visited.

"Thanks for the food!"

Now it was night time, and we started to dig into dinner. I got lasagna, Rizawa got omurice, Kidou got spaghetti, and Fuuka got a super rare steak, that bougie girl.

"So, now that we're official, what should we do first?" Rizawa asked.

"Try and conquer Eight of course." I replied.

"Are you sure we can do something that ambitious...?"

"Right now? Not at all. But in the future, I bet we could. Think of it as our long term plan."

"I agree with Takamine, that should be our end goal. Right now, we should be focusing on getting stronger and expanding our forces. The easiest way to do that is to fight against the small Wings over control of their territory." Kidou explained, showing to us on his phone the recommended areas we should try to take.

"Oh wow, you were actually doing research earlier." Fuuka said, stuffing her face with steak.

"It's hard to believe you're a girl at times." Kidou winced at her messy way of eating.

"Shaddap, this stuff is good, okay?"

"You have sauce on your shirt."

"Oh crap, I do!"

There was a pink stain on Fuuka's white shirt from the steak. Similarly, Sector Eight's once pure white map had been stained with pink, the territorial colour of Sangria. Both are going to be hard to get rid of.

By the way, our territorial colour was powder blue. We lucked out getting that colour, as the Wing that used to have this was wiped out less than a week ago by the Burning Battalion, or Burnbatta for short.

"The amount of territory they have is terrifying..." Rizawa gulped.

Well, it wasn't a surprise to me. Sangria was the strongest Wing in our Sector by far. Their influence expanded beyond just Eight though; they also had a complete grip on Sector One, Four, and Thirteen.

As such, they're unofficially classified as one of the Grand Three Wings of the Alba East by others; the other two being the Archangels and Gran Kaon, lead by Amasawa Mikami and Logan D. Rose respectively.

However, unlike the Archangels or Gran Kaon, who had roster switches all the time, Sangria's roster was consistent, as they had a philosophy of pledging absolute loyalty to them, their cause, their Wing, and their Boss—

—Saionji Yuuri, the number 1 ranked duelist in Eight.

Essentially, being part of Sangria was like being part of one big family... one really messed up family with an even more convoluted family tree spearheaded by a crazy single mother hellbent on taking over Alba.

Of course, when I used to be a Free Agent (the second highest ranked in Eight, mind you) Sangria offered me an invite. I rejected it though, since I hate big Wings like theirs.

It's all well and good to conquer one Sector, but to go and conquer four just to flex and assert their dominance? That was more than unnecessary.

To me, it was a repulsive display of bad sportsmanship. I could tell from a glance that I wouldn't get along with the Sangria's militaristic ideals.

To put it bluntly, I hate what Sangria stands for.

"They've been in this business long before we were even born." Kidou sighed. "Taking control over Eight from them is a really daunting task. We'd probably have better luck taking Twenty Six."

"...and move all the way to the West? Y-you're joking, right?" Rizawa said.

"If you want somewhere closer, then how about Seventeen?"

"That's just as bad..."

"Basically, Kidou's saying the East has been firmly conquered by the Grand Three." Fuuka said. "Considering the North is a wasteland and the West and South have an ongoing conflict, we're probably better off staying here."

Personally, I wouldn't mind travelling up North. Apparently it's like a Wild West over there after the rich ate each other alive (metaphorically speaking) over shiny cardboard.

"Maybe we could try and conquer Second... I heard the Gran Kaon's getting weak." Kidou said.

The Sector was quite large, but it lacked any significance aside from the Shipping Port, which would give us access to new cards earlier than everyone else. Strategically speaking, we'd want to take control over an influential Sector... such as our home, Eight.

Eight was best known for it's Turbo Duels. We're basically ahead of the curve (pun intended) when it comes to Turbo Duel technology. If you want the best parts and upgrades for your Duel Runners, you come here.

Every three years, Eight holds the Duelling Prix, a grand tournament between the top Turbo Duelists, regardless of their Wings. It's one whole month of straight duelling action, I love it! One day, I hope to become good enough to compete in it.

"I thought they were doing better than ever? They recently took control of Eleven from Sangria." Fuuka said.

"And you think Sangria took that lying down? They've already shifted focus on hammering away at Ten, Gran Kaon's heart and soul."

The most influential Sector Gran Kaon had control over was the Ten, which housed the infamous Neo Duel Academy that every duelist dreams of attending. I wanted to attend school there, but I didn't make the cut unfortunately.

Some stuck-up teacher using Ogdoadic suddenly Synchro summoned Bishbaalkin out of nowhere, proceeded to draw five with Hydra, and then OTK'd me with Aron and Amunessia after blowing up my board with Ogdoabyss! It was insane!

Needlessly to say, I failed passing that entrance exam.

I'm not mad though. If I went to Neo Duel Academy, then I would've never met these three. I wouldn't trade Rizawa, Kidou, or Fuuka for anything in the world.

"How's Ten holding up?" Rizawa asked. "If it's unstable, maybe we can sneak in there and silently steal control of it for ourselves."

"That's really wishful thinking. We're still too small." Kidou said. "Anyways, Gran Kaon's been holding up against Sangria pretty well. Apparently, their Boss is coming to Eight to have a word with Saionji!"

"Man, if they do confront each other, I'd love to be there. Seeing Saionji duel against Logan would be amazing!" Fuuka exclaimed.

"For now, let's focus on taking some territory from others so we can make a name for ourselves. That way, people will become aware of us, and might consider joining our Wing. Once we expand our forces, then we can start thinking about taking over Eight."

While we were laughing and talking about the future of Ulster, and discussed the plans of conquering small territories in Eight, an intimidating group of people wearing the same leather jackets approached our table.

"Let's take this territory from the Burning—"

Before Kidou could finish, a loud bang interrupted him.

A man with long black hair dropped his Duel Disk in the middle of our table, spilling food and drink everywhere.

"Oi, what's your problem?!"

Immediately, Fuuka jumped out of her seat and went to grab the man. Before she could, Rizawa took her by the sleeve and pulled her down.

"Nanamin, what the hell are you doing?!"

"F-Fuuka, don't! You'll get in trouble...!"

Since he was sitting next to her, Rizawa held the responsibility to make sure Fuuka didn't do anything rash against the man. It was unfortunate, as he also looked the most frightened out of all of us.

"...I'm guessing you want a duel?" I asked, picking up his Duel Disk from the table and presenting it to him.

As I stared into his pitch black eyes, he smirked at me with his tan lips.

"You're Takamine, aren't you?"

"The one and only. And you are..."

Using the player recognition feature on the app, Kidou scanned his face and showed me on his phone who this man was.

He was 26 year-old Dengorou Ryuuya from the Sangria Wing.

What did someone from Sangria want from us, then?

"...Dengorou, huh?"

Without missing a beat, he swiped his duel disk from my hand and put it back on his arm.

"Takamine, come with me."

Fuuka was seething right now. She made a face that said, "Where does this guy get off from ordering Minoru around? Creep."

I mean, she wasn't wrong. It was very suspicious that a group of much older people were ordering me, a 16 year-old, to follow them with no explanation. This was screaming stranger danger.

"Where to? And why?"

Before I mindlessly follow them and earn a slap from Fuuka for my carelessness, I questioned Dengorou about his intentions. He looked at me over his shoulder and sighed.

"My higher up wants to Duel you."

"Oh?"

Whenever a chance to duel came up, I never rejected it. That was reason enough for me to follow this Dengorou guy and his cronies around for a bit.

"Can my friends - or should I say, Wing? - tag along?"

"They can watch from the sidelines."

He was a man of few words, huh? I'm glad I wasn't duelling him then, that would've been boring.

"Alright guys! Let's follow this old man."

"Are you sure about this, Takamine...?" Rizawa asked.

"I'm not ranked 24th for no reason. I'll be fine."

"Be careful... this guy's bad news." Kidou gulped.

"How bad are we talking?"

Kidou showed me his phone screen. After some digging, he found the names of the other guys with Dengorou. They all belonged to Division C, which was the third highest squad in Sangria.

"Considering Division A and B are currently out fighting against Gran Kaon right now... the fact Sangria are sending in their next best for you is both strange and concerning. What the hell could they possibly want from duelling you?"

Like me, Kidou was perplexed by this whole situation. I'd already rejected Sangria once before, so there was no reason for them to try and invite me again, especially now I'm part of a Wing.

"Who cares, just kick their asses Minoru! Make those guys pay for ruining our dinner!" Fuuka said.

"Yeah... as much as I'm worrying about this, I want revenge as well. I can't believe that guy had the audacity to stop me mid-sentence." Kidou said.

"Please stay safe..." Rizawa said.

"What's taking you guys so long? Pick up the pace." Dengorou called out to me over his shoulder again.

"Yeah, we're coming!"

We exited the restaurant and followed Dengorou and his cronies to the car park where we parked our Duel Runners.

A crowd of people all wearing the same leather jackets as Dengorou formed a wide semi circle around a sleek sangria purple Duel Runner in the middle of the car park.

Inside, there was a tall woman with sangria purple racing gear sitting in a relaxed manner. Due to her matching helmet with a hard black visor, I couldn't tell who this person was.

"I've been waiting for you... Takamine."

However, when I heard her voice, my heart sank.

"Wait, that's..." Kidou grimaced.

"N-no way..." Rizawa choked.

"Minoru, what did you do to deserve this...?!" Fuuka cried.

Just like me, all my friends were in shock at who was waiting outside.

What the hell was she doing here of all people?

Dengorou stepped back, letting me get closer to the woman in the Duel Runner.

"It's been a long time..."

She took off her helmet, letting her waist length sangria purple hair flow over her shoulders.

"...Saionji Yuuri."

Saionji smiled at me.

"Don't look so surprised. Me and you have unfinished business, after all."

"Are you that upset about me rejecting your offer?"

"You have guts for doing that. Not so many people can brazenly make that kind of choice."

"It just sounds like you don't take rejection well... in any case, what do you want from me?"

"We're going to Duel with our Wings on the line, Takamine."

...huh?

Was this woman insane? Or rather, is she that confident in her own abilities?

Does she want to take Ulster that badly? In the first place, what did we even do to get her attention? We only formed just today.

But most importantly, why was she doing this? It didn't make any sense.

I don't understand at all...

"Wait, hang on... where's this coming from?"

"I noticed that you finally joined a Wing. Ulster, huh? Cute name."

"I didn't join a Wing. I formed it with my friends."

"I'm surprised you didn't register yourself as the Boss then. You always struck me as the self-serving type."

Even though Rizawa, Kidou, and Fuuka insisted I should be the Boss of Ulster, I ultimately gave that role to Fuuka, since she was better at managing things than I was.

"The same can be said for you. Personally, I'm not interested in leading roles."

"I noticed. Well, it doesn't change anything. Unless your friends have a suicide wish, you're probably the best person for this job."

Unfortunately, Saionji was right. I was the only one that even stood a chance against her. If Rizawa, Kidou, or Fuuka duelled her, they'd lose, no questions asked.

Now, while it may seem unfathomable to bet your Wing in a Duel, it was actually a pretty regular occurrence, especially among the smaller Wings that fought for territory at a local level.

Officially, this type of Duel didn't have a name. However, unofficially, everyone knew them as Faction Duels.

It was rare for large-scale Wings (such as Sangria) to participate in a Faction Duel, since the risk of loss was much higher for them, but it wasn't out of the question.

For example, the Archangels recently did a Team Faction Duel against the House of Gods, crushing them and absorbing them into their Wing. It was quite a big deal, as the House of Gods controlled Five (they were the biggest Wing there as well), meaning the Archangels took over that Sector under the absorption rules.

Now they're in a deadlock with the Great Barrier Reef (the second biggest Wing in Five) over who gets control of that Sector, as an old contract between them and the House of Gods surfaced, stating that they would get control over Five if the House of Gods were to ever dissolve, but I digress.

If anything, I should be praising Sangria for their guts and self-confidence right now. Most large-scale Wings would never do such a thing, especially against a tiny Wing like ours. They would be too afraid to lose.

But not this woman.

Saionji was thirsty to win. I could tell by the look in her sangria coloured eyes.

"Get a move on then, we don't have all evening. Or perhaps, you were captivated by the beauty of my Lilac End?"

"...sorry, I was just mentally preparing myself."

That being said, I didn't lose my composure.

The question now was... could I beat Saionji?

If I do, the Sangria would be absorbed into Ulster, and we'd instantly gain control over Sector One, Four, Eight, and Thirteen. We'd make a huge name for ourselves, and the strongest duelist in our Sector would basically become my bitch.

Actually, scratch that. I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

Saionji's ranked 1st in Eight, 3rd in Alba East, and 7th in Alba for a reason. She earned her stripes, and I should respect that.

However, she wasn't number 1 in all three areas - that meant there were people better than her at duelling.

And when I put it that way, Saionji doesn't seem like an impossible foe to beat anymore.

If she could be beaten by others, then she had flaws that were exploitable.

Even if my chance of winning was slim to none, it was anyone's game as long as they got lucky.

Essentially, to beat Saionji Yuuri, I had to get ahead of her to go first. How hard could that be?

As long as I could do that, Sangria was Ulster's for the taking.

I got inside my Duel Runner, Big One, and started up the engine.

"Don't fail me now..."

I took a deep breath and slotted my deck into the Runner's inbuilt Duel Disk. I strapped on my helmet and drove next Saionji, who was waiting for me at the start line.

"We'll be racing on the Streetlight Path."

Using the app, we linked our accounts and challenged each other to a Turbo Faction Duel. The route Saionji suggested was forwarded to me, appearing on my Duel Runner's front screen like a mini-map.

"That's fine by me."

Dengorou stood between our two Duel Runners, raising his arm into the air. Two small spherical cameras hovered over us to record our Duel.

"On your marks!"

Everyone else that came shuffled to the sidelines to watch our Duel. I could feel the Sangria Wing's pressuring gazes pierce through me.

"Get set!"

However, at the same time, I could hear the even more powerful, supportive cheers of my friends from Ulster.

"Minoru, don't you dare lose!" Fuuka exclaimed.

"Takamine! You got this!" Kidou exclaimed.

"Good luck, Takamine!" Rizawa exclaimed.

They had faith I'd win, and I wasn't going to betray that faith any time soon.

"Good luck and have fun." Saionji said while facing forward.

"You too." I said while revving up my engine.

"Go!" Dengorou swiped his hand down, kicking us off into high gear.

"Duel!" We exclaimed simultaneously.

At that moment, the field spell "Speed World Neo" activated, sending us both into Speed World.

<[Sangria] Saionji Yuuri (8000) vs [Ulster] Takamine Minoru (8000)>

Without wasting any time, I slammed on the gas and accelerated forward, trying to compensate for my lack of horsepower by going full throttle from the start.

However, despite my best efforts to take the lead, Saionji's Duel Runner edged ahead of me, before overtaking me completely. No matter how much I increased my speed, it was no match for her Lilac End.

Her Duel Runner really was the real deal. Not only did it look nice, but it also functioned smoothly as well. She must've used the best engine block and gear parts available.

Amazing, just as I'd expect from the Boss of Sangria.

As we approached the corner, Speed World Neo recognised Saionji as the superior driver, and gave her the first turn.

<First Turn: Saionji Yuuri>

Since there was no reason for me to race ahead anymore, I slowed down and adjusted the position of my helmet to fix my Duel Gazer's eye alignment.

These days, Duel Gazers are also integrated into the visors of Duel Runner helmets, as Augmented Reality has become more popular than Solid Vision projectors due to their cheap cost and wide accessibility.

Since she had taken the first turn, Saionji slowed down to a steady pace and cruised next to me. Interestingly, she used a sangria coloured Duel Gazer Tattoo opposed to an inbuilt Duel Gazer. At least her branding was still on point.

I looked over my hand and began to formulate a going second strategy in my head. Meanwhile, Saionji set her Runner on autopilot, and wasted no time to begin.

"To start things off, I normal summon Starliege Seyfert and use it's effect! By discarding Chamber Dragonmaid, I add White Dragon Wyverburster to my hand! Next, I activate the spell Dragonmaid Hospitality! This allows me to bring back Chamber from the graveyard to the field in defence position!"

Despite how infamous Saionji was, I had no clue what her deck was. Judging by what she's played so far, I think she's using Dragonmaids, since Seyfert and Wyverburster were both generic support.

"Chamber's effect! When she's normal or special summoned, I can add a "Dragonmaid" spell or trap to my hand. I add Dragonmaid Tidying!"

As we approached another corner, Saionji took manual control of her Runner and swiftly drift past it. Not only was she an incredible duelist, but she was an incredible driver as well.

"Open the circuit of victory! The summoning conditions are 2 Dragon Monsters. I set Chamber Dragonmaid and Starliege Seyfert in the Link Arrows. Circuit combine! Link summon, Dragunity Knight - Romulus!"

When she link summoned a Dragunity monster, that was when I suddenly realised what Saionji's actual deck was.

"Romulus' effect, I add Dragon Ravine from my deck to my hand!"

Of course the 1st ranked duelist in Eight wouldn't use just pure Dragonmaid... that was a foolish assumption for me to make.

"You didn't have a hand trap, huh?"

"I wasn't fortunate enough to draw into one."

That being said, my hand was perfectly geared towards making a six material Zeus, so as long as I get there, I'll be fine.

"In that case, I'll make this turn quick. I activate Dragon Ravine! Ravine's effect, I discard a card to send Absorouter Dragon from my deck to the graveyard. Absorouter's effect! When it's sent to the graveyard, I can add one "Rokket" monster from my deck to my hand. I add Rokket Tracer!"

Seeing that Rokket monster confirmed it for me. She was using Dragon Link.

"Next, I special summon Wyverburster by banishing Absorouter from my graveyard. Open the circuit of victory! The summoning condition is one level 4 or lower Dragon. I set White Dragon Wyverbuster in the Link Arrow. Circuit combine! Link summon, Striker Dragon!"

"Striker chain link 1, Wyverburster chain link 2. Wyverburster's effect, when it's sent to the graveyard, I add Black Dragon Collapserpent to my hand! Striker's effect, I add Boot Sector Launch to my hand! Next, I special summon Collapserpent by banishing Wyverburster from my graveyard. Open the circuit of victory! The summoning condition is the same as before. I set Black Dragon Collapserpent in the Link Arrow. Circuit combine! Link summon, Guardragon Pisty!"

"Pisty's effect, I special summon my banished Absorouter to the zone it and Striker point to. Open the circuit of victory! The summoning condition is two Dragon monsters. I set Dragunity Knight - Romulus and Guardragon Pisty in the Link Arrow. Circuit combine! Link summon, Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres!"

That was her first piece of disruption. Heavenly Spheres would bounce one of my cards back while summoning anything she needs next turn.

"I activate Boot Sector Launch, replacing Dragon Ravine! I special summon two Rokket monsters from my hand in defence position. Appear, Rokket Tracer and Rokket Synchron! Tracer's effect, I destroy Boot Sector Launch to special summon Rokket Recharger from the deck! Now, level 4 Rokket Tracer tunes level 4 Rokket Recharger! When two barrels merge, the ultimate firearm is formed! Spin the gun and shoot for victory, level 8! Synchro summon, Borreload Savage Dragon!"

That was her second piece of disruption. Borreload was an omni-negate that could stop any card or effect I activate as long as it had counters.

"Borreload's effect, I equip a Link monster from my graveyard to it, and it gets Borrel Counters equal to that monster's Link rating. I equip Romulus, a Link 2, giving Borreload two counters! (3000/2 Borrel) Borreload also gains half the ATK of the equipped monster. (3000 > 3600/2 Borrel) Next, level 1 Rokket Synchron tunes level 7 Absorouter Dragon! Come, level 8! Synchro summon, Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon!"

And if that wasn't enough, she Synchro summoned another boss monster for me to deal with. At least this one didn't disrupt me, but it could bring itself back even after I get rid of it.

"Chaos Ruler's effect, I excavate five and add one Light or Dark monster from among them to my hand. I add Chaos Dragon Levianeer! The rest go to my graveyard. Striker's effect, I destroy it to add Recharger from graveyard to my hand. Recharger's effect, when a Dark monster special summoned from the Extra Deck is destroyed, I can send it to the graveyard to special summon a different Dark monster from my graveyard. Return, Rokket Synchron! My level 1 Rokket Synchron tunes level 8 Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon! Slash open a door to the darkest pits of hell with your abyssal blades, level 9! Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss!"

Somehow, Saionji managed to turn what I thought was a boss into an extender... okay, this was getting ridiculous. Now I have to deal with a third piece of disruption? Give me a break, this is surely more than enough, isn't it?

"Now I banish Striker Dragon, Collapserpent, and Absorouter from my graveyard to special summon Chaos Dragon Levianeer!"

"Since all the monsters I banished for Levianeer's summon were Dark attribute, I can shuffle one random card from your hand into your deck! I choose the card in the middle."

The answer is no, it wasn't enough... Saionji went ahead and ripped a card from my hand too. Now I was starting with four cards, putting me at a severe disadvantage when it came to playing around her board.

"Next, I use Chaos Ruler's effect! By banishing a Light and Dark monster from my graveyard, Chaos Ruler can resurrect from the graveyard. I banish Seyfert and Tracer to bring itself back!"

If there was one weird to describe this board, it would be overkill. Before she made her next play, Saionji unexpectedly paused.

"Takamine, question."

"What is it?"

"Would you like to see my ace monster?"

"Are you seriously asking me this?"

"You know, I don't summon this against just anybody. I only summon it against those who I deem worthy for me to go all out."

"I'm both honoured and worried that you think so highly of me. Let me guess, it's another dragon?"

"Heh. You'd be surprised."

"I'm more surprised that none of what you summoned before was your ace... but sure, go ahead. I'm curious on what it is."

I fully expect something terrifying and game-breaking to come out, but she's already come this far. She might as well finish it off.

"Your honesty is what I like about you, Takamine. Don't say I didn't warn you, though."

"How bad could it be?"

It was about to get much worse.

Now, let's see. What was Saionji Yuuri's ace monster?

"I overlay my level 8 Chaos Dragon Levianeer and Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon! With these two monsters, I build the Overlay Network! The lord of pandemonium has blessed the world with upheaval and disorder. Quiver before the undead final punisher, rank 8! Xyz Summon, Number 22: Zombiestein!"

The number 22 tattoo appeared on Saionji's cheek in sangria purple.

"You have a Number card?!"

This was a seriously big deal! Saionji was lucky enough to get her hands on one of the hundred Number cards scattered across Alba City. Not only that, but the number tattoo on her face was a physical mark that proved she was bonded to Zombiestein.

In other words, she didn't collect this Number by beating someone else— she was the original owner of it!

"It might not be a Dragon, but this card has been with me since I was a little girl. Zombiestein is special to me, so of course I had to play him in this deck."

The more shocking part was his effect. Even more frustratingly, Zombiestein was a negate on top of a 4500 body, making it a fourth piece of disruption and a wall I literally couldn't climb over. Oh my god...

"I think you're playing him because he can negate effects..."

"That too!"

Now she was just adding insult to injury.

"I'm screwed..."

"Oh, don't say that. Just play around it. I set one card and end my turn!"

If that wasn't bad enough, I knew her face down was the Tidying she searched earlier off Chamber, meaning in total, she had five pieces of disruption set up for me. She basically had an answer to every card I could possibly play from my hand.

Essentially, Saionji was telling me not to play the game.

"Gee, thanks for the advice."

"Your welcome." Saionji smiled before racing ahead of me at the junction.

Saionji:
Hand: 0
LP: 8000
EMZ: X
XOXOX
XOOOX

Minoru:
Hand: 4
LP: 8000
EMZ: O
OOOOO
OOOOO

I revved my engine and pursued her, keeping a steady speed as I began my turn.

"My turn. I draw!"

As much as I hate to admit it, I had to follow Saionji's sarcastic advice and somehow play around her three negates and two bounces. At the very least, I can special summon this monster, since it won't start a chain.

"Since I control no monsters, I can special summon Turquoise Warbler from my hand!"

"Lyrilusc? How interesting." Saionji grinned. "I'm looking forward to this!"

"Warbler's effect, when she's special summoned, I can special summon a Lyrilusc from my hand! I special summon Cobalt Sparrow!"

I tried to bait a negate with Warbler, but Saionji let me have it.

"Sparrow's effect, when she's special summoned, I can add a level 1 Winged-Beast monster from my deck to my hand!"

"In response, I activate Archfiend Abyss's effect to negate your Sparrow's effect!"

While that did hurt, since I wanted to search a Swallow, at least it was now one less negate to play around.

"Next I activate One for One! I send a monster from my hand to the graveyard to special summon a level 1 monster from my deck! I special summon Celeste Wagtail! Wagtail's effect, when she's special summoned, I search my deck for one Lyrilusc spell or trap and add it to my hand! I add Lyrilusc - Bird Call!"

Surprisingly, Saionji let me have all of those effects. What effect was she waiting to negate now?

"I activate Bird Call to add one Lyrilusc monster to my hand. I add Sapphire Swallow! Then, I special summon Beryl Canary from my hand!"

I made up for earlier by adding Swallow now. The reason I wanted her in hand is because she was a deterrent for Saionji to bounce cards back. If she did return a card to my hand, I could just bring it back out with Swallow.

"Now I overlay my level 1 Lyrilusc - Celeste Wagtail and Lyrilusc - Turquoise Warbler! With these two monsters, I build the Overlay Network! Become enraptured under the feathered diva's rising melody! Xyz summon, Lyrilusc - Recital Starling!"

"Recital Starling's effect, I give your Zombiestein 600 ATK! (4500 > 5100)"

The bigger I made her monster, the more battle damage I'd deal if I crash Starling into it.

"Next, I'll use Recital Starling's other effect! By detaching one material, I search my deck for one level 1 Winged-Beast, and add it to my hand!"

"In response, I activate Borreload's effect to remove a Borrel Counter (3600/2 > 1 Borrel) and negate the effect!"

So that's what Saionji wanted to negate. It makes sense, since she knows I only have Swallow left in my hand.

If she let me have the search, I would've grabbed a Beryl Canary so I could use her effect to revive the Wagtail I detached and bring her out from hand. Then, I would've made another Recital Starling using Wagtail and Sparrow, and Sparrow's effect would've prevented that Starling from being targeted, in case she tried to bounce with Tidying.

Then, with that Starling's effect, I would've buffed Zombiestein once more and searched for another Sparrow. Then I would've used Swallow's effect to special summon both her and Sparrow from my hand, giving me four materials to make my ace monster: two Canary, one Sparrow, and one Swallow.

I had no other choice but to normal summon the Swallow now to get a third material.

"Next I'll normal summon Sapphire Swallow. I overlay my level 1 Lyrilusc - Cobalt Sparrow, Lyrilusc - Beryl Canary, and Lyrilusc - Sapphire Swallow! With these three monsters, I build the Overlay Network! Dance to your death as you listen to the feathered diva's sweet melody! Xyz summon, Lyrilusc - Assembled Nightingale!"

"Swallow's effect when used as material, I attach the Warbler I discarded earlier to Nightingale as material! Nightingale's effect, she gets 200 ATK for each material attached to her! (0 > 800) Canary's effect when used as material, Nightingale gets another 200 ATK! (600 > 1000) Wagtail's effect in graveyard, I can attach her to one of my Lyrilusc monsters as Xyz Material! I attach her to Nightingale! (1000 > 1200)"

With this, Nightingale could attack five times directly to deal 6000 damage, and Starling can crash into Zombiestein to inflict both of us with 5100 battle damage, meaning I could OTK Saionji right here, right now!

However, I knew things weren't going to be that easy... she still had three layers of disruption waiting for me. The fact she even let me get this far should be considered as her showing me mercy.

It pissed me off, honestly.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah. Now I'm going to go into battle!"

"In that case, before you do that, I activate Heavenly Sphere's quick effect! I tribute Sphere to return Nightingale to hand!"

"Sparrow's effect when used as material, Nightingale can't be targeted!"

"Who said I was targeting?"

"You chose Nightingale, didn't you?"

"Here's the thing— Heavenly Sphere doesn't target."

My Duel Runner came to a near screeching halt as Saionji pointed that fact out that to me.

"...what?"

"Take another look at the card."

I zoomed in on Saionji's board and clicked on Heavenly Sphere. Reading the card, I realised my mistake.

"Damn it... you're right. In that case, I activate Nightingale's quick effect! I detach one material from this card to prevent my Lyrilusc monsters from being destroyed by battle or card effects, also I don't take any battle damage for the rest of the turn!"

While I would've liked to save her effect for after she finished attacking five times, now that she was being spun back, it forced me to use it now to protect Starling.

That way, I could at least safely crash Starling into Zombiestein to deal her massive battle damage, then go into Zeus during main phase 2 to clear the board.

With reluctance, I returned Nightingale to my Extra Deck and sent all four of her materials to the graveyard. Despite my best efforts to protect her, it was ultimately pointless.

"Then, when Heavenly Sphere is tributed, I can special summon a Dragon from my hand or deck, but its ATK and DEF become 0! In defence position, I special summon Aether, the Evil Empowering Dragon! (1600 > 0)"

Before I could even carry on with my next play, my eyes widened at what Saionji chose to special summon.

This was her hidden sixth disruption— the final nail in the coffin to stop me from playing the game.

"Aether's effect! When it's normal or special summoned, I can banish a monster on the field— disappear, Recital Starling!"

Saionji had completely destroyed my board on my own turn.

With no cards left in my hand or field, I had no follow up plays.

I was completely wide open while Saionji had four powerful monsters and two disruptions left.

...damn it!

How the hell did I let this happen?

Every play I made... all of it was countered!

I couldn't do anything on my turn!

All the effects Saionji let me have... she was just making me play into the palm of her hand.

The moment she got to go first... I was destined to lose.

This woman... is a monster.

"What are you going to do now, Takamine?"

I... I, I—

"I can't do anything..."

My grip on the rubber handles tightened as I bitterly admitted that.

"...turn end."

Saionji:
Hand: 0
LP: 8000
EMZ: O
XXXOX
XOOOX

Minoru:
Hand: 0
LP: 8000
EMZ: O
OOOOO
OOOOO

"My turn, draw. Battle!"

Without wasting any time, Saionji went in for the kill.

"Borreload Savage Dragon attacks! (3600/1 Borrel) Revolving Reload!"

"Kuh! (8000 > 4400 LP)"

"Number 22: Zombiestein, finish this! (5100) Sangria Demolition!"

I'm sorry, Rizawa, Kidou, Fuuka...

"Aaaaaaargh! (3800 > 0 LP)"

...I couldn't win.

As my life points dropped to zero, my Duel Runner blew a gasket, and spun out of control.

What should have been an easy corner to turn on turned into a disaster.

I crashed into the wall and collapsed underneath the falling rubble.

The only thing that prevented me from being crushed was my Duel Runner, which took the brunt of the fall.

However, the physical pain that came from the chunks of metal and concrete sitting on top of me was nothing compared to the pain in my heart right now.

On the same day we registered our Wing, we were going to lose it...

It hadn't even been a full day yet...

How is this fair...?

How is this fair at all?!

I don't want to lose Ulster!

I don't want to lose the Wing me and my friends just made to some sadistic bitch!

Why the hell did this have to happen...?

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

God damn it all!

"Damn you, Saionji...! Rematch... I want a rematch, a rematch, a rematch!"

I muttered to myself in blind rage, thinking one one could hear me while I was covered in darkness.

"If you wanted a match so badly, you should've asked for it. I would've been more than happy to go for three Duels against you... if you could last that long, that is."

As the chunks of metal and concrete were being kicked away, I could start to hear Saionji's voice clearly.

"However, you agreed to just a duel with me. It's your own fault, you know? You have no one to blame but yourself..."

Saionji plunged her arm into rubble and grabbed me by the shirt, pulling me out.

"Takamine Minoru."

I groaned, my head pounding in pain.

"...ugh."

I slowly raised my head, looking up weakly to the woman who rescued me.

"From today onwards, you and your friends will belong to me."

I'll never forget the expression on Saionji Yuuri's face that day.

"Welcome to the Sangria Wing."

The day I became her slave.