(3rd Person PoV)

To say that everyone was shocked would be an understatement.

Some people, especially the more younger duelists there, began to panic.

The older ones kept their cool but even they couldn't hide how shocked they were.

"Nya, no way! If we lose then we going to lose our souls?" Cathy asked.

"I'm too young to lose my soul!" Yuma cried.

"Oh man, oh man!" Battle Max panicked.

Carly seemed to cling onto Jack and he held her tightly.

"W-we need to stay calm and think rationally," Téa spoke up.

"Stay calm? How can we stay calm like this?" Yugo asked.

"No, she's right. Panicking isn't going to help us in any meaningful way," Rin explained.

"They're both right. If we at least attempt to have a cool head in this, then we'll figure out something. Like maybe how to get out of here or figure out what's going on with this 'tournament,'" Judai explained.

"Yeah, something fishy is definitely going on here," Luke nodded.

"Can't argue with that," Ghost Gal shrugged.

Serena decided to walk away from the group in order to find Yuri. She needed to see what goes he think of all of this.

It took a while but she eventually found him, sitting on the floor.

He looked up at her.

"Here to torment me? To call me a terrible person by defeating and sending her soul straight to wherever this Shadow Realm is?" Yuri asked but to his surprise, Serena shook her head.

"No. I wanted to see what you think of all of this especially with that they have been saying," she motioned to where she came from so Yuri would know whom she was talking about.

"So what have they've been saying?" Yuri asked.

Serena repeated what Téa, Rin and Judai had previously said.

"It's harder to keep a cool head especially in a situation like this," Yuri pointed out.

"I am aware but whatever gives them hope, I guess," Serena stated.

Why am I surprisedly calm when talking to her? Yuri thought.

Then the voice spoke up which made everyone look to the direction of where the voice was coming from.

"And now we head to the second round. Can those in line to duel please come to the arena?" The voice asked.

Back with the group, some people looked around.

"Hey, Kaito. Isn't it your turn to duel?" Kotori asked.

"Yeah," Kaito merely responded.

Shun was about to approach him to say something but he held back. Now wasn't the time.

"So who's going to be his opponent?" Crow asked.

Tiger stepped up and Luke gasped, "No way! Haruka!"

A red tick mark appeared on the side of her head.

"How many times do I have to tell you? My name is TIGER!" She shouted which made Luke fall backwards.

"My bad," he said.

"Good luck, Tiger," Yuga told her.

She gave him a nod and went out of the room to go to the arena.

"Yeah, good luck to you too, Kaito," Yuma told him.

Kaito glanced at him before leaving the room to go to the arena as well.

Now that we know that the loser loses their soul, I'm not sure who to root for. I want to root for Tiger because I know her but I don't want this Kaito guy to lose his soul either, Gakuto thought.

"Is everyone ready for the next duel?" The voice asked and the audience cheered.

"She's not only a strong duelist but also a fierce musician! Doesn't like being called by her real name so she chooses the name of a powerful beast rivaling the lion. Please welcome Tiger Kamijo from Team Sevens!" The voice shouted.

Tiger stepped up to the podium with a glaring expression on.

"He's a duelist that you definitely don't want to underestimate! The galaxy bends to him as he collects numbers for a purpose that I will not be saying! Please welcome Kaito Tenjo from Team Zexal!" The voice shouted.

Kaito stepped up to the podium crossed his arms.

"This format will also be a Master Duel," the voice explained as Tiger and Kaito prepared their Duel Disks.

"Alright then! HERE. WE. GOOOOOOO!" The voice shouted alongside the crowd.

"DUEL!"

Tiger - 4000 LPS

V.S

Kaito - 4000 LPS

"Let's flip a coin to see who goes first! Heads is Tiger and Kaito is Tails," the voice explained and a coin was flipped in their direction.

...

"Heads again! Tiger goes first!" The voice cheered.

"Fine," Tiger drew a card.

This is going to be difficult to adjust after playing in the Rush Duel format for a long time but I should be able to adjust in time in order to win, she thought as she looked at her hand.

"I will start by summoning Sax Knuckles, the Fist Music Maiden (ATK: 1000. DF: 1200) and then I'll set this card down. With that, my turn is over," Tiger said.

"So she's being careful. Makes sense in this case," Asana noted.

"Then it's my turn," Kaito drew a card before saying, "when I control no monsters, I can special summon Photon Thrasher (ATK: 2100. DF: 0)."

"What?! He already has a monster with at least 1000 more attack points than Haruka!" Luke cried.

"Don't let her hear you say that," Romin told him.

"Now I'll attack your Sax Knuckles!" Kaito shouted and his monster went over to slash at Tiger's monster.

"I activate the trap, Music Maiden's Solo performance. When I control one monster and you declare an attack with a monster of level 8 or lower, I can negate that attack," Tiger explained.

A barrier appeared her monster as it came in contact with Photon Thrasher's blade.

It thrust the monster back onto Kaito's side of the field.

"Ok then, I'll set this card and end my turn," he muttered.

"Then it's my turn. I summon Clubinet the Police Music Maiden (ATK: 800. DF: 1400) and then I use these two monsters to advance summon Ensembullfighter the Heavy Music Oni (ATK: 2200. DF: 2200)!" Tiger shouted.

A large purple monster with trumpet like hands and had some piano keys around it appeared.

"I send a card from my hand to the graveyard to activate Ensembullfighter's effect. This turn, as long as this is on the field, you can't activate any trap cards when my Wind attribute Warrior type monsters declare attacks," Tiger explained.

"Considering that Tiger's deck mainly consists of Wind attribute Warrior type monsters, that's a strong effect," Gakuto noted.

"Kaito may struggle against her," Rio said.

"And now I'll attack your Photon Thrasher. Music bullet!" Tiger shouted and her monster blasted something out of its trumpet hands, destroying Photon Thrasher.

4000 —> 3900 LPS

"I set this card down and end my turn. Let's see how strong of a duelist you are," Tiger told him.

"She made the first hit!" Kotori yelped.

"Alright, Haru-I mean Tiger!" Luke cheered before quieting down as he remembered what happens to the loser of the duel.

"You're going to regret saying that," Kaito told her as he drew a card.

"I summon Photon Chargeman (ATK: 1000. DF: 1000) and when a Phonton monster is on the field, I can special summon Photon Advancer (ATK: 1000. DF: 1000) from my hand!" Kaito shouted.

His two monsters popped up and one of them seemed to glow golden.

1000 —> 2000 ATK

"Why did your monster suddenly gain 1000 attack points?" Tiger asked.

"Photon Advancer gains 1000 attack points if there's another Photon monster on the field," Kaito explained.

"Heh, that's not enough attack points to defeat my monster," Tiger told him but she spoke too soon.

"But these aren't the monsters that I'll attack you with. With these two level four monsters, I set the overlay network! I XYZ Summon! Rise from the stars, Galaxy Photon Dragon (ATK: 2000. DF: 0)!" Kaito shouted as his monsters were beamed into a purple swirl where a new monster, a dragon with silver scales and transparent wings, appeared from. It seemed to have two energy orbs swirling around it.

"What's an XYZ summon?" Rei asked.

"It's exactly how you saw it. You overlay two or more monsters with the same level to summon a monster," Ruri explained.

"Looks like we'll be up against some different summoning techniques," Yugi murmured.

"We'll need to be prepared for anything," the Pharaoh told him in which Yugi nodded.

"When there's a face up XYZ monster on the field, I can special summon Photon Slasher (ATK: 2100. DF: 1000) in face up defense position," Kaito added on.

Another monster with a blade appeared.

"Now every light monster on my field gains 500 attack points when Galaxy Photon Dragon is on the field," Kaito said.

2100 —> 2600 ATK

"And now I'll switch Photon Slasher from defense to attack position to attack your Ensembullfighter!" Kaito shouted.

Photon Slasher raced over to Ensembullfighter and slash it, destroying the monster.

4000 —> 3600 LPS

Tiger slightly winced at this but she didn't falter.

Please be careful, Asana thought, worried for her friend.

"That ends my turn," Kaito finished and Tiger drew a card.

"I summon Horn Wan Yue the Crescent Music Maiden (ATK: 500. DF: 500) and I activate her effect. I send the top card of my deck to my graveyard and if it's a Warrior type monster, I get to choose a normal Warrior type monster from my graveyard and add it to my hand. Oh look at that, it's a Warrior type monster," Tiger said as she showed the top card that was on her deck.

It appeared to be another Sax Knuckles.

"I retrieve Clubinet the Police Music Maiden back to my hand and I then tribute Horn Wan Yue to Advance summon Nunchaclarinet the Whirling Music Maiden (ATK: 1600. DF: 500)!" Tiger shouted.

A humanoid wearing green Chinese clothing and has blue hair wrapped in twin buns appeared, wielding two parts of a clarinet like nunchucks.

"I send the top card of my deck to the graveyard and it just so happens to be a Wind attribute Warrior type monster, then one face up monster that you control loses attack and defense points equal to the number of gave up Wind attribute Warrior type monsters on my field times 500," Tiger drew a card and looked at it.

"Lucky," she held up a card which was revealed to be another Nunchaclarinet.

"A monster of Kaito's loses 500 attack and defense points but which one?" Gakuto wondered.

"It'll have to be a monster that her own can beat," Joey pointed out.

"Then there's no contest there," Sherry said.

"Your Galaxy Photon Dragon loses 500 attack and defense points!" Tiger declared.

2000 —> 1500 ATK

"Battle! Nunchaclarinet, attack Galaxy Photon Dragon! Nunchuck Strike!" Tiger shouted and her monster began to whip around the clarinet nunchucks.

"I activate Galaxy Photon Dragon's effect! By using an overlay unit, I can add a Galaxy or Photon monster from my deck to my hand," Kaito quickly said and a card popped out of his deck and he grabbed it before his monster got destroyed.

3900 —> 3800 LPS

"Why would he do that?" Kotori asked.

"You think that card that he added will help him?" Gauche asked.

"Kaito must have a plan," Yuma assured him.

"I end my turn," Tiger finished and Kaito drew a card.

"I summon Photon Sabre Tiger (ATK: 2000. DF: 300)," he started.

An electric blue saber tooth tiger like monster appeared.

2000 —> 1200 ATK

"Huh? Why did your monster lose attack points?" Tiger asked.

"When I don't control another Photon Sabre Tiger, then this one loses 800 attack points but I'm not worried about that," Kaito replied.

"And why is that?" Tiger asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Because I'm going to tribute it to Advance Summon Photon Wyvern (ATK: 2500. DF: 2000)!" Kaito shouted and out came a striking blue and teal wyvern monster.

"That's a huge and bright looking monster!" Romin noted.

"And when it's summoned, all of your set cards are destroyed," Kaito added on.

Tiger's only set card shattered into pieces and disappeared.

"And now I'll attack Nunchaclarinet! Photon Decay!" Kaito shouted.

3600 —> 2700 LPS

"But I'm not done yet because I use the Quick Spell Card, Photon Lead to special summon Photon Satellite (ATK: 0. DF: 0) from my hand!" Kaito added on.

A small blue and white satellite monster popped up and hovered on the field.

"Then I'll use Photon Satellite's effect to combine the levels of both of my monsters!" Kaito shouted.

"Combine? What's he planning?" Asana asked.

"I think he wants to make the level of the two monsters the same but combining them? Hmmm," Gakuto stopped to think about it.

"How curious...do you think he wants to add the levels of his current monsters?" Nail asked.

Turns out, he was right.

"Photon Wyvern is level 7 and Photon Satellite is level 1. By combining them, they both become level 8. Now I set the overlay network, I XYZ summon! Rise the dragon of the ciphers, Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon (ATK: 3000. DF: 2500)!" Kaito shouted.

A violet and pinkish dragon with shiny, foil wings appeared and roared.

"That's an even bigger dragon," Battle Max gasped.

"I end my turn with a face down," Kaito said.

"What? He's ending his turn like that? How come?" Rua asked.

"Considering that she's wide open for a direct attack and he has a monster with enough life points to wipe her out, ending his turn now is a big mistake on his part," Edo explained.

Kaito...what are you thinking? Driote wondered.

"Oh? You're ending your turn like that? Well guess there's more of an opportunity for me to win," Tiger noted as she drew a card.

Kaito didn't respond to this.

"I activate the spell Music Princess's Dance! When I have five or more Wind attribute Warrior type monsters on my graveyard, by shuffling monsters from my hand and/or graveyard, I'm able to Fusion Summon a Wind Attribute Warrior Monster," Tiger explained.

"What?! Without Fusion?!" Luke cried.

She's going to Fusion Summon? Shun thought.

"I fuse together Contact the Conducting Music Maiden in my hand and Ensembullfighter the Music Fiend in my graveyard. The Ultimate being of music, breathed in together the music both known and unknown! I Fusion Summon! Full Orchestra the Phantasmagorchestral Music Oni (ATK: 2900. DF: 2900)!" Tiger shouted.

A humanoid silver monster with speakers on its back appeared.

"And now by sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, I destroy all the cards in your spell and trap zones! And then my monster gains attack points equal to the number of cards times 600 until the end of this turn. You have two cards so blast them away, Full Orchestra!" Tiger yelled and her monster blew away the cards that Kaito had set.

2900 —> 4100 ATK

"That's a lot of attack points, nya!" Cathy exclaimed.

"Now attack!" Tiger shouted.

"I activate Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon's effect! By using an overlay unit, I can target a monster that you control and I can get control over it. Plus when it's on my field, it becomes another Galaxy Eyes Ciper Dragon with 3000 attack points but the effects are negated until the end of his turn," Kaito explained.

His dragon grabbed Tiger's monster mid attack and set it on Kaito's field where it transformed into another Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon.

"So that's why Kaito didn't attack Tiger beforehand. He wanted to use that effect," Yuma noted.

"Since I used that effect, any monster that I control can't attack you directly with the exception of this one," Kaito pointed to the original Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon.

Am I...going to lose? Tiger thought.

"Direct attack, Galaxy Eyes Cipher Dragon!" Kaito shouted and his dragon roared and blasted an energy beam from its mouth.

It impacted onto Tiger which went her flying but she landed on her feet though.

2700 —> 0 LPS

WINNER: Kaito

"Tiger!" Luke cried out.

"She lost?" Asana sounded shocked.

"He won...but at what cost?" Tetsuo asked.

"Congratulations to Kaito! One member from Team Zexal gets to move on!" The unfamiliar voice cheered.

Kaito didn't seem happy about his victory though and didn't say anything.

I guess I lost and will lose more than just the duel. Luke, you better not screw up while I'm gone, Tiger thought with a sad smile.

"And now, the loser's punishment. To the Shadow Realm you go!" The voice shouted.

Tiger cried in pain and held onto her chest as purple mist surrounded her. She began to glow and was turned into a blue orb.

The blue orb sank to the ground and the purple mist disappeared.

Another person lost their soul.

A/N: I'm very much excited to show off the rest of the duels. It took so long considering that Tiger's deck is not out in English at least the physical cards.

Sevens has an English dub but I'd figure that I would use the translated version of her deck.

Yeah that's all for today.

Cya in the next one -Flare