T-Bone looked at the Thestalos that had just reached his hand—he hadn’t even had time to Summon it, hadn’t even warmed it—and then at the LP display on his Duel Disk, and he felt lost.
This might be the most bewildering moment a duelist can experience.
He still had cards, still had LP, but he was already... gone.
But this shouldn’t be.
What about the power of the Four Monarchs? Wasn’t he supposed to be invincible once he obtained their power?
He was supposed to be on the correct path of destiny after receiving the baptism of light, right?
Then losing here today—getting one-shot by a bunch of Dark Scorpion gagsters plus Jackpot—was this also his fate?
"No, I don’t understand..."
T-Bone fell to his knees, staring blankly at his hands.
"My destiny, why is it like this?"
"I think I said this recently, but..."
Kira walked forward.
"When you hand victory and defeat over to fate, you’ve already lost."
"This duel may have looked like you were dueling me, but I could feel your true opponent was someone else. That power wasn’t yours, and even the flow of the duel wasn’t truly guided by your will.
It only looked like you were at the wheel, but the car was on autopilot from the moment you sat down."
T-Bone was silent.
"A true duelist carves out their own destiny. A duelist who steps into the arena without even their own fighting will—from the start—is only ever going to be this much."
T-Bone: "..."
Well, that sounds convincing. The opponent won, after all—hard to argue.
But even if you build the mood, speak those lofty words... he couldn’t help roaring inside—
—What the hell is Jackpot 7, anyway!?
Is that your path of carved-out destiny? Your path is seriously shady, isn’t it?
Can’t you win like a normal person, so your speech doesn’t feel so out of place?
In fact, it wasn’t just him raging inside— even the watching Knights of Hanoi were thinking their leader must not be human.
Good thing this kind of person is their leader, not their enemy. Just look at this duel: his main monsters were the bargain-bin Dark Scorpion gang, yet when the fighting started it was Deck Devastation Virus or Jackpot 7 every time.
Imagine it— even without a Shadow Game, dueling a guy like this probably shortens your lifespan.
Even Ryuya Saito—who used to be a leader—wiped sweat from his brow, suddenly certain that when Revolver fixed him back then, he must’ve been going easy. This guy probably has ten thousand ways to make you never want to touch cards again.
"Alright, you came a long way; it couldn’t have been easy."
Kira waved a hand.
"I won’t keep you. Go. Give Sarina a message for me: I’ll be paying her a visit in the next couple of days."
The newly spared T-Bone didn’t leave. He looked at Kira with a crying face—



VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!