Anime Card System

The next day arrived quickly. Victoria Song stood before the class, holding a sealed box containing twelve slips of paper, one for each student. After giving the box a thorough shake, she reached inside and drew out two slips.

"I will now announce the two students for our first test." She slowly unfolded the paper in her hand, a small smile playing on her lips. "Russell versus... Liam Blake."

Hearing his name, Russell raised his eyebrows slightly. He hadn't expected to be the first one on stage.

The teachers and students of the key class made their way to New Metro First High's dedicated battle arena. Liam stood at one end of the field and called out to Russell, "Russell, please give me your guidance." As he spoke, a figure with the body of a man and the head of a bull, holding a heavy steel knife, materialized in front of him.

An Ox-Head? Russell thought, looking at the card with some surprise. But he quickly dismissed his initial guess. If it were a true [Soul-Reaper · Ox-Head], it wouldn't be a mere blue-quality Black Iron card. That left two possibilities. One, it was just a generic monster with an ox head and a human body. Two, the story was imperfect or the materials were not of a high enough level, resulting in an incomplete version of the mythological figure. Russell leaned toward the first possibility. Generally, creature cards like this, which mimicked legendary figures but were of a lower quality, lacked any special abilities.

In an instant, Yoriichi Tsugikuni appeared in front of Russell. "I leave it to you, Yoriichi." The swordsman gave a slight, silent nod in response. Russell still hadn't figured out if his card chose not to speak or simply couldn't.

On the sidelines, both Nancy Whitemore and Darren, who were watching intently, felt their eyes narrow as they saw Yoriichi for the first time.

In the arena, Yoriichi took a single, deep breath and instantly rushed towards the ox-headed monster, the distance between them closing in a blur. Perhaps it was due to the card's low quality, or perhaps its intelligence was simply not very high, but the minotaur barely had time to react before Yoriichi was upon it.

CLANG!

The two blades collided, sending a shower of red sparks across the field. But in the next moment, a cry of surprise came from Liam.

Yoriichi, in a brilliant tactical move, had voluntarily disengaged from the power struggle. He took a sideways step, and as the minotaur staggered forward from the sudden loss of resistance, he crouched down, slipping past its guard. A flaming blade slashed across the minotaur's neck.

Yoriichi now stood with his back to the monster, slowly sheathing his sword. Behind him, the headless body of the minotaur dissolved into motes of light.

"Russell wins!" Victoria Song announced loudly from the sidelines, her face showing unconcealable joy. Russell's excellence had far exceeded her imagination. If his first card hadn't been limited by his available materials, he might have created a gold-quality one right from the start. Principal Shepherd's vision had been correct; Russell was truly worthy of being cultivated as a seeded talent for the school. This year, they actually had a chance in the joint examination.

Nancy, however, watched the match with a thoughtful frown. From just one battle, she couldn't get a clear read on Yoriichi's abilities. All she knew was that even among purple-quality Iron-level cards, he was top-tier. She turned to Darren. "Well? Are you confident?"

Darren raised an eyebrow, a confident smirk on his face. "Against Russell? It might be a little tricky." "So you'll lose?" "I'll win."

"Fortunately, it wasn't the crimson-haired ghoul, otherwise the whole street would have been destroyed," Russell muttered to himself as he watched Darren's next match from the sidelines.

But he had to admit, Darren's [Green Zombie] was undeniably strong. From what Russell could see, it had at least one ability that greatly enhanced its physical strength. As for any other abilities, it was impossible to tell, because its opponent was far too weak. The moment the opposing card was summoned, the Green Zombie pinned it to the ground and tore it apart.

"Hahaha! You useless piece of trash! You're too weak!" Darren laughed loudly from his side of the arena. "How did someone like you even get into the key class!?"

His defeated classmate's face went pale with humiliation.

Victoria Song frowned from the sidelines. In her opinion, Darren was going too far. They were classmates, not mortal enemies. There was no need for such harsh words.

"Darren will suffer sooner or later with that personality of his," Nancy said, shaking her head in disapproval.

Russell just nodded indifferently. "Why bother caring so much? We're not his parents." Maybe Darren would learn his lesson one day, but that had nothing to do with him.

"The next match is between Nancy Whitemore and Justin!" Victoria's voice rang out.

"It's your turn now. Good luck," Russell said, turning to Nancy.

She smiled, pulling a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you." With that, she turned and walked toward the center of the field.

"What were you two talking about just now?" Darren said, carelessly plopping down in the seat next to Russell. During the last match, he had noticed his two main rivals whispering to each other.

Russell silently shifted his chair a few inches away. He looked Darren straight in the eye and said with the utmost sincerity, "Nothing much. Just that you're too strong. We don't think we can beat you."

Darren naturally heard the sarcasm dripping from his words. "Tsk, such a sharp tongue. I hope you can be so tough on the court later."

Russell just sighed internally. Why is this kid so aggressive? He didn't respond, turning his attention back to the field.

The situation in Nancy's match was a bit strange. Her opponent's card was just standing there, staring blankly into space. Nancy's [Three-Tailed Fox] leisurely strolled up to it, extended a claw, and the opposing card was defeated without a fight.

Russell frowned. "An illusion?" At that moment, an unreasonable association popped into his head. He wondered whose illusion was stronger: the fox's, or Itachi Uchiha's?

In the next round, the three of them—Russell, Darren, and Nancy—still didn't meet. Their opponents were just as easily dispatched. It was now clear that they were in a league of their own in this class. If no one had a sudden epiphany, the three of them would almost certainly be the ones representing the school at the joint examination in a month. This made Russell briefly suspect that Victoria Song was rigging the matchups, but he dismissed the thought as ridiculous. This was only the first ranking test; any student who was dissatisfied could challenge someone ranked higher than them once a week.

"Pa, pa." Victoria clapped her hands, getting the students' attention. "Because we only have three students left—Russell, Darren, and Nancy—one student will be given a bye and will advance directly to the final round."

It would have been more reasonable to have the bye winner play against the loser of the next match, but the one-day cooldown on defeated cards made that impossible.

Looking at the note she had just drawn from the box, Victoria Song announced loudly, "The next round is..."

(End of this chapter)