Subaru felt threatened by Tiger's menacing stare. The blonde deserved his name; his gaze was similar to that of a ferocious tiger's. However, the black haired boy did not back down. He returned Tiger the stare of a proud lion and shook his head to mess his hair a bit and make it look like a mane.
"Hah, you want to see who the king of the jungle is?" Tiger mocked him.
"It will be my pleasure!" Subaru accepted the challenge.
Both duelists set their cards and thus their match began. While they were charging mana in their first turns, Tsugumi, Luna and Tamma were discussing.
"Say guys, who is this guy?" Tsugumi asked.
"You mean Tiger? He's nothing but a loner." Tamma explained.
"Actually, Tiger is one of the strongest duelists from our class. He simply doesn't like to talk to many people because he feels like they're not worth his attention. Luckily, he somehow saw me and Tamma as nice company." Luna said.
"Ah, so a tough guy, I hope that Subaru will be alright." Tsugumi spoke and turned her head to the dueling table.
At the duel, Subaru was feeling really uneasy. That Tiger seemed to have a rather strange aura of power that couldn't help but make him shiver. The boy watched carefully every move that he did, expecting the worse.
"Let's go, I summon Taiga, the Warrior Savage!" Tiger said and a tiger like armored humanoid with a laser gun for its right hand appeared behind him as a hologram. "Go, Taiga, break his shield!"
The humanoid aimed its gun at one of Subaru's shields and fired it, pushing a card from his shield zone into his hand.
"He summoned a speed attacker in his second turn…" Subaru thought. "No, you mustn't reveal your fear!"
"What's the matter? Did my quick attack surprise you?" Tiger arrogantly asked.
"Not at all!" Subaru quickly replied. "I summon Atsuto, Duel Hero Strategist!"
After putting the card in the battle zone, Subaru drew two cards and then put Thunder Blade, Wolf Tiger and Dark GUY, Romanoff Zero in the graveyard.
"I summon Jasmine, Mist Faerie and destroy it." Tiger said and then put the top card of his deck into the mana zone. "Taiga, break another shield!"
The humanoid repeated its attack and another one of Subaru's shields got to his hand. The chosen darkness duelist tried to keep his cool. He charged mana and showed another multicolored card while saying:
"I summon Maxval, Electro-Fuuma! Atsuto, break his shield!"
A beam came out of Atsuto's card and bounced a shield off Tiger's table to his hand. However, a slick smile appeared on the blonde boy's face that made Subaru worry immediately. The card shined with a bright red light and Tiger showed it to his opponent while saying:
"Shield trigger, I summon Blazing Tiger, Crimson Lord!"
"Blazing Tiger! When it is put in the battle zone, all of Subaru's creatures with power 2000 or less are destroyed." Luna said.
"This doesn't look good for him." Tamma pointed out.
"Subaru…" Tsugumi murmured.
Tiger put the card on his battle zone and then Subaru's Atsuto and Maxval cards got bounced off the battle zone and landed in the graveyard.
Meanwhile, at the grassy plain outside of the city, Shubham was standing face to face with the mysterious armored person that identified itself as Kaizer.
"Why have you come to me?" Shubham asked.
"I have come to bring you an offer, Shubham Das." Kaizer's demonic voice resounded.
Shubham began to get insecure. Not only was a strange being talking to him, but it also knew his real name. Not to mention that Kaizer looked really threatening.
"What kind of offer?" Shubham kept asking.
"An offer that you will not be able to refuse." Kaizer continued. "I am on a quest to find the temple in which the witch called Tabitha Lenox had hidden the card of Devil Diabolos Zeta, Evil Awakened."
"Tabitha? So you're one of her servants then?"
"Do not rush to conclusions; this is not your style, Raiden Shubham. I have been created by the forces of evil; I have no connection with Tabitha Lenox whatsoever."
"Alright, go on." Shubham said and crossed his arms.
"In order to find the temple, I must get my hands on the only map that can lead us there. But it is said that Tabitha Lenox had tore the map into five pieces and scattered them across the world." Kaizer said.
"And let me guess, you need my help to find those pieces of map?"
"You catch up pretty fast, Shubham Das. Yes, I have come to recruit you into my future team. So what do you say, will you accept my offer?"
"Well, Kaizer, not every day I see freaks dressed worse than the Black Knight who bring me up crazy offers of conquests for ultimate power."
"Maybe this will convince you – on our journey we will cross paths on more than one occasion with the chosen duelists, this one is a given."
"With the chosen duelists, huh?" Shubham gave signs of reconsideration over the offer.
"Think about it, you can have your rematch with Subaru Geki, the chosen darkness duelist." Kaizer insisted. "Well, I am waiting for your answer."
Shubham stared at the sky as the wind blew through his hair. He once again remembered of the promise that he made to Kokujo and then the humiliating defeat that he had to suffer at the hands of Subaru. The black haired teen sighed and then turned to the armored being and said:
"Alright, Kaizer, you've got yourself a deal!"
"I am happy to hear that." Kaizer replied.
"Let's hope that I'll be able to have some fun while on this quest." Shubham said and an evil grin appeared on his face.
"Do not worry; we will have plenty of fun."
And so a portal appeared behind Kaizer and the being in the knight armor turned around and made a sign to Shubham, telling him to follow. The boy nodded and walked along with him in the portal which immediately disappeared.
Back at the school, the duel between Tiger and Subaru had become intense. Subaru's field had been totally wiped out, whereas Tiger had Taiga, the Warrior Savage and Blazing Tiger, Crimson Lord in his battle zone. And not was Tiger's turn. Subaru was very frustrated that his opponent had take control of the zone, but he couldn't do anything to stop him yet. What was worse was that Tiger was rushing him worse than even Tamma.
"I summon Iron Arm Tribe!" Tiger said and put the top card of his deck into his mana zone. "What's the matter, Subaru? I thought you were tough enough to face me."
"Of course I am, don't think that this is all I've got!" Subaru tried to threaten him.
"Pft, yeah right... Anyway, Blazing Tiger and Taiga break two of his shields!"
Two more shields of Subaru's went down, leaving him just with one last. But just as he got them in his hand, he saw a small beacon of hope. He showed one of the cards to Tiger and said:
"Shield trigger activate, I cast Hades Death Gate! Destroy Iron Arm Tribe!"
Tiger calmly placed the destroy creature into his mana zone and the awaited his opponent's next move.
"Then I put Atsuto, Duel Hero Strategist in the battle zone!" Subaru said, and then drew 2 cards and discarded Terror Pit and Aqua Naruto Surfer. "My turn, I summon Cebu Aquman Jr!"
The top cards of Subaru's deck were Aqua Surfer, Hyperspatial Raiden Hole and Jenny, the Suicide Doll. He put Aqua Surfer to his graveyard and took the other two to his hand. Afterwards he tapped the only multicolored card in his battle zone and said:
"Atsuto, Duel Hero Strategist, attack Taiga!"
The two cards fired beams at each other and got bounced in the air. Subaru and Tiger stared at each other while their cards floated in the air for a few moments until they landed in their graveyards.
However, when Subaru thought that he was safe for one more turn, the confident grin appeared once again on Tiger's face. The menacing predator-like stare of his eyes began haunting Subaru once again. It seemed to him that Tiger was just like the cat that enjoyed playing with its food just before it would give it its bloody fate in its sharp fangs. And if there was one thing that Subaru hated in a duel, that was the feeling that your opponent is toying with you and even delaying your impending loss.
"Subaru, you say that you are a chosen duelist, a hero of this world, right?" Tiger's voice brought the long black haired boy back to reality.
"Yeah, I'm the chosen darkness duelist, got a problem?" Subaru coldly spoke back.
"Ever since you've come in this class, you've only proved us all what an arrogant self-centered bastard you are! And don't you try to bring me excuses that we're trying to replace your friends, this thing is beyond you and you shouldn't be judging us for this!"
"Stop playing psycho-analyst with me, you punk, because it won't work!"
"Fine, then I guess that losing the duel will knock some sense into you."
In the next moment, all the eight cards from Tiger's mana zone got tapped by themselves as he gracefully showed the last two cards from his hand while saying:
"I summon Polligon Jones, Adventure Faerie and evolve it into Great Hercules, Giant Insect!"
A giant blue insect appeared behind Tiger as a hologram and roared at Subaru.
"Go, Blazing Tiger, break his final shield!" Tiger ordered and pointed to the hologram of Subaru's last standing shield.
The fire tiger with rock armor rushed on the table and attacked Subaru's shield with the flame sword that it was wielding with its mouth. The card went in the air and Subaru saw that it was Liger Blade, Fierce Tiger. It was that awkward moment in which your own trump card is lying in your shields when you probably needed it the most.
"Heh, looks like the lion has been tamed." Tiger mocked him. "Great Hercules, todomeda!"
The blue insect jumped at Subaru and attacked him. Even if it was only a hologram, its attack pushed him back and made him land defeated on the floor along with his cards. The classroom began to cheer Tiger for his victory. Luna and Tamma also seemed to be happy that their close friend and classmate had now become a chosen duelist as well.
Meanwhile, Tsugumi packed up Subaru's cards and when he got up, she gave his deck back to him. The boy then stared at it for a bit, then turned around and walked to the exit of the classroom.
"Hey, where are you going?" Tiger asked.
"Somewhere to get a little peace and quiet." Subaru shortly replied and then turned his face to them and gave them a menacing glare. "But if you three think that I will accept you as my teammates, you are sadly mistaken! Nobody will ever replace Edo, Rad and Sora!"
With those words being said, Subaru was out of the classroom. The students began to boo him, others cheering that he was finally gone. However, Tsugumi was being worried for his behavior. Tamma couldn't understand why he was so mean to them. Luna was rather sad that Subaru was so mean to them. As for Tiger, he didn't seem to show any emotion. The blonde simply walked out of the room as well without giving any explanations. Afterwards, Tiger went through the school's corridors until he reached a window and that's where he saw Subaru walking out of the schoolyard with his hands in his pockets and a grim expression on his face.
"It seems like he needs to be taught a little lesson." Tiger said.