(?)

This place is pitch black. There was nothing to see or feel. However, there was something that could be seen from a distance. A piece of card with the words "Supreme Empress of _" was hovering inside a ball made of darkness.

As the card continues to hover, a silhouette of a naked girl can be seen walking toward the floating card. The silhouette reached out its right arm and touched the ball made of darkness before grabbing the card inside.

Once the silhouette touches the card, an image suddenly appears on the card, causing the scene to turn white.

"Congratulations. From here on out, you are the Supreme Empress of Lust."

Koyori P.O.V

"Ah-!?"

I woke up from my sleep and found myself sitting on a train in the middle of the night.

"What was I…?" I tried shaking off my head as I tried to remember what happened before I passed out. "I guess I got bored and decided to doze off. Haa..." I sighed as I reached into my bag to grab my phone.

My name is Koyori Akiyurei. I'm a seventeen-year-old girl with magenta hair and purple eyes. My parents recently went on a business trip, leaving me behind. So, in the meantime, my mother asked her younger sister, my aunt, to take me in for a year. I'm currently on my way to my aunt's place now as I quietly sit on a train, with no other passengers in my line of view.

"Attention all passengers: We will soon arrive at our final destination, Kuoh Station. Please prepare to exit."

As soon as the train announcement appears, I immediately put my phone back into my bag and head towards the closest train door.

Once the train arrived at the station, the train doors opened and I walked out of the train, carrying my bag around my right shoulder.

I made my way out of the station. Once I'm outside, I immediately look around the area.

"This place seems rather ominous for some reason…" I thought to myself.

"Koyori!"

I heard someone shout my name. A middle-aged woman in a business suit walked towards me, catching my attention. The woman had dark brown hair tied in a single ponytail and hazel eyes.

"You look different from the last time I saw you, Koyori. I'm your mom's little sister, Miki. I'm here to pick you up." Aunt Miki smiles as she greets me.

"Nice to meet you too, Aunt Miki." I smiled back and returned her greeting.

Seconds later…

While Aunt Miki was driving us in her car to her place, I was staring out the car window as I saw multiple cars passing by us.

"It sure sucks, doesn't it?" Aunt Miki starts a conversation as I snap back into reality. "I mean, it must have been pretty difficult for you to move all the way here just because of your parent's job. By the way, how's your sister doing?"

"She is doing fine" I responded. "I think she is still struggling to get her psychology degree while I'm away."

"It would appear that your sister isn't giving up on becoming a counselor. I have to say, having a job that challenges your emotions is tough from what my friends told me. Most people, including your mother, tend to lash out over minor things. But then again, I'm no different from her since the two of us are siblings."

"Sounds like you were rather close with my mom, Aunt Miki."

"Well, of course, she is my older sister after all. I guess that's the charm of having a hard-working older sister that you can mess with."

"Wow! Your relationship sounds a lot similar to my big sis. I guess it's no surprise since the two of us are the second child, right?" I asked with a shrug.

Aunt Miki laughs at my question, "You are right, it is funny when you think about it—Okay, we're here."

We arrived safely at Aunt Miki's place. I stood out of the car and saw the place where I'd be staying for the coming years.

"Whoa…"

The place was big, almost like an expensive mansion that a billionaire would own. I began to doubt how my aunt could've bought this expensive house, since the last time I visited Kuoh, her house was a normal two-story house. But I decided not to think deeply about it and just accepted that my aunt had renovated her house.

Inside the house…

Third P.O.V

Once Koyori stepped foot onto the Hyoudou residence, she was greeted with an unpleasant phenomenon. The home interior was very out of this world, it's no wonder Koyori felt unpleasant upon entering what appeared to be a very expensive and very luxurious house.

Miki put on a welcoming party for Koyori as she gathered the entire house residents at the dinner table.

"I hope you wouldn't mind the extra people, Koyori." Miki brought it up to Koyori.

While Koyori was eating her dinner, she couldn't help but feel anxious over the many people who were at the dinner table. Most of them are female, with one of them being an adult woman.

"You sure pick up a lot of hotties, Issei, you sure are one lucky son of a gun!" Koyori jokingly said to her cousin Issei while tapping him using her right elbow.

On the other hand, Issei himself blushes from embarrassment while the others at the dinner table chuckle at Issei's embarrassed face.

After having a welcoming party, we move to Koyori unpacking her belongings in her new room.

Koyori P.O.V

"Huh?"

While I was unpacking my stuff, something caught my eye. It was an envelope with a unique-looking envelope seal.

"I almost forgot about this, completely."

Before I left my house, I received this letter in the mail. It was addressed to me, specifically. I was in a rush to the train station that I forgot about the letter, entirely.

I sat down on the desk and opened the envelope. Inside was a letter and what appeared to be four Vanguard cards. I opened up the letter and read it.

"Dear Koyori Akiyurei,

By receiving this letter, we have selected you to participate in the Blood Throne tournament as the "Supreme Empress of Lust".

We are delighted to have you participating in a once-in-a-lifetime event. We have provided you with special cards that you must include in your deck, just for participating in the Blood Throne.

May the best Supreme Blood reach the top of the Overlord's throne.

Sincerely,

William Blood"

"The Blood Throne…"

After reading the letter, I set it aside and looked at the cards that came with the invention letter. The cards included with the letter were four copies of "Shadow of Lilith, "Qarinah" Lucifall".

"Lucifall…"

As I stared at the cards, I felt something eerie from the card.

"Congratulations. From here on out, you are the Supreme Empress of Lust."

That voice I heard in my dream, there's no way all of this is connected. But even so… what exactly did I do to become a Supreme Emperess of Lust?

"I guess I can make a deck around this card," I brought out my two deck boxes filled with miscellaneous vanguard cards.

As I was constructing my new deck, I heard a knock on the door. I hurriedly got up from the desk and headed toward the door.

"Yes, can I help you?" I opened the door. Standing in front of my room was a girl with white hair and golden-yellow eyes, her name was Koneko Toujou, one of Aunt Miki's extras that moved into her house.

"Hi, Miss Miki asked me to give you your school uniform," she said as she handed me my school uniform.

"Oh, thank you." I thanked Koneko as I took the uniform from her hands.

"Hey, uhm… Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm…?"

"You are a second-year student, right?"

"Yes, I am. I am in the same year as Issei. Why'd you ask?"

"I'm just curious since you are a new resident here. You seem to be very chill with everyone around the house despite 99% of the house residents being female."

"This isn't my first time visiting another relative's house full of "strangers" you know. I'm not the type of person that easily gets bothered or distracted by anyone so easily. I rather be civil than cause trouble for my aunt's family."

At least I can do that for now. I really don't want to trouble Aunt Miki or Uncle Gorou with me being around, it's already troubling them that I had to move in because of my parent's job. But even so, Aunt Miki seems to always put her family first before herself. …I wish I could be like her, always thinking about the positives and not the negatives.

After exchanging a couple of words with Koneko, I said good night to her and entered my room. After building my deck, I changed into my pajamas and threw my body on the bed.

"The Blood Throne…"

Not gonna lie, I'm kinda excited for this tournament. Given how there is so little Vanguard tournament that revolves around certain criteria, the idea of the "Chosen One" fighting another "Chosen One" isn't something you see every day in anime or video games. I just need to give it my all and play to the best of my ability.

Third P.O.V

Koyori felt her eyes getting heavy as she slowly fell asleep. While Koyori was sleeping, her newly constructed Vanguard deck suddenly began flashing. Just then, a small spirit-like creature was sitting on top of Koyori's desk, watching her sleeping, peacefully.

"Hmm… It seems like you and I will be a perfect partner together. Hehe… I'm looking forward to working with you, Koyori Akiyurei~"

The mysterious spirit smirks before fading away, leaving a gushing sound behind.

The Next Day…

Moving to the next day, we see Koyori standing in front of a mirror getting ready for school. "There we go." after finishing putting on her neck ribbon, Koyori grabbed her school bag and deck box from her desk.

"C'mon, Koyori! You don't want to be late on your first day, right?" Issei shouted.

"I'll be there in a sec!" Koyori shouted back. She put her Vanguard deck into her bag and headed out of her room.

At School…

Once arrived at Koyori's new school, Kuoh Academy, Koyori went through the process of meeting with her homeroom teacher, first thing in the morning.

"Sorry for making you wait…"

A male teacher approaches Koyori, holding a student attendance list. The male teacher has brown hair with a matching color beard. He also has purple eyes that are covered with glasses.

"You must be Koyori Akiyurei. I'm Mr. Guerrero. I teach History. Please to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Guerrero," Koyori replied.

"Your classroom is in 2-C; that's my class. I'll show you where it is once school begins—I still need to do a couple of argent things before that."

Koyori nodded at Mr. Guerrero.

Minutes later after the school bell rings...

Koyori P.O.V

After the school bell rings, I'm heading to my classroom with Mr. Guerrero. As we were walking down the long school hallway, I noticed a couple of club advertisements hanging on the school bulletin board.

"Huh?" I suddenly stopped walking when I saw something that caught my attention.

"Hmm… Is there something wrong, Koyori?" Mr. Guerrero turned around and asked me.

I snapped back, "-Oh, no it's nothing, Mr. Guerrero.". I got distracted by an advertisement for a Cardfight Club, maybe I should check it out after school. I continue walking with Mr. Guerrero to my class.

We arrived at the classroom.

"Alright everyone, we have a new transfer student who will be joining our class. Her name is Koyori Akiyurei."

After I wrote my name on the chalkboard, I began my self-introduction. "Nice to meet you. My name is Koyori." after I introduce myself to everyone, I bow lightly at everyone.

"Let's see, your seat will be there… Over there, next to Tomoe." Mr. Guerrero pointed to where my desk at.

I carefully made my way toward my desk. Once I took my seat, everyone began to whisper behind my shoulders.

After enduring countless whispers from everyone around me, I somehow managed to survive until the first lunch break. It was a miracle nonetheless; I didn't want to start any weird rumors on my first day.

"Hey, Akiyurei." the girl who sits beside me calls out my name. The girl has reddish-brown hair that is tied in twintails and brown eyes.

"It must suck for you to be gossiped at since you just moved here." the girl claimed, with a playful attitude.

"For the most part, yeah." I agreed while trying not to be embarrassed by it.

"Although… you seem to be rather chill by it. Somehow, I got the feeling that you are a princess from a royal kingdom."

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment, but thanks. What's your name? I'm Koyori." I asked the girl's name.

"Tomoe. Tomoe Meguri," she replied. "It's nice to meet you, Koyori." Tomoe offers a handshake.

"Nice to meet you too, Tomoe," I replied as I shook my hand with Tomoe.

Moving to the Cafeteria...

"You're cousins with Issei?"

"Yeah. My mom is his mother's older sister."

I shared a little about myself with Tomoe as we took our lunch at the cafeteria. Her reaction when she finds out that I'm related to Issei is something that I wasn't expecting to see.

"What a surprise! I didn't expect this sort of twist to come from you, Koyori. I always thought that anyone related to Issei would turn out to be a pervert just like him."

I think I understand the situation much more clearly. It's no surprise that people would assume that I would behave like Issei, but then again, can't really blame them for having a relative that acts like a total perv. I heard from my mom that Aunt Miki is quite a perv herself, I guess Issei has inherited some of her quirks.

"Like mother, like son…" I said under my breath.

Tomoe and I finished up our gyudons at the same time. After we had lunch together, we walked back to our classroom. As we were walking back to our classroom, I learned that Tomoe is part of the Student Council.

"Wow, you must be really smart to be in the Student Council, Tomoe." I complimented Tomoe.

"It's not that impressive. I just so happened to be always active on school grounds that the Student Council decided to have me join the Student Council."

"That's still sayin' something, tho." I honestly want to know more about Tomoe and her role as a Student Council member.

Later after school…

Third P.O.V

"It should be around here somewhere…"

As we move along, we see Koyori with a flyer in her hand, looking for the Cardfight Club. She didn't even realize that she already walked past it-

"Wait, what-?!" she turned around, looking all shocked by her own stupidity. "How did I miss that?!" she just finally realized it.

Koyori runs back to the right room and makes sure to double-check the room with the room number on the flyer. After making it was the right room, she shoved the flyer into her pocket and knocked on the door.

"Excuse me! I'm here for the Cardfight Club. Is anyone in there?"

Someone on the other side of the door responded, "Wait, just a second! I'll be there!". After a few seconds, the door to the Cardfight Club slides open.

"Hi… Welcome to the Cardfight Club. I'm the Club President, Akira Naegi." Akira appears to be a first-year student. He has pale blue hair and different colored eyes, red on his right eye and yellow on his left eye.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Koyori Akiyurei from class 2-C. I'm a transfer student who just moved here. I saw your advertisement for the Cardfight Club on the bulletin board. I'm here to check it out."

"I-I… see." from the tone of Akira's voice, Koyori can tell that Akira is nervous. She wonders why Akira is acting up all nervous, is it because he is talking about a girl? Or is it something else?

"I didn't expect to see you standing in front of the Cardfight Club, Koyori."

A familiar voice can be heard as Koyori hears footsteps walking toward her and Akira. Koyori looks to her right and sees Mr. Guerrero, holding a clipboard with a white Vanguard Circle logo on its back.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Guerrero." Koyori greets Mr. Guerrero.

"Are you here to join the Cardfight Club? I took notice that you seem interested in joining ever since this morning."

"Well, I'm only here to check it out and see what's it like. I'm still considering it."

Mr. Guerrero nods in understanding, he then brings Koyori into the room with Akira closing the door behind.

Koyori P.O.V

After I set foot on the Cardfight Club, I spotted two other club members sitting behind a table tinkering with their vanguard deck and looking up cards on the internet. One of the club members was a first-year boy with brown hair and brown eyes. While the other was a first-year girl with grey hair and brown eyes.

The boy with brown hair looks away from his laptop and sees me. The girl then stops tinkering with her deck and sees me as well.

"Toshiro, Aleit. This is Koyori Akiyurei from class 2-C. Koyori, this is Toshiro Hanae and Aleit Kunze. They're both first-years and are in the same class as Akira." Mr. Guerrero introduces the other club members.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Toshiro," Toshiro speaks up first.

"Hi…" Aleit said, blankly.

"Likewise, nice to meet you too, Toshiro, Aleit." I return the greeting.

"This club isn't very "supported" by the school student council. They think that having a club based on a children's card game wouldn't help the school in any shape or form." Mr. Guerrero explains the general condition of the Cardfight Club. "But thankfully, I was able to convince the school principal that I would be supporting the club's expenses using my own cash."

"Our club isn't very popular; but at the very least, we did participate in a couple of official Vanguard tournaments and even won a few trophies as well." Aleit follows up as she points her finger at the trophies the club managed to attain.

"That's very impressive." I compliment everyone and their achievement. "I'm surprised that even with your achievements, the Cardfight Club seems to always get a bad reputation from the school."

"It's not really about the matters of the school getting a bad reputation from our club, it's more along the lines of a complete waste of time," Akira speaks up, with pain in his voice. "For us Cardfighters, having people view Vanguard as a complete waste of time, really hurts. Even if we give it our all, they say that it's all "worthless" in the end."

Toshiro lowered his head as he felt hurt by the fact, while Aleit on the other hand looked frustrated.

As a Cardfighther myself, it really saddens me to see a fellow Cardfighther having their desires taken away by some "higher-ups" who know what's best for them. I took a moment of silence to think before speaking about what was on my mind.

"I… I want to help."

"Hmm…?" Mr. Guerrero glances at me.

Third P.O.V

"I know that I'm just here to check out the Cardfight Club, but I can't stand the idea of someone's desires being taken away by some higher-ups. That's just wrong. Everyone has the right to do what they, to be who THEY want. What's the point of making your dream come through if someone did it for you?"

Judging from Koyori's tone of voice, everyone senses a rebellious spirit coming from her. It's almost as if she refuses to obey or be submitted to someone else.

Mr. Guerrero took notice of Koyori's behavior. Her actions seem to remind him of someone he used to know. Someone who refuses to be submitted to another with power.

"Are you sure you want to help us with the Cardfight Club, Koyori?" Mr. Guerrero asked.

"Certainly, for sure!" Koyori said, determinedly. "No matter who my opponent is, I won't easily back down or accept anyone who wants to "toy" with my freedom."

Mr. Guerrero smiles at Koyori and senses good intentions from her. "If you say so… Lilith," Mr. Guerrero calls Koyori by a unique nickname.

"Lilith?" Koyori looks confused at what Mr. Guerrero just called her.

"That's the name of the first woman created by God and Adam's first partner before Eve," Mr. Guerrero begins to explain. "She embodied what every feminist aspires to be: a powerful woman and a strong individual with a desire for freedom. Although modern feminists claim they want to be independent and be treated equally to men, they often don't take action to improve themselves and instead just talk about it as if they mean it—I'm not sure if what you are saying is serious or not, but if you're really determined to do such selfless act for the sake of others, then prove it that you have the will power to do so."

"Prove it…" Koyori whispered under her breath.

Koyori P.O.V

Mr. Guerrero is doubting me. From the tone of his voice and how he looks at me, I can already tell that he has no faith in me whatsoever-I don't blame him for not trusting me, but even so...

"I'll prove to you that I'm serious. And by that I mean..." I took out my Vanguard deck from my bag and showed it to him. "I challenge you to a Cardfight!"

"How interesting…" Mr. Guerrero look amused by my determination. "Very well, I accept your challenge, Koyori Akiyurei."

"This should be exciting," Aleit remarked.

Seconds later…

After Mr. Guerrero and I perform our mulligan, we place our decks on the table and place our hands on our starting vanguards.

"You ready?" Mr. Guerrero asked.

I responded with a confident smirk and looked back at him, "Always has been."

"Stand up…"

"End!"

"Vanguard!"

Once we turn over our starting vanguard, the game begins. Our vision shifted from the real world to Planet Cray as we rode our first vanguard into battle.

(The End)

(Off-topic daily facts: Feminist)

"In the 1800s, some opponents of women's rights believed that allowing women to ride bicycles would lead to societal chaos because it might give them too much freedom! Thankfully, women embraced cycling as a symbol of independence and a way to gain greater mobility—literally and figuratively!"