It's simple math.
[1700 > 1500]
Therefore, the Bear Spirit with 1700 attack power was stronger than the Long-necked Camel with 1500 attack power!
Due to the viewing angle, it wasn't easy for duelists to see the stats on their opponent's Magic Guide Cards during a match.
Moreover, they had to issue commands to their Magic Guide Spirits within the short summon cooldown, so many details were overlooked.
Marjorie was so confident in his Long-necked Camel's strength that he never imagined it would lose in a contest of power!
But reality dealt him an incredibly heavy blow.
In the ferocious collision, the Long-necked Camel absorbed the force from both sides, its entire body toppling over like a collapsing boulder.
Conversely, though the Bear Spirit endured the same force, its body merely deformed—but being a condensation of light, it recovered almost instantly.
With 0 defense, the Bear Spirit's one saving grace was its immunity to purely physical attacks.
One could only say the matchup between the two was terrible.
After reforming, the Bear Spirit pinned down the Long-necked Camel's neck, opened its cavernous maw, and chomped down!
"Hiss!"
The Long-necked Camel's magic power plummeted along with its pained cries.
Marjorie panicked for a moment.
By the time he came to his senses, he realized the normal summon cooldown had passed, and he quickly drew a Magic Guide Card to summon.
But on the other side, Diana, timing it perfectly, had already begun summoning her next Magic Guide Card.
Beating Marjorie to the punch, Diana completed her second normal summon!
A newly refined Magic Guide Spirit that even Dark had never seen before appeared in the red summoning zone—it was another bear!
A red bear with fur that flowed like fire burst from the light, unhesitatingly charging towards the Long-necked Camel being mauled on the ground by the Bear Spirit!
…
[Card Name: Flame Bear]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ☆☆]
[Race: Winged Beast]
[Attribute: Fire/Fighting]
[MP: 800]
[ATK: 1000]
[DEF: 700]
[Special Move: Flame Fist]
…
As it ran, the Flame Bear rose onto its hind legs, its running posture becoming smoother until it looked more like a bear-man.
Just like many other first-years, Diana had put in a lot of effort to assemble a full twenty-card deck.
This Flame Bear was another product of 'basic (ran-dom) refinement'.
At only two stars, the Flame Bear wasn't particularly powerful, but its special move had a 'Burn' property that allowed it to deal continuous damage to the opponent.
Moreover, as a member of the Bear Tribe deck, it could also add to the [Bond of the Bear] for the [Bear of the Earth].
But just as it reached the Long-necked Camel, Marjorie finally completed his normal summon!
He thrust his Magic Guide Card high and roared, "Wooden Prison!"
In an instant.
With the fallen Long-necked Camel at the center, sharp-tipped logs shot up from the ground simultaneously, instantly forming a circular wooden cage five meters high!
"It's trapped!"
Marjorie finally let out a sigh of relief, the corners of his mouth turning up.
This [Wooden Prison] spell card wasn't one from the textbooks. He had paid a great price to refine this card.
The entire wooden prison could last for a full three minutes, which is six turns.
A Magic Guide Spirit with less than 1500 attack power would have no chance of breaking it in a short time.
Even one with over 1500 would have a tough time.
And with this time as a buffer, there were many things he could do.
"First, I'll stall until the summon cooldown ends and the second turn begins, then…"
"Use Flame Fist on it!"
Diana's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts.
His eyes twitched as he saw the red-furred bear assume a proper martial arts stance. Like a true warrior, it held its left fist by its side, pulled its right fist back, and unleashed a mighty punch!
"Boom!"
Flames erupted violently from its fist.
The supposedly indestructible logs were shattered by a single blow from this [Flame Fist]!
The surrounding logs were quickly consumed by the flames, burning a huge hole through the cage.
Almost simultaneously, the Long-necked Camel fell to the Bear Spirit, turning into starlight and returning to Marjorie's Magic Guide Card.
Marjorie's expression turned ugly as he watched the Flame Bear crawl out of the hole in the wooden prison and, under Diana's command, make a direct attack on the blue Magic Sphere.
The greatest weakness of [Wooden Prison] was fire.
He never expected his opponent to be so lucky as to summon a Fire-attribute Magic Guide Spirit as her second monster!
"Tick-tock!"
The battle entered the second turn.
Marjorie's fingers hovered over his deck.
But he never drew those two new Magic Guide Cards!
In that instant.
Seeing the Flame Bear, now free from the wooden cage, charging toward his Magic Sphere, Marjorie didn't have time to consider whether his 2000-point life barrier could withstand a single blow from a mere Flame Bear. Almost instinctively, he let go of the Magic Guide Card in his hand and pointed a finger forward.
"Rise!"
His roar echoed throughout the arena!
With his full concentration, the blue Magic Sphere at the very center of the summoning zone suddenly leaped up like a rubber ball!
"Bang!"
The Flame Bear's punch hit empty air.
Its intelligence level of only 2.5 left it stunned on the spot.
But Diana, the duelist, blinked and saw clearly that the blue Magic Sphere was enveloped in a layer of magic power, with a thread of that power connecting from the back of the sphere to Marjorie's finger!
Although the thread of magic wasn't invisible, Marjorie was truly using his magic power to manipulate the Magic Sphere from a distance!
This was an advanced technique that first-years had no exposure to.
It was a topic only taught in the second year!
And even most second-years found it extremely difficult to master.
"That's cheating…"
Diana's mouth fell slightly agape. Only now did she realize that the Magic Sphere could actually be moved during a duel!
A duelist multitasking, simultaneously manipulating the Magic Sphere to dodge while also using Magic Guide Cards to duel, was considered a standard tactic.
But the Magic Sphere itself absorbs magic power, making it feel very "heavy" to one's magical senses.
Moving it requires a significant amount of magic and mental energy.
An ordinary magus's magic reserves couldn't sustain it for long.
Furthermore, the unique properties of the Magic Sphere limit the effect of magical manipulation to within a certain range.
This restricts the maximum force that can be exerted on the sphere.
As a result, even when there's a disparity in the quality of the two duelists' magic, the force they can apply to the Magic Sphere is roughly equal.
Thus, as long as both sides dedicate the same amount of effort, they can control the Magic Sphere at a fixed point, like in a tug-of-war, leading to a much-appreciated stalemate.
But if you focus only on controlling your opponent's Magic Sphere, then your opponent will find a way to attack yours.
This, too, is a tactical choice.
After all, multitasking with two things is already very difficult. If you can manage three, then you're just a total badass!
However, Marjorie was clearly just a beginner.
Just controlling the Magic Sphere required his full effort; while doing so, he had no energy left to use his Magic Guide Cards.
So when Diana ordered the Bear Spirit to pounce on the airborne Magic Sphere, he had to continuously maneuver it to evade.
Meanwhile, Diana had already drawn two new Magic Guide Cards and was beginning her third normal summon!
Among the two cards she drew was none other than [Power of the Bear], which could grant a Bear-type Magic Guide Spirit an extra 'Star Level x 300' attack power.
But facing the current situation, she had no choice but to select a different Magic Guide Card.
Her lips moved rapidly as she chanted the spell at high speed.
"Magic Guide Summon!"
A white light instantly bloomed from the Magic Guide Card.
A white owl took shape within the light.
"Go!"
The owl's eyes narrowed, and it transformed into an arrow amidst the residual light, shooting toward the blue Magic Sphere!
The stats of this two-star common card were pathetic, but its key feature was that it could fly!
…
The owl's sudden entry into the battlefield made things even harder for the already struggling Marjorie.
He could no longer pay any attention to the cards in his hand, desperately moving the Magic Sphere to dodge.
This Magic Duel instantly turned into an aerial chase scene.
Due to the arena's boundaries and the owl's limited intelligence, it flew in straight lines during the chase and couldn't accelerate much, allowing Marjorie's manipulated Magic Sphere to dodge it repeatedly.
Diana glanced at her hand, felt that none of her cards would help in this situation, and decided to focus all her energy on commanding the owl.
The second turn of this battle phase was dragged out to its very end.
The third turn.
Since Marjorie hadn't been able to draw his two-card limit in the previous turn, that allowance didn't carry over. He could still only draw two cards this turn, and he still didn't have a free hand to do so.
Diana, however, drew two new Magic Guide Cards the moment the turn began.
After that, she summoned a second avian Magic Guide Spirit!
Two two-star Magic Guide Spirits, neither with any skills, flew through the air, frantically cornering the blue Magic Sphere.
But Marjorie had a burst of inspiration, dribbling the sphere past the birds, and somehow managed to hold on.
After failing to corner him several times, Diana's cheeks puffed up in frustration.
It wasn't until the fourth turn that she suddenly used a [Push Spell] on the blue Magic Sphere!
In that instant, the Magic Sphere broke free from Marjorie's control and was forcefully pushed right under the owl.
"Coo!"
With a cry of delight, the owl quickly seized it with its talons and pressed it downward.
On the other side, a pale-faced Marjorie finally stopped manipulating his magic and drew the two Magic Guide Cards from the top of his deck.
One of those cards rekindled his hope.
An eight-second summon time is actually very short when you're not comparing it to anything.
Although the blue Magic Sphere had been captured, its 2000-point life barrier wasn't so easily broken.
He actually summoned a three-star archer!
…
[Card Name: Prairie Archer]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ☆☆☆]
[Race: Human]
[Attribute: Fighting]
[MP: 900]
[ATK: 1200]
[DEF: 400]
[Special Move: Triple Shot]
…
The Prairie Archer, dressed in green with painted marks on its face, drew its bow the moment it appeared and shot at the birds—a Triple Shot!
"Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!"
One arrow shot straight into the sky.
The other two simultaneously pierced both of Diana's avian Magic Guide Spirits!
With two sharp screeches, the two Magic Guide Spirits fell.
Marjorie immediately divided his attention to regain control of the Magic Sphere!
At the same time, the Prairie Archer's neck was snapped by the Bear Spirit!
No blood flowed out, but the Prairie Archer turned to light as its magic power was depleted.
The situation on the field returned to how it was at the start of the second turn.
The only difference was that Marjorie's magic transmission was now showing signs of instability.
He was still only a second-year, and his magic power had not yet reached its adult peak.
Over a minute of high-intensity remote manipulation had left him exhausted.
Once the adrenaline wore off, his control over the Magic Sphere became wobbly.
Aside from being outmatched in card quality, this result was mainly due to his poor mental fortitude.
A 2000 MP life barrier could have easily withstood a blow from the Flame Bear.
If he had just kept his cool, he still would have had a chance.
It just went to show there was a reason he hadn't passed the Dueling Club's recruitment assessment last semester.
…
Marjorie couldn't manage to make the Magic Sphere fly up to an unreachable height again.
Following Diana's command, the Bear Spirit rose onto its hind legs, took a sudden leap, and then delivered a ferocious slam dunk!
"BOOM!"
Everything went quiet.
"Tweet—"
"Battle over!"
"Winner: Dianna Greatbear."
After the referee announced the result.
The Noble House first-years in the audience were stunned for a good while before they suddenly remembered to cheer.
On the red player's platform, Diana smacked her lips, finding the victory rather tasteless.
"So I won just like that…"
She stood on her toes to look at Marjorie on the opposite side and saw him squatting down, though she couldn't tell what he was doing.
This duel was a boring win; she hadn't enjoyed it at all.
But the judges didn't care whether she had enjoyed it or not. The scores came out quickly.
Professor Jones finally looked proud, holding up his sign with a completely different air about him.
"Red Player, Diana: 8 points."
"Blue Player, Marjorie: 5 points."
Professor Fox's mustache trembled with anger; the second-years were under his instruction.
"Red Player, 9 points."
"Blue Player, 2 points."
The last judge, a fifth-year student, seeing Professor Fox's emotional scoring, steeled himself and gave Marjorie an extra point.
"Red Player, 8 points."
"Blue Player, 6 points."
…
In this duel, Diana's performance could only be described as solid, making 8 points a very appropriate score.
Marjorie, on the other hand, was clearly below par. However, his ability to remotely control the Magic Sphere was a bonus, so a score of 5 would have been more standard.
If he couldn't reflect and improve in his next two matches, he would likely fail to be selected again.
A duelist never gives up until the very end.
Making a comeback from the brink of defeat, like a candle flickering in the wind, has a certain romance to it.
A strong and stable mentality is the foundation for everything.
Watching from the sidelines, Dark twirled the magic ring on his finger, his own excitement becoming difficult to suppress.
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