Jayr POV - Earth, New York City - 2022

  As soon as I realize that oher side of the dether with Hughie there is the other Champion, my elusive oppo in this Random Battle, I ighe TV, and instantly raise my guard, fog all my senses and awareness on her.

  I yell, "ing!" get up from the coud start to calmly walk toward the entrance door, at the same time, I analyze the female Champion as much as possible trying to grasp more information about her possible abilities and her iions, 'From what I sense, she is quite slim but despite that sensing how careful she is with her moves she for sure has enharength and speed, way above those of a regur human but not at a level that it be threatening as I'll put her around a regur Supe level of power, and below Homender, and from the way her body slightly twiched when I stood up, I'll say she also has enhanced senses, but more important, all this shows that she isn't a trained fighter as she is still very clumsy with her body.'

  I'm almost in front of the door, and start to notiore details, 'More importantly, she doesn't release any killing i, sure, all this could easily be a rouse to make me lower my guard, but her heartbeat clearly doesn't lie as she is clearly nervous... nervous but not afraid, it also seems that she has some fidehat she won't die, now the question is, that fidenes from the fact that she observed me in a as I helped the people in these weeks and is sure of my character, or because she has a hiddehat will ensure her safety?'

  Finally, I'm standing in front of the entrance door, and without aation, I open it and greet them with a calm smile, "Good m, Hughie and felloion, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

  At the same time, I look at the girl standio the nervous Hughie, she is a young woman obviously my age, she is short, about 1,58 meters tall, with wavy auburn or dark brown hair, bright light-colored blue eyes, and full lips, she wears rexed yet somewhat gothic clothing that pliments her full, curvy figure, and the more I look at her, the more familiar she seems, like I have seen her somewhere before.

  Anyway, a more importaail is that in my eyes her soul is a light blue color, indig that she is, in fact, a good person, and that almost makes me click my tongue in annoyance, 'Cazzo! I hoped she was an evil bitch with a pitch-bck soul! Everything would have been a hell lot easier, simply kill her, and bam! I go bae to the girls.'

  While thinking that, Hughie awkwardly replies, "Y-Yeah, good m Jayr. I don't really know what is going on, I was just about to go to the Crateris Global when this girl greeted me, after that I... I don't really know what happened, but the hing I know is that I'm standing in front of your door with her beside me..."

  Hearing that, I narrow my eyes a little while thinking, 'Some kind of mind trol or hypnosis power, huh? Luckily, Hughie is uhe tract's prote like all the people w at Crateris Global making it impossible to extray information from anyone, so even if she tried to take them out of his mind, or asked some simple question, or tried to pel him in revealing some secrets, she won't be able to do it.'

  At the same time, the young woman introduces herself, "Hello, my name is Nikita Mikaelson, the Champion of Gravity, o meet you."

  Hearing that, I nod and realizing her identity I mutter, "Mikaelson, huh..." then I ask, "So that's why you feel so different from a human, you are some kind of Vampire hybrid... but is it fio reveal something like that so openly?"

  At the same time, a scared Hughie excims, "A V-Vampire!?" but I ignore him and gh all the information I remember about the Vampires of The Vampire Diares Universe and as I look at the more nervous woman in front of me who seems to have reized her mistake, I ent, "That wasn't a bad choice, it gave you a banced set of abilities, a good fundation, and a pretty strong form of immortality, because if I remember well, the only way to kill your type of Vampire is to use a on made of a special kind of oak tree that only be found in your universe..." while at the same time thinking, 'Well, that or simply obliterating her body so that nothing that be regeed remains or destroying her soul.'

  I quickly realize my own mistake, and so, I introduce myself in the same way to calm her down, "Sorry, I was rude. As you know, my name is Jayr Pucci, and I'm the Champion of Culture, o meet you too. Do you want to e inside?"

  As I ask this, I make way for her to walk into the apartment, then look at Hughie and say, "You go, don't worry, everything is fine."

  Meanwhile, Nikita simply nods and slowly walks inside in silence as she looks around with a curious expression on her face.

  Meanwhile, as Hughie nods says goodbyes and goes away, I reply, "See you ter." close the door ahe Champion of Gravity into the kit where I offer her, "Do you want something to drink? Water, fruit juice, frozen coffee, blood?" but she shakes her head and as she sits on a chair he table she replies, "Nothing, thanks."

  A smirk forms on my face as I tease her "Don't worry, I won't poison you... Simply because no poison I currently have ohat could work on you..."

  She uands that I'm joking and making an exaggerated sigh of relief she says, "Haa... I'm so gd to hear that, it isn't like the Omniverse is full of charming evil maniputors who would put on the facade of a kind and noble hero just to screw over a beautiful i young girl like me... You know the likes Griffith, Aizen, Shou Tucker, Dr. Bumby, Scott Shelby... and the list goes on and on..."

  Hearing that, a smile form on my face as I mutter out loud, "Damn it! Why it didn't go acc to my keikaku...?" but then I sit on the chair in front of her and cutting to the chase, I turn serious I ask, "So... how do you wanna do this? Fight, challenge, or surrender?"

  The smile on Nikita's face also fades away as she seriously expins, "To tell you the truth, I don't really care about winning this Battle Across the Omniverse and being some kind of almighty God ruling over her own Omniverse. I just want to enjoy this sed ce at life that I had as much as possible something I couldn't do in my brief previous life, I want to travel to the worlds I could only dream of, meeting the heroes that apanied me through the darker times in my previous life, spending some time with my new family, fall in love, have a family of my own... all things I 't do anymore if I die or lose Gravity's blessing."

  She lowers her gaze and looks at the pendant wound around her neck as she unsciously pys with it using her hand and tinues, "That's why at the start of this Random Battle my pn was simply to hide away from my oppo and if possible find some information on him or her without being found out, and if it was a somewhat det person try to ally with him or her, and if he or she was a total deranged individual tio hide until the 1-year time limit pass and move on to another universe."

  Then she loht into my eyes and tio expin, "Then the day after I came here, your image appeared all over the pce, and I instantly reized you as a felloion, not only that but the way you expressed yourself and the apparent hints you sciously left behind also made it clear for me what yoal was... You wao be reized, you basically painted a big red target on your bad also made it particurly easy to find you and follow your movement, all this to drive out another Champion from his or her hideout as fast as possible."

  After that, she decres with a tohat leaves behind no doubt about the fidence she has behind her reasoning, "For some reason you are in a hurry to finish this Random Battle as fast as possible, maybe because some family member irlfriend in your homeworld is in danger or ill but despite that, you still made sure to not harm anyone and even acted in such a way as to help as many people as possible. I'm scared to find out what you would do if this Random Battle takes to much time f you to take a more drastic a as I have seen how you almost effortlessly ged this world. But no matter the exact reason behind your as, I'm sure that for you it is really important. But I don't want to simply lie down and give up because of that as my reasons are important to me too, and so I choose to fight... fight for what is important to me. That's why in the end I chose to e here and face you, because I was sure that with your character you wouldn't make the first move if I didn't make one against you. I came here to Challenge you!"

  At the same time, she uttered those words, the rule of the world around us ged.

  I sense a strong glowing barrier surrounding both me and Nikita, moreover, I'm also ue my Spiral o or even move my body, but just as I'm about to panic, I hear Culture's voice as it decres, [A Champions Challenge has been issued. Right now all kinds of aggressive a are forbidden and both the Champions will be protected from all kinds of harm.]

  Looking at the young woman oher side of the table, I 't help but be impressed by her reasoning, she not only quickly uood what the i behind my as was, but she also somewhat theorized the motives behind them and also analyzed my character through my as until now, and e up with a somewhat surefire way to further ensure her safety, as I didn't know that this is what happens when you challenge another Champion.

  Then a wry smile forms on my face as I expin, "You were right in fearing what I would have done because if you didn't show yourself in a couple of months I was ready to teleport every living being I could seo another habitable p and blow up this one..."

  I see her face quickly pailing at that thought, then I ask, "By the way, do you know how a Challenge does exactly work?"

  She tries to shake her head but is uo do so she simply replies nervously, "I don't know. This is my first time and I'm so nervous." making me ent, "Phrasing..." while dashing all the good impressions I had about her, 'I thought that she pnned everything and that I fell into her trap, but she is pying by ear.'

  But she ignores all this and adds, "In fact, I'm even more nervous now, especially as I now realize that I stand in front of a p buster and that I was maybe too reckless in trusting my immortality too much. I'm relieved that the Challenge has an in-build prote protocol."

  Before I could say anything else, a deep resonant voice is heard as it calmly expins, [A Challenge, or more precisely a Champions Challenge funs this way, a Champion issues a challeo the opposing Champion, and decres the type of challenge and its rules, then if the challenged Champion thinks it is fair enough and accepts, then all cepts will trahe two Champions to the Challenge Space, a pce outside the rules of time and space, then we will create everything needed for it. If, for example, it is a cooking test we will create the kit, cooking wares, ingredients, and a fair judge, in a musical one, we will create the instrument and an audiehere are no limits you pete ihing you think is possible, even something as simple as who sleep the most or who piss the furthest.]

  At this point, Nikita asks, "Gravity! What if the challenged Champion refuses?"

  Her patron cept quickly replies with its deep voice, [If the challenged Champiohat the task is too disadvantageous or unfair, he refuse it, then the challenging Champion offer another ohis be done as much as the Champions derise and if they 't rea agreement, then they dismiss the Champions Challenge. In that case, both the Champions will be able to move and use their abilities once again, but the barrier proteg them won't fade until a day passes. Moreover, the Champions Challenge has a cool-down period of 1 year, where the two Champions 't challenge each ain.]

  Hearing that, I realize, 'Oh, they truly think about this thhly, sure there are still a few loops in these rules that allow some form of exploitation, but they be only used as a form of prote like two allied Champions find themselves in mortal danger because of a third one and so they start a Champions Challeo take advantage of these barriers to protected themselves and maybe even escape using the 1 day of invulnerability, but even in that case it isn't absolute that they could survive, as the 3rd Champion could easily be strong enough to chase after them and deal with them after the 1 day of prote expires.'

  Then I sigh and looking at Nikita I ask, "So, did you already think about what kind of challenge you will issue?"

  She smiles and replies, "My previous life was very brief, I was only a freshman in high school, I didn't have time to develop any particur skills, but I was good at something, it was games, in fact, I was great at them, I still am. And there is one particur game I was especially good at, a fairly popur trading card game..."

  Hearing her say that, I already had an inkling of what she was hinting, and I actually hoped that, 'Even if more than 25 years passed siouched that card game, I'm still quite familiar with it as I pyed it a lot when I was young and even when I was w at the hospital I still pyed casually when I had some free time at hand.'

  At the same time, she decres, "I challenge you to a Yu-Gi-Oh Match using Duel Disk and Holograms like in the ahen she expins the rules, "It will be a best of three Match, each Duel we will have to use a different Deck with no ban list whatsoever, moreover, any use of powers, special abilities, senses, or even blessing will be forbidden, we will py as a normal harmless human being."

  Hearing that, a frown forms on my face as I think about the issued challenge and any problem in her w after all, I 't lose this, 'The challenge as is it is somewhat fine, but there is a huge problem, if there isn't some kind of limit to the card we use to build the Deck she easily build any kind of ourn-kill Decks if there is ohing that's sure is that st time I pyed Yu-Gi-Oh became a plex game full of bullshit, you could easily start your turn with 5 cards in hand and after an infinite bo where you summoned more than half your Ded drawher half, you end up with a board full of cards that will prevent your oppo from basically doing anything else... if he didn't die of old age beforehand.'

  While thinking that, I quickly e up with a way to prevent that and say, "I want to ge a few things, I'm fih the no ban list rule but we only build a deck using archetypes reted to us, to our being, moreover, I also want to add the rule that one 't use the same cards for all the decks for example if you put Raigeki in one dack you 't use it for the other 2. And o thing, I want a time limit for deck building, for building one deck you have a max time of 1 hour, for a total of 3."

  Nikita thinks about it for a few seds then a fident smile forms on her face as she says, "That's absolutely fine."

  At the same time, both Culture and Gravity's voice is heard as they say, [[Challenge agreement reached. Champions Challenge beings!]]

  Suddenly I find myself in ay white space that almost reminds me of Ehit's realm and at the same time I feel a hell lot weaker losing my e to my Spiral o as it gets sealed inside my body, and even my divinity got sealed, oher side, I see Nikita's figure as she looks around in wonder.

  Soon after that, four walls appear arouh a simple desk and aop rising from the ground, the ptop is already turned on, and I clearly see the same deck-building program I was used too.

  As I'm studying the program from a distance, I hear Culture's voice as he says, [When you are ready, you sit on the chair and start to build your decks, the timer will start as soon as you sit, and will appear on the right er of the s, moreover, you test how the built decks wainst the pre-programmed AI so that you check if everything is going as you expected to work or you o ge something. Good luck, Jayr, I'm rooting for you. And kick her ass.]

  Hearing that, I take a deep breath to calm down and mutter, "Here is it... I really hope I didn't screw myself with that ge, as Nikita's smile was a little ing... Wait... she is literally a witch... a spellcaster... and there are quite a few really dangerous archetypes of spellcasters! I truly hope that she is limited only to witches, vampires, and werewolves, and not the more board spellcasters, zombies, a-warriors, especially the first two as those are particurly nasty."

  Then I sit on the chair and quickly start to check the list of cards I have avaible, "Okay, luckily my favorite archetype is present... these cards were expected, and I uand the presence of these, and I even have the Egyptian Gods probably because of my divinity and these are the only "Divine" cards, well, not like I'll use these ones... But why the hell these cards are present!? Ah, wait! I uand they are ected to this other archetype...Oh, my Goddess!"

  At this point, I'm looking at the image of a couple of legendary green spell cards with tears in my eyes and mutter, "The holy grail... the one and only Pot of Greed... the card with the shortest and most effective text of the game: Draw 2 cards. A's not fet Graceful Charity, it's been so long since I st pyed these cards."

  Giving a quick look at the list of the cards avaible to me, I more or less get the gist of how much I was able to limit my oppo's choice, and mutter, "It isn't as much as I hoped, but a lot better than expected... Now, let's build some decks. Let's start with the one I'm more familiar with."

  Quickly I started to build the first deck, the one I used the most in my younger days, of course, I also tried to update it with some newer cards, cheg how it flows, its draw power, the ces of getting a starting brick hand, the perfect deck size to give me as many options as possible while keeping the ces of a bad draw to the lowest, how it ters various strategies and how it gets tered, its versatility, adaptability, and reliability, in summary, I use the hour to the fullest to make sure that is as perfect as possible.

  In the end, the first deds up being 45 cards big with a full extra deck of 15 cards, and as soon as I finalize my choice, a stack of cards materializes oable.

  I pick it up and trol that everything is in order then with a satisfied smile I mutter, "I couldn't have made a better choice as my first deck!"

  Then I once more focus oop's s and start to build my sed deck, and start to scroll the card list to get an idea of what theme or archetype to focus my deck arou, and luckily the cards already used are then removed making it easier to peruse, until my gaze falls on a monster card, where I see a very familiar image, and with a smile I say, "Okay, this is it! This is the one."

  Finding a target I focus on searg for the cards that support this one and that take advantage of its strength the best, I hate to admit it, but this deck is quite a lot harder to build, especially since I don't have an i e here to check what cards work the best with what I'm currently building so I'm forced to quickly chee card at time, and discard the ohat are clearly useless or do not match.

  After a hell lot of trial and error and quite a few trial duels where the AI pletily trashed me, I was finally able to build a strong and sistent deck, with a few nasty tricks hidden in it, made of 40 cards in the regur ded 15 ira deck, and so I finalize it making it materialize beside the first one.

  Despite being quite satisfied with it, I still feel that this one is slightly weaker than my first one, and so after making sure that nothing is missing, I mutter, "Maybe it is better to use this one for the first duel..."

  After that, I start to work ohird and st deck, but after 15 minutes, I'm still scrolling up and down the card list, uo find something I be fortable with.

  Just as I start to get agitated, my eyes nd on a particur card, and reading its effects, I 't help but excim, "Sweet Goddess! This is so broken!"

  But then I notice the requirement o pull out this card ahat they are quite steep and mutter, "This will need a lot of work to pull off, but if I'm able to pull it off it is basically a game-winner... Let's do this!"

  With a pn in mind, I start to look at all the cards ected to this one, and they are quite a lot, after that, I slowly start to elimihose that are more or less useless or not effective enough, I eve rid of those with good effects but that are way too situational.

  I try it against the AI again, and again, and again, and fail many, many times, but slowly but surely, this deck gets more and more effective, until as the time I have is close to the end, I finally sistently pull off the ace, and in those case where I'm uo do so, the rest of the deck is still capable enough to still win.

  In the end, this is my biggest deck yet, with a total of 50 cards in the main ded 15 ira deck, but it is also the ohat run down the number of cards the fastest among all three of them.

  I finalize the st deck, and soon it materializes o the other two, but together with it, another object also materializes, it looks like the cssical duel disk, but I instantly notice the ck of the "bde" that works as the field where the card be pyed.

  But just as I'm about to question that, Culture's voice expins, [Don't worry, this model will produce hard light holograms for not only the field where you'll py the cards but also for the monster you'll summon, these were made by yours only. Now equip it!]

  I do not hesitate and equip the duel disk on my left arm, at the same time, I pick up the three decks and put them into the holster that appeared on my belt and say, "Let's do this!"

  As soon as I'm ready, the walls surroundiart to sink into the floor and I see oher side, a fident Nikita waiting for me.

  Odyin