The duel was over, yet the spectators maintained their silence. No one found the right words to say. A mix-blood duelist had defeated an Adamant rank. This much was clear, but how exactly were they supposed to react?
One duelist had surpassed his limits. That moment when he showed them a world they could have never anticipated still sent shivers down their spines.
“Yuri...won...”
Athena’s befuddled voice was followed by a torrent of tears.
“Yuri won!! He won, did you see, Fram!? He won!”
She needed to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She embraced Fram beside her, who softly patted her head and nodded along.
“Why, of course he won. That child...worked hard for this.”
A soft look on her face, Fram gazed over Yuri’s collapsed form. Yuri had tried out whatever he could this past week. To what extent he could draw out his traits, how many attacks he could fire from the same body part, how far he could push his maximum output, how long he could keep up his enhancements, how long it took to heal his injuries, how well he could move while injured—
He chipped away at his body and soul to tackle each barrier one at a time. Through a mix of them all, he had surpassed the wall of mix-blood.
“Yeah...he worked really hard...!!”
Seeing Athena burst into tears like a child, Fram continued patting her on the head. “After all that, I’m sure he’s simply exuberant.”
Yuri had passed out in the center of the ring. Even now, his left arm jutted straight out from his body. To erase any doubt that he was the victor, his smile refused to die from where he lay.
And while those in the plaza watched him curiously—
“Heya! Did you get an eyeful of that, duelists!!?”
A voice through a megaphone resounded across the silent ring. The voice caused them to unanimously look up. To the top floor of Babel Tower...to the Administrator Velt.
“It ain’t just everyone gathered here; you lot watching the broadcast, you listen up too,” Velt prefaced before addressing every continent of the world. “Right now, you’re all far too weak. You don’t fight because you can’t win, because you don’t have enough rate, because you think you’re not going to rise in the ranks anyway. For such petty reasons, you fight only safe duels. Such boring duels... Haven’t you grown tired of them yet?”
In a low voice, Velt spoke to chastise his charges. And yet, this elicited no audible objections. Those who saw the fight quietly lent their ears.
“Listen up, the limit’s such a boring word to restrict yourself by. No need to imagine the likes of what’ll happen if you lose...just keep your eyes on victory, and fight!!”
His words resonated strongly in an attempt to rouse every duelist.
“The Creator of all people prepared such a damn fun place for all of us! Then why not put on a show for ’em? Fight with all you got!!”
As his words continued to turn, his face shifted to a smile as innocent as the boy’s.
“Aim for the top—try and beat us Administrators!!”
These words caused the excitement of those in the plaza to boil over. The gruff cries of duelists spread across the duel city in its entirety. The broadcasts propagated this fervor to the eight continents of the eight tribes.
As duelists, as those who came and longed for battle, they were the ones who found joy in fighting with the title of strongest on the line.
“With the power vested in me as an Administrator—I hereby open the Babel Roulette!!”
On Velt’s call, the enthusiasm spread like an explosion. And...the battle to determine the strongest had begun.