Chapter 108 – No Second Chances

The Direct Elimination Phase had officially begun, and after the chaos of the Swiss Rounds, the tournament floor felt almost strangely quiet.

There were still dozens of Duelists, thousands of spectators and enough staff moving around the convention centre to keep the entire place alive, but compared to yesterday, the difference was obvious as only 64 players remained.

The hundreds of tables that had once filled the enormous hall had been removed, leaving considerably more space between the remaining ones. The large screens now focused almost entirely on the remaining matches, while ESPN had expanded its camera coverage.

There were no longer hundreds of simultaneous games that needed to be represented by only a handful of Feature Matches.

These were the 64 strongest Duelists remaining in the tournament, and every match mattered.

Alexander left the Feature Match platform after his brief opening speech and headed toward the ESPN commentary station where Mike Patrick was already waiting for him.

The professional commentator looked toward him as he approached and grinned before saying, "Well, there he is. Our charismatic creator..."

Alexander sat down and adjusted his headset and said, "Hello to you too."

"How does it feel to finally sit down?" Mike asked. "You've been running around this convention centre since yesterday morning."

Alexander sighed and said, "Wonderful."

Mike laughed before he moved on, "That was quite the speech, by the way."

"I tried to keep it short."

"And then you told 64 people that if they lose, they're going home."

"Technically, I told them they're eliminated."

"Same thing."

Alexander smiled and admitted, "I suppose. But in the end this is a competition and such results are normal."

Mike glanced toward the monitor as the production crew prepared the first Feature Match, and then he asked, "Ready?"

Alexander looked at the screen and said, "Let's see what they've got."

The broadcast transitioned toward the first selected table.

The graphics appeared.

CHARLES IRVIN ZANE VS JACKSON HARPER

Alexander immediately recognised the name of one of his closest friends, and Mike, who noticed his expression, said, "Well, one of today's players appears to be someone you know rather well."

Alexander nodded and replied, "Indeed. I know him very well."

Mike smiled, briefly checked the document in front of him and said, "Charles Irvin Zane, better known to his friends as Chuck. One of the three Duelists who received a bye into the elimination phase after reaching the semifinals of the previous Grand Prix. He's one of the favourites of this competition."

"That's right."

"And apparently one of your friends."

"Also correct."

Mike turned toward him and asked, "So, what can you tell us about him?"

Alexander considered the question before he replied, "Chuck is an experienced Duelist and one of the strongest Dragon specialists in the game. His deck is very aggressive. He likes putting powerful monsters on the field quickly and forcing his opponent to react before they can establish their own strategy."

"Sounds dangerous."

"It is."

Mike looked at the other player and asked, "And his opponent?"

"Jackson Harper. I don't know him personally, but I've been told his deck focuses on the Field Spell A Legendary Ocean and Water Attribute monsters."

The screen displayed several cards from Harper's deck.

Alexander continued, "His ace monster is The Legendary Fisherman. A monster that becomes completely immune to all Spell Cards and unable to be targeted by attacks as long as Umi/A Legendary Ocean is on the field."

Mike raised an eyebrow, "All of them?"

"All of them. That allows Harper to build up his field around it until it is able to sweep everything just like a tsunami."

"That seems... inconvenient."

Alexander chuckled, "For the opponent? Very. But it can be a double-edged sword if the timing is wrong or the key cards are taken out."

The two Duelists shuffled their decks and drew their opening hands, and soon the match began.

Chuck immediately played aggressively as he summoned Lord of D., followed by The Flute of Summoning Dragon, which allowed him to Special Summon two more Dragon-Type monsters, Spear Dragon and Luster Dragon, and began setting up his field.

Meanwhile, Jackson Harper responded by preparing his own strategy by setting one monster face-down and a card in the back row. Then, before long, A Legendary Ocean appeared on the field, followed by Tornado Wall that negated all battle damage as long as "Umi" was on the field, which meant that as long as A Legendary Ocean, which is always treated as "Umi", was on the field, it was impossible to deal damage to Jackson.

Mike described what was happening while Alexander explained the significance.

"A Legendary Ocean changes the environment of the duel," Alexander said. "It benefits all Water monsters while also allowing Harper to use some of his cards more effectively, as it reduces their level by one, which means that he can summon Level 5 Monsters without Tributing."

"Oh my...! That's quite the pinch. So Chuck needs to stop him before the tide gets too overwhelming and floods him."

"Exactly."

Chuck didn't appear particularly worried; instead, he grinned.

"That's Chuck," Alexander commented.

Mike laughed and observed, "You sound like you've seen that expression before."

"Many times."

Chuck continued summoning Dragons and attacking whenever the opportunity presented itself. While he wasn't able to deal any damage, he was still able to destroy his monsters, thus slowing Jackson down a bit.

Jackson defended himself while gradually building toward his stronger monsters, then the critical moment arrived as he finally summoned his ace, The Legendary Fisherman.

The audience reacted immediately while Mike's voice became more excited, "And there it is! The ace monster!"

Alexander leaned forward slightly as he observed, "Now Chuck has a problem."

Then Jackson activated Dark Hole's effect, and Chuck's field was threatened with complete destruction, but Chuck's expression changed for barely a moment, then he smiled again.

Mike noticed, "Is that a good smile?"

"With Chuck, it usually means he's about to do something reckless."

"Reckless?"

"Or brilliant."

"Those sound dangerously similar."

"They often are."

Chuck responded by activating Burst Breath, tributing Thousand Dragon to destroy all the opponent's monsters on the field whose DEF was less than or equal to the ATK of the tributed monster, basically also clearing Jackson's field, followed by Super Rejuvenation to recover resources.

The duel suddenly became a clash between two strategies, and in the end, Chuck came out victorious, thus winning the first duel.

The next one followed a similar pattern where Jackson's Umi-based deck had control over the field, but Chuck's Dragons possessed enough raw power and tools to challenge it directly.

Neither player backed down, and once Chuck used Stamping Destruction to destroy A Legendary Ocean, the Life Points began dropping rapidly.

The audience became increasingly invested as the two Duelists exchanged attacks, but eventually, Chuck found the opening he needed; he summoned Tyrant Dragon, negated the Bottomless Trap Hole that was activated to destroy it with its effect and then launched his final attack.

Harper attempted to respond, but the necessary defences simply weren't there, so the attack connected and Jackson's Life Points reached zero.

For a moment, there was silence, then the convention centre erupted as Chuck stood up with a huge grin and raised one fist.

Mike laughed as he declared, "And Charles Irvin Zane takes the first match!"

Alexander smiled and said, "He played aggressively, but he didn't simply throw monsters onto the field. He forced Harper to use his resources defending himself and waited until The Legendary Fisherman was no longer enough to stop him."

Mike nodded, "So the Dragons won through sheer pressure and power."

"Exactly."

The camera focused on Chuck for several seconds as he shook hands with his opponent, and Alexander couldn't help smiling.

Mike noticed as he quipped, "So much for unbiased commentary."

Alexander laughed and said, "I never claimed to be unbiased when it comes to my friends."

"Fair enough."

The broadcast moved toward another table.

~~~▽~~~

Elsewhere on the tournament floor, another Duelist sat quietly across from his opponent, Phillip Coulson.

Coulson was a former United States Army Ranger, where he had befriended Marcus Johnson and earned the callsign "Cheese." During the time he and Johnson were stationed in Afghanistan, the two had fought against riots caused by hostile forces, forging a close friendship in the process.

Some time later, Johnson was notified of his mother's death and returned home for her funeral. Philip also returned to America around the same time, taking a leave of absence. When Marcus began investigating his mother's murder, he called Philip for help tracking down the people responsible.

What followed was an adventure that eventually brought Philip into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. He joined forces with the organisation to rescue Marcus after he and the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. were captured by the would-be world conqueror Orion.

In the aftermath, both Philip and Marcus joined S.H.I.E.L.D.

Now, only recently recruited, Coulson wasn't even a Level One agent yet. He was still a recruit, just like his friend Marcus.

As far as anyone watching him was concerned, however, Coulson was simply another Duelist enjoying an interesting new card game and, to be fair, he was, but he had another reason for being there.

Coulson had received a direct assignment from the Director: observe the Duel Monsters phenomenon and determine whether there was anything unusual about the game, its creator, or the organisation behind it.

The assignment was highly confidential. So confidential, in fact, that only Marcus was even vaguely aware of it.

So far, Coulson hadn't found anything, 'Industrial Illusions' looks like a legitimate company. The tournament is being run professionally. The game itself is surprisingly sophisticated. And Alexander Maximillion Jones is... Well, Alexander is certainly unusual for a boy his age, but not necessarily in a suspicious or dangerous way. I really can't understand why the Director directly assigned me this mission and told me to keep it extremely confidential. Especially when I'm not even a Level One agent yet.'

Coulson glanced down at his cards, 'Oh well. For now, there's nothing suspicious. I'll just enjoy the tournament like I intended to do in the first place.'

He drew his next card and a smile appeared on his face.

"Interesting," he muttered.

His opponent looked at him. "Something good?"

"Very."

Coulson played the card.

His investigation might not be producing anything useful yet, but he was fully enjoying the mission as the game was really fun.

Several tables away, another match was underway.

Johnny Storm was having the time of his life.

His opponent's deck was unlike anything he had faced so far.

She relied on relatively weak monsters that could attack directly while using defensive cards to protect them or end the Battle Phase before Johnny could deal significant damage.

It was an annoying strategy, but Johnny didn't seem bothered.

His own deck was based around Machine-type monsters, and eventually, he had built enough of a field to unleash his favourite combination.

Machine King stood among his other Machines, while DNA Surgery changed all the monsters on the field into Machines as well, further empowering Machine King.

Johnny grinned while his opponent immediately became nervous, especially since she didn't have other cards in her backrow.

"What's with that look?" she asked.

Johnny laughed, "You'll see."

He activated Limiter Removal and the effect resolved making the attack power of his Machines doubled.

The crowd watching the match reacted immediately, seeing such big numbers.

Johnny's eyes widened with excitement as he exclaimed, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

He declared his attacks.

The Machines overwhelmed his opponent's defences, and the Life Points dropped dramatically until they turned to 0.

His opponent stared at the field in disbelief while Johnny simply laughed.

He was having fun, and that was the entire point of this tournament.

Not everyone watching the tournament was there simply to support a particular Duelist or to enjoy the competitive atmosphere.

Emma Frost stood among the spectators, observing the event with considerably more attention than the average visitor.

She had come for several reasons.

The most obvious was professional curiosity.

Alexander had managed to organise an event of enormous scale while still being remarkably young.

Emma wanted to see what he had actually built, and she had to admit that she was impressed.

The logistics were excellent. The tournament was running smoothly. The spectators were engaged. The television production was polished. The merchandise areas were busy. Even the way the crowd moved through the convention centre had been carefully planned.

Alexander had built something considerably larger than a card game tournament.

But that wasn't the only reason Emma had come.

Her eyes moved across the crowd, but she wasn't merely looking at Duelists; she was also using her Mutant Powers to sweep the ambient psychic signatures of human minds around her to sense active or newly manifesting X-genes.

She was looking at people; more specifically, she was looking for something that most people wouldn't even know existed: Mutants like her.

The convention centre contained hundreds of young people from across the country, so it was an excellent opportunity.

Emma focused her attention on one teenager, then another.

She paused and smiled faintly as there were several individuals here with abilities that hadn't fully manifested yet.

Potential. Possibilities. Future students.

She had expected Alexander's tournament to be interesting, but she hadn't expected it to provide her with potential additions to her school.

Perhaps the trip had been even more worthwhile than she initially thought.

~~~▽~~~

The next few hours passed in a blur of matches.

Some of the tournament favourites advanced exactly as expected; others were eliminated.

A few competitors who had entered the tournament as complete unknowns continued their surprising runs.

Every match told a different story.

One Duelist played aggressively, summoning monsters as quickly as possible and attempting to overwhelm his opponent before they could establish their strategy. Another match became a slow battle of attrition, with both players carefully conserving their cards while waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

A third match featured an unusual strategy that even Alexander hadn't expected to see at this stage of the tournament.

Mike glanced toward him and asked, "What do you think?"

Alexander studied the monitor and admitted, "That's clever."

Mike smiled while observing, "You sound impressed."

"I am."

"Should we be worried?"

"Only if they know what they're doing."

The camera switched to another match.

The giant screens displayed the updated bracket.

TOP 64

Slowly, names began disappearing as the tournament was shrinking.

64 became 48, 48 became 40, then 32.

The final results were verified by the judges while ESPN updated the graphics, and eventually, the announcement came.

The Top 64 had been reduced to the Top 32.

The remaining Duelists would receive a short break before the next round.

The competitors left their tables to rest, eat and prepare themselves.

Spectators moved toward the merchandise areas.

ESPN's production crew reviewed footage and prepared for the next broadcast segment.

Alexander finally removed his headset.

For the first time since the morning, he could breathe and drink some more water to patch his dry mouth.

Then he looked across the tournament floor and thought, 'Only 32 Duelists remain. The atmosphere has changed again. There is no longer any room for lucky runs. No room for recovering from a bad round. No room for second chances. From this point onward, every match will decide whether a Duelist continues toward the championship... Or goes home.'

Then Alexander checked the list of the Top 32, and seeing the names of his friends still present, he smiled.

At the same time, the second Duel Monsters Grand Prix was entering its most important stage.