Yu-Gi-Oh!: Starting with an Underworld Deck, Depressing the World

"Ah, someone's coming from over there!" Jaden Yuki, who was facing the other side, suddenly spoke up as if he had spotted something.

Hearing that,

Jiang He turned back and looked toward the distant Obelisk Blue girls' dormitory across the water.

Soon, he saw a small boat being rowed over.

Jaden's unlucky little sidekick, Syrus Truesdale, was doing the hard labor,

rowing the boat toward them.

"Boss..." Syrus called to Jaden tearfully.

"Syrus, what's going on?" Jaden looked in bewilderment at Alexis and her two friends standing at the back of the boat opposite them.

Syrus also had a rope tied around him, leaving Jaden even more confused about what was going on.

"Um... it's a long story, or maybe a short one..." Syrus wore a miserable expression, unsure how to begin explaining.

He had been lured over by a crudely forged love letter, and he hadn't even gotten a clear look at what it said.

Then he had been unlucky enough to take the blame for the person who had darted away earlier, and everything else.

He couldn't bring himself to say any of it!

Especially not in front of Jiang He.

"I didn't expect you to get here so quickly, Jiang He."

Alexis was a little surprised to see Jiang He here when they had only just left the dormitory.

But she soon put that aside and smiled at Jiang He in greeting.

As she looked at Jiang He, a trace of rising fighting spirit had even appeared in her eyes!

As for Jaden being here too, Alexis didn't connect it to the distress message Syrus had sent earlier.

She thought Jiang He had called Jaden along when he came.

And because both Jaden and Chumley were here too, Alexis never considered the possibility that Jiang He might already have been here.

She simply thought Jiang He and the others had rowed over a little faster.

It could be said that things had coincidentally come together to create a misunderstanding...

"So what exactly happened?" Jiang He coughed and asked Alexis and the others in all seriousness, pretending he knew nothing.

"This guy went behind our Obelisk Blue girls' dormitory and tried to peep into the bathroom, but we caught him."

"If the academy found out, he'd definitely be expelled, right?"

After Alexis gave them a look, her two close friends and followers, Jasmine and Mindy, played along and spoke to Jiang He.

"Nani...??" Jaden and Chumley were stunned.

"I told you, I wasn't peeping! I was tricked into coming here, and the guy in the black wetsuit who really was peeping jumped straight into the water." Syrus hurriedly protested, feeling helpless.

"Leaving aside whether that's true, the fact remains that Truesdale was behind the Obelisk Blue girls' dormitory. No matter how he argues, it'll be hard to explain."

The corners of Alexis's lips curled up slightly as she smiled at Jiang He and challenged him.

"But if you duel me and win, we'll let this matter go. What do you say?"

"Then let me duel you!"

The moment Jaden heard the word "duel," his enthusiasm and urge to play flared up. He eagerly raised his Duel Disk and spoke excitedly.

"No, Jiang He is the only person I want to duel right now." Alexis flatly refused the request, smiling at Jiang He with fighting spirit in her eyes.

Although Jaden had also defeated Professor Crowler and was an opponent worth dueling,

her interest in Jiang He and that secret was far greater right now!

"No way...!" Jaden clutched his head in frustration, looking utterly despondent.

A powerful Obelisk Blue elite was standing right in front of him, yet he wasn't the protagonist of this duel at all...

The pain of a card player with no cards to play was worse than heartbreak!

As Alexis finished speaking, everyone's eyes fell on Jiang He!

They waited for his answer!

Chapter 26: Alexis: I've Seen Through Your "Plan"!

"Since you've put it that way, I can't really refuse, can I?" Jiang He said, spreading his hands.

"Jiang He...!" Syrus looked deeply moved.

Jiang He was almost embarrassed to see him like that.

Isn't this like selling someone out and having him help me count the money...?

"Hmph, then let me personally see in a duel how the Exodia the Forbidden One deck you used to beat Chazz in one turn last night deals with being countered-and what its secret is!"

Smiling, Alexis took out her deck and placed it in the Duel Disk she had raised on her left wrist!

"Huh? This guy beat Chazz, the top first-year in Obelisk Blue, in one turn last night?!"

Behind Alexis, her two close friends and followers widened their eyes in surprise.

Then they looked at Jiang He!

"Did he get lucky again and draw the sealed Exodia the Forbidden One pieces in the first turn or two?"

"No! In his duel with Chazz, Jiang He drew more than twenty cards from his deck in one turn and beat Chazz in that same turn through pure skill!"

Syrus was the first to step forward and refute them.

"No way...!" Jasmine and Mindy covered their slightly open mouths in surprise.

"So this guy doesn't just have luck on his side. He's really strong too! No wonder Alexis..."

"Mamma mia... something like that happened too? Even Obelisk Blue's Chazz was beaten in one turn by the dropout boy!"

Far away, a blond mushroom-shaped head poked partway out from beneath the surface of the small lake, listening to the commotion in shock.

After failing this time, he had been wondering whether to find a Duel Academy elite like Chazz and arrange for someone to duel Jiang He during a practical lesson.

Then they could defeat Jiang He and deal him a blow, making him recognize the difficulty and voluntarily leave the academy!

But Chazz had already been beaten by Jiang He in one turn too!

Oh, no!

Crowler soaked in the lake, distraught, and decided to keep watching what happened between Jiang He and Alexis.

From what student Alexis Rhodes had just said, she seemed to have a way to counter that dropout boy's Exodia the Forbidden One deck.

If he could learn it, perhaps he could pass it on to someone else to defeat Jiang He.

Or he could use the secret as a bargaining chip and find a way to get back the photo that dropout boy had taken.

Jiang He paid no attention at all to what was happening with Crowler.

It wouldn't make any difference anyway.

At the moment, his attention was focused on his duel with Alexis Rhodes.

After borrowing a Duel Disk from Jaden and putting it on his wrist, he took out a deck with a subtly expressive look and placed it in the Duel Disk.

Although Alexis seemed to have misunderstood something, he had no intention of using his Exodia the Forbidden One deck this time...

Meanwhile, Jaden and Chumley rowed over and picked up Syrus, who had been released, in their small boat.

They watched from one side near Jiang He.

That left a large expanse of lake open for Jiang He and the three girls opposite him, their boats separated by a considerable distance.

A gentle breeze blew across the lake.

"Duel!"

As Jiang He and Alexis spoke, they each drew an opening hand of five cards from the decks in their deployed Duel Disks!

[4000 LP] life points versus [4000 LP] life points!

"I'll go first. Draw!" Alexis Rhodes drew a card from her deck, her expression serious.

After looking at it, she flicked it into the other hand holding her cards.

The corners of Alexis's lips curled up slightly.

She placed a card on her Duel Disk!

"I summon Cyber Prima in Attack Position!"

Golden particles appeared, and a mature orange-haired woman in a skintight blue-and-red outfit, with white ribbons around both wrists, spun into view above the lake in front of Alexis!

[Cyber Prima]

[Level: 4]

[Attribute: Earth]

[Attack: 1200]

[Defense: 1600]

"Next, I set two cards and end my turn!" Alexis smiled at Jiang He and placed two cards in her Duel Disk's Spell and Trap Zone!

Two enormous face-down card images appeared in front of her.

"Let me take a good look at your secret, Jiang He!"

"When you put it that way, you'll make me embarrassed."

"My turn, draw!" Jiang He drew a card from the top of the deck in his Duel Disk and looked at it.

He immediately saw the image of the little brown, ball-shaped Kuriboh monster move faintly on the card.

It let out an affectionate cry.

"Kuriboh, Kuriboh!"

A Duel Spirit in my underworld lockdown Lava Golem deck...? Jiang He's expression shifted, and he gave a faint smile.

It seemed exchanging for this Lava Golem deck really had been the right choice.

A Duel Monster Spirit in one of the deck's monster cards was already about to awaken, this quickly into the duel.

"Huh? I think I hear something..." In the other small boat nearby, Jaden scratched his cheek in confusion, having faintly heard something.

"I set one monster in face-down Defense Position." Jiang He added the spherical Kuriboh he had drawn to his hand, then chose another monster card and placed it face-down on his Duel Disk!

An enormous horizontal, face-down card image appeared above the lake in front of him!

"Nani?"

Whether it was Alexis across from him,

or Jaden, Syrus, and the others, all were surprised.

Wasn't Jiang He's deck supposed to have only two Royal Magical Library monsters and the five sealed Exodia the Forbidden One pieces?!