Yu-Gi-Oh!: Starting with an Underworld Deck and Depressing the World
Even though the two bound monsters couldn't attack,
they were still powerful shields, at least, preventing Jiang He from attacking him easily.
And this time, they weren't bound by a Continuous Trap like Torture Wheel, which dealt continuous damage.
He could take his time waiting to draw a card that would get him out of his current predicament.
Instead, Jiang He had given him an eight-star "big baby," a rare "powerful monster" straight out of the underworld...
With his current [1500 LP], he would lose another 1000 LP to [Lava Golem] the moment he drew a card next turn.
"But that's where you made your mistake, Jiang He! You focused too much on that effect!"
Standing in the cage, Bastion Misawa clenched his fist and smiled, as though he could see a chance to turn the duel around.
"Since [Water Dragon] was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I activate its special Graveyard effect! I Special Summon two [Hydrogeddon] and one [Oxygeddon] from my Graveyard to my field in Attack Position!"
"Wake up once more, my two [Hydrogeddon (Big Mud Dragon)] and [Oxygeddon]!"
As Bastion Misawa's words rang out, two currents of brown air and one of cyan-blue air surged onto the field before him.
In an instant, they became two familiar brown, four-legged beasts and a cyan-blue flying dragon once more!
Counting the traitorous monster [Lava Golem], he had four monsters on his field.
That stood in stark contrast to Jiang He's field, where he had only one unknown monster set in face-down Defense Position and no set cards left at all!
"Oh no!"
Alexis Rhodes and the other Duel Academy students in the viewing area all looked startled.
They stared at the suddenly and dramatically changed situation!
Even the blond mushroom-headed professor, who had been listless moments ago, perked up and regained hope.
Had that poor student boy Jiang He taken things too far?!
Crowler immediately chuckled to himself.
Ohoho! Doesn't this mean I can still watch Bastion beat that poor student boy?!
His considerable savings spent on rare cards hadn't gone to waste!
"No, that wasn't a mistake. It's called ending the duel quickly."
Jiang He flashed another sunny smile and spoke with a faint grin.
He revealed the only card left in his hand, showing it to Bastion Misawa across the field!
"There's an old saying about returning a favor. It means that when I give you a gift, you need to give me one in return."
"I activate the Spell Card [Owner's Seal] from my hand!"
"Owner's Seal?!" Bastion Misawa and the other spectators all widened their eyes in disbelief.
Quite a few people with a good grasp of the theory immediately recalled the card's effect!
They stared, dumbfounded!
Only poor students like Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale looked completely lost.
They had no idea why Bastion Misawa's face had suddenly turned green!
Who am I? Where am I?
What does this card do?
"That card's effect returns control of every monster on the field to its original owner!"
Alexis Rhodes looked at Jiang He in the distance with a faint smile as she spoke.
"In other words... the [Lava Golem] he just summoned by sacrificing two of Bastion's powerful monsters will go straight back to Jiang He's field?!"
Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and some nearby poor students who had only just learned the effect all stared wide-eyed in shock!
Black lines appeared across their faces.
Th-that's such an underworld move!
Use your two powerful monsters as sacrifices to summon my own monster.
Then I take it back and attack you directly!
Was that really something a human could come up with?
"I'll accept your return gift, Bastion. Come back, my ace monster, [Lava Golem]!"
After Jiang He spoke, Bastion Misawa watched as a hexagram magic circle lit up on the forehead of the [Lava Golem] on his field, and control of it was transferred back to Jiang He in an instant by the effect of the Spell Card [Owner's Seal].
Bastion Misawa's face turned green!
All he wanted to do was rant.
Seriously, you call that returning a favor...?
The monster was summoned using my sacrifices, but you picked the resulting fruit as a return gift.
Isn't that called freeloading?!
I'm well-read, so don't try to fool me.jpg
[Beep, Bastion Misawa's emotion points +500.]
"But Bastion still has two [Hydrogeddon] with 1600 attack and one [Oxygeddon] with 1800 attack on his field, all in Attack Position.
Even if the 3000-attack [Lava Golem] has been taken back and attacks and destroys the [Hydrogeddon] with the lowest attack, it can only deal 1400 LP of battle damage. Bastion will still have 100 LP left, none."
At that moment, Professor Crowler's voice could faintly be heard in the distance as he muttered calculations to himself.
It was as though he were trying to comfort himself!
"In that case, Bastion can still keep fighting and wait for [Lava Golem]'s drawback effect to win!"
"Who said I was going to attack either of the [Hydrogeddon] with lower attack? [Lava Golem], attack [Oxygeddon]! Great Eruption!"
Jiang He smiled, giving the move a name on a whim in bad taste and overturning Professor Crowler's calculations.
He directed [Lava Golem] to attack Oxygeddon, which had slightly higher attack!
"Awooo!!"
With a wail like the howling of ghosts, Lava Golem stretched out its enormous magma hand and fired a gigantic magma fist at the Oxygeddon made of cyan-blue oxygen on Bastion Misawa's field!
"Nani? He chose to attack the Oxygeddon with higher attack!"
Professor Crowler and quite a few spectators looked surprised by Jiang He's choice!
Among them were poor students like Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale.
"Wait! Could he be trying to use that effect...?" Only Bastion Misawa himself and a handful of others, including Zane Truesdale in the distance, looked as though they had suddenly realized something.
They had already guessed what was coming!
Boom!!
As [Lava Golem]'s magma fist struck Oxygeddon,
the cyan-blue, air-current-like Oxygeddon let out a scream and exploded into a huge ball of flames that swept across the entire dueling field!
By the time the sweeping flames quickly vanished, Bastion Misawa was already half-kneeling on the ground, somewhat drained.
His original [1500 LP] had long since beeped straight down to zero!
Only Jiang He remained standing over there.
Chapter 45: Crowler, hold back the tears!
"W-why did all of Bastion's life points drop to zero...?!" Crowler asked in a daze, a drop of cold sweat running down his face as he struggled to accept it.
Many of the Duel Academy students in the viewing area also looked puzzled.
By all rights, after the 3000-attack [Lava Golem] attacked and destroyed the 1800-attack [Oxygeddon],
shouldn't Bastion Misawa have taken only 1200 LP of damage, leaving him with [300 LP]?!
"Professor Mushroom Head, don't tell me you don't know [Oxygeddon]'s effect?" Jiang He asked, looking at Crowler speechlessly.
He suddenly remembered that this blond mushroom-headed professor, who specifically taught theory,
seemed to have frequently forgotten monsters' effects in the original timeline...
"When [Oxygeddon] is destroyed in battle by a FIRE Attribute monster, it passively deals 800 LP of damage to both players."
"And [Lava Golem] just happens to be a FIRE Attribute monster!"
"Huh?!" Crowler's whole body stiffened!
He really had forgotten for a moment!
That hateful poor student boy had made him lose face in front of everyone again...
And he'd even called him Professor Mushroom Head!
Crowler's face turned green.
But when he remembered that Jiang He still had those incriminating photos of him,
Crowler immediately held back his tears!
He decided to wait until the rumored duelist he'd hired arrived, then take revenge on that poor student boy Jiang He and get the photos back!
"He even took all of his opponent's monsters into account?"
Alexis Rhodes said, a glint in her eyes as she watched Jiang He on the distant field.
"When this guy beat Alexis by a fluke before, it seems it wasn't entirely down to luck and Alexis guessing his deck wrong."
"He's just a little annoying when he duels."
Alexis's two close friends and followers, Jasmine and Mindy, joined the discussion, their attitudes having clearly changed somewhat.
"I won! That was a fun duel!"
After winning, Jiang He casually pulled one of Jaden Yuki's classic moves on Bastion Misawa.
"..." Bastion Misawa fell silent.
You're going to end up with no friends if you act like that!
He was the one who had been depressed!
However, after this duel with Jiang He, he did feel that he had seen some new approaches he'd never encountered before.
"Yes, you really are quite strong, Jiang He. Just as strong as my intuition told me you were during the duel test."
Bastion Misawa soon gave a somewhat helpless smile and spoke to Jiang He, thoroughly convinced of his strength.
It seemed he needed to redo a great many calculations and study more possibilities
before he could try dueling Jiang He again!
Jiang He was a little embarrassed by the guy's praise.
He said that he merely had a heart that wanted to spread laughter, spread love,