Yu-Gi-Oh!: Starting with an Underworld Deck, Depressing the World
The brothers in khaki and dark green took turns speaking, slowly introducing themselves to Jiang He, Jaden Yuki, and the others in grandiose tones.
Sure enough, it's those Paradox Brothers who got beaten to a pulp by the King of Games, Yugi Muto... Jiang He thought to himself, wearing an unsurprised expression.
Still, the Paradox Brothers were indeed no slouches when it came to tag duels.
They were even exceptionally strong.
Leaving everything else aside, Jiang He was certain that anyone with such distinctive "hairstyles" had to be good at cards! "The Paradox Brothers?! It's really them!"
Alexis Rhodes, Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and the others stared at the brothers opposite them in shock.
Around the arena, Bastion Misawa and Zane Truesdale, seated in the spectators' area, as well as Alexis's two close friends and followers, Jasmine and Mindy, also grew more solemn.
The Paradox Brothers were indeed famous legendary duelists!
Rumor had it that their skill in tag duels had even given the King of Games, Yugi Muto, some trouble at first.
Although they had already guessed who it might be when they heard the news,
they couldn't help being a little shocked to see them in person.
After all, they weren't the sort of people one could easily invite.
"Now then, Jiang He and Alexis will duel the legendary tag duelists, the Paradox Brothers, first!" Seeing that Jiang He had taken out and put on his Duel Disk, Crowler immediately spoke up.
Then he hurried off to one side below the dueling field.
Crowler crouched halfway down, peering over the edge of the raised dueling field with half his head visible, watching Jiang He and Alexis Rhodes anxiously.
He prayed over and over in his heart.
Mamma mia, please let the poor-student boy and Alexis win.
If Jiang He, the poor-student boy, loses to the Paradox Brothers and has to leave school, then I'll be in trouble too, with those incriminating photos of me in his hands...! "Get ready, Jiang He."
While Crowler prayed in secret on the other side, Alexis Rhodes took out her deck and placed it in the Duel Disk on her left wrist. Ready to begin, she spoke to Jiang He seriously.
"Of course. I'm ready anytime." Jiang He nodded calmly and gestured to Alexis Rhodes.
Then he looked at the pair of "crooked-mouthed dragon kings" on the opposite side of the field, the Paradox Brothers, whose faces were full of confident smiles. "Duel!" "Duel!"
As both sides called out at once, the Duel Disks worn by all four instantly lit up red and unfolded.
Each of them drew five starting cards from their decks.
At the same time, [8000 LP] appeared beside each side!
Because this was a tag duel, their life points had gone straight up to [8000 LP], rather than the previous 4000. "I'll go first. Draw!"
After Jiang He nodded to her, Alexis Rhodes called out and drew a card from the deck in her Duel Disk.
Alexis Rhodes glanced at the card she had drawn, and the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
It came on the first turn? This is the Counter Trap I added to work with Jiang He's Stealth Bird deck.
Before that, let's strengthen our defenses on the field.
With that thought, Alexis Rhodes added the card she had drawn to her hand, then immediately took out three other cards and revealed them.
"I activate the Spell Card [Polymerization] from my hand, fusing [Cyber Prima] and [Blade Skater] from my hand! I Fusion Summon [Cyber Blader]!"
As Alexis finished speaking, the figure of a mature beauty with long orange-red hair and that of a bald woman in purple and white appeared before her. They leaped together into the yellow, blue, and green light of the fusion vortex above.
In an instant, they became a long black-haired beauty clad entirely in red. She spun out of the vortex like a tornado and landed on the field before Alexis Rhodes!
[Cyber 5.2 Blader] [Level: 7] [Attribute: Earth] [Attack: 2100] [Defense: 800]
Good grief, did she even shuffle her deck...?
Although they were teammates, Jiang He couldn't help making the remark to himself when he saw the familiar ice-blading beauty with long, straight black hair.
Her starting hand had contained all three cards needed for the fusion.
That was no easy feat.
But given Alexis Rhodes's skill and her bond with her Cyber deck, calling those three cards into her hand
was indeed something she had a good chance of accomplishing with ease.
Jiang He thought to himself.
But this also proved that Alexis Rhodes's fighting spirit was probably running quite high at the moment!
Chapter 67: Aggro Is Already Maxed Out [Please Subscribe]
"Next, I set one card and end my turn!"
Alexis Rhodes placed another card in her Duel Disk as she spoke.
With a thud, the image of a face-down card soon appeared at the back of her field. Although Jiang He couldn't see what card it was, he could tell without much difficulty that the card Alexis had just set seemed to be the one that had made her smile when she drew it.
It was probably a Trap that could work with his Stealth Bird burn deck.
However, tag duels proceeded in rotation, with one player from each side taking a turn in succession. It wasn't his turn now, but the opposing side's. "Heh, you summoned a Fusion Monster with 2100 attack points on the very first turn. Quite capable, aren't you, little lady?" The older Paradox Brother in khaki praised her with a crooked smile when he saw this. "But that's nowhere near enough to defeat us Paradox Brothers!" "My turn. Draw."
After drawing a card from the deck in his Duel Disk, the bald man in khaki glanced at it and slapped it straight onto his Duel Disk. "I summon [Blast Juggler] in Attack Position!" "Hiss!!"
As a faint light flashed, a huge, ugly brown spider appeared on the field before the older Paradox Brother in khaki, brandishing its limbs and letting out a strange cry.
[Blast Juggler] [Level: 4] [Attribute: Earth] [Attack: 2200] [Defense: 100]
"A Level 4 monster with 2200 attack? That's amazing!" Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale exclaimed from a short distance away.
Even Alexis Rhodes, who had just summoned [Cyber Blader], one of her deck's aces, couldn't help frowning.
Although there was a huge difference between the monsters' effects-her [Cyber Blader] had a formidable positive effect, while the opposing [Blast Juggler] had a purely negative one-
every time it attacked, a coin had to be tossed, and if its controller guessed wrong, he would take damage equal to half his current life points.
But as a monster with 2200 attack, even if it didn't attack and was simply summoned onto the field as a "shield," it would leave her [Cyber Blader] completely unable to deal with it on the next turn.
This was clearly a defensive strategy to keep the monster from being easily attacked and destroyed, in preparation for using it for something on the next turn.
Jiang He, however, knew that the Paradox Brothers probably wouldn't wait until the next turn at all. They would soon launch their offensive.
"I end my turn! You're up, young man over there!" the older Paradox Brother in khaki said, looking at Jiang He with a crooked smile.
As for the two bald brothers' brilliant, crooked smiles, Jiang He had long since planned to give them some extra "healing warmth" to cure their crooked-mouth "condition"!
After glancing at the card he drew from the top of his Duel Disk's deck, Jiang He's smile immediately turned sunny.
He slapped the card he had just drawn straight onto his Duel Disk. "I summon [Stealth Bird] in Attack Position!"
"Screech!!"
With a flash of light and a gust of cold blue wind, a strange blue-winged bird with a bizarre batlike head and a bird's beak appeared on the field before Jiang He, grinning sinisterly!
"[Stealth Bird] in Attack Position...?!"
Among the spectators, the bald principal, Professor Crowler, Bastion Misawa, Zane Truesdale, and the others all froze in surprise.
But they quickly realized what was happening.
They remembered that [Stealth Bird] had an effect that let it turn itself face-down in Defense Position once per turn.
Dark lines appeared across their faces.
In other words, Jiang He was completely messing with the Paradox Brothers' heads.
Was he also drawing aggro so they would attack [Stealth Bird] on his field first?
"Huh? Is Jiang He going to use the same move he used against Titan last night, bro?" Syrus Truesdale asked Jaden Yuki in confusion.
But wasn't the situation on the field completely different this time?
"No. He's deliberately telling them that the monster on his field is [Stealth Bird], which threatens to deal 1000 LP of damage when it's Flip Summoned, so they'll focus on attacking his monster first."
Jaden Yuki nodded as he explained to Syrus Truesdale, looking thoughtful.
This tactic does seem pretty good for tag duels.
If necessary, Syrus and I can use it when it's our turn to go up next.
On the opposite side of the dueling field, the Paradox Brothers, Jiang He and Alexis Rhodes's opponents, couldn't help their faces darkening.
The same thought rose in both their minds.
This kid seems to be messing with us brothers...!
Even if you're trying to draw aggro to protect the monster on your partner's field, you could at least do it another way!
"I activate [Stealth Bird]'s effect, turning it face-down in Defense Position once per turn. Then I set three more cards and end my turn."
After seeing Jiang He set three more cards and end his turn, Alexis Rhodes had a faint, embarrassed blush on her face.
If he protects my [Cyber Blader] like this, I might accidentally get the wrong idea.
Even [Cyber Blader], whose Duel Monster spirit had awakened to a very slight degree, couldn't help turning her head to glance at Jiang He.
However, only people who could see Duel Monster spirits could see that.
In everyone else's eyes, there was only the virtual image of Cyber Blader, which hadn't moved at all.
In fact, Jiang He really hadn't given that aspect much thought...
He had mainly just wanted to draw a little aggro. "My turn. Draw!"
The younger of the "Paradox Brothers" in dark green drew from the top of his Duel Disk's deck, his eyes suddenly blazing. "Since you want our attention, we Paradox Brothers will oblige!"
Chapter 68: Jiang He: Suppressing Fire, Rat-a-tat-tat! [Please Subscribe]
"I summon [Kaiser Sea Horse] in Attack Position!"
The Paradox Brother in dark green slapped the card he had drawn straight onto his Duel Disk. "Roar!!"
With a flash of light, a humanoid monster appeared on the field before the Paradox Brother in dark green. Its body was blue and purple, it wore seahorse-like finned armor, and it carried a yaksha weapon!
[Kaiser Sea Horse] [Level: 4] [Attribute: Light]