Yu-Gi-Oh!: Starting with an Underworld Deck, Depressing the World
He didn't waste the effect on [Cyber Tutu], whose attack was clearly lower.
"[Cyber Blader]'s special effect: when there are two monsters on my opponent's field, [Cyber Blader]'s attack doubles!" Alexis Rhodes had clearly thought of that too, but either way, she still had to try!
At her words, the attack of the red-clad, mature Blader with long, straight black hair on her field immediately beeped its way up to 4,200! "[Cyber Blader], attack directly again!"
The red-clad, black-haired beauty cried out and spun into a sharp, fang-like tornado, launching a flying kick at the older Paradox Brother in earth-yellow clothes.
"Her attack actually went up to 4,200! If this attack gets through, the Paradox Brothers will have only 600 LP left!" Syrus Truesdale, the poor student watching from the sidelines, said excitedly.
"No, [Kazejin]'s special effect makes the damage an opposing monster inflicts zero once per turn. That means..." Jaden Yuki, who was also a poor student, objected as he stared intently at the duel.
"Which means this attack can't get through! Heh heh, [Kazejin], hurricane barrier!" The Paradox Brother in dark green raised his hand. "Whoosh!!"
The green, round, toad-like wind fiend on the field before him immediately breathed out a white hurricane!
It formed a barrier of wind in front of his older brother!
It blocked [Cyber Blader]'s spinning, fang-like tornado attack outright, blowing her back to her original position on the field!
Chapter 70: Trading Three for One Vanilla Monster-Why Are You So Happy? [Please Subscribe]
"My turn is over!"
Alexis Rhodes said with some regret.
"Not bad. You almost put us Paradox Brothers in serious danger, but this is as far as you go!" The older Paradox Brother in earth-yellow clothes put his hand on the deck in his Duel Disk. "My turn, draw!"
After drawing, he eagerly took a card from his hand and slapped it onto his Duel Disk. "I activate the Spell Card [Monster Reborn] from my hand! I target one monster in either player's graveyard and Special Summon it to my field! Naturally, I choose to revive the monster in my own graveyard, [Blast Juggler]! Awooo!!"
As the image of the Spell Card [Monster Reborn] appeared on the field, a beam of light quickly shone from it and entered the graveyard of the Duel Disk on the older earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother's left wrist.
A faint, web-like strand of light flew out and formed the huge, ugly brown spider monster on the field before him once more. It let out a strange cry!
But before [Blast Juggler] could cry out a second time, the older earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother took another card from the six remaining in his hand and activated it. "Next, I activate the Spell Card [Puppet Ritual] from my hand! " "That move again, huh?"
After seeing his opponent revive Blast Juggler, Jiang He had immediately guessed what he intended to do.
He was clearly planning to use [Blast Juggler] as a tribute again to summon a fiend monster like Kazejin.
And sure enough, it was just as Jiang He had guessed!
"Using [Puppet Ritual]'s effect, I tribute the revived [Blast Juggler] to Special Summon a level-seven monster from my hand. Naturally, I choose [Suijin]!"
As the earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother spoke, a dark, hair-thin beam of light wrapped around the repeatedly deceased, ever-unlucky [Blast Juggler].
It shattered into a burst of light! "Roar!!"
At the same time, a blue, big-mouthed monster emerged from the shadows within the light. It had only two legs and a circle bearing the character for "water" on its forehead, making it look like a standing pair of underpants!
It took the spot where Blast Juggler had been!
[Suijin] [Level: 7] [Attribute: water] [Attack: 2,500] [Defense: 2,400]
"Mamma mia! The wind fiend, the water fiend-only the thunder fiend he added to his hand last turn hasn't been summoned yet!" Crowler grew tense as he watched, cold sweat streaming down his face!
The older Paradox Brother had only Special Summoned a monster with a Spell Card this turn; he hadn't Normal Summoned yet! That meant...
"This isn't over yet!" The older earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother gave a crooked smile and looked at his younger brother. "This time, I'll need to borrow your strength." "Of course, brother." The dark-green-clad Paradox Brother answered with an identical crooked smile. "I tribute [Kaiser Sea Horse] to summon the [Sanga of the Thunder] in my hand!"
The older earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother immediately took one of his four remaining cards and placed it on his Duel Disk.
"Huh?! Don't you need two monsters as tributes to Normal Summon a level-seven or level-eight monster?"
Syrus Truesdale asked in surprise and confusion from the sidelines.
"No. [Kaiser Sea Horse]'s special effect lets it count as two tributes when it's used to summon a LIGHT monster."
Zane Truesdale had walked over from his seat in the viewing area at some point and was now standing near Syrus and Jaden Yuki. Without turning his head, he continued watching the duel as he explained it to Syrus.
Bastion Misawa had also followed him over.
"Zane...!" Syrus was somewhat surprised. "Raaagh!!"
Meanwhile, dark purple light from the tribute summon shone around the sea-horse yaksha clad in blue-violet armor on the duel field.
In an instant, arcs of electricity came down amid the light!
Then a two-armed monster emerged from the shadows of the electric arcs with a low roar. Its body was reddish brown, it had a circle bearing the character for "thunder" on its forehead, and it looked like a suit of upper-body armor!
It appeared on the Paradox Brothers' field, taking Kaiser Sea Horse's place!
[Sanga of the Thunder] [Level: 7] [Attribute: LIGHT] [Attack: 2,600] [Defense: 2,200]
"Heh heh heh, now we have them all." The bald older Paradox Brother in earth-yellow clothes gave a smug, crooked grin.
"Now we'll show you the ultimate monster!" The younger brother in dark green chimed in from nearby, also smiling smugly with his mouth twisted to one side.
"When [Sanga of the Thunder], [Kazejin], and [Suijin] are on the field, I tribute all three fiends to Special Summon [Gate Guardian]!"
As the older earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother spoke, light flared simultaneously around the three fiend monsters on the field before them.
As the light gradually faded, a huge, ugly humanoid monster emerged from the shadows. It was made from the bodies of the three fiends, joined together from top to bottom in the order of thunder, wind, and water!
It appeared on the field before the older earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother!
[Gate Guardian] [Level: 11] [Attribute: DARK] [Attack: 3,750] [Defense: 3,400]
"Trading three monsters for one vanilla monster. I don't know why you're so pleased with yourselves..." Jiang He said, feeling almost too drained to comment as he watched.
His words thoroughly ruined the mood, interrupting the two Paradox Brothers' crooked dragon-king smiles.
Alexis Rhodes did her best to hold back a laugh and gave him a pretty roll of her eyes.
"..." On the opposite side of the duel field, the Paradox Brothers' expressions both froze.
"You damn brat! How dare you look down on the ultimate form of the three fiends? I'll show you its power soon enough!" The earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother's crooked smile vanished as he glared at Jiang He in anger.
He immediately took and activated another of his two remaining cards. "I activate the Equip Spell [Meteor Strike] from my hand!"
A pink crystal light instantly flew from the Equip Spell Card's image and landed on Gate Guardian's forehead!
"When the monster equipped with this card attacks a monster in Defense Position, if its attack exceeds that monster's defense, it inflicts piercing damage equal to the difference!"
Chapter 71: But Now It's Mine [Please Subscribe]
"Kid, since your face-down monster is [Stealth Bird], I'll let your monster have the honor of being [Gate Guardian]'s first target!"
The older earth-yellow-clad Paradox Brother immediately pointed at [Stealth Bird] on Jiang He's field, which had been set face-down in Defense Position right after it was summoned earlier! "Go, [Gate Guardian], Gate Guardian Blast! Roar!!"
At his command, the three fiends that made up the stacked-together [Gate Guardian] simultaneously released golden electric arcs, a whirlwind, and a stream of water from their mouths!
They merged into an electrified, swirling tornado blast that rushed toward the huge horizontal face-down card on Jiang He's field!
"If that attack gets through, [Gate Guardian]'s 3,750 attack will pierce [Stealth Bird]'s 1,700 defense and inflict 2,050 points of damage on Jiang He and Alexis."
Zane Truesdale frowned as he spoke from the sidelines.
Alexis Rhodes was the younger sister of his missing best friend, Atticus Rhodes, and he had always treated her like a younger sister.
So he didn't want to see Jiang He and Alexis lose and be expelled, either.
"No. As long as Jiang He has a set card on his field, I'm afraid the only one who's sure to suffer is the opponent who attacks recklessly," Bastion Misawa objected, his expression peculiar.
As someone who had dueled Jiang He not long ago and whose blood pressure had spiked several times during the duel, he was sure his instincts couldn't be wrong.
Especially since Jiang He looked perfectly calm and showed no sign of panic. His expression was exactly the same as when he had depressed Bastion during their duel!
"You really understand him, Bastion," Jaden Yuki said, giving Bastion Misawa a look of agreement.
Last night, in the Shadow Duel ritual space at the abandoned dorm, he had already seen the power of the traps in Jiang He's new burn deck. Leaving everything else aside, a Trap Card like [Half Shut], which could directly halve the attack of every monster on the field, and a trap like [Wall of Disruption], which could lower attack even further, were probably enough to make their opponents suffer a huge loss against a single [Stealth Bird]!
Even Alexis Rhodes looked at Jiang He expectantly, a slight smile on her face.
She waited for him to reveal his set cards and use traps like [Half Shut] and [Wall of Disruption] to show the Paradox Brothers what they could do. As for Alexis's expectation that he would lower their attack to whittle down their life points, Jiang He could only say she was thinking too small!
"Reveal the set card, the trap [Magical Cylinders]!"
Jiang He raised a hand toward one of the two set cards before him, and the trap immediately flipped over!
It revealed an image of an arsenal manufacturing several purple-red "Magic Cylinders"! "Magical Cylinders?!"
Whether it was Alexis Rhodes and the Paradox Brothers across the duel field,
or Bastion Misawa, Zane Truesdale, the bald Chancellor Sheppard, Professor Crowler, and the many Duel Academy students in the viewing area,
all of them wore surprised, puzzled expressions.
Was this another new Trap Card they had never seen before?
Although they didn't know its effect yet, they could see the arsenal depicted on the Trap Card Jiang He had revealed, processing more than just one or two "Magic Cylinders."
Cold sweat was already pouring down the faces of Bastion Misawa, Jaden Yuki, the bald chancellor, and many other spectators!
A single [Magic Cylinder] trap could negate the attack of an opposing monster and send that attack back, inflicting damage equal to that monster's attack.
Now this one looked like an entire "Magic Cylinder" factory. Just how underworld was its effect going to be?!
Across from them, the two Paradox Brothers' blood pressure also shot up in shock!
The same thought rose in their minds! "Shimata! We're in trouble!"
"This card's first effect lets me choose one [Magic Cylinder] Trap Card from my deck or graveyard and set it on my field. And if it's set from the deck, that [Magic Cylinder] can be activated immediately this turn! Boom!!"
As Jiang He finished speaking with a sunny smile, the image of a huge Trap Card appeared on the field before him, already face-up and activated. In a flash of light, two purple-red "Magic Cylinders" emerged from it, both mouths aimed at the opposite side. "Hummm!!"
The purple-red Magic Cylinder on the left lit up and completely absorbed the electrified water tornado blast released by [Gate Guardian].
Then a light began to build in the other purple-red Magic Cylinder on the right, which was aimed at the Paradox Brothers.
"If there's a first effect, then there should be a second effect too, right?" Alexis Rhodes immediately played along.
Jiang He gave her an approving thumbs-up.
Alexis blushed slightly, then continued watching calmly.