Three revolver shots shattered Clayman's sturdy body. With the effect successfully resolved, Barrel Dragon destroyed the HERO Jaden had been using for defense.
"Senpai, this monster… could it be?" Mash widened her eyes in surprise.
"That's right," Hoshino said with certainty. "It's Keith's former ace monster."
There was a secret Hoshino had never told anyone—and naturally, no third person could possibly know.
—That is, Lady Clara had once fallen for the rogue known as Keith.
Though he looked older, Uncle Keith was actually only in his early twenties.
A sheltered, innocent young lady from a wealthy family falling in love with a free-spirited drifter who eventually washed his hands of blood and retired—
It was the kind of development straight out of a romance drama.
That unspoken love, never known to the world, was cruelly cut short before it could even begin due to Keith's untimely death.
And the deck that Hoshino had once left before Keith's gravestone was later taken away by Clara. Inheriting Keith's will—perhaps this was the young lady's way of mourning her first love.
[Elemental HERO Clayman destroyed.]
"Two heads exactly? That's some great luck!"
Even though his monster had been destroyed, Jaden looked at his opponent with admiration.
"Looks like I'm feeling lucky today. You'd better be careful~"
Putting away the coins resting on the back of her hand, Clara did not launch a direct attack on Jaden's now-empty field.
"Because the monster Special Summoned by the Spell Card Tribute Doll cannot declare an attack this turn."
"Ah, saved, saved~" Jaden let out a relieved sigh. "I thought I was about to take 2600 points of direct damage."
In sparring-type duels like this, LP was usually set at 4000. Taking a 2600-point direct hit on the very first turn—losing most of your Life Points—would have been extremely troublesome.
"Since I can't attack, I'll just end my turn~"
[Clara's: 4 Hand Cards]
"My turn, draw!" Jaden began his turn, glancing over Clara's field.
"No set cards? Are you deliberately giving me an opening? Then I won't hold back! I activate a Spell Card—Graceful Charity! I draw three cards, then discard two."
Drawing three and discarding two allowed Jaden to easily refresh his hand while also setting up his Graveyard.
However, from Hoshino's perspective, she noticed that Jaden chose to discard one copy of Polymerization from his hand. As for the other discarded card, it was covered by Polymerization and couldn't be clearly seen.
"But Polymerization is a really important Spell for a HERO deck, isn't it?" Hoshino said, puzzled.
"I think it has something to do with the card Jaden set earlier," Aster said, having somehow appeared beside Hoshino. "As a fellow HERO user, I can kind of sense it."
"Then I activate my set Trap Card—Fusion Reserve!"
Just as Aster predicted, after discarding cards from his hand, Jaden immediately activated the face-down card from the previous turn.
[Fusion Reserve – Trap Effect: Reveal 1 Fusion Monster in your Extra Deck, add 1 of the Fusion Materials whose name is specifically listed on that card from your Deck to your hand, then you can add 1 "Polymerization" from your Graveyard to your hand.]
"I reveal Elemental HERO Flame Wingman from my Extra Deck, add one of its Fusion Materials—Elemental HERO Avian—to my hand. And since Polymerization was sent to the Graveyard by Graceful Charity, I can recover it as well!"
"I see now," Hoshino said in realization. "By discarding Polymerization first, then recovering it with the Trap, Graceful Charity effectively only cost you one card. That's a pretty nice plus."
Although Hoshino herself didn't use HERO decks, she was very familiar with Jaden's staple plays. But this Aster Phoenix—despite meeting Jaden for the first time—had seen through his intentions so quickly that Hoshino couldn't help but admire him.
Mash joined in, "By using Fusion Reserve to search Avian, does that mean Jaden wants to Fusion Summon Elemental HERO Flame Wingman? But with only 2100 ATK, he still can't break Barrel Dragon, right?"
"Then he'll just add Skyscraper," Hoshino shrugged, joking. "And Clara doesn't even have any set cards. Just like Crowler always says—Jaden's three tricks of the failing student. He only knows a few moves, but somehow they work every time."
"I don't only know those moves!" Jaden protested. "I've gotten way stronger lately, Sensei!"
Continuing his plays, Jaden slammed another Spell Card into his Duel Disk. A huge, eye-catching letter E flashed above his head.
"—I activate the Spell Card E – Emergency Call!"
[E – Emergency Call Effect: Add 1 "Elemental HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand.]
"Come on! I add Elemental HERO Bubbleman from my Deck to my hand, then immediately Normal Summon him!"
Search and summon in one smooth motion—another classic part of the "failing-student tricks." Jaden's most frequently used monster, written as Bubbleman but read as 'Pot of Greed' Man, materialized on the field.
[Elemental HERO Bubbleman ★★★★ (Level 4)][WATER][Warrior/Effect][ATK 800/DEF 1200]
"When Bubbleman is Normal or Special Summoned, if I control no other cards, I can draw two cards!"
Thanks to "Pot-of-Greed Man's" effect, Jaden refilled his resources once more, bringing his hand size up to seven cards.
"Watch closely—this is my HERO offensive! I activate the Spell Card Polymerization!"
Jaden threw the Polymerization he had just recovered into his Duel Disk. Triple streams of Fusion light linked Bubbleman on the field with two other HEROes in his hand.
"I send Bubbleman on the field, and Avian and Sparkman from my hand to the Graveyard as Fusion Materials! —Appear in the form of a raging storm, Elemental HERO descend! Elemental HERO Tempest!"
[Elemental HERO Tempest ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][WIND][Warrior/Fusion/Effect][ATK 2800/DEF 2800]
["Elemental HERO Avian" + "Elemental HERO Sparkman" + "Elemental HERO Bubbleman"]
Triple HERO Fusion—boasting immunity to destruction by battle and an absurd jump in sheer style points, Elemental HERO Tempest flapped his twin wings and stepped onto the battlefield, riding the wind.
"The HERO's ATK has surpassed it, Senpai!"
Mash, who was usually the one charging into battle herself and rarely watched duels from the sidelines, was already excited after just a few plays, shaking Hoshino's arm nonstop.
"It's not over yet," Jaden declared. "I activate another Spell Card—H – Heated Heart!"
[H – Heated Heart – Spell Effect: Target 1 face-up monster you control; until the end of this turn, it gains 500 ATK, and if it attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent.]
A flaming H emblem appeared behind Tempest, further boosting the HERO's power.
[Elemental HERO Tempest ATK 2800 → 3300]
"Senpai! Senpai! Its ATK is higher than Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Mash reacted like a little kid, finding everything unbelievably exciting—even a joke everyone had already grown tired of.
Honestly, these days it's all about surpassing Oda Nobunaga, okay?
"But even so, 3300 ATK is already higher than Barrel Dragon. It feels like Jaden kind of wasted that Spell, doesn't it?"
From Hoshino's perspective, rather than dealing an extra 500 damage now, saving that card for a more critical moment would have been the safer play.
"Go, Elemental HERO Tempest! With this burning HERO's heart, destroy the monster before you! —Heroic Tempest: Flame!"
With an overwhelming ATK gap, the HERO punished the gambler in the name of justice. Barrel Dragon's revolver barrel was bent and shattered by the blow.
[Barrel Dragon destroyed]
[Clara LP 4000 → 3300]
Following up the attack, Jaden—still in the Battle Phase—rapidly slotted a Quick-Play Spell into his Duel Disk.
"The HERO offensive doesn't stop there! —I activate the Quick-Play Spell De-Fusion! I return Elemental HERO Tempest to the Extra Deck, then Special Summon the three HERO monsters used as Fusion Materials from my Graveyard!"
[Avian ATK 1000]
[Bubbleman ATK 800]
[Sparkman ATK 1600]
"After a triple-Fusion attack, you follow it up with De-Fusion for even more attacks?!" A powerful sense of déjà vu surged through Hoshino.
"Isn't this basically Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon rush strategy, but in HERO form? The total damage may be lower than Blue-Eyes, but Fusion is much easier. And the combined ATK of the three HEROes…"
"Three thousand four hundred!" Mash blurted out. "That's just enough to exceed Miss Clara's 3300 Life Points! He is amazing!"
Aster couldn't help but praise him as well. "So that's how it works. The 500 ATK boost from Heroic Firestorm seemed meaningless at first, but it perfectly pushed my sister into lethal range."
"And Clara doesn't have any set cards either. That means Jaden's OTK strategy has succeeded."
On Clara's field, the storm-and-flame visual effects left behind by Elemental HERO Tempest's attack hadn't even faded yet, and the fierce onslaught of Jaden's three remaining HEROes was about to begin.
"This is the end! HEROes, direct attack!"
"End? It's far too early for that!"
Holding a card upright between her finely shaped brows, Clara struck a pose with unmistakable chuunibyou flair.
"Within the baptism of flame and storm, Barrel Dragon has evolved into a brand-new form. And this time—this throw will decide the duel!"