"'Solemn Judgment' resolves—'Chimera Fusion' goes through. I fuse the 'Mirror Swordknight' and 'Chimera the King of Mythical Beasts' on my field. Inheriting the power of the imaginary beasts, 'Chimera' evolves once more through a forbidden second fusion—'Chimera the Illusion Beast'!"
Youmi's ace monster reappeared on the field. At the same time, cracks began running across the Paradox Brothers' Gate Guardian of Wind and Water.
"The effect of 'Gate Guardian of Wind and Water'! When this Special Summoned card leaves the field because of your opponent, I can Special Summon either 'Kazejin' or 'Suijin' from among my banished monsters. I Special Summon 'Kazejin'!"
Thunder roared—but the monster bearing the title of Gate Guardian did not fully shatter. Instead, it separated on its own, leaving behind a lone 'Kazejin'.
"Chaining to that effect—I banish 'Chimera the King of Mythical Beasts' from my Graveyard to Special Summon 'Mirror Swordknight'.
"Then I Tribute 'Mirror Swordknight' to Special Summon 'Big-Winged Berfomet' from my Deck. And thanks to its effect, I search 'Chimera Fusion' and 'Springans Kitt'."
Youmi watched the Gate Guardian automatically dismantle itself and muttered, "Oh? So it preserves part of itself when it leaves the field. That's basically like DTCG armor break… Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember bits of its effect. I've skimmed some TCG new cards before, even if I don't play that format."
Syrus stared at him in confusion. "Youmi-nii, why didn't you use the Graveyard effect of 'Mirror Swordknight' earlier? If you'd used it, you could've negated 'Labyrinth Heavy Tank' and avoided dealing with 'Gate Guardian of Wind and Water'."
"Because if I negated it right away and shut down their whole setup, it would've been too embarrassing for the opponent…"
Youmi scratched his cheek awkwardly. He really hadn't known all of 'Labyrinth Heavy Tank's effects, but negating it simply because "the effect text was too long" would have made the duel boring. "Besides, I didn't expect it to have follow-up resolution like that—not even targeting. Kinda surprising."
In duels like these, if you don't warn your opponent about weird effects ahead of time, stepping on traps becomes way too easy.
"You sure talk big—but bragging ends here. I can't finish you this turn, but don't think it's over! I activate another Field Spell—'Labyrinth Wall Shadow'!"
Para, who still had no idea what Youmi was muttering about, slammed down the same Field Spell he had searched earlier. "This time, I place 'Sanga of the Thunder' from my Deck.
"Then I banish both 'Sanga of the Thunder' and 'Kazejin' to Special Summon—'Gate Guardian of Thunder and Wind'! It has a once-per-turn effect that lets me add any card whose name mentions 'Sanga of the Thunder', 'Kazejin', or 'Suijin' from my Deck to my hand. I activate it and add—"
"Hold it~" Youmi picked up 'Mirror Swordknight' from his Graveyard and flicked it toward Para.
The card traced a perfect arc through the air before returning neatly to Youmi's hand. "I activate the effect of 'Mirror Swordknight'! If I control a monster whose name is treated as 'Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast', I can banish this card from my field or Graveyard when an opponent's monster activates its effect—negate that effect."
Para stared at his Deck, the untouched card he meant to search—'Riryoku Guardian'—still stuck inside. Still, he didn't lose spirit.
"Even if I can't destroy that 'Chimera' by battle, at the very least I'll use this! 'Double Attack! Wind and Thunder!!'! I can activate this only while I control a 'Gate Guardian' monster. I choose one card on the field to destroy—I choose your 'Chimera'! Destroy it!"
Another card sliced through the air.
"I activate the effect of 'Cornfield Coatl'! Negate and destroy~"
Para's face turned pale. He'd come expecting to bully rookies—yet the "rookies" were plucking out all his plays.
"I Set 1 card. Turn end!"
Turn 3
"My turn—draw!"
Syrus drew with dramatic force, imitating Jaden and Youmi, then added the card to his hand.
"Because of 'Labyrinth Wall Shadow', monsters other than Level 5 or higher can't attack the turn they're Summoned or Set, right? Then I'll start by activating the Quick-Play Spell 'Mystical Space Typhoon' to destroy it!
"Next, I activate the Normal Spell 'Fusion Sage' to search 'Polymerization'—and I activate it!"
Carrying new weight on his shoulders and having prepared properly in advance, Syrus loudly called out his moves.
"I fuse two 'Drillroid' from my hand! The Fusion Materials are two Machine monsters with the same name! I Fusion Summon—'Pair Cycroid'! It can attack directly because of its own effect!"
After Summoning his Deck's excellent Fusion Monster, Syrus also Normal Summoned one more monster. "I Normal Summon 'Stealthroid'! Battle Phase—Youmi-nii's 'Chimera the Illusion Beast' attacks 'Labyrinth Heavy Tank'!"
[Paradox Brothers, LP: 8000 → 7300]
"Uwaa—huh? Why wasn't 'Labyrinth Heavy Tank' destroyed?!"
Syrus said sharply, "Because of 'Chimera the Illusion Beast's' effect! Any monster that battles it cannot be destroyed by battle. And at the end of damage calculation—'Chimera the Illusion Beast' activates!
"'Labyrinth Heavy Tank's' Attack becomes 0, and its effects are negated! That means next turn you can't use it to pull 'Gate Guardian' parts from your Deck! 'Chimera the Illusion Beast' can also attack a number of times equal to its Fusion Materials—so I attack again, this time targeting 'Gate Guardian of Thunder and Wind'!"
[Paradox Brothers, LP: 7300 → 6700]
"'Chimera' activates again! 'Gate Guardian of Thunder and Wind's' Attack becomes 0 and its effects are negated! That means next turn you won't be adding cards like 'Double Attack! Wind and Thunder!!' either!
"Next, 'Stealthroid' attacks 'Labyrinth Heavy Tank'! As another 'Gate Guardian' monster, it should have the same effect as 'Wind and Water', right? We're not letting you revive your materials!"
[Paradox Brothers, LP: 6700 → 5500]
"And now—'Pair Cycroid' attacks directly!"
[Paradox Brothers, LP: 5500 → 3900]
"…Is that really Syrus?"
From the stands, Zane watched as his younger brother played with caution, sharpness, and proper strategy—perfectly synchronizing with his partner Youmi to carve down the opponents' LP.
Even though much of it was thanks to Youmi's pressure on the enemy, the ability to do one's part in a tag duel was itself tremendous growth.
"Syrus… have you grown under Youmi's guidance?"
Seeing the difference in their LP totals, Syrus checked his hand one last time and entered Main Phase 2.
"The effect of 'Stealthroid'—if I control another 'roid' monster, then at the end of the Battle Phase of the turn it battled, I destroy one Spell or Trap on the field! I destroy that Set card!"
'Stealthroid' swooped over the Set card and dropped a bomb.
With an explosive crash, the Paradox Brothers' Set card revealed its true identity.
"The Normal Trap—'Waking the Dragon'! You've triggered it! Ahahaha!"
...
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