"End Phase—my Malefic Cyber End Dragon returns to the field."
Turn.3
"My turn. Because of Malefic World's effect, I reveal three Malefic Rainbow Dragon. Now then—choose one, legendary Duelists."
During the Draw Phase, three cards popped out of Paradox's Deck. He pinched them between his fingers and displayed them toward Yusei and the others.
"You say we get to choose, but aren't these three exactly the same?! That's way too dirty, you jerk!"
Jaden pointed angrily at the card in the center.
"And you even stole Jesse's card!"
Paradox simply smirked with pride, adding the middle Malefic Rainbow Dragon to his hand. "Strength comes in many forms. Am I wrong? I send Rainbow Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard and Special Summon Malefic Rainbow Dragon from my hand!"
Seven-colored light condensed onto the field as the Ultimate Crystal Beast appeared. Black-and-white armor plates crawled across its body, reshaping it into its Malefic form.
"Two monsters with 4000 Attack…" Yusei's brows knitted at the sight of Paradox's Malefic Cyber End Dragon and Malefic Rainbow Dragon.
He wasn't sure whether he could defend their shared 4000 LP. If Malefic Cyber End Dragon had inherited Cyber End Dragon's piercing ability, then what kind of effect did Malefic Rainbow Dragon possess?
With far more experience than Yusei, Jaden at once caught on to his thoughts. "Be careful, Yusei. Rainbow Dragon, the Ultimate Crystal Beast is the one-of-a-kind rare card Pegasus designed using the Crystal Beasts as reference. One of its abilities lets it banish all Crystal Beasts from the Graveyard to return every card on the field to the Deck. Since Paradox is using a Malefic Deck, I doubt he's running any Crystal Beasts. That effect probably just works automatically because it's a Malefic monster."
"I see. Thank you, Mr. Jaden."
Paradox laughed heartily, completely unbothered that his effect was being exposed. "As expected of a Duelist close to the original wielder of Rainbow Dragon. So familiar with Malefic Rainbow Dragon's effect, are you?
"Indeed. Malefic Rainbow Dragon's effect banishes all 'Malefic' monsters from your Graveyard, then returns all cards on the field to the Deck. But I won't be using that effect yet. I enter the Battle Phase. Malefic Cyber End Dragon attacks Junk Archer—Eternal Evolution Burst!"
Since Paradox hadn't attempted to destroy the backrow, everything went according to Yusei's plan. "I flip my Set card—Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. When an opponent's monster declares an attack, I negate that attack. After activation, this card doesn't go to the Graveyard, it Sets itself again."
"You're only buying time. Malefic Rainbow Dragon—attack Junk Archer! Over Rainbow Arch!"
This was also within Yusei's calculations. As long as Paradox couldn't use Malefic Rainbow Dragon's effect, Yusei's field would grind him down. "Junk Gardna's effect activates—change Malefic Rainbow Dragon to Defense Position."
But did Paradox really only have that much? Yusei didn't believe it.
"Scrap-Iron Scarecrow and Junk Gardna, is it? Against an average Duelist, that might hold like an iron wall. However, now that I've seen through these effects… I won't be so polite."
Paradox glanced at his Malefic Cyber End Dragon and immediately sent it to the Graveyard.
"Malefic Rainbow Dragon activates its effect. Send all other monsters I control to the Graveyard; this card gains 1000 Attack for each 'Malefic' monster sent by this effect. This effect can also be activated during your turn—but that's not important.
"Malefic Rainbow Dragon has 0 Defense, so you'll probably destroy it next turn. Therefore I'll use it here. I banish Malefic Cyber End Dragon from my Graveyard! Malefic Rainbow Dragon activates—return all cards on the field to their owners' Decks!"
"I chain with both of my Set Jar of Greed and draw two cards."
Under the overwhelming force of Malefic Rainbow Dragon, the entire field was wiped clean—Malefic World included.
"Yusei's field is empty now, but…" Yami Yugi observed Paradox's equally bare field. "Paradox is in the same situation. If we push hard next turn…"
Paradox—the man bold enough to fight four Duelists alone—wasn't about to stall out. "If you think I merely destroyed my own setup along the way, you underestimate me. I activate the Spell Terraforming from my hand to retrieve another Malefic World from my Deck, then Normal Summon Malefic Paradox Gear and Tribute it to activate its effect, Special Summoning the Tuner Malefic Parallel Gear from the Deck.
"After that, I add one Malefic monster from my Deck to my hand—other than Malefic Parallel Gear. I choose Malefic Stardust Dragon!"
"Malefic Stardust Dragon?! Paradox, you even took Stardust Dragon—" Yusei was shocked when Paradox revealed it, but immediately noticed the monster he had Special Summoned. "And… a Tuner…"
"Hmph, hahahaha! Don't think you're the only one who can Synchro Summon. My Deck is a domain that gathers the strongest monsters from across all eras, belonging to another dimension entirely, Yusei.
"I'll make good use of your Stardust Dragon~
"Malefic Parallel Gear can Synchro Summon using Malefic monsters in my hand.
"For the sake of saving the future, even your own power is fair game. I tune Malefic Parallel Gear with Malefic Stardust Dragon—born from the rift between dimensions, heralding ruin on the stage that transcends time and space… Synchro Summon—Malefic Paradox Dragon!"
Unlike Yusei's Synchro Summons, a black-and-purple pillar of light tore upward, giving birth to a dragon of foreboding black-and-white scales.
"I end my turn. Now! Taste the beginning of your despair!"
Turn.3
"I'm sorry… everything I built was wiped out by Malefic Rainbow Dragon…" Yusei looked down with guilt. His entire field had been erased, and the enemy now stood with a Level 10 monster Synchro Summoned using his own Stardust Dragon.
"It's fine. You did great. Leave the rest to me~"
Youmi patted Yusei's shoulder, stepped forward, and drew.
"My turn—draw!"
Satisfied with the card he drew, Youmi Normal Summoned a monster to the field.
"II Normal Summon Time Thief Regulator If I control no monsters except this card: I can Tribute it to Special Summon two different Time Thief monsters from my Deck in Defense Position."
The small mechanical dog—shaped like a smartphone—leapt onto Youmi's field. It tapped a few buttons on its own body, calling forth two allies from the Deck. "I Special Summon Time Thief Adjuster and Time Thief Winder. I activate their effects: I add the Continuous Spell Time Thief Hack to my hand, and I send Time Thief Bezel Ship from my Deck to the Graveyard. Next—"
Youmi snapped his fingers, and a galaxy-like Xyz network shimmered into existence.
"I overlay the Level 4 Adjuster and Winder to build the overlay network! Xyz Summon! Appear—Time Thief Redoer!" The monster identical to Youmi's current form emerged from the swirling network, accompanied by two dark-violet orbs. "By stacking monsters of the same Level, I can Special Summon an Xyz Monster from the Extra Deck. This… is an Xyz Summon~"
Seeing a black-framed monster unlike anything so far, Yugi praised him. "To think you've mastered Xyz Summoning on top of the Link Summon you used back in Noah's arc… As expected of you, Youmi. You truly are a revolutionary Duelist."
"Xyz Summon… Impossible… In the future I come from, there was never any record of such a technique…"
"Oooh! Youmi's Xyz Summon is back. This really fires me up~!"
"Xyz Summoning… could this be another evolution of Dueling besides Synchro Summoning?"
Embarrassed by their praise, Youmi scratched his hair, then straightened up and declared:
"The show's just beginning~"
...
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