"I was the one bringing them laughter. How can I be blamed if they aren't laughing anymore?"
In response to Alexis's teasing, Jiang He remained lazily reclined in his seat within the spectator area. He didn't even want to move as he offered his casual defense.
Alexis Rhodes let out a sudden, soft giggle.
"Still, it's a bit of a shame. Even though we successfully won the duel against the Paradox Brothers, I never got the chance to use this Counter Trap I specifically prepared."
As she spoke, she reached into her deck box at her waist and smoothly plucked out a card with two fingers, showing it to Jiang He.
It was a trap card depicting a mustachioed figure sliding a bribe of gold into another person's sleeve.
Dark Bribe. It negated the effect of an opponent's Spell or Trap and destroyed it, with the cost of allowing the opponent to draw one card from their deck.
Jiang He immediately understood Alexis's intention. She had clearly intended to use it to protect his own face-down cards whenever the opponent tried to destroy them. While he had guessed that she had set some sort of Counter Trap or Quick-Play Spell earlier, there were many cards with similar effects, so he hadn't been certain which one it was.
"That was a very thoughtful choice," Jiang He praised with a nod.
"T-thoughtful? It was nothing special!" Alexis's face suddenly flushed red. She quickly turned her head away to hide her expression, looking toward the duel field as she huffed. "I just didn't want to lose a Tag Duel and be expelled in such a humiliating way!"
Jiang He watched her reaction with a hint of surprise. He knew Alexis was the classic "cool on the outside, warm on the inside" typeshe seemed cold and arrogant to most, but was actually quite kind-hearted.
But...
He had just given her a normal compliment on her deck construction. Why was she blushing like Bukubukuchagama?
Was this really the "Ice Queen" of the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm? Something was off. Very off.
Thinking back to the duel, Jiang He realized that Alexis's attitude toward him felt slightly different from his impression of how she treated her other peers at Duel Academy. He rubbed his chin, falling into deep thought.
Is it possible that Alexis Rhodes views me... a bit specially?
I couldn't be that lucky, could I?
Jiang He decided to observe her more closely later.
"Kuri kuri!"
As he pondered, Sphere Kuriboh materialized and let out a soft cry to get his attention. It indicated that it had indeed noticed that the blonde woman's gaze lingered on its master far more often than it did on ordinary people.
"Far more often than ordinary people...?" Jiang He muttered, summarizing the little guy's description.
That just meant she was a bit interested, didn't it? However, those observations were from the past few days and might not fully represent the present.
"It looks like Jaden and Syrus are about to make their comeback, despite being suppressed so hard at the start," Alexis said suddenly, looking toward the field.
Hearing this, Jiang He shook his head and set aside his subtle thoughts for the time being, deciding to let nature take its course. He turned his attention back to the match.
He soon saw Syrus Truesdale, encouraged by that hot-headed idiot Jaden Yuki, completely reinvigorated. Syrus drew a card, and his spirit visibly surged the moment he saw it!
"That reaction... did he draw the ace of his deck, Power Bond?" Jiang He guessed.
Although he hadn't redeemed it yet, one of the three decks that had just refreshed in the system shop happened to be Syrus's "Roid" deck. He had a fair understanding of what cards were in Jaden's sidekick's deck.
The trump card was the Spell card, Power Bond.
It allowed a player to send Fusion Materials for a Machine-Type Fusion Monster from the hand or field to the Graveyard to Special Summon that monster and double its ATK. However, as a price, the player would take damage equal to the monster's original ATK at the end of the turn.
While the card had a significant drawback, it was incredibly powerful as long as the duel could be ended in the turn it was used, or if the damage could be avoided through other means.
Given the current situation on the fieldwhere the Paradox Brothers had summoned their old staple, the combined Gate Guardian, and had no other cardsJaden and Syrus only needed to rely on the massive buff from Power Bond to bulldoze through.
And in fact, things unfolded exactly as Jiang He predicted!
A second later, Syrus activated Power Bond from his hand. He sent Jaden's Elemental HERO Tempest from the field and his own UFOroid from his hand to the Graveyard as Fusion Materials.
He successfully summoned the 4000 ATK UFOroid Fighter.
Under the doubling effect of Power Bond, its ATK surged to a staggering 8000. It easily crushed the Paradox Brothers' 3750 ATK Gate Guardian.
Immediately following the attack, Jaden flipped his face-down card: the Quick-Play Spell De-Fusion. He split UFOroid Fighter back into its two materials, allowing them to attack directly.
In one fell swoop, the Paradox Brothers' remaining Life Points were wiped out!
An 8000 LP OTK comeback!
"We... we lost again?!" The Paradox Brothers fell to their knees, leaning against each other with ashen faces, unable to accept the result.
They were known as the legendary Tag Duelists. Yet, at this Duel Academy, they had suffered two consecutive, miserable defeats!
However, something they expected even less happened next.
"Gotcha! That was a fun duel!" Jaden said to the Paradox Brothers with a subconscious, bright grin.
"..." The Paradox Brothers said nothing.
Their faces turned a deep, liver-red, looking as if they had swallowed dead flies. They recalled the terror of being dominated by a certain someone not long ago.
Now they were certainthis taunt and catchphrase were academy traditions! Otherwise, how could a student from this school say the exact same thing as that hateful brat currently sitting in the spectator area, smiling "sunnily" and waving at them!
Watching this scene, Chancellor Sheppard's bald head seemed to grow even shinier from the stress. He could already foresee how Duel Academy's reputation was going to suffer!
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