"Kid, since that face-down monster of yours is a Stealth Bird, let it fulfill its wish and become the first target for Gate Guardian!"
The elder of the Paradox Brothers, clad in tan, pointed directly at the card on Jiang He's field. It had been summoned earlier and immediately shifted into face-down Defense Position.
"Go, Gate Guardian! Dark Guardian Blast!"
"Roar!!"
As the elder's voice fell, the three demons stacked atop one another released a simultaneous surge of golden arcs, a whirlwind, and a torrent of water from their maws. In an instant, the elements merged into a discharge vortexa spiraling tornado of energy that surged toward the massive card shadow on Jiang He's field.
"If this attack connects, Gate Guardian's 3750 Attack will pierce Stealth Bird's 1700 Defense, dealing 2050 points of damage to Jiang He and Alexis," Zane Truesdale noted from the sidelines, his brow furrowing.
Alexis Rhodes was the younger sister of his missing best friend, Atticus Rhodes. He had always looked out for her like a sister. Naturally, he didn't want to see her and Jiang He lose and face expulsion.
"No," Bastion Misawa interjected with a strange expression. "As long as Jiang He has set cards on the field, the only one who's going to have a bad day is the one reckless enough to attack him."
Having recently dueled Jiang He and felt his blood pressure spike to dangerous levels multiple times, Bastion trusted his intuition. Seeing Jiang He's calm, unfazed expressionthe exact same one he wore while driving Bastion into a state of deep clinical depressiononly solidified his belief.
"You really get him, don't you, Bastion?" Jaden Yuki said, shooting Bastion a thumbs-up.
He had witnessed the power of Jiang He's new Burn Deck just the night before in the darkness of the abandoned dorm. Between cards like Reverse Glasses, which could halve the Attack of every monster on the field, and Wall of Disruption, a bird like Stealth Bird was more than enough to make an opponent suffer.
Alexis also looked at Jiang He with a small, expectant smile. She was waiting for him to flip a card like Wall of Disruption to open the Paradox Brothers' eyes.
Regarding her expectations of simply lowering the opponent's Attack to chip away at their Life Points, Jiang He could only say one thing: her vision was too small!
"I activate my face-down card! The Trap: Magical Cylinders!"
As Jiang He raised his hand, one of the two cards before him flipped open. The artwork depicted a factory assembly line producing several violet-red Magic Cylinders.
"Magical Cylinders?!"
Alexis and the Paradox Brothers were stunned. Even Bastion, Zane, Chancellor Sheppard, and Professor Crowleralong with the rest of the student bodywore looks of pure confusion.
Was this yet another new, unseen Trap card?
Though they didn't know its effect yet, the sight of a factory churning out Magic Cylinders sent a cold sweat down the necks of Jaden, Bastion, and the Chancellor.
The effect of a single Magic Cylinder was already enough to negate an attack and reflect the damage back. A factory for them? How toxic could this card possibly be?
On the opposite side, the Paradox Brothers felt their blood pressure rising. A single thought echoed in both their minds: Shimatta! (We're in trouble!)
"This card's first effect allows me to choose a Magic Cylinder Trap card from my Deck or Graveyard and set it on my field," Jiang He explained, his smile as bright as the sun. "And if it's set from the Deck, that Magic Cylinder can be activated this very turn!"
Thump!!
A massive card shadow materialized and immediately flipped face-up. Two violet-red Magic Cylinders emerged from the light, their muzzles aimed squarely at the opposition.
Hummm!!
The cylinder on the left lit up, completely vacuuming in the arc-water-tornado blast released by Gate Guardian. Meanwhile, the cylinder on the right began to glow with a gathered, ready-to-launch energy.
"Since there's a first effect, there must be a second one, right?" Alexis added, playing along perfectly.
Jiang He gave her a thumbs-up of approval. Alexis blushed slightly but maintained her composure.
"I activate the second effect of Magical Cylinders!" Jiang He declared. "When I activate Magic Cylinder, I can banish this card from the Graveyard to double the damage dealt by that Magic Cylinder's effect!"
"Nani!?"
Seeing Jiang He's beaming, sunny smile and his enthusiastic thumbs-up, the Paradox Brothers' eyes nearly bulged out of their heads. Their expressions shattered.
"D-Double the damage?!"
"Gate Guardian has 3750 Attack... if that's reflected and doubled, that's 7500 damage?!"
The brothers stammered as they crunched the numbers. Cold sweat poured down their faces as they stared at the right cylinder. Following the banishment of the factory Trap card, the Magic Cylinder had suddenly ballooned to twice its size, humming with a terrifying amount of energy.
Ding! Emotion Points from Paradox Brothers (Combined) +1200!
"Your Gate Guardian is incredibly powerful," Jiang He said with a mischievous grin, leveling his hand like a pistol. "But now, it's mine!"
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