Amidst the crowd's focused attention, the sound of clothes swiftly slicing through the air—swish swish swish—came first, followed by the sudden appearance of two humanoid shadows, one clad in yellow, the other in green, landing on the dueling stage.
Their entrance was something straight out of a wuxia novel or a circus acrobat act—a flashy martial arts performance full of flair.
After a dramatic 360° spinning flip and a clean landing, the two bald men—one wearing yellow robes with the black character "迷" ("Maze") written on his forehead, and the other in a green martial arts uniform with the black character "宫" ("Palace") written on his—stood side by side with arms crossed and declared in unison:
"We are the wandering tag-team duelists of the world—the Paradox Brothers!"
Staring at the two bald men, Judai's eyes sparkled brightly. Just like Yuuya had said—their tag duel opponents were indeed the legendary "Paradox Brothers" who once gave the King of Games, Yugi Mutou, a hard time!
"We hold no grudge against you."
"Let us fight honorably!"
"If you defeat us…"
"…the path forward will reveal itself!"
"That is the match!"
Finishing their dramatic introduction like a comedy duo, the Paradox Brothers backflipped into their designated duel positions.
"What do you think, Principal? Pretty fitting for today's theme, right?"
Watching the brothers don their duel disks, Professor Chronos chuckled proudly and turned to Principal Samejima to take credit.
"Hmm, very fitting. And they look extremely motivated too!"
"Nani?!"
Chronos turned in surprise in the direction the principal was pointing—only to see Judai and Sho, the two "problem students," not cowering in fear as he had imagined, but instead chatting excitedly, strategizing in hushed tones.
'What?! This isn't how it was supposed to go!'
But alas, that scenario only existed in his imagination.
'Fine then! Let's just get on with it.'
Seeing both sides ready, Professor Chronos walked to the center of the stage and announced the rules for the tag duel:
"In this tag-team duel, both teammates on a side will share one field—meaning five Monster Zones, five Spell & Trap Zones, and one Field Zone. Graveyard effects are also shared between teammates. As for Life Points? Each team starts with a combined total of 6000 LP. Any damage, whether from battle or card effects, is taken together."
"That is all!"
With that, Professor Chronos leaped backward off the stage. As he exited, the surrounding students cheered, and both teams activated their duel disks, officially starting the match.
"Duel!"
Judai & Sho: 6000 LP
Paradox Brothers: 6000 LP
"I'll take the first turn—Draw!"
Judai drew his card to kick off the first round. After glancing at his hand, he quickly placed two cards onto his Duel Disk.
"I summon 'Elemental HERO Sparkman' in Attack Position! Then I set one card face-down and end my turn."
Since players cannot declare attacks during the first turn, the remaining three duelists simply summoned a monster—either face-up or face-down—and set a Spell or Trap before ending their turns.
The round cycled back, and now, at last, it was Judai's battle-ready second turn!
"My turn—Draw!"
Now able to enter the Battle Phase, Judai was pumped. Without hesitation, he declared:
"Spell Card, 'Polymerization'! I fuse the 'Elemental HERO Sparkman' on my field with the 'Elemental HERO Clayman' in my hand!"
"Fusion Summon—Elemental HERO Thunder Giant!"
Since the duel by the lakeside, this marked Thunder Giant's second official appearance in the story.
"Let's go! Attack the Paradox Brothers' 'Jirai Gumo'—Voltic Thunder!"
Thunder Giant gathered golden lightning between his broad palms. With loud crackling bursts, it fired a thunderbolt like a laser straight toward the brown-and-black spider monster on the opponent's field.
Just as it seemed like Jirai Gumo was about to be destroyed by Thunder Giant's strike, the elder Paradox Brother raised his hand and activated a set card:
"Trap Card, 'Metalmorph Explosion Chain'—activate! It becomes an Equip Spell that increases Jirai Gumo's ATK by 500!"
Three orange sticks of dynamite bound by silver chains appeared and latched onto Jirai Gumo's large, upward-facing back. Now a Level 4 monster with a whopping 2200 ATK, Jirai Gumo instantly surpassed Thunder Giant in power. It spat webbing, trying to intercept the incoming thunderbolt and take out the attacking Thunder Giant.
"Quick-Play Spell—'De-Fusion'! I return Thunder Giant's Fusion Materials to the field!"
Seeing that Jirai Gumo's power now surpassed his HERO monster, Judai quickly activated the face-down card he had set during his previous turn—using it to de-fuse Thunder Giant. This action canceled the attack command, nullifying Jirai Gumo's counterattack.
As Thunder Giant split back into Sparkman and Clayman, both reappeared on his field in crouched positions. With the Battle Phase ended, Judai set two more cards and passed the turn to the older of the two Paradox Brothers.
"My turn—Draw!"
Drawing his card, the elder brother couldn't help but grin when he saw the swirling tornado depicted on it. He looked directly across the field at Judai and said:
"Kid, time for you to taste my chain explosion combo! Spell Card—Heavy Storm, activate!"
Heavy Storm, which destroys all Spell and Trap cards on the user's field and then allows them to destroy up to the same number on the opponent's field, made its first appearance in this duel after a hiatus of more than half a month.
"Heh, and our destruction doesn't end there!"
Watching his brother activate Heavy Storm, the younger brother, "Palace," waved his hand and activated his own face-down card:
"Quick-Play Spell—Enemy Controller! Switch Clayman from Defense Position to Attack Position!"
On Judai's side, three monsters were on the field—two in Defense Position, one in Attack. After checking each monster's stats, the younger brother chose to switch Clayman, who had the highest DEF but lowest ATK, to Attack Position.
"Boom! Boom!"
Two loud explosions rang out as the Paradox Brothers' back row was obliterated—meaning they could now destroy up to two of Judai and Sho's Spell/Trap cards.
After a moment's thought, the elder brother chose Judai's leftmost face-down card and Sho's only set card.
"And now, the Trap Card Blast with Chain, which was sent to the Graveyard by Heavy Storm, activates its secondary effect!"
"When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard by another card's effect, I can destroy one card on the field!"
As the elder brother pointed at Judai's final set card, Jirai Gumo shot webbing around the bundle of dynamite on its back. Then, with a sweeping motion of one of its legs—like kicking a soccer ball—it launched the bomb straight at Judai's side of the field.
Seeing the already-lit fuse flying toward him at high speed, Judai quickly activated that final face-down card:
"Trap Card—Elemental Recharge! For each 'Elemental HERO' on my field, I gain 1000 Life Points!"
Sparkman and Clayman—two Elemental HEROes total.
(Judai & Sho: 6000 LP → 8000 LP)
Getting that card destroyed didn't matter—, under its effect, their Life Points soared to twice the normal total used in a standard one-on-one duel.
"Tch!"
The elder brother clicked his tongue, annoyed that his explosive setup had been wasted. Then he pointed at Clayman, who had been forcibly switched to Attack Position by his brother's card and shouted:
"Jirai Gumo! Attack that kid's Clayman!"