A swirling vortex of water exploded onto Kira's field. The water coalesced into a blue-skinned frog with a unicorn-like horn on its head. Its small body looked completely harmless and even a little dopey.
[Unifrog, ATK 400]
The fake Jack's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a flash of anger in his eyes. "You bastard… are you provoking this King?"
If Kira had summoned the frog without saying anything, the fake Jack might have just mocked its weakness. But Kira had specifically claimed it was the most suitable opponent for him. A weak, dopey little frog like this—wasn't that clearly a provocation?
Kira smiled and offered no further explanation. However, wasn't the frog used by the world champion the most fitting opponent for a "King"?
"Effect of 'Swap Frog' in my hand," Kira said. "By discarding one WATER monster from my hand, I can Special Summon this card from my hand."
Kira sent one monster from his hand to the Graveyard.
"Special Summon 'Swap Frog'!"
[Swap Frog, ATK 1000]
"Effect of Swap Frog: When this card is successfully Summoned, select one Aqua-Type, WATER monster with 2 or fewer Levels from your Deck or field and send it to the Graveyard."
Kira took the card that popped out from his Deck and sent it to the Graveyard.
"I send 'Ronintoadin' from my Deck to the Graveyard."
The fake Jack snorted coldly. "A Frog Deck? You think you can use such insignificant monsters—"
"Battle," Kira declared. "First, attack with 'Unifrog'!"
[Unifrog, ATK 400]
The fake Jack asked curiously, "Attacking with a monster that only has 400 ATK…"
"Effect of Unifrog," Kira explained. "This card can attack the opponent's player directly."
The fake Jack frowned.
Direct attack—but only 400 damage.
His Set card in the backrow was the powerful Trap "Sakuretsu Armor," which could destroy an opponent's monster when it attacked. Such a strong Trap could wipe out a high-Level monster that the opponent had invested heavily in summoning. Using it to trade for a mere 400 Life Points on such a weak monster would be a huge loss. No sane person would choose that.
So the fake Jack remained silent and calmly took the hit.
[Fake Jack, LP 4000 → LP 3600]
A transparent stream of water pierced through the Phoenix Whirlwind, but 400 points of damage—even real damage—barely registered.
However, after the attack connected, a powerful jet suddenly shot from the horn on Unifrog's head and struck the Set card in the backrow that the fake Jack had been reluctant to use. The poor Sakuretsu Armor never got the chance to activate and was destroyed instantly.
"Nani?" The fake Jack was startled.
Kira said, "When Unifrog's direct attack succeeds, if you control a monster with 'Frog' in its name other than 'Unifrog,' you can destroy one Spell or Trap Card on the opponent's field."
He paused, then smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that. I seem to have forgotten to fully explain the effect earlier."
The fake Jack clicked his tongue. "Tch, acting all smug…"
The poor Sakuretsu Armor had probably come closest to breaking its "cannot be activated" curse, but its owner had chosen not to activate it. So the legendary curse would have to continue.
"Next, 'Swap Frog' attacks the Set monster," Kira said.
Swap Frog's ATK was not high. This attack was more of a probe to see what the Set monster was.
The Set monster flipped over—a small demon holding a tuning fork. Its body was frail but quite resilient, crossing the forks in front of itself defensively.
[Creation Resonator, DEF 600]
Resonators—the tuner monsters Jack used in the anime, somewhat similar to Yusei's "Synchron" archetype. Years after 5D's ended, many new support cards for Resonators were released, often linked with Jack's Red Dragon Archfiend series.
"Battle concluded," Kira said. "Activate Swap Frog's effect. Once per turn, you can return one monster you control to its owner's hand. I return 'Swap Frog' itself to my hand."
Swap Frog turned into a stream of water and flew back into Kira's hand.
"After that, during this turn, in addition to your Normal Summon, you can Normal Summon one 'Frog' monster other than 'Swap Frog'."
Kira waved his hand and summoned another frog.
"Using this effect, I Normal Summon 'Flip Flop Frog' from my hand."
[Flip Flop Frog, DEF 200]
"Then, Flip Flop Frog's monster effect: Once per turn, you can change this card to face-down Defense Position," Kira said. "I change 'Flip Flop Frog' to face-down Defense Position."
The small frog that had just appeared crouched down, seemingly sinking into the shadow on the ground, becoming a face-down Set monster.
The fake Jack frowned again as he watched Swap Frog return to the hand.
He was beginning to realize how troublesome that card was. Swap Frog could Special Summon itself each turn and, upon Summon, precisely mill any Frog monster from the Deck.
Afterward, Swap Frog could return itself to the hand with its own effect, allowing it to jump out again next turn and mill another Frog. It was practically a dedicated "Foolish Burial" for Frog Decks—and it could be used once per turn.
Additionally, after recycling Swap Frog from the field, you gained an extra Normal Summon. And Swap Frog's own Summon didn't use up your Normal Summon.
Although it looked unremarkable with low ATK/DEF stats, this frog was incredibly strong!
Kira: "I Set one card. Turn end."
"My turn! Draw!"
The fake Jack declared.
"When there is a monster on the opponent's field and none on your own, this card can be Special Summoned from the hand. I Special Summon 'Vice Dragon'!"
An ugly-looking giant dragon appeared on the field, but it immediately shrank to half its original size upon landing. This monster had a very high appearance rate in Jack's early Duels.
The combination of Jack's "Vice Dragon" and "Red Dragon Archfiend" was almost equivalent to Yusei's "Junk Synchron" and "Speed Warrior"—both were overworked cards that had to be summoned every Duel, working overtime to the death.
"When Vice Dragon is Special Summoned by this effect, its original ATK and DEF are halved!"
[Vice Dragon, ATK 2000 → ATK 1000]
"Then I Tribute Vice Dragon!"
The fake Jack proclaimed loudly.
"Watch closely—this is what a King's Duel looks like! Tribute Summon——Strong Wind Dragon!!!"
Vice Dragon disintegrated into countless light particles. The particles then reconverged into an even larger form. A swirling emerald gale swept across the field. Within the storm, a pair of massive wings unfurled as the wind-ruling dragon descended with a mighty roar!