"Since you've put it that way, I can't really refuse," Jiang He said, shrugging.
"Jiang He...!" Syrus looked at him with tears of gratitude.
Jiang He felt a bit guilty. He was essentially the one who had set Syrus up, and now he was being hailed as a savior.
"Hmph. Then let me see for myself. I want to see how that Exodia the Forbidden One deck of yours the one that OTKed Chazz last night handles a deck specifically designed to counter it!" Alexis smiled as she slotted her deck into her Duel Disk.
"Wait? He OTKed Chazz? The top first-year in Obelisk Blue?" Jasmine and Mindy gasped, looking at Jiang He in shock. "Did he just get lucky and draw all the Forbidden One pieces in the first two turns again?"
"No! In the duel against Chazz, Jiang He drew over twenty cards in a single turn! He beat Chazz with pure skill!" Syrus shouted, defending his "savior."
"No way...!" The two girls covered their mouths. "So he's not just lucky, he's actually strong? No wonder Alexis is so..."
"Mamma Mia... I can't believe it. Even the elite Chazz was OTKed by that drop-out boy!"
A distance away, a golden, mushroom-shaped head popped out of the water. Crowler was listening in shock. He had originally planned to find another elite student to crush Jiang He in class and force him to drop out. He hadn't realized Chazz had already been taken down.
"Oh, no!" Crowler felt his spirit breaking as he soaked in the lake. He decided to stay and watch. Alexis seemed to have a plan against that Exodia the Forbidden One deck. If he learned it, he could give it to others to defeat Jiang He or use it as leverage to get back that embarrassing photo.
Jiang He didn't notice Crowler. It didn't matter anyway. He was focused on Alexis. After borrowing Jaden's Duel Disk, he slotted in a deck with a subtle expression. Alexis was mistaken about one thing he didn't plan on using the Exodia the Forbidden One deck this time.
Jaden and Chumley rowed their boat over to pick up the released Syrus, moving to the side to watch. They left a wide stretch of open water between Jiang He and Alexis.
A breeze swept across the lake.
"Duel!"
The two shouted in unison, drawing their opening five cards.
[4000 LP] vs [4000 LP]!
"I'll take the first turn! Draw!" Alexis drew a card with a serious expression and added it to her hand. Then, a small smile played on her lips. She placed a card on her Duel Disk.
"I summon Etoile Cyber in Attack Position!"
Golden particles coalesced on the water's surface, revealing a mature woman in a blue and red bodysuit with white ribbons on her wrists.
[Etoile Cyber]
[Level: 4]
[Attribute: Earth]
[ATK: 1200]
[DEF: 1600]
"I set two cards and end my turn!" Alexis looked at Jiang He confidently. Two massive card shadows appeared in her backrow. "Now, Jiang He, let me uncover your secret!"
"If you're going to be that bold, you're making me blush."
"My turn, draw!" Jiang He drew from his deck. As he looked at the card, the brown fur ball monster on it seemed to move. It let out a friendly cry.
"Kuri Kuri!"
"A Duel Spirit from my Lava Golem Stall/Burn Playstyle deck...?" Jiang He smiled to himself. Choosing the Lava Golem deck had been the right move. One of the monsters was already awakening its spirit.
"Huh? I thought I heard something..." Jaden muttered on the nearby boat, scratching his cheek.
"I set one monster in face-down Defense Position," Jiang He said, adding the Sphere Kuriboh to his hand and placing another card horizontally on his Duel Disk. A large shadow of a card appeared on the lake before him.
"What?"
Alexis, Jaden, and the others were all surprised. Wasn't Jiang He's deck supposed to consist only of two Royal Magical Library monsters and the five pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One? Did he change his deck?
Is this the secret he uses to prevent people from countering him?
"I see...!" Alexis's eyes lit up with interest as Jiang He set two more cards in his backrow. She felt she had "guessed" his plan.
That face-down monster was likely Royal Magical Library. He didn't want to start his OTK combo immediately to keep his opponent guessing. By setting it face-down, he was baiting her and preventing her from using targeted traps immediately.
And those two set cards were surely his way to negate her traps and protect his Library! After all, traps have to be set for a turn before they can be used.
Alexis felt she had completely seen through Jiang He's "secret" and "plan." Now, she just had to prove it.
What she hadn't considered was the possibility... that Jiang He had simply switched decks.
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