When Joey first saw someone fly out from the enemy ranks, he tensed, thinking it was almost certainly another foe.
As the figure drew near, he saw it was a slightly baby-faced teenager, which puzzled him more. He'd fought the Supreme King's army enough to notice most of them weren't human—mostly bizarre demons. A boy like this was rare.
Then the youth landed at his side, faced the sea of enemy troops, and issued a challenge, leaving Joey even more surprised.
"You are…?"
"Like you, just a passing duelist."
At that moment, Kira also vaulted onto the roof, landing beside Joey with a smile.
"Top Four of the original Battle City, the legendary duelist Joey Wheeler. We've long admired you."
Joey's eyes lit up. He immediately guessed, "You're duelists from the real world too?"
No one in this dimension should know about Battle City. These two didn't look like demons, and they knew about Battle City—Joey was certain they were allies.
"Yep. President Kaiba and Mai asked me to say hello," Kira said with a smile. "They've been looking for you nonstop."
"Mai… and that jerk Kaiba…"
Joey's expression dimmed.
"I see. I've no idea how long I've been here…"
With two more landing on the rooftop, the Supreme King's army stirred. The three commanders barked, "Who are you two? Want to die with him?"
"Shut up!"
Joey shook off his melancholy, rolling up his sleeves with a loud voice. "I can handle you lot myself!"
"No way!" Jaden said. "There are three of them, and there are three of us. We'll each take one—"
He'd already jumped up here—no way he was letting the duel get snatched away.
"How about this," Kira cut in. "Three versus three—team duel. One round, sudden death, so we don't have to play three matches. Fastest way. How about it?"
"Hahahaha! A team duel against the three of us?" the one-winged demon laughed. "Suicidal. Fine—let us show you how terrifying our Power decks are combined!
Three-on-three team rules: teammates share field and Graveyard, and Life Points are the team's total—12,000. Come!"
Joey eyed the two youngsters, hesitating. He'd fought the Supreme King's army time and again, long since putting life and death aside. But dragging these two into it gave him pause.
"Don't worry—we're busted strong. Especially Kira," Jaden said cheerfully.
"A month ago in Duel City GX, Kira beat President Kaiba and the God of Orichalcos. He's the new King of Games."
Joey was stunned and gave Kira another long look.
"King of Games" had belonged to only one person before—and that person was Joey's dearest friend. No one had borne the title in years.
Kaiba needed no explanation, and Joey had witnessed the power of Orichalcos back then—it was absurdly strong. To win such a tournament and take the crown…
"Just got lucky," Kira smiled, taking the center position.
"Settled then—three-on-three, team duel."
Joey finally nodded.
No objections.
A new generation King of Games—this was the perfect chance to see what he could do.
Down below, the skull who'd escorted Kira and Jaden was dumbfounded.
Wait—how did my allies end up on the other side…
Did I just become a guide for the enemy!?
"Duel!" x6
[Kira's team LP: 12,000]
[Demon commanders' LP: 12,000]
"My turn first. Draw," said Kira.
"I set one card and end my turn."
The crowd: "???"
He'd basically passed—without even thinking. He ended so fast the ram-headed demon almost missed it.
Joey glanced at Kira in surprise.
This some new meta opener? Passing turn one—was this a trend he hadn't heard of?
"Heh, bricked, did you? With that level of skill you dare challenge the three army commanders? Pathetic," the ram-headed demon sneered. "I won't show mercy for that.
My turn—draw!
I activate the Spell Terraforming to add a Field Spell from my Deck to hand.
I add the Field Spell 'Power Zone' to my hand!
Then I activate Power Zone!"
A gravity well unfolded over the field, making even the air feel crushingly heavy.
"That deck again," Jaden muttered, having already seen Zure run it—a "Power" archetype that seemed to be a Spirit World, or rather Supreme King army, exclusive.
"In Power Zone, whenever a monster is destroyed by battle, the controller takes damage equal to that monster's ATK," the demon said with a cold smile.
"Then I Normal Summon 'Power Annihilator.'"
[Power Annihilator, ATK 1800]
A core monster for the Power deck: when battling a monster with higher ATK, it gains 1000 ATK.
"Under multi-duel rules, no one can attack on the first rotation," the demon said. "I set one and end my turn."
"All right! My turn—draw!"
Jaden drew, then, without hesitation, slapped down three cards in a row.
"I activate the Spell Polymerization! I fuse Elemental HERO Heat and Elemental HERO Lady Heat! Fusion Summon—
—Elemental HERO Inferno!"
[Elemental HERO Inferno, ATK 2300]
A FIRE Warrior fusion HERO—one of the new HEROes Jaden inherited from Koyo.
"Of course, I can't attack on Turn 1," Jaden smiled. "So I activate the Quick-Play Spell De-Fusion to undo Inferno's fusion.
Return to the field—Heat, Lady Heat!"
[Elemental HERO Heat, ATK 1600]
[Elemental HERO Lady Heat, ATK 1300]
Kira mused.
This setup and line… somehow reminded him of that famous five-for-one play.
Next he's not about to tribute both for Blade Edge, is he…
"Heat gains 200 ATK for each Elemental HERO I control!"
[Elemental HERO Heat ATK 1600 → 2000]
"And Lady Heat deals damage in my End Phase equal to the number of face-up HEROes I control x200!"
[Demons' LP 12,000 → 11,600]
"Hmph. All that trouble for a measly 400," the one-winged demon scoffed. "Barely a scratch."