Early the next morning, after breakfast—
"Today is the final day of the tournament," Kisaragi suggested. "I think we should move closer to the castle. That way, once we've collected enough Metal Stars, we can enter immediately."
"No objections," Kaiba replied first.
Yugi and the others nodded as well.
I remember in the original story Jōnouchi got a stomachache here and got dragged into a duel… but so far he hasn't made a peep. Did I change the plot? Kisaragi wondered.
Outside Pegasus's Castle
"Let's wait around here and see if any duelists worth challenging show up."
She had barely finished speaking when two red-and-green figures bounced down from above—leaping around wildly before landing right in front of the group.
Both men were bald, wearing traditional Chinese-style outfits—one orange, one green. Their faces were identical like twins. The only way to tell them apart was the color of their clothes and the characters written on their foreheads.
"We are the guardians of the maze—the Paradox Brothers!"
"Hey, hey—there isn't any maze here," Kisaragi deadpanned.
"That's right! We're usually underground," one of them said. "But no duelists came, so we got bored…"
"So we came up to the surface to play!" the other chimed in.
"Don't let our looks fool you—we're duelists sent by Mr. Pegasus to hunt you down!"
The brothers spoke in perfect rhythm, trading lines like rehearsed actors.
"So you're here to challenge us?" Kisaragi asked.
"Exactly! Let's have a Tag Duel!" they shouted in unison.
"Fine. Kaiba—we're both short on Metal Stars. Let's team up," Kisaragi proposed.
Kaiba blinked, then smirked. "No problem. This is our first time teaming up, after all."
"Hey! I'm short on Metal Stars too! Why didn't you pick me?!" Jōnouchi protested.
"Stop dreaming," Honda said. "If you try to butt in, Kaiba will knock you flat. And he'd never team with you. Give it up."
"Tch!"
"All right, Paradox Brothers," Kisaragi said. "Kaiba and I accept. Explain the rules."
"This Tag Duel uses one shared field and one shared Graveyard per team," the brothers explained. "You use two separate decks, and take turns playing."
"Each team shares 8000 Life Points," they continued. "You can check your partner's face-down cards. Everything else is like a normal duel."
"I see," Yugi said. "Two decks sharing one field and Graveyard… that demands real coordination."
"Yeah," Bakura agreed. "If one player misplays, you can run out of zones and lose your chance to swing the tempo."
"I think those two will be fine," Anzu said.
Behind the brothers, a special Duel Machine rose up.
"This machine looks different," Jōnouchi said.
"Correct!" said the brother in orange. "It's built for Tag Duels—each side has room for two players. The first player's deck goes on the tabletop. The second player's deck sits in a slot underneath."
"And when it becomes the other teammate's turn," the green brother added, "the machine automatically swaps which deck is active."
"Now—place your wager!"
"I'll bet five Metal Stars," Kisaragi said.
"Two," Kaiba said.
"No problem!" the brothers answered together.
"DUEL!" ×4
Kisaragi & Kaiba LP: 8000
Paradox Brothers LP: 8000
"Kaiba—let me go first," Kisaragi said. "You follow up and handle the offensive push."
"Fine."
She placed her deck on the tabletop.
"I'll take the first turn—draw!"
"I activate Graceful Charity! I draw three cards, then discard two!"
"One of the cards I discard is The White Stone of Legend. When it's sent to the Graveyard, I can add Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Deck to my hand!"
"So she's starting with her Blue-Eyes build," Yugi noted.
"Wait—does that mean together they can use six Blue-Eyes?" Jōnouchi gawked.
"Next, I send one Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard, then Special Summon Dragon Ruler—Dragon Dictator in Attack Position from my hand!"
A warrior clad in silver-white dragonbone armor appeared.
Dragon Ruler—Dragon Dictator (1200/1100)
"I activate Dragon Dictator's effect: by discarding a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, or a card that mentions Blue-Eyes White Dragon, I can Special Summon a Blue-Eyes monster from the Graveyard."
"I discard Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand—and Special Summon another Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the Graveyard!"
A massive white dragon soared down onto her field.
Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)
"So that's her Blue-Eyes…" Dark Yugi murmured.
"I set two cards. End turn." (Cards in hand: 3)
Paradox Brothers' Turn
"My turn—draw!" the orange brother declared.
But Kisaragi cut in immediately.
"At this moment—I activate the effect of Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon in my Graveyard. In the Standby Phase of the next turn after this card was sent there, I can Special Summon a Level 7 or 8 Dragon from my Graveyard!"
"What?!" the brothers snapped.
"Come forth—Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Blue-Eyes White Dragon (3000/2500)
A second Blue-Eyes appeared on Kisaragi's field.
"Incredible—two Blue-Eyes in barely a turn, and executed cleanly," Bakura said, impressed.
"Heh… not bad at all," Kaiba smiled.
The Paradox Brother narrowed his eyes. "So she's strong… but—"
"I activate Shadow Ghoul of the Hidden Maze from my hand! I send it from hand to the Graveyard to add a Labyrinth Wall card from my Deck to my hand."
"The card I add is Labyrinth Wall Shadow!"
"Next, I activate the Field Spell Labyrinth Wall Shadow!"
The battlefield transformed into a vast labyrinth. A dark shadow flickered along the maze walls like something hunting.
"I activate its effect: once per turn, I can choose one of Sanga of the Thunder, Kazejin, or Suijin from my hand, Deck, or banished zone, and place it face-up in my Spell/Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell!"
"I place Sanga of the Thunder from my Deck!"
A box appeared in their back row, stamped with the character for "Thunder."
"Then I Normal Summon Heavy Armored Battlewagon of the Labyrinth in Attack Position!"
"Summoning a Level 7 without tributes?" Kaiba frowned.
"This card can be Normal Summoned without Tributing," the brother grinned, "but it can't attack the turn it's summoned!"
…
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
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