Chapter 80: His Name Is… the Friendship-Ender

"He's using Bubbleman with 800 ATK to attack Shadow Mist who has 1500 DEF. Is that Slifer Red kid an idiot?!"

The spectator stands erupted into confused murmuring the moment Jaden directed Bubbleman toward Shadow Mist.

"The Field Spell Skyscraper's effect," Jaden said, raising a hand confidently, "gives any Hero monster a temporary boost of 1000 ATK during the damage step, as long as that monster's ATK is lower than the opponent's!"

He swept his arm forward.

"Bubbleman's ATK is 800. Shadow Mist's ATK is 1000. So Bubbleman gains 1000 ATK! Go, Bubbleman!"

"I won't let you destroy my Hero monster that easily. I activate the Trap Card Mirror Force!"

Rowan raised his hand and indicated one of his five face-down cards.

The leftmost one flipped up, revealing the image of a defensive barrier catching and reflecting a burst of orange light.

"When an opponent's monster declares an attack, Mirror Force destroys all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls!"

"Of course there's a trap like that in there," Alexis said, with the tone of someone who had entirely expected this.

"Good thing I prepared for exactly that, Rowan!" Jaden grinned and pointed to one of his own face-downs.

"Counter Trap, Dark Bribe! When you activate a Spell or Trap Card, negate it and destroy it. Then you get to draw one card from your deck as compensation."

"Bubbleman's attack continues!"

With that, Bubbleman leveled his water cannon again, pressure building at the nozzle, aimed squarely at Shadow Mist crouching in her defensive stance.

Before the attack could land, Rowan's voice came again.

"So you did have Dark Bribe ready to negate traps. But Mirror Force isn't the only thing I'm working with up here."

He drew his compensation card from Dark Bribe's effect with visible pleasure, then raised his hand to indicate another of his remaining four face-downs.

A second trap flipped up, its purple and black pattern filling the field.

"Trap Card, Wall of Disruption! When an opponent's monster declares an attack, all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls lose 800 ATK for each monster they control!"

"I won't let that resolve either! Second Counter Trap, Dark Bribe!"

Jaden fired back immediately with his second face-down.

The exact same card.

"Running two Dark Bribes when you opened with Bubbleman to draw two cards," Rowan remarked, watching as his Wall of Disruption shattered from the negation.

"You really do have the nerve to back it up."

Under normal circumstances, no sane duelist would run two copies of a card with that kind of punishing drawback.

But Jaden was the chosen one of this dueling world, the kind of person who could open with Bubbleman, pull two cards, and then laugh in the face of Dark Bribe's cost.

The card disadvantage simply didn't apply to him the way it did to everyone else.

Bubbleman's water cannon built pressure again. The attack was continuing.

Rowan drew his second compensation card, took it in stride, and smiled.

"Then I'll activate my third face-down. Quick-Play Spell, Mask Change!"

He flipped it with the calm satisfaction of someone who had been waiting for exactly this moment.

Both Dark Bribes had been accounted for. The field was now clear of anything that could stop him.

He'd fished them out on purpose, and now there was nothing left in Jaden's hand to interfere.

Time to make a new friend.

"Mask Change?!"

Jaden and Bastion both stared at the Quick-Play Spell now revealed on Rowan's field: a figure mid-sprint, its head suddenly blazing with an explosive burst of light.

Another card none of them had ever seen before.

"This card targets one Hero monster I control, sends it to the Graveyard, then Special Summons one Masked HERO Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck that shares the same Attribute!"

Rowan's smile broadened.

"And the monster I'll be Special Summoning is, of course, the Masked Hero who ends all friendships... ah, I mean, Masked HERO Dark Law!"

A beam of light erupted from Shadow Mist's head.

The dark column swallowed her entirely, and in her place a new figure descended: a warrior clad head to toe in jet-black armor, every surface sealed and sharpened, taloned gauntlets gleaming where hands might have been.

[Masked HERO Dark Law] Stars: 6 / DARK ATK: 2400 / DEF: 1800

"Masked HERO Dark Law?! An entirely new series of Hero monsters?!"

Bastion and Zane both dropped their crossed arms and fixed their full attention on the figure now standing across the field.

Crowler, Chancellor Sheppard, and the bulk of the student body were equally riveted, eyes wide.

Though now that the shock was settling, several of them were fairly certain they hadn't imagined it.

Had Rowan just said "ends all friendships" before correcting himself?

Alexis, Bastion, and a handful of others exchanged glances with expressions that had gone distinctly peculiar.

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