Chapter 85: Stop Right There, That’s Not Very Hero of Justice of You!

"What?! There really is a second effect!"

The moment Rowan spoke, dark energy bloomed over both cards in Jaden's hand.

Jaden flinched.

One Masked HERO Dark Law banished one card from the opponent's hand.

And Rowan had two Masked HERO Dark Laws on the field.

Which meant both cards Jaden had just drawn with Pot of Greed were squarely within range.

The dark light pulsed.

Both cards vanished from Jaden's hand without a trace.

"Of course there's something even worse hiding in there..." Alexis, Bastion, and Syrus all looked like they wanted to cover their faces.

First, Necrovalley sealed the Graveyard completely, cutting off any recursion or revival.

Then Masked HERO Dark Law's first effect started banishing everything that would have gone there anyway.

And now the second effect had just slammed shut the last remaining door: any time Jaden tried to add cards from his deck to his hand outside of his normal Draw Phase, Dark Law would strip one away at random.

Searching, tutoring, adding via card effects, all of it was locked down.

And there was still one face-down card sitting in Rowan's back row that had been there since the very beginning, radiating the kind of quiet menace that made experienced duelists nervous.

Jaden's field had Bladedge standing at 2600 attack points, which did clear both Dark Laws in terms of raw numbers.

But charging in blind with that face-down card waiting was a different matter entirely.

Jaden was clearly aware of it too. He stared at Bladedge, then at the two black-armored figures across the field, then at the face-down.

His jaw tightened.

He held back.

Better to wait until next turn and deal with that trap first.

"My turn ends."

The words came out slow and reluctant.

[Ding. Jaden Yuki Emotion Points +700.]

"Jaden, if I had to guess," Rowan said pleasantly, the system chime still ringing pleasantly in his ears, "you're probably thinking you'll wait until your next draw before deciding how to handle the board."

He paused just long enough to let that land.

"Unfortunately, you might not get the chance."

"My turn. Draw."

He pulled a card from his deck without even glancing at it, and reached instead into his hand for one of the two HERO monsters he'd added earlier via Shadow Mist's effect.

He placed it on the duel disk with a clean, unhurried motion.

"Defense position. Destiny HERO - Defender!"

A low, rumbling battle cry rang out as a massive figure materialized on Rowan's field, every inch of it encased in thick, concrete-grey fortress armor.

It settled into a half-crouching guard stance over the horizontal card silhouette beneath it, its voice a heavy, reverberating growl.

Destiny HERO - Defender. Level 4. Dark attribute. ATK: 100. DEF: 2700.

"D-HERO, Destiny HERO?! That's yet another new HERO sub-series?!"

Bastion stared, visibly thrown.

Kaiser Zane, Chancellor Sheppard, and most of the others in the stands were equally fixed on the new monster Rowan had just brought out.

Between Shadow Mist, Masked HERO Dark Law, and now this, Rowan had introduced three entirely unfamiliar HERO monsters in a single duel.

All of them were sitting firmly outside anyone's prior knowledge.

"A four-star monster with 2700 defense points?"

Alexis said, genuinely startled.

As a general rule, low-level monsters simply didn't carry that kind of defensive stat without some kind of drawback built in.

"That's higher than Bladedge's attack points and it's only a four-star..." Syrus stared, unconsciously chewing on his own hand.

Only Jaden himself seemed to take it with something approaching composure.

There was a certain quality that came with already being in deep trouble: one more alarming thing barely moved the needle.

This monster was sitting in defense, so at least for the moment it wasn't directly threatening him.

What he couldn't quite work out was why Rowan had made such a pointed remark about him not reaching his next draw, and then followed it up by summoning a purely defensive monster.

"Destiny HERO - Defender does come with a drawback alongside its exceptional defense stat," Rowan helpfully explained, addressing both Jaden and the wider audience.

"During your opponent's Standby Phase, they get to draw one additional card."

Syrus immediately let out an audible sigh of relief, his shoulders dropping as he muttered to himself, "Oh, so that's the catch. A 2700 defense wall makes a lot more sense if it hands the opponent a free draw."

Several others nodded along without thinking.

...

Wait.

Kaiser Zane's head came up first. Then Alexis. Then Bastion.

A half-second behind the others, all three of them caught it at the same moment.

"Hold on," Bastion said slowly, his expression going strange. "Is that actually a drawback?"

Jasmine and Mindy, standing beside Alexis, had arrived at the same thought.

They brought their hands to their mouths in unison.

Masked HERO Dark Law's second effect triggered whenever the opponent added a card from their deck to their hand outside of the normal Draw Phase.

During a regular Draw Phase, it couldn't activate.

But Destiny HERO - Defender's so-called drawback forced Jaden to draw an additional card during that same Standby Phase via a card effect, which was not a normal draw.

Which meant Masked HERO Dark Law's second effect would fire.

Every single turn.

"One Masked HERO Dark Law banishes one card from the opponent's hand," Alexis said, working through it aloud, her expression equal parts astonished and appalled.

"Two Dark Laws banish two. And because of Defender's effect, Jaden will draw two cards per turn instead of one..."

Professor Crowler was already doing the arithmetic to himself.

His eyes went wide when he reached the conclusion.

Two cards drawn. Two cards banished. Net gain: zero.

Jaden's Draw Phase had been effectively erased. Every turn, he would draw, and every draw would be taken away before he could use it.

For a moment the entire hall went quiet as the full picture settled in. Then, almost in unison, Bastion, Professor Crowler, and a substantial portion of the surrounding Duel Academy students all felt the same overwhelming urge to direct one single thought at the figure standing calmly on the dueling platform.

Stop. Stop right now. You are not the hero of this story. ...

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