Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

【“Overlord” → Overlord X: 100LP, Hand: 7】

[Giant Earth - Gaia Plate] [ATK2800]

Backcourt: [Cover Card]

Although the effects of [Miracle of Salvation - Dragon Crystal] were used to bounce the monsters on Jaden's field back to his hand, since the monsters chosen by Jim were all Fusion Monsters, those cards were ultimately returned directly to Jaden's Extra Deck, preventing Jaden from reviving them from the graveyard.

Jaden still has seven cards in his hand. Although Jim has reduced his Life Points to only 100, he will still have to wait until the next turn to defeat him.

Despite repeated attempts to synchronize with Jaden's voice, which briefly reached his mind, the sound was too faint to awaken him. Looking at the defeated Jaden before him, Jim said dejectedly, "In the end, it still didn't work."

"I place three cards face down on the back row to end my turn."

【吉姆·克洛克达尔·库克：1800LP，手牌：3→4→3→0】

【Paleozoic Fossil Dragon - Skull Slayer Dragon】【ATK3500】

[Paleozoic fossil vehicle - skull truck] [ATK100→2100]

[Miracle of Salvation - Raptor Crystal] [DEF2800]

[Miracle of Salvation - Dragon Crystal] [ATK3000]

Backcourt: [Face Card (Stone Attack)] [Face Card] x3
With the [Stone Attack] in the backcourt, it would be easy for Jim to win, but his biggest difficulty right now is that he can't kill Jaden. If possible, he still wants to awaken Jaden's consciousness during the duel to avoid unnecessary casualties.

Jaden's base score has been reduced to only 100 points, and Jim can't awaken him by dealing combat damage. The Miracle of Deception - Dragon Crystal has also tried to remove his E-heroes to dispel their dark influence on Jaden's heart, but to no avail.

All he could do was temporarily stop and buy some time, hoping to find another opportunity to try and awaken Judai in the next round.

"Is this really okay, Jim?" O'Brien asked. "Your [Earth Giant - Gaia Plate] is still on Jaden's field. Even if its attack power is reduced to 1800 by your [Paleozoic Fossil Vehicle - Skull Truck], it's still equivalent to a monster with 3600 attack power, right?"

“It’s alright, O’Brien, don’t worry about my card hurting me. If you ask why—” Jim turned his head and smiled, “that card will be back to me soon.”

As Jim said, just as Jaden placed his finger on the deck and drew a card to enter his turn's preparation phase, the body of the [Earth Giant - Gaia Plate] that he had stolen from the field suddenly split open.

"My turn, drawing a card?"

Upon hearing what Jaden said, Jim explained, "As we all know, powerful cards are often accompanied by great risks. There is also a necessary price to pay for using [Earth Giant - Gaia Plate] - during each preparation phase of its controller, one Rock-Type monster in the controller's graveyard must be banished as the price for its survival; otherwise, [Earth Giant - Gaia Plate] will be sent to the graveyard."

"Unlike me, whose graveyard contains many Rock-type monsters, Judai, your graveyard doesn't have any Rock-type monsters, does it?"

However, right after Jim finished speaking, Jaden took out a card from his graveyard and said, "Is that so? But to your disappointment, there is indeed a Rock-Type monster in my graveyard—this is the one I used to Fusion Summon E-hero Evil Blade Demon King with my own effect, replacing E-hero Extreme Evil Blade as the Fusion Material!"

"Ban this card as the cost for the survival of [Giant Earth - Gaia Plate]!"

Without hesitation, Jaden banished his own monster, as if deliberately trying to slap Jim in the face by keeping the "Earth Giant - Gaia Plate" on his field.

“Hmm, that’s really something,” Jim tugged at the brim of his cowboy hat, somewhat helplessly. “To keep my monster, you’re even willing to banish your own? Suddenly, I feel a strange sense of familiarity with your dueling style.”

O'Brien, watching from the sidelines, also had a look of sudden realization: "Using monsters as casually as if they were gadgets, and having a certain preference for monsters that NTR the opponent—isn't that Principal Hayato?!"

However, their attempt to ease Jaden's dark mood with lighthearted banter was futile. Jaden, with an expression as if listening to someone else's business, calmly played a card in his hand and said, "Magic Card, [Planet Transformation] activated. Search for one card from my deck and add it to my hand."

"Heroes have their stage to fight, and so do overlords." Revealing the card he had just retrieved and activating it immediately, Jaden the Overlord shouted, "I activate this Field Spell Card I retrieved—[Overlord Castle]!"

Although a Field Spell Card was activated, the surrounding environment did not change in any particular way. The previously dark sky became even more gloomy after Jaden activated the Field Spell Card, and purple lightning began to flash in the dark clouds, making the atmosphere even more oppressive.

However, the activation of the field spell card did not bring about any significant changes, and the attack power and other values ​​of [Earth Giant - Gaia Plate] did not fluctuate at all, making people wonder what kind of effect this field spell card activated by Jaden at this moment could have.

Obviously, given Jaden's dueling style, he wouldn't immediately start explaining the card's effect after playing it. This is completely opposite to Jaden's personality, who likes to share the effects of his favorite cards with others. No wonder Jim couldn't connect "King" with Jaden even after listening to Jaden's voice for so long.

"With so many cards in your hand, you can expect a fierce offensive to follow. But thankfully, last turn you activated too many Dark Fusion cards and sent them to the graveyard in order to maximize the effect of that Dark Domination card."

Looking at the seven cards Jaden had left, Jim said, "The Fusion Monsters of [E-hero], I remember you said when you played them that they could only be Special Summoned by the effect of [Dark Fusion], right? That means without [Dark Fusion], you can only use the [Fusion], 'Contact Fusion', and [Mask Change] that you used to use."

Last round, Jaden used Dark Fusion four times, using all three Dark Fusion cards in his deck and even using Recycle once. Even now, Jim wouldn't dare say he has a deep understanding of the E-hero card Jaden is using now that he's transformed into "King". But no matter what, his cards shouldn't be able to break through the underlying logic of Duel Monsters and put more than three identical cards in his deck, right?

Just like his deck only had three [Fossil Fusion] cards, and now that he has already used two, he only has one [Fossil Fusion] card left in his deck, while Jaden the Great has no [Dark Fusion] cards left.

But upon hearing Jim's teasing, Jaden took out a card from the graveyard and retorted, "Sorewadoka?"

"The second effect of [Evil Assault] can be activated by banishing this card from my Graveyard if it is not sent to the Graveyard this turn, and adding one [Dark Fusion] from my Graveyard to my hand."

"Next, I'll send the [E-hero Hell Imp] and the Level 5☆ [E-hero Prestige Necromancer] from my hand to the Graveyard as fusion materials. [Dark Fusion] activated! The material requirements are: an [E-hero] monster plus a Level 5 or higher monster!"

The [E-hero Hell Imp] used by Jaden of the Overlord seems to be a counterpart to [Hero Boy] in the [Hero] deck. The power of [Dark Fusion] reappears on the field, twisting it together with [E-hero Ominous Necromancer] and descending on the field in an even darker form.

"Unleash your ferocious power with your blade, offer me your wicked mind and cruelty, and tear everything apart!"

"Dark Fusion Summon, Level 8☆!"

"Entangled by evil blades—[E-hero Extreme Evil Undead]!"

【E-hero Extreme Evil Undead】【8☆/Dark】

[Demon Race/Fusion/Effect]

[3000/3000]

Under the power of Dark Fusion, a new E-hero monster, similar to yet different from the previous E-hero Evil Blade King, descends upon Jaden's field. Compared to the slender E-hero Evil Blade King, E-hero Extreme Evil is much more robust, much like the American comic book villain "Bane," making one wonder if he intends to break someone's spine.

Compared to [E-hero Evil Blade Demon King], [E-hero Extreme Evil Undead] has a much more balanced attack and defense, both at 3000 points. Under normal circumstances, such balanced numbers mean that it is difficult to find weaknesses to exploit. However, when [Paleozoic Fossil Vehicle - Skull Truck] is on the field, such balanced attack and defense becomes a huge flaw.

"As long as the Fusion Summoned [Paleozoic Fossil Vehicle - Skull Truck] is on my field, the ATK of all my opponent's monsters will decrease by the same amount as their original DEF. And since [E-hero Extreme Death Demon]'s ATK is equal to its DEF, it means that its ATK will drop to 0!"

As Jim finished speaking, the momentum of the newly appeared [E-hero Extreme Evil Demon] instantly waned. [E-hero Extreme Evil Demon] [ATK3000→0]

However, Jaden wasn't too concerned that the attack power of the monster he had just fused and summoned had been reduced to 0 points, since all he needed was to have this monster fused and summoned by [Dark Fusion] on the field.

"If a Fusion Monster that can only be Special Summoned by the effect of [Dark Fusion] is on my field, Special Summon [E-hero Death Prison Mirror] from my hand to the field."

After playing a monster card, Jaden waved his hand again, "Then I banish the [E-her Ominous Necromancer] from my Graveyard to activate its effect, Special Summon one [E-hero] monster from my Deck except for it, and Special Summon [E-hero Poison Bubble]."

After playing [E-hero Poison Bubble], which seems to correspond to "the new Bubble Man who became a meaningless and useless card because [Sudden Mutation] was banned for many years," Jaden said, "If this card is Special Summoned, and if I have a monster that can only be Special Summoned by the effect of [Dark Fusion], I can activate this effect and draw two cards from my deck."

【霸王十代：100LP，手牌：7→8→8→7→8→5→4→6】

Although two more monsters were summoned on the field, the "Great Luck" of the Paleozoic Fossil Motor Vehicle - Skull Truck didn't care about the number of monsters, and uniformly reduced the attack power of each monster's defense value.

【E-hero Death Row Mirror Prisoner】【ATK1700→600】

【E-hero Toxic Foam】【ATK800→0】

After summoning the monster, Jaden took another card from the graveyard: "Next is the second effect of this Trap Card, Dark Domination: banish this card from the graveyard if it was not sent to the graveyard this turn, and target up to five [Hero] monsters in my graveyard and those that were banished, returning those cards to the deck."

"I will return these five cards, including [E·hero Neos], to the deck."

Jaden retrieved five cards at once and put them back into his deck. However, since both he and Jim had banished monsters from their graveyards, he still had several monster cards banished even after retrieving five. When Jim heard Jaden say he was going to retrieve [E-Hero Neos], and then looked at [E-Hero Death Prisoner] on his field, he knew what Jaden was planning.

"Are you trying to use the effect of [E-hero Death Prisoner] to dump [E-hero Neos] into the graveyard? But [E-hero Neos] requires the effect of [Dark Fusion] to be Fusion Summoned, right?!" Jim pointed to the graveyard of Zeus, "But all your [Dark Fusion] cards are currently dormant in the graveyard. Even if you gather the fusion materials on the field, you still can't Fusion Summon it, can you?"

"I activate the effect of [E-hero Death Prison Mirror], sending [E-hero Neos] from my Deck to the Graveyard. If a [Hero] Fusion Monster is Fusion Summoned this turn, this face-up card can be used as a Fusion Material Monster that is listed in the name of that Fusion Monster instead."

However, Jaden seemed not to hear what Jim said and sent the newly returned E-hero Neos back to the graveyard. The image of E-hero Neos was reflected on E-hero Death Prison Mirror.

Then, to Jim's surprise, Jaden played a card: "Although [E-hero Neo Zeus] is a monster that can only be Special Summoned by the effect of [Dark Fusion], under the control of my power in [Zoo Castle], even [E-hero Neo Zeus], ​​which controls [Hero], will be dominated by darkness!"

"The Spell Card [Displacement Fusion] is activated, sending [E-hero Death Prisoner] and [E-hero Poison Bubble] from my field to the Graveyard as Fusion Materials. While [Overlord Castle] is active, I can Fusion Summon Fusion Monsters that can only be Special Summoned by the effect of [Dark Fusion] using effects other than [Dark Fusion]!"

While this effect cannot remove the restriction that destroyed [E-hero] Fusion Monsters cannot be [Monster Resurrected] once they enter the Graveyard, it can allow [E-hero] Fusion Monsters to break free from the restriction of [Dark Fusion] and appear in other fusion methods—just like the restriction that Jaden used [Displacement Fusion]!
"The required fusion materials are either [E·Hero Neos] or a fusion monster with that card name, plus an effect monster on the field."

"Return, [E-hero Neo-Universe Overlord]!"

【E-hero New Universe King】【ATK2500→500】

After casting [E-hero Neo-Supreme], Supreme King Jaden pointed to Jim's field and said, "Apart from the case where a monster is sent to the opponent's Graveyard, the activation conditions of its effect are also met when [E-hero Neo-Supreme] is Special Summoned. You can target and gain control of one monster on the opponent's field!"

“However, Fossil Fusion is different from Dark Fusion. The resistance it grants to monsters is permanent and doesn’t disappear at the end of the turn,” Jim said. “And my Paleozoic Fossil Dragon - Skull Demon Slayer and Paleozoic Fossil Motorcycle - Skull Truck won’t be targeted by my opponent’s monster effects!”

The Supreme King Judai pointed to the [Miracle of Deception - Dragon Crystal] and said, "So, the monster I want to take is that monster."

[E-hero Neo-Tyrant] was about to raise its hand to unleash its effect, but the next moment, its chosen target, [Miracle of Salvation - Dragon Crystal], suddenly began to "hiss" and roared, interrupting [E-hero Neo-Tyrant]'s effect!?
"Activate the Trap Card, [Rescue Resonance]!" Jim flips a face-down card in the back row, activating a Speed ​​3 Counter Trap Card. "This card can only be activated when there is a [Rescue] Synchro Monster on my field, or when a monster's effect is activated—negate that activation and destroy it!"

Previously, when monsters like [E-hero Poison Bubble] activated their effects, Jim kept this effect in reserve, precisely to disable the most aggressive effects of Jaden. Although he had previously judged that [E-hero Neo-King] had no chance of returning to the field, he still kept this trick in mind, and now it has indeed come in handy.

The roar of [Miracle of Salvation - Dragon Crystal] not only interrupted the effect of [E-hero Neo-Universe King], preventing it from taking control of the former, but also caused a large number of crystals to climb onto the body of [E-hero Neo-Universe King] under the control of [Miracle of Salvation - Dragon Crystal], continuously spreading and attempting to completely cover and seal it!

"I said I would use light to awaken you, Jaden, so that dark monster with the name 'Overlord' would better get out of here!" Jim shouted. "Destroy it with the power of [Demon Resonance Strike]!"

"boom!"

The magic power gathered in the crystals was detonated in an instant, and the explosion engulfed [E-hero Neo Tyrant]. However, due to the well-known "no harm from smoke" law, in Jim's hopeful gaze, Tyrant Jaden showed no tendency to "revert back to Jaden because [E-hero] was banished".

After the smoke cleared, even the [E-hero Neo-Universe] that Jim thought had been destroyed was still on the field!?

"The effect of [Rescue Resonance] is not to negate the monster's effect, but only to negate its activation. However, [E-hero Neo-Supreme] has resistance to being destroyed by battle or effect, so it will not be destroyed by your [Rescue Resonance].

Upon hearing Jaden's words, Jim broke out in a cold sweat: "Not only does it have NTR effects, but it also has resistance to battle and effect destruction? What a troublesome monster. But unfortunately, my [Fossil Fusion] effect is very effective against you, and even the effect of [Miracle of Salvation - Dragon Crystal] can perfectly counter your monster's resistances."

"Your monster, whose attack power has been reduced, is unable to break through my defenses. Consider it a reciprocal exchange; the trouble I experienced last turn due to [E-hero Dark Knight] is now your turn to suffer the same fate."

Jaden's voice remained indifferent. He said expressionlessly, "【Fossil Fusion】 grants your 【Fossil】Fusion Monsters the same resistance as 【Dark Fusion】—that they cannot be targeted by monster effects. However, your monsters do not have much resistance to Spell & Trap Cards."

"I will now activate the Spell Card [Lightning Strike] to destroy all the monster cards on my opponent's field!"

It wasn't that Jaden insisted on waiting until halfway through the game before playing his removal card. He actually drew this card during the effect of [E-hero Poison Bubble], and the reason he didn't play it immediately after drawing it was that he wanted to fuse with [E-hero Neo-King] to summon a monster and then destroy the field.

However, since the effects of [Demon Rescuing Resonance Strike] and [E-hero Neo-Universe Overlord] failed to overpower Jim's monsters, he simply unleashed [Lightning Strike] at this moment, intending to destroy all of Jim's monsters.

Faced with this card, Jim remained calm and shouted, "Unable to seize the power, you choose destruction? I don't remember you being that kind of person. Where did that good-natured Jaden go?"

“I’m not so easy for you to take down until I bring back the real Jaden! Chaining the effect of [Lightning Strike], I activate the second effect of [Miracle of Salvation - Dragon Crystal]!” Jim revealed the card in his graveyard. “With a WATER monster in my graveyard—this [Miracle of Salvation - Dragon Crystal]—can be activated when my opponent activates the effect of a Spell/Trap Card. Negate that activation and destroy it!”

"It's just a lightning strike, the power of [Demon Rescue] is more than just for show. Watch me push it back!"

Braving the falling lightning, the [Miracle of Deception - Dragon Crystal] soared into the sky, tearing apart the purple lightning that crashed down on the [Overlord City] sky, and also creating a brief gap in the accumulated dark clouds.

"Use whatever moves you have, Judai!"

Besides the [Stone Throw] card in the back row, which could end the duel immediately but would also deal fatal damage to Jaden, Jim had two face-down cards. Looking at Jaden, who had only four cards left in his hand, he shouted, "If you are still trapped in darkness because of 'power'..."

"Then I'll use even greater force to wake you up!"

Jim tried to convey his unwavering resolve to Jaden, but Jaden responded with a contemptuous sneer upon hearing his words.

"A stronger power? How can you surpass this absolutely invincible, all-powerful ultimate force?"

Pressing the button to activate the face-down card, Jaden discarded a card from his hand, and an unparalleled power began to emanate from the face-down card that had been revealed in his back row: "I discard one of my cards as my cost, I will—unleash the ultimate power!" (End of Chapter)