Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Heroes

"My turn, draw!"

"Spell Card Graceful Charity—this lets me draw three cards from my deck, then discard two from my hand."

After a round of rapid drawing and filling up the Graveyard, Kagurazaka flipped over his only face-down card in the back row.

"Equip Spell—Cursed Magic Wand! I equip it to the Defender on my field!"

It wasn't a trap, but rather an Equip Spell card—used to bait out spell/trap removal. And this particular Equip was tailored for Spellcaster-type monsters. Kagurazaka was certainly willing to go all in.

As the short sword in Defender's right hand transformed into a wand topped with a red prism-shaped gemstone and decorated with a skull relief, Kagurazaka explained the effect:

"A monster equipped with Cursed Magic Wand gains 100 ATK for each level it has."

Defender is a Level 4 monster, so the ATK boost is 400 points.

(Spell Knight – Defender, ATK: 1600 → 2000)

"Next, I banish the Skilled Blue Magician that I discarded earlier with Graceful Charity to place a Spell Counter on Defender! That way, he can block the destruction of another Spellcaster monster one more time!"

A magician in a blue robe holding a double-tipped spiral staff briefly flashed on Kagurazaka's field, then vanished. Immediately afterward, the red gemstone on Defender's shield lit up again, radiating with arcane symbols engraved within.

"Battle phase! Defender, an attack that HERO named Obsidian!"

Switching Defender to Attack Position, Kagurazaka gave the order for it to attack Yuuya's Obsidian.

A crimson magic blast shot from the cursed wand in Defender's hand. In response, Obsidian crouched down, curling into a ball like a rock. He successfully blocked the magical strike—and even reflected some of the damage back!

(Kagurazaka: 4000 LP → 3200 LP)

"What the heck? It wasn't even destroyed, and I took 800 damage instead?!"

Kagurazaka stared in disbelief at Obsidian, who stood up completely unscathed, then checked his Life Points, which had mysteriously dropped by 800.

"Obsidian's effect: when this card battles, I can target another 'HERO' monster on my field and add half of that HERO's ATK to Obsidian's DEF."

"Right now, I only have Obsidian and Gaia on the field. Half of Gaia's 2200 ATK is 1100, which gets added to Obsidian's 1700 DEF, making it 2800. That's why you took 800 points in rebound damage!"

As soon as Yuuya finished explaining, Obsidian uncurled from his crouch and stood tall, taking on a battle-ready stance while glaring at Kagurazaka.

"Oh, and by the way—after that effect resolves and the battle damage is calculated, Obsidian switches from Defense to Attack Position."

"Now he's sitting at just 700 ATK—easy pickings for almost any monster. Too bad you only have Defender on the field, or you might've been able to turn that 800 back on me."

Kagurazaka: "…"

So he was baiting me with his monster's hidden effect! If I'd known, I should've summoned another monster before attacking!

"I'll set one monster face-down and another spell/trap card. End turn."

As Kagurazaka ended his turn, Yuuya drew a card from his deck. After one glance, he inserted it into the Spell & Trap Zone of his Duel Disk.

"I target Obsidian to activate the Quick-Play Spell Mask Change!"

A brilliant light burst from the belt around Obsidian's waist. Everyone instinctively raised their arms to shield their eyes. As the golden light of evolution enveloped Obsidian, his entire body began to transform.

Once the light dimmed and faded, all eyes turned back to Yuuya's monster. Standing there now was an entirely new HERO—

The previously spherical upper body had reshaped into a muscular humanoid form. The shoulders were more defined and bore upward-curving armor plates. The chest, once hidden behind thick plating, now featured a polygonal, core-like structure that resembled a power reactor. He looked slimmer than before, but no less powerful.

(Masked HERO – Bedrock, Level 6, ATK: 1600 / DEF: 2600)

"Masked HERO – Bedrock! He's the evolved form of Obsidian, and can only be Special Summoned from the Extra Deck using the Quick-Play Spell Mask Change."

After briefly explaining his HERO's transformation, Yuuya immediately directed his monsters' attacks at the opponent's field:

"Gaia! Attack Kagurazaka's Defender!"

The defender's effect had already been witnessed earlier. Now, as the red gemstone on his shield once again dulled and lost its glow, Kagurazaka's Life Points dropped from 3200 to 3000.

"Bedrock's effect! Once per turn, when a 'HERO' monster on my field inflicts battle damage to the opponent, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower 'HERO' monster from my hand or Graveyard."

As Yuuya spoke, he slid a card into the Monster Zone of his Duel Disk. A stream of sky-blue water surged out from the Duel Disk, twirling like a ribbon around Yuuya before crashing down with a splash. When the water cleared, a new warrior stood on the field—wearing a tight black bodysuit under a sleek blue armor infused with vapor and liquid energy.

(Elemental HERO – Liquidman, Level 4, ATK: 1400 / DEF: 1300)

"Whoa! Yet another new Elemental HERO!"

"Not sure what his effect is, but I can already say he's way cooler than Judai's Bubbleman!"

"Yeah, just the design alone looks so much better than that chubby Bubbleman."

"…"

With the appearance of Liquidman, the beach erupted into chatter for the third time. As the only other student using a HERO deck, Judai's water-element HERO, Bubbleman, was naturally dragged into comparison.

Never mind abilities—just from appearance alone, Liquidman looked way better than the round, clumsy Bubbleman. All Judai could do was awkwardly scratch his cheek and laugh. "Haha… ha…"

"Liquidman! Attack that face-down monster!"

Despite not knowing what the set monster was, Yuuya boldly ordered Liquidman to attack with only 1400 ATK.

"Not a lot of damage, but now it's your turn to taste some battle backfire!" Kagurazaka smirked. After the 800 points of damage he had suffered earlier, he was eager to return the favor—even if just a bit.

"Oho~ So it's Magical Marionette – Lijin, with 1500 DEF!"

It was a puppet with a wooden texture and a clown-like design, no wonder Kagurazaka had said, "It's not much, but you'll feel it too." After all, Lijin had 1500 DEF, just enough to outmatch Liquidman's 1400 ATK by 100 points.

But… would things go Kagurazaka's way?

The answer was—

"Bedrock's other effect activates! Once per turn, during either player's Battle Phase, I can decrease Bedrock's ATK and DEF by 500 points each, and then transfer that lost power to another face-up Warrior-type monster on my field to strengthen it."

(Masked HERO – Bedrock, ATK: 1600 → 1100, DEF: 2600 → 2100)

Since the battling monster was Liquidman, he was naturally the target for the power-up.

(Elemental HERO – Liquidman, ATK: 1400 → 1900, DEF: 1300 → 1800)

A brownish beam shot from the reactor core on Bedrock's chest, striking Liquidman's back and empowering him in an instant. With Bedrock's support, Liquidman did not return in failure as Kagurazaka had anticipated. Instead, he successfully destroyed Lijin, sending the silly clown puppet straight to the Graveyard!

(End of Chapter)