Day five of the Friendship Cup. Today was the much-anticipated "Tag Duel Exhibition."
Though billed as entertainment, there was nothing casual about it. This world had never taught duelists how to fight in pairs, so Godwin had enlisted a pair of professional duelists—close friends from the pro league. The Senate countered with two hand-picked noble duelists they saw as their rising stars.
But regardless of either side, one thing was clear: these weren't "students" by any stretch. They were older, seasoned, and far outside the agreed-upon age range.
Of course, Godwin had already spoken with Kaiba in advance. This duel was purely for show—it wouldn't count toward the final scores.
"The Taylor Sisters are going up against pro duelists?" Alexis Rhodes arched a brow. She'd taken an interest in the fellow female duelists recently, had even tried reaching out, only to be met with icy disdain.
No—hostility would be more accurate.
Every time she crossed paths with them, the Taylor Sisters looked like they wanted to throw hands.
From the angle of "being female duelists," they'd already lost to her. And it wasn't even close.
"Professional duelists, huh…" one staffer mumbled. "Even duelists from the Satellite Zone—those nobodies—aren't exactly weak. So pros from this world? Definitely top-tier. Aren't the Taylor Sisters just students? Can they even handle this?"
"What did the president say?" another asked.
"A real duelist doesn't fear a challenge—his exact words."
That was Kaiba for you.
"Apparently, the Taylor Sisters were offered a few perks to even the odds—like choosing who goes first, or limiting the opponent's monsters. But they turned down every single one."
Chazz Princeton, who'd been listening nearby, nodded slightly, arms crossed. "Guess those two fusion freaks are at least confident in their dueling."
"Confident?" Gloria Taylor's voice rang out, crisp and clear. She turned, her smile radiant, her one-handed flourish cutting the air like a general rallying troops.
Chazz frowned slightly.
"Oh, it's not confidence," added Grace Taylor, executing a graceful turn, curtseying with a delicate tug of her skirt. "We are the strongest tag team duelists."
"So, Fusion Department—prepare yourselves."
And with that, the twin sisters strode toward the duel arena with synchronized, military precision, leaving Jaden Yuki and Chazz blinking in their wake.
"Damn, they're that confident?" Jesse Anderson chuckled, a bit taken aback. "Americans really don't do modesty, huh? Hey, Jaden, did something happen between you guys?"
"No beef on your end?" Jaden asked curiously.
"Huh?"
"With the Fusion Department."
Jesse shook his head.
Now that was a blind spot.
Despite hanging out a lot lately, Jesse didn't know much about the inner politics of Duel Academy. And since he was a notorious directionless wanderer—couldn't even find his way back to school without a Spirit's help—he rarely left campus, and thus knew nothing about the Fusion faction.
Being the representative of the Northern Duel Academy's Arctic Branch, a school so remote even Reiji Akaba hadn't bothered with it, Jesse had no clue about the so-called Fusion Army.
And since he'd mostly been hanging out with Jaden, he hadn't even visited the other Fusion duelists. So he was clueless.
Chazz cleared his throat and gave him the rundown—Hikaru Amagi's grueling year of training, the grudge matches between them and the Fusion faction, all the ups and downs.
Though honestly, in hindsight, most of it had just been them beating the crap out of the Fusion faction.
Even so, Jesse's blood was pumping. "Man, I wish I'd been there. Would've loved to duel with you guys against those jerks—never even used Fusion cards, but still!"
"So these guys… they're your enemies next semester?" Jesse asked.
Chazz nodded slowly.
And it made sense. Jesse might've been a bystander, but when you really looked at the current lineup of duelists, it boiled down to two factions: the Fusion Department and the Fusion Army. Clear lines, clear objectives.
They were here for fun—or in Chazz's case, to make a statement and grab attention.
The Fusion Army? They were here to show off, earn clout, scout Hikaru's group, and most of all… display overwhelming power.
"Fusion Summon—arise! Level 8, Amazoness Empress!"
"I'm not holding back either—Fusion Summon! Level 7, Amazoness Pet Tiger Liger!"
Each sister, on her respective turn, Fusion Summoned her ace and launched an attack. At first, Jaden and the others didn't react with awe, but rather—
"Huh? Amazoness?" Chazz blinked.
"Ugh… Amazoness, really?" Jaden crossed his arms, frowning, visibly annoyed.
Alexis sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Of course it's Amazoness…"
"What's wrong with Amazoness?" Jesse looked puzzled.
"Er… well…" Hikaru twitched at the corner of his mouth. "That's a whole other story."
No one knew what Bastion Misawa—watching the livestream from their world—was feeling right now.
"Relax. They're human. Ghosts and gods hate them too."
"Don't make Bastion sound like a creep!" Jaden cut in, trying to defend him.
"I do think he's kinda creepy…" Alexis muttered under her breath.
Back during the Seven Stars incident, Bastion had lost to an Amazoness spirit. After that, he stopped eating and fell head-over-heels for her. Even after she lost and turned into a tiger, he couldn't forget her.
So now, seeing two girls run an Amazoness deck… it was hard not to think of Bastion.
But Hikaru figured they were overthinking it.
Bastion's tastes ran either musclebound dominatrix or pint-sized fairy princess…
Anyway, the duel wrapped up quickly.
The pro duelists tried hard to coordinate, but they'd barely ever tag dueled before. They even jammed each other's cards a couple of times. Luckily, they at least knew each other's decks—otherwise, some ill-timed card locks would've sparked open war.
Hikaru himself once ruined a tag duel using an Insect deck with a summoning restriction that triggered three consecutive rants from his teammate.
In contrast—
The Taylor Sisters weren't just tag duel specialists—they were actual twins. They spoke in turns, ran identical decks, and shared a synchronized mindset. Against two pros with no tag synergy, they steamrolled them so hard it left both the crowd and security guards stunned.
Hikaru wasn't surprised.
In the original series, the Taylor Sisters were the most terrifying tag team. In the Arc-V plotline, they wiped the floor with every single tag team from the XYZ Dimension. Even main characters couldn't beat them without combining forces and pulling off flashy "entertainment duels" with Shun Kurosaki.
Even Jaden and Chazz felt the pressure.
Their performance easily justified their claim to being "the strongest tag team duelists."
No wonder they'd been so confident about challenging Hikaru's group after transferring.
"But I will beat them with Hikaru!"
"Hmph! I'm teaming with Amagi—we're going to win!"
Both girls shouted at once, then paused mid-sentence, locking eyes like duelists in an arena. Hands gripped, arms locked, pushing against each other while muttering stuff like "I'm the better fit!"
The Taylor Sisters had thrown down the gauntlet at Hikaru. And only one spot was left at his side.
"Haha…" Hikaru wiped the sweat from his brow.
Somewhere, watching from his monitor, Bastion Misawa was probably foaming at the mouth, desperate to tag in.