"My turn. I draw."
Jaden drew his card, but didn't act right away. He lowered his head as if thinking—or hesitating.
Gelgo sneered: "What's wrong? Getting scared already? Heh. How about surrendering now? Maybe I'll even go easy on you."
Jaden ignored him.
"Jaden."
Neos's figure drifted into view at his side again.
"Power itself isn't inherently just or evil," Neos said. "What matters is wielding it with a righteous heart."
"Neos…"
Jaden turned to meet his spirit's gaze. Neos nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.
Jaden gently closed his eyes and smiled in relief.
"You're right. Power is just power. It depends on the one who uses it. I've understood that for a long time. And I decided long ago—no matter how heavy or dark the past is, I'll carry it and keep moving forward."
He pressed the button for a set card in his back row.
"Activate set card, Spell Card—
—Dark Fusion!"
The set card flipped. The spell unleashed a vast vortex of darkness, a mass of terrifying chaos with thunder churning within!
Gelgo: "!"
This card… such powerful darkness!
The instant he saw it, he understood why this boy drew so much attention from the Light of Destruction—why they called him the antithesis of light and insisted he must be defeated at all costs.
"Fuse 'Elemental HERO Sparkman' and 'Elemental HERO Clayman' from my hand through the power of darkness!" Jaden declared.
"The HERO who takes on a demonic form to gain the strength to protect—show yourself—
—Evil HERO Lightning Golem!"
Clouds as black as ink splashed across the sky. Pitch-black thunder cleaved the heavens; serpents of black lightning coiled and intertwined like living things. It was as if pure darkness and lightning had forged an indestructible body—a titanic figure like a fortress that calls down the roar of thunder.
Evil HERO Lightning Golem, summoned!
[Evil HERO Lightning Golem, ATK 2400]
"Lightning Golem… never heard of a HERO like that."
Staring up at the colossal figure, feeling the roiling lightning and suffocating pressure, Gelgo momentarily felt he couldn't breathe.
Even the aura faintly emanating from the boy before him was like that of a giant of darkness—a superior being looking down from on high, making one's heart quail.
"Evil HERO Lightning Golem's effect: once per turn, destroy one monster on the field," Jaden said. "I'll destroy one of your 'White Knight Swordsman' on the field!"
The dark giant thrust out his right palm. Lightning pooled in his palm into a surging dark current and blasted one of the Swordsmen to pieces.
"Next, Evil HERO Lightning Golem—attack!"
Dark lightning gathered again, surging and erupting in the golem's palm!
Gelgo shook off the oppressive awe of the Evil HERO and shouted, "Activate set card, Trap Card 'Chaos Burst'! When your opponent declares an attack with a monster, tribute one monster you control; destroy the attacking monster, then inflict damage to your opponent equal to the destroyed monster's ATK!" (Anime effect)
It's a trap that appeared in the GX anime, though its OCG print was nerfed. The earlier parts remain the same, but the damage was changed to a flat 1000 instead of the destroyed monster's ATK.
"I tribute my second 'White Knight Swordsman'!" Gelgo grinned wickedly. "Send that demon HERO straight to hell.
Destroy 'Evil HERO Lightning Golem' and hit you for its 2400 ATK as damage!"
The second Swordsman vanished as a tribute. The released energy loaded into the trap like ammunition, becoming a stream of golden light that blasted at the Lightning Golem!
It did nothing.
The domineering light struck Lightning Golem square in the chest, but only washed across that indestructible armor, not leaving so much as a scratch.
"NANI!?" Gelgo was stunned.
"Dark Fusion's effect," Jaden said. "An Evil HERO Fusion Summoned by Dark Fusion can't be destroyed by your opponent's Spell or Trap effects this turn." (Anime effect)
The printed Dark Fusion keeps protection but changes it from destruction immunity to being unaffected by your opponent's card effects for the turn—pros and cons either way.
"So sorry, Chaos Burst doesn't work on Lightning Golem," Jaden said. "Evil HERO Lightning Golem's attack continues.
Attack your last remaining 'White Knight Swordsman'!"
Gelgo grit his teeth.
His three Swordsmen summoned in one turn were down to the last in an instant.
"Then the effect of 'White Knight Swordsman'," Gelgo said. "While this card exists in your GY, all monsters with 'White Knight' in their names on the field gain 300 ATK."
He raised his Duel Disk; golden light flared from the GY.
"I now have two 'White Knight Swordsman' in the GY. Their effects stack. My White Knights on the field gain 600 ATK total!"
[White Knight Swordsman, ATK 1200 → ATK 1800]
Still no match for Lightning Golem. Black lightning punctured his chest; the Swordsman's heart bloomed open—leaving a gaping hole.
But the Swordsman was stubborn indeed. Even with a chest so broadly opened, he wobbled but stood, not leaving the field. The black lightning that lanced through him crashed against a transparent white shield, not harming Gelgo himself.
"At this moment, I banished 'White Knight Gardna' from my GY," Gelgo said. "When a 'White Knight' monster you control battles, you can banish 'White Knight Gardna' from your GY; the battle damage from that battle becomes 0, and your White Knight monster is not destroyed by that battle."
In the anime, Chazz's description only said "battle damage becomes 0," but the on-screen resolution suggested the monster wasn't destroyed either. Perhaps a wording oversight—or in that season, "battle destruction" might have been rolled into "battle damage."
"You tanked Lightning Golem's attack. Not bad," Jaden smiled. "I set one card and end my turn."
"My turn. I draw."
If Gelgo had been unsure about his target at first, he now knew. No wonder this person was seen as their number-one enemy—he's no pushover.
"Very well. This turn I'll show you the strongest White Knight!"