Ten minutes ago, an alien fleet passed through a wormhole and dispatched their first wave of spacecraft to bombard Duel Academy Island, but they were met with a powerful counterattack from the Duel Monsters summoned by the academy.
Among them, a bureaucrat-type spirit from M78 cut through the alien formation like a hot knife through butter, causing tremendous damage to the enemy ranks.
Apparently realizing that conquering through military resistance wasn't as easy as imagined against these Duel Monsters, the aliens moved on to the second phase of invasion—
—card battles.
You know, this tactic is actually quite logical.
With a master driving them, Duel Monster Spirits can fully unleash their power in this world, and even if they get defeated or blasted into particles by high-tech particle cannons, they merely retreat into their master's card deck to rest.
And as long as the Dark Duelist wielding these spirits can physically and mentally withstand it, they can continuously summon new monsters for battle.
From a warfare perspective, duelists are like commanders of an army. As the saying goes, "Capture the ringleader first to subdue his followers," so defeating the commander would mean the disintegration of the entire force.
Yeah, challenging the army's commander directly and resolving issues through card battles makes absolutely no mistake in strategy.
Perhaps throughout the cosmos, interstellar wars might follow the same routine—first, fleets launch spacecraft for bombardments, but when they find themselves at an impasse, commanders face-off in card duels, with the loser's fleet exploding on the spot...
Initially, faced with the alien fleet that resembled a swarm of locusts in the sky, the people on the island were somewhat panicked. But then everyone noticed, hey, the aliens are also playing cards. Well, if that's the case, we're no longer nervous.
Consequently, Duel Academy Island was abuzz with card games springing up everywhere.
Most ordinary students had already sought shelter, leaving duelists behind—these were experts, akin to the top echelon in the professional circles.
And it appeared the skill levels of the alien vanguard were quite varied. While some matched professional duelists in intensity, others seemed like mere placeholders, thrown in hastily without much skill.
Seeing that the aliens' card skills weren't particularly high, and their cards weren't those world-dominating fake cards, the previously timid duelists quickly regained confidence.
As for the players drawn into this, there's no need to say more. These folks barely know how to spell "fear."
Lo and behold, here we see Nora Tatsu facing off against one of the cosmic beings.
For local Nora Tatsu, it's slightly unfortunate as a player who tends toward heavy-set traps, he favors going first. With the first turn, he can prevent the opponent from even summoning a monster.
Unfortunately, this time the opponent has the first turn.
Now, it's the alien's move. This space-born contestant plays it cool, tossing two cards into the graveyard right from the start. He declares in a show of bravado, "I'm pulling a three-for-one, Special Summoning 'The illuminant beast bears Delate'!"
"The attack power of Delate is the number of cards in hand x 1000!"
[The illuminant beast bears Delate, Attack Power 3000]
Nora Tatsu is instantly taken aback.
Goodness, what is your relation to the Bottomless Trap Dragon? Distant cousin?
"While The illuminant beast is on the field, I cannot draw cards," the alien explains.
Nora Tatsu wonders if he's misheard.
What?
This lousy piece of work requires two cards just to come out, lacks decent abilities, and has such an annoying side effect?
Is that all?
Yet the alien is exceedingly arrogant, as if possessing this monster guarantees victory.
"No need to draw new cards, 'The illuminant beast bears Delate' is sufficient to finish you!" he brags, "End of turn!"
Local Nora Tatsu squints.
With just this thing?
He feels insulted.
Then it's Nora Tatsu's turn. He first plays a Field Magic "Megaroid City," then performs a Normal Summon for "Mixeroid."
Following that, he activates the effect of "Mixeroid," sacrificing itself to Special Summon the invincible "Submarineroid" from his deck...
"..."
Three minutes later.
The alien collapses, outer casing broken apart, sparks flying from inside, while it mutters intermittently: "Earthlings... beep beep... have no card ethics... beep beep... won't duel me properly... beep beep..."
Then its head tilts, its eyes go dark, and it breathes its last.
After quickly dispatching the alien with the invincible Submarine a few times, Nora Tatsu immediately turns and begins searching for the next target.
Experience! These are all walking bags of experience!
Can't let other sand sculptures snatch them first!
The other sand sculptures were equally engaged in intense duels.
Alien: Activates Set Card "Raigeki Break," discarding a card from hand, destroying your 'Grand General Shien' on the field!
In Je Nandao: Quick-Play Magic "My Body as a Shield," negating "Raigeki Break's" effect! Then, Grand General Shien attacks directly!
Alien: Then Trap Card "Sacred Protective Shield..."
In Je Nandao: Muda! When Shien is on the field, the opponent can activate only one Spell or Trap per turn!
Alien: Nani!? (dies)
"..."
Of course, among the players, skill levels vary, and performance isn't always stable, so not everyone sailed through as smoothly.
Here, Cola Sprite had assembled a deck, identical to her adorable apprentice Tenjouin Asuka's, with the help of the guild. With one turn's draw and filter, she swept the opponent's field clean and her Cyber Angels advanced for a direct OTK.
After swiftly defeating the opponent, she turned her head and was immediately taken aback: "Hmm? Where's our Sandbag President? He was just here behind me?"
"Oh, your president," a player replied offhand while playing cards against an alien, "He just said he's going to tackle three at once, for efficiency."
Cola Sprite saluted with respect: "Is the Sandbag President really that fierce? Where is he now?"
"Seems like he suffered a hand accident in the first round, then got instantly KO'd by three aliens. Now he's probably running corpses."
Cola Sprite: "..."
The Sandbag President got KO'd again.
I don't know if it's an illusion, but it seems like every major event with significant plot always sees Sandbag President leading the charge, sacrificing at the front lines...
As the battle raged intensely, suddenly a rumbling thunder boomed from mid-air, lightning slashed diagonally from the heavens, and a dragon's roar resounded thunderously.
Amidst the battling duelists and aliens, everyone's gaze turned simultaneously to see a dragon silhouette swirling in the sky.
The divine beast that commands the sky, the deity that wields thunder, with boundless oppression and presence, hovered dominantly above the countless alien spacecraft fleet.
Compared to that sacred and grandiose being, the myriad alien flying shuttles looked like mere toys!
Slifer the Sky Dragon, descended!