Yu-Gi-Oh! The Pitfall Hero

Hayato and Marufuji Sho looked at each other, both seeing worry on each other's faces.

The Labyrinth Brothers – since their names aren't given in the original work, we'll just call them "Mi-ge" and "Gong-di" for now.

"I have no grudge against you..." Fan raised his finger at the two of them, and Gong Di immediately picked up where he left off: "Fight hard against us..."

"If we win, the road ahead will be opened!"

The two of them stretched out one of their arms, making a blocking gesture in front of Yusei and the others.

Their meaning was clear: if Yusei and the others could defeat them in a duel, they could stay at the academy; otherwise, they would have to abide by their previous agreement and drop out without any reason.

184 saw 8000 LP and wanted to self-destruct...

"That's all! Victory or defeat!"

The Labyrinth Brothers struck a pose of certain victory, allowing Yusei and his group on the other side to feel their unwavering belief.

It seems that even though their opponents are just students who haven't graduated yet, these brothers have no intention of holding back.

"Hehehehe... Scared now, huh~~~~"

"These guys are scared now~~~"

Professor Kunonos, standing behind Yusei and the others, covered his mouth with his hand and let out a smug, triumphant laugh.

"Oh dear! I really didn't expect that!"

Before anyone knew it, Principal Samejima had left the audience seats and arrived at the dueling arena behind the Labyrinth Brothers.

"Principal... what are you doing there?"

Professor Kunonos was taken aback when he saw Principal Samejima suddenly appear before him.

"It's me...it's me!"

Just like Jaden Yuki earlier, Principal Samejima, who was resting his hand on the edge of the dueling arena, looked at the Labyrinth Brothers striking a cool pose with admiration.

"Headmaster! Let them be the dueling opponents!" Worried that the headmaster would disagree with making the Labyrinth Brothers the opponents of Yusei and the others, Konnos hurriedly rushed to Headmaster Samejima's side and rubbed his hands together as he made the suggestion.

"Besides, I didn't specifically name any other students..."

(Manjoume: ???)

“How interesting… Let them come.” After a moment’s thought, Principal Samejima agreed to Professor Kunonos’s request.

He was also very interested in these two legendary duelists.

Besides, Yusei and the others seemed to be quite motivated.

"Oh my god (how interesting)! To duel a legendary duelist who fought against the King of Duel, I'm about to burst into flames!"

"You agree, right, Yusei?"

Contrary to Professor Kunonos's expectations, Jaden Yuki's face was filled with excitement.

"Well, I guess so..."

When Jaden Yuki got caught up in his high-spirited state, Yusei gave an ambiguous answer.

In his mind, he had already begun planning how to surprise the other person...

"All right……"

"Then... both sides, take your positions!"

Somewhat disappointed that Jaden Yuki and Yusei did not show the reactions he had imagined, Professor Chronos shook his head, walked to the center of the dueling arena, and waved to announce the start of the duel.

And so, amidst the cheers of the audience, Yusei and his friends' first team battle officially began!

"Yusei, I'm counting on you."

Yuki Jaden gave a thumbs-up to Yusei beside him and chose to be his assistant.

After all, this is a duel that could lead to expulsion from school. Compared to his current reliance on luck to win the duel, Yusei, with his strong abilities, is more suitable as a stable damage dealer.

The two of them had planned it out beforehand: Yusei would be in charge of the attack, while Jaden Yuki would be in charge of the defense.

"When your partner is finished, you can use their area of ​​effect as your own..." Professor Kunonos, acting as the referee, began explaining the special rules of this duel: "...Because this is a two-person team duel, each of you has 8000 life points..."

“8000 LP… I really want to try an invincible ‘self-destruct’ strategy…” Upon hearing Professor Kunonos’s statement, Yusei, who had been using 4000 LP in his duels, suddenly had a bold idea.

-

[Self-destruct switch]

(Trap Card)

Effect: This card can only be activated when your LP is 7000 or more less than your opponent's. Both players' LP is reduced to 0.

-

Using the effect of the Trap Card [Self-Destruct Switch], you can force a duel to a draw when you are at a disadvantage.

Generally, this trap card is used in conjunction with cards like [Light Barrier] and [Divine Judgment] to intentionally reduce its own life points, protecting its own effect while achieving the purpose of self-destruction.

"Emmm... never mind."

If it's a self-destruction, it's a draw. But if Professor Kunonos cheats and insists on this result, things will get a bit complicated.

Although Ms. Yu had secured a promise from the principal, Yusei had no intention of using that promise for something like this.

He could have easily won, but he insisted on pulling off a risky move that backfired. He must be out of his mind...

"Duel!"*4

Raising their Duel Disks, Yusei and his three companions each drew their initial five cards from their decks.

(LP of Labyrinth Brothers: 8000)

(LP of Yusei & Jaden Yuki: 8000)

As the duel began, Jaden Yuki gave Yusei a wink, and Yusei, understanding the signal, immediately seized the initiative.

"My turn, draw a card!"

Yusei draws a new card from his deck and then chooses to activate it immediately.

"I activate the Spell Card 'Hero's Arrival' from my hand! If you control no face-up monsters, you can pay half of your Life Points to activate this effect and Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Elemental HERO monster from your Deck!"

(LP of Yusei & Jaden Yuki: 8000 → 4000)

"Damn... I feel a little sorry for him..."

Because his life points are shared between him and Jaden Yuki, Yusei, who activated [Hero's Arrival], felt the heartache of losing 4000 LP points in an instant, a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time...

The good news is that the Maze Brothers, as opponents, didn't have any hand traps like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring in their hand.

Therefore, instead of turning into Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring as before, [Hero's Arrival] successfully activated its effect.

"Come forth! [Elemental Hero - Shadow Mist Lady] (Attack Power 1000)!"

A female hero with long, dark blue hair and wearing black, form-fitting armor appeared before Yusei at his call.

"Hahaha!!! You spent 4000 LP just to summon such a weak monster... Kid, are you kidding me?"

Fans who had never seen Yusei's tactics before couldn't help but ask in surprise after seeing the low-attack monster that Yusei summoned at a huge cost.

As expected of a young kid who hasn't even graduated yet, he doesn't cherish his life points at such an important competition.

It seems there's no suspense in this duel.

As he pondered these matters, the smile on Mi Ge's face grew even wider.

"Don't rush, I'll activate the special effect of Shadow Mist Lady. If this card is successfully Special Summoned, I can add one [Change] Quick-Play Spell Card from my Deck to my hand."

Unaffected by the fan's words, Yusei calmly began explaining the monster's effects to the other party.

His hero deck has a ton of starting points, so there's no need to worry about him having the same card disadvantages and bad hand conditions as Jaden Yuki.

185 Shadow Mist Girl: Wait until I transform, then you'll all know you're wrong!

Hero Arrival → Shadow Mist Lady → Masked Transformation → Masked Hero: Dark Claw

The moment he drew the "Hero Arrives" card, the actions ingrained in his DNA automatically surfaced in Yusei's mind.

With the activation of the Shadow Mist Lady's effect, [Mask Change] was also added to Yusei's hand from the deck, and Yusei's hand returned to 6 cards.

Unlike regular duels, in this team duel, none of the players can attack in the first round.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, everyone will choose to quickly skip their first round and wait until the second round to begin.

Someone like Yusei, who immediately spends half of his life points to activate a magic card, is a rare exception, which is why the Labyrinth Brothers mocked Yusei's actions.

After all, in their minds, even if Yusei were to summon a powerful monster at a huge cost, it still wouldn't be able to attack.

"Three cards are hidden; turn ends!"

(Yusei's hand: 6→3)

Since only one effect of the Shadow Mist Lady can be activated at a time, Yusei didn't rush to activate [Mask Change] and planned to wait until his opponent's turn to transform.

According to the rules of this duel, the turns of both sides are alternated. After Yusei's turn ends, it will be the opponent's turn next.

"My turn, draw a card!"

Looking at the card he drew from his deck, Mige immediately placed it on his Duel Disk: "I summon [Landmine Spider] in Attack Position (Insect/EARTH/Level 4/ATK 2200/DEF 100)."

A giant brown spider appeared on the field, accompanied by a burst of light, as Miguel moved.

"What?! Attack power 2200... That's 100 points higher than Big Brother's Flame Wingman..." Looking at the Spider Monster on his fan's field, Marufuji Sho rubbed his eyes in surprise.

Generally speaking, low-star monsters don't have very high attack power. Monsters like the Landmine Spider, which are 4-star monsters with 2200 attack power, are extremely rare.

"As expected of a legendary duelist, even the monsters he uses are so powerful!"

Professor Kunonos's smile widened as he looked at the landmine spider with an attack power of 2200.

"My turn, draw a card!"

Seeing that Miguel had stopped making any moves after summoning the monster, Jaden Yuki immediately began his own attack.