Yu-Gi-Oh! The Pitfall Hero

The bald man gratefully extended his palm, intending to accept the card handed to him by Manjoume.

However, at this time.

Wan Zhangmu's hand seemed to disobey his commands, and began to arbitrarily avoid the bald man's outstretched hand.

"What's wrong? Are you suddenly not going to give me the card?"

Seeing Wan Zhangmu's actions, a puzzled expression appeared on the bald man's face.

"No...it's my hands that won't obey my commands!!!"

"Ugh... What's going on? This hand is acting on its own...!" Completely bewildered by his unusual situation, Manjoume used his other free arm to hold the flailing hand still.

"Hey, big brother! Are you really going to abandon me?"

"How could this happen... I've always trusted you, Big Brother! Why are you handing me over to someone else?!"

Just as Manjoume was wondering about his current situation, an ugly yellow snail-man... no! It was a projection of [Disruption Yellow], suddenly appeared in front of him and started to act cute towards him.

"...Ugh! What the hell is this disgusting thing?!"

Upon seeing the ugly elf that suddenly appeared before him, wiggling its butt and acting cute, Manjoume instinctively wanted to vomit.

"What's wrong? Is there something there?"

Seeing Wan Zhangmu talking to thin air, the bald man couldn't help but ask a question.

Manjoume pointed ahead: "Huh? Can't you see it? This ugly monster?"

Bald man (looking completely bewildered): "Uh... what do you see?"

Disruptive Yellow (wiggling her butt in a shy gesture): "Hehehe... Only Big Brother can see what I look like~~ Please, please don't give me away to someone else~~~"

"What...?" Forcibly suppressing his nausea, Manjoume waved away the eye-catching elf in front of him: "...Get out of my way!"

"Please~~~ We're real brothers, just put me in your deck, bro!"

"Uuuuuuu..."

With a hesitant look on his face, Manjou, annoyed by the Disruption Yellow, finally gave up and put the Disruption Yellow back into his deck. He then handed another card to the bald man in front of him: "Here's your card, take it!"

This time, thankfully, the same strange occurrence as before did not happen.

"Oh, thank you! What's your name...?"

The bald man who took the card asked about the name of his benefactor, Manjoume.

"Hehehe..."

With a wave of his Obelisk blue trench coat hem, feeling a surge of style, Manjoume proudly addressed the bald man, "Listen up, my name is—Manjoume… Manjoume Jun!"

"Oh, oh, oh... Manjoume, you're such a considerate person!"

Seemingly taken aback by Wan Zhangmu's flamboyant pose, the bald man wore an expression that seemed to understand but not quite.

However, he also expressed his gratitude for Wan Zhangmu's help.

"...Hmph! You go in first, I'll rest for a while."

No longer dwelling on the bald man's reaction, Manjoume, having collected all the cards, was like a string that had snapped from prolonged use.

The previous fatigue surged back like a tidal wave, completely overwhelming her.

After waving to the bald man, Manjou turned and walked towards the fire, then plopped down and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

……

"You're such a good person!"

"Yeah... It's really hard to believe that Manjoume, with his eyes on the top of his head and an incredibly annoying personality, would help others unconditionally... Tsk tsk!"

……

"...Stop making so much noise! ​​I'm not what you think I am!"

As Manjoume awoke from his slumber, he seemed to faintly hear someone's teasing voice echoing in his ears.

Feeling somewhat annoyed, he suddenly stood up and then fell into a daze amidst the vast expanse of white ice field before him.

"Hmm... Is this... Northern Academy?!"

As his strength returned and the feeling of fatigue gradually subsided, Wan Zhangmu, realizing his current situation, instinctively shook his head, shaking off the sounds that were disturbing his thoughts.

"Well then, it's time to go in... I wonder how that uncle is doing?"

Brushing the dust off his clothes and confirming that his cards were ready, Manjoume returned to the front of the gate, held the Duel Disk upright in front of him, and shouted, "...Hey you inside, watch out! I have a full 40 cards right now!...Open the door right now!"

--Ding!

As Wan Zhangmu shouted, four beams of red light suddenly shone down on him from above the door.

The Duel Disk, swept by the radiance, automatically unfolded amidst a series of mechanical clanging sounds.

"……Well!"

With his arms shielding his body, Manjōmu watched the door slowly opening in front of him with a wary gaze.

"Is this... the Northern Branch of Duel Academy?"

Behind me stretched the Arctic ice plains, perpetually covered in pure white snow, yet the scene before my eyes resembled a small border town straight out of an American Western film…

A gentle breeze blew, stirring up yellow sand, and no one could be seen on the road.

Just as Wan Zhangmu entered the building and looked around, a figure suddenly flew towards him.

"...Damn it! You dare to ambush me? You're asking for trouble...wait, aren't you...?"

The figure flying towards Wan Zhangmu was the bald uncle who had just been talking to him.

After recognizing the newcomer's true identity, Manjoume quickly withdrew his fist, which he was about to throw, and instead used his arm to catch the bald man's body.

"Hey! Uncle, what happened?"

Several sharp blade marks were found on the man's clothes.

Looking at the disheveled, dejected bald man, Wan Zhangmu couldn't help but ask a question.

"Ah! It's Mr. Manjoume... I..."

"Hehehehehe... Need I say more? Of course, we're welcoming the new students!"

Just as the bald man was about to explain, a slightly frivolous, teasing voice suddenly echoed in Wan Zhangmu's ears.

"...What? Welcome to the new students?"

Upon hearing this voice, Wan Zhangmu put down the bald man's body and raised his head to look towards the source of the sound.

A burly man was leaning against the building's railing, licking a small knife in his hand while looking in their direction with a playful gaze.

Around him, a large group of men of various shapes and sizes, each holding a duel disk, suddenly gathered.

The street, which had been deserted just moments before, became incredibly crowded the moment the man appeared.

Meanwhile, Wan Zhangmu and the bald man were surrounded by the crowd like lambs in a wolf pack.

"Hehe... Welcome to the Duel Academy Northern Branch~"

Surrounded by his underlings, the burly man put away his knife and sat down in a grand chair that his underlings had brought out. He swayed his body and crossed his arms in front of his chest, striking a thoughtful pose.

"...Who are you?"

Seeing the current situation, Wan Zhangmu couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Back in the Duel Academy, I was always the one leading my underlings to pick fights with others. I never imagined that one day I would be surrounded by people.

Could this be retribution?

"I...hehe, my name is King, and I'm the student council president of this Northern Academy!"

With his hands resting on the chair, the burly man named King looked down at Wan Zhangmu, whose face was contorted with a complex expression, with a disdainful gaze: "...New students, according to the rules here, must be 'welcomed'!"

Manjoume: "Standard? Welcome?"

King: "...That's right, its name is [The Duel of 50 Dead]!"

"In this academy, strength is everything!"

"That's right, there's a strict ranking system here. New students must fight according to their ranking to determine their future treatment!"

Behind King, a figure resembling one of the Four Heavenly Kings added to Manjoume's explanation: "If you defeat more than 50 people, then we will challenge you to a duel!"

"Hehehe...by the way..."

Beside Manjoume, one of King's henchmen pointed at the bald man lying on the ground and sneered, "This guy lost from the start, so he's the worst one here now..."

"Hahahaha!!! He was so confident before it started, shouting things like 'I'll never lose,' but he got taken down in no time... Ahahaha! I'm dying of laughter~~~"

Manjoume: "...What's so funny?"

"...Nani?"

In the passerby before him, Manjou saw a glimpse of his past self.

Now that his stance has shifted, he finally realizes how naive and ridiculous he had been in the past.

Therefore, upon hearing the laughter of the person in front of him, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger.

This anger contains both regret for past foolishness and mockery and indifference towards the clowns before him.

“I haven’t dueled in a long time since I left the Duel Academy… and I’m getting a little itchy!” After stretching his body, Manjoume gave his underlings around him a provocative look: “Guys like you are not worth my full strength~.”

"Hmph! Let me see if your fighting skills are as good as your talk!" Passerby A, who had just been interrupted by Manjoume, sneered and then pointed a finger at Manjoume: "Your first opponent was me!"

"It's not 'you,' it's Manjoume!!!"

Retorting with an even louder voice, Manjoume raised his hand towards the sky and shouted, "Listen up, everyone! My name is—Mr. Manjoume (Lightning)!"

Everyone: "Ugh...!!!"

Feeling the domineering aura emanating from Manjoume, everyone, including King and the Four Heavenly Kings, was momentarily stunned.

Upon realizing this situation, passerby A, in a fit of rage, raised his Duel Disk: "...Duel!"

"...Duel!" In response to Passerby A's action, Manjoume also raised his Duel Disk.

……