Yu-Gi-Oh! The Pitfall Hero

"Ugh...it's happening again!"

"Tsk... I knew it would be like this? Jaden finally managed to resolve the final battle... and now..."

Just like the previous round, the front field of Daitokuji Temple is still filled with a row of monsters.

Seeing this familiar scene, the onlookers couldn't help but worry about Jaden Yuki's condition.

Although... he currently has a total of six cards in his hand.

However... on the opposite side, Master Daitokuji's field has the [Flower Baron], which has a built-in counter effect, as well as some other moves that haven't been used yet.

For example, the "Lopto the King's Shadow," which can transform "King's Team Derivatives" into other "King's Team" monsters at any time, is a force to be reckoned with!

With his presence, Daitokuji-sensei can summon different [King's Battle] monsters at any time during Jaden Yuki's turn, depending on the situation, to devise corresponding countermeasures.

"...I activate the Spell Card [Pot of Greed] from my hand and draw two cards from my deck!"

"Then, during your Main Phase, I will also activate the effect of [Lopto, Shadow of the Kings], Tribute one [Kings Team Token], and Special Summon a Level 9 [Kings] monster from my Deck with a different name than the Tributed monster!"

Entering his main phase 1, Jaden Yuki immediately activated Jar of Chronos, replenishing his hand to seven cards.

Meanwhile, Daitokuji-sensei on the opposite side seized the opportunity and activated the effect of the Mischief God, intending to summon a brand new Royal Monster from his deck.

"...Judai, your deck relies heavily on [Fusion] and also desperately needs Special Summoning to assist you." Stroking his chin, analyzing Judai's next plan, Daitokuji narrowed his eyes and made a decision: "Then, I'll continue with [King of Todoroki Kaisen], which can counter card effects once!"

"...What? If I remember correctly, wasn't 'King Hal' just sent to the graveyard as Synchro Material for 'Baroness of Flowers'?" With a puzzled look on his face, Marufuji Sho couldn't help but ask, "Could it be... that Daitokuji-sensei has more than one of these big monsters in his deck? Or like the low-level monster 'Lopt the King of War', he has three of them?"

"No, that's not it." Adjusting his glasses, Master Daitokuji explained, "Although I intend to Special Summon [King Hal], I will not Special Summon it from my deck."

Everyone: "...???"

"Well, you'll see when you see it." Waving his arm, Master Daitokuji pulled a card from his deck, held it in his hand, and then slammed it onto the Duel Disk: "Come forth! Queen of the Land of the Dead, who rules over aging, disease, and death—[Queen Hel, King of the Dead]!"

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[King of the Dead vs. Queen Hel]

(Undead/Dark/9-star/Attack: 800/Defense: 2800)

effect:

The second effect of this card can only be used once per turn.

①: Only one "Death King War Queen Hel" can be face-up on your field.

②: You can activate this effect by Tributing 1 "King's War" monster or Zombie monster you control, then targeting 1 "King's War" monster or Zombie monster in your Graveyard with a different name than that monster. Special Summon that monster in Defense Position. This effect can also be activated during your opponent's turn.

-

The youngest child of Loki, the god of evil, and Angorboda, the sister of Fenrir the wolf and Jormungandr the serpent, the new royal monster modeled after Hela, the queen who rules Helheim, the land of the dead in Norse mythology, slowly revealed its form from the land of the dead as Daitokuji-sensei called upon it.

A black gown concealed her gray skin, and through the gaps in the dress, skeletal hands occasionally peeked out, each holding a jet-black skull staff.

Around her body, one could see constantly swirling deep purple energy fluctuations. These elements combined together did not feel out of place; on the contrary, they were full of a strange beauty.

"...The effect of [King of the Dead vs. Queen Hel] is activated!"

It was supposed to be Judai's turn, but all he could do was watch helplessly as his teacher, Daitokuji, continued his storytelling...

As the [King of the Dead] Queen Hel made her appearance, Daitokuji continued his own development without stopping: "Tribute my second [King of the Dead Team Token] on the field, and Special Summon a [King of the Dead] monster from the Graveyard with a different name than the tribute monster."

"The one I choose to revive... is naturally [King Howl, the King of the Todoroki]!"

Waving her skull staff, Queen Hel began the ritual of summoning the spirits.

In exchange for a token generated by a Field Spell Card, she successfully pulled the One-Eyed Odin, the king of the gods, back from the realm of the dead.

With the added bonus from [Lopt, the Shadow of Kings], Daitokuji's front line became like this:

【King of the Todoroki】(Defense Power: 3000→4000)

【King of the Dead vs. Queen Hel】(Defense: 2800→3800)

【Lopt, the Shadow of Kings】(Attack Power: 1500→2500)

[Wang Zhan Team Derivative] (Attack Power: 1500→2500)

【Banana Baroness】(Attack Power: 3000)

……

The field was empty during Jaden Yuki's performance.

By any measure, Daitokuji-sensei holds an absolute advantage.

Both [King Hal] and [Baroness of Flowers] have the effect of completely negating cards, which can be chained to activate the opponent's effects, negating and destroying them.

As long as Master Daitokuji seizes the opportunity, he can disrupt Jaden Yuki's initial motivation and cut off any possibility of him developing further.

Then in the next round, he can command his monsters to attack together and win the duel!

"Wow, that's amazing! Daitokuji-sensei..." Jaden Yuki exclaimed in admiration of the magnificent finale opposite him, "...Is this your true strength?"

"Heh...you flatter me." With a light laugh, Daitokuji-sensei responded to Judai Yuki's comment and didn't say anything more about the topic.

In fact, Kings of War monsters can also be Xyz Summoned. By stacking two 9-star Kings of War monsters, you can summon the giant serpent from Norse mythology that devoured the world—King of Eternal War Ohmgand, modeled after Jormungandr!

However, that's a matter for the next round.

After all, that monster's effect is more about burst damage, making it more suitable for finishing off enemies than for staying on the field.

"Although... I have no intention of giving up here!" Holding a handful of cards, Jaden Yuki grinned and decisively pulled out one of them: "Spell Card [Fusion] Activated! I will..."

"Don't activate it! I've got it!" Seeing the Fusion Spell Card activated, Daitokuji-sensei seized the opportunity and activated the effect of the monster on the field: "...[Baroness of Flowers] effect activated! Negate the activation of [Fusion] and destroy it!"

As before, Jaden Yuki's second "Fusion" was once again neutralized by Daitokuji-sensei and failed to activate.

"Although it's unlikely... I'll ask anyway, Judai... you're not planning to activate some kind of [Simplified Fusion], are you?"

Pointing to Jaden Yuki's Duel Disk, and seeing the 1000 Life Points marked on it, Daitokuji-sensei reminded him, "I think you should know that activating the Spell Card [Easy Fusion] requires paying 1000 Life Points, and you have exactly 1000 Life Points left..."

"If you're thinking of using the same trick as before, trying to use something like the Thousand-Eyed Sacrifice God to fool the effect of the Todoroki World King Hal King, then you'd better be careful."

“That’s true… I can no longer use the same tactics as before.”

Yuki Judai nodded in agreement at Daitokuji-sensei's reminder.

However, a sense of unease also began to spread in his chest.

Why did Master Daitokuji kindly remind me of this?

If he is truly a villain, and all those past days were a lie, then what about his current attitude?

With this question in mind, Jaden Yuki looked in the direction of his teacher, Daitokuji: "Teacher... you still have 3600 life points, while I only have 1000 left. If I don't win this round, then next round will be my defeat, right?"

"Well... that's right." After patiently listening to Judai's explanation, Daitokuji-sensei nodded calmly with a smile.

In his next turn, the cooldown times of all the effects of his cards on the field will be refreshed.

The counter effect of [King of the Thunder] can ensure that his development is not interrupted by Jaden Yuki.

The revival effect of [King of the Dead Queen Hel] will revive [King of the Dead] monsters in the graveyard.

The ability of 【Lopto the Shadow of the Kings】 allows it to transform any 【Kings】 monster on the field into another 【Kings】 monster at any time. After 【Queen Hel of the Dead Kings】 activates its effect, it can be discarded and released to summon another 【Kings】 monster, allowing two Level 9 monsters to be defeated...

Meanwhile, the [Banshee of Flowers] will gain an additional ability to destroy cards during her turn, and during the Standby Phase, she can jump back to the Extra Deck and revive a monster of 9 stars or lower from the Graveyard...

By then, Jaden Yuki will no longer be able to dodge the monsters' combined attacks as he used to.

"Since [Fusion] has been negated, I'll just pick it up again..." Jaden Yuki said, pulling out a card from his hand: "Activate the Spell Card [Magic Stone Mining]! Discard two cards from my hand to add a Spell Card from my Graveyard to my hand!"

Sending two cards from his hand to the graveyard, Jaden Yuki then smiled and said, "The card I've chosen to add to my hand is naturally the Spell Card [Fusion]!"

Daitokuji-sensei: "Hmm...?!"

A cluster of purple magic stones suddenly emerged from the ground in front of the two as the magic card was activated.

Inside that transparent magic stone, the existence of the magic card—[Fusion]—can be vaguely seen.

In order to retrieve the previously negated Fusion Spell Card from the Graveyard, Jaden Yuki, the Card-Losing King, didn't hesitate to perform a classic three-for-one trade for everyone present.

Upon witnessing this scene, Master Daitokuji frowned, caught in a dilemma...

421 Awaken your sleeping elemental heroes (6K)

"How naive... Jaden! Have you forgotten the effects of the monsters I control?"

"...You want to recycle and fuse? You don't actually think I'd let that effect go through, do you?"

Seeing that Jaden Yuki was still determined to retrieve the fusion monsters from the graveyard, Daitokuji immediately waved his arm and gave his monster a new command: "...Activate the effect of [King of the Todoroki]! Tribute the two [King of the Todoroki] monsters on my field to negate and destroy the activation of Spell/Trap/Effect Monsters!"

"I release [King of Kings Team Token] and [King of Kings Shadow Lopto] as the cost of activating the effect of [King of Kings] to negate and destroy the activation of your Spell Card!"

By sacrificing the two monsters with the lowest stats on the field, Daitokuji activated the effect of [King of the Thunder] [Hal King].

Enveloped in black thorns, the two monsters were transformed into the energy of [King Howl].

As Daitokuji-sensei finished speaking, [King of the Todoroki Kai Senou Hal] simultaneously raised his arm and, without hesitation, hurled the trident he was holding toward the projection of the magic card.

This weapon, resembling the "Eternal Spear" from Norse mythology and possessing a guaranteed hit effect, unsurprisingly struck Jaden Yuki's [Magic Stone Mining] in front of him!

Next... its effects will be nullified, and it will be destroyed and sent to the graveyard.

At this point, it seems that Jaden Yuki's struggle is about to be interrupted once again by Daitokuji-sensei's actions.

Master Daitoku-ji: "Well, now you can no longer..."

Jaden Yuki: "You're the one who's really amazing, teacher!"

Daitokuji Temple Master: "...What?!"

Just as Daitokuji-sensei, having completed all of this, was about to show off his achievements to Yuki Judai with a smug look on his face, Yuki Judai, whose magic card had been negated and destroyed, slowly curled the corners of his mouth and then slammed one of his cards onto the Duel Disk: "Chaining the activation of your effect, I also activate my Quick-Play Spell Card—[Forbidden Drop]!"

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【A Forbidden Drop】

(Quick-Play Spell Card)

Effect: You can only activate 1 card with this name per turn.

You can activate this effect by sending any number of cards other than this card from your hand or field to the Graveyard.