Yu-Gi-Oh! The Pitfall Hero

"The prince lost his original appearance and turned into a frog because a witch cast a wicked spell on him..."

"After meeting the princess who is his true love, the curse was naturally lifted..."

"After that came the happy ending of a fairy tale... the prince and princess had a happy wedding, and then..."

Knock knock knock...

Asuka, having received Saiou's order, walked alone to the room from which the sound came. While Yusei and the others were heading to the dueling arena, she came here specifically to summon Yusei's next opponent.

After she reached out and knocked on the door, the sounds inside stopped abruptly, and the room fell silent once more.

"……who is it?"

A woman's voice came from inside the room, asking a question.

"...It is Lord Jai-wang who is calling you."

Seeing that the other side had no intention of opening the door, Asuka considered for a moment and then added, "Princess Rose, you have been chosen as Lord Saiou's substitute to replace him in the upcoming duel with Osiris Red Yusei."

"Lord Zhaiwang? A duel?"

Upon hearing Asuka's voice, the woman in the room immediately adopted a friendly attitude: "Wait a moment, I need to get ready to go out. Please wait for me."

"It's okay, there's no need to rush." ​​Standing quietly at the door, Asuka's thoughts had already drifted to another place.

Although she didn't understand why the King of Sai had specifically chosen the Rose Princess in the room as Yusei's opponent, that didn't stop her from coming to carry out the King of Sai's orders.

……

Duel Academy, Universal Duel Arena.

Upon hearing that Yusei and Saiou had wagered their destination on the school trip to duel, idle busybodies quickly gathered here, awaiting the upcoming duel.

For a time, the entire venue was completely full, a rare occurrence.

Standing alone in the dueling arena, Yusei, having prepared himself, closed his eyes and waited for his opponent to appear.

"Speaking of which... it's been quite a long wait..."

Seeing that the opponent named by Saiō had not yet appeared, Kenzan in the audience could not help but let out a complaint.

Are all these guys from the Society of Light like pigeons? They always have some excuse to avoid duels…

"What kind of person could be specially chosen by that Prince Zhai? It's really something to look forward to!"

With an excited expression on his face, Yuki Judai, sitting next to Kenzan, fixed his gaze on the other side of the contestant entrance.

Next, there, Yusei's next opponent will appear.

"That King Zhai doesn't intend to take action personally, which means... it's not yet the decisive battle he predicted, is it?"

Yusei, who was also getting a little impatient while waiting, began to ponder Saiō's intentions.

A guy who believes in fate like him wouldn't rashly do something outside of his plan.

五{一#七<八}$八%零=}七@加|1~0{１*7|&4}+5#N&~J9}4@$9@８六<$一那么这样一<$零@①>⑦<|④}~五}酒#&④&⑨+~⑧的话……

"...Sorry to keep you waiting, Yusei!"

Suddenly, a slightly cheerful female voice interrupted Yusei's thoughts.

Yusei raised his head and opened his eyes, and immediately saw Asuka's figure standing beside the dueling arena, dressed in white.

"Asuka? Could it be... you're my next opponent?"

“No, that’s not it.” Shaking her head slightly, Asuka raised her arm and pointed to the other side: “Your opponent is that person—the Rose Princess of our Society of Light!”

"Princess...?"

Hearing the somewhat abrupt address, Yusei, feeling curious, couldn't help but turn his gaze to the direction Asuka was pointing.

Then, he saw a beautiful silver-haired girl wearing a blue princess dress, with her hair styled in a bun, walking gracefully towards him.

That was none other than Princess Rose, the female duelist chosen by Saiō to participate in this duel as his substitute.

"Wow! She's a real princess? I didn't know there were people like that in Duel Academy!"

"Huh? Since she's a member of the Society of Light, why isn't she wearing a white uniform, but rather a blue princess dress?"

"Uh... I don't know, maybe this is what the privileged class is like?"

As the girl appeared on the other side, gasps of surprise rippled through the crowd.

Although she couldn't compare to Asuka, the school beauty, in terms of looks, the Rose Princess's gentle and delicate demeanor captivated the hearts of the group of men present.

Among them, Marufuji Sho's gaze was the most intense...

"According to the destiny foretold by Lord Saiō..."

The Rose Princess took the Duel Disk from Asuka's hand, put it on her arm, and walked into the dueling arena. She then stopped and looked in Yusei's direction: "Yusei, I will be your duel now."

"Yes, please guide me, Princess Rose."

Nodding slightly, Yusei also displayed a relatively polite attitude towards the girl he was meeting for the first time.

"Very well, then let's have a duel that is even more beautiful than any fairy tale!"

Princess Rose smoothed the silver bangs that fell across her forehead, then inserted her deck into the Duel Disk's deck area and unfolded the Duel Disk in front of everyone: "...Duel!"

530 The pure white beast, the Ice Barrier Frog!

"...Although I don't really understand what beauty is, if it's a duel, I don't intend to admit defeat here!"

Undeterred by the seemingly fragile appearance of the Rose Princess opposite him, the resolute Yusei simultaneously extended his arm and unfolded his Duel Disk as he spoke these words: "...Rose Princess, let's begin our duel...Duel!"

(Princess Rose LP: 4000)

(Yusei LP: 4000)

"Then, I'll go first. My turn... draw a card."

Taking the initiative in the duel, Princess Rose gracefully extended her finger and drew a card from her deck under the watchful eyes of everyone.

After glancing at her hand, she immediately inserted a card into the back row of the Duel Disk: "First, I activate the Continuous Spell Card from my hand—[Water Stage]!"

"...As long as this card is face-up on the field, my WATER monsters cannot be destroyed by battle with monsters other than WATER. Also...if this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, I can target 1 Aqua monster in my Graveyard and Special Summon that monster. However...after this effect is activated, I cannot Special Summon monsters that are not Aqua monsters until the end of this turn."

In fact, the Continuous Spell Card "Water Stage" also has a hidden effect that makes the "Water Fairy" monster immune to the effects of the opponent's monsters, but in most situations, this effect is not useful.

After all, the [Water Maiden] deck is so unpopular and has such a small number of cards that many people have forgotten about its existence...

"...A spell card that protects a water-attribute monster? Does that mean the Rose Princess deck is a water-themed series?"

Looking at the spell cards appearing on the field, Jaden Yuki in the audience stroked his chin and pondered, "Could it be that this Rose Princess's deck is the famous [Sea King Crystal Scale]?"

【Sea King Crystal Scale】 was once a mainstream deck in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and it can also be said to be a top contender in the storytelling world.

When fully deployed, its combat power reaches a staggering one million horsepower, capable of overwhelming its opponents with no chance to retaliate!

If this is indeed the deck, then Yusei is in for a tough time.

"...Next, I activate the Spell Card [Crest of the Ice Barrier] from my hand. Based on the effect of this card, I add one [Ice Barrier] monster from my deck to my hand."

Jaden Yuki: "...Huh? An ice barrier???"

To Jaden Yuki's surprise, the Rose Princess did not use the Storytelling Style's "Sea Emperor Water Scale" deck, but instead activated a spell card related to the "Ice Barrier" theme.

Using the effect of this card, she can then precisely search for a [Ice Barrier] monster from her deck.

Yusei: "...Ice Barrier?"

Princess Rose: "That's right. Based on the effect of the magic card, I'm adding [Ice Barrier Caster] from my deck to my hand."

With a slight smile, Princess Rose began to explain to Yuxing.

As she finished speaking, the indicator light on the Duel Disk began to flash intermittently, and after a moment, it automatically popped out a card.

Princess Rose reached out and took the card, then added it to her hand.

"Then, I activate the effect of the [Ghost Frog] in my hand, discard the [Little Gray Blue Slime] in my hand, and Special Summon it to the field!"

"Special Summon, appear! [Oni Frog]!!!"

A yellow frog with red demon face patterns printed on its body appeared on the field as Princess Rose called out.

This 2-star monster, which is called a demon, is, in a sense, the source of all evil!

-

【Ghost Frog】

(Aquatic/Water/2-star/Attack: 1000/Defense: 500)

effect:

①: You can discard 1 other WATER monster from your hand to Special Summon this card from your hand.

②: When this card is Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned: You can activate this effect. Send 1 Aqua-Type WATER monster of Level 2 or lower from your Deck and your face-up monsters to the Graveyard.

③: Once per turn, you can return 1 monster you control to its owner's hand to activate this effect. This turn, in addition to your Normal Summon, you can Summon 1 "Frog" monster other than "Ghost Frog" during your Main Phase (once only).

-

"A ghost frog...and an ice barrier...could it be..."

Watching Princess Rose's somewhat familiar moves, Yusei, who often plays YGO, couldn't help but think of a bot player nicknamed ⑨—Cirno.

If I remember correctly, her deck seems to be the same one that Princess Rose is currently using, a deck that mainly uses Xyz cards to transform 2-star monsters into Rank 2 monsters!

"The effect of [Ghost Frog] activates! If this card is Special Summoned, send one Level 2 WATER monster from your Deck to the Graveyard! I choose to send [Ghost Frog] from my Deck to the Graveyard!"

After summoning the Ghost Frog, Princess Rose immediately activated its effect, sending the Frog Brothers from the deck to the graveyard, setting the stage for the next development.

"Next, I will activate the third effect of [Ghost Frog] by targeting it and returning it to my hand. Then, during this turn, I can Normal Summon one frog monster other than it."

"I continue to activate the effect of [Ghost Frog] in my hand, discard [Ice Barrier Caster] in my hand, and Special Summon it back to the field... At that moment, the second effect of [Ghost Frog] will be triggered again, and I send the Level 2 Aquatic WATER [Magic Frog] from my deck to the Graveyard."

"Then... the [Soul Frog] in the graveyard activated its effect, banishing [Magic Frog] from the graveyard and Special Summoning it. Then I stacked the Level 2 [Soul Frog] and the Level 2 [Oni Frog] to perform an Xyz Summon!"