Yu-Gi-Oh! The Pitfall Hero

"No matter how many times you destroy it, it will return to my field in an even stronger form!"

Amidst the billowing black mist, the [Chimera Doll], now with two additional parts, revived and appeared before Alice once more, following her movements.

She reappeared, and once again received a boost, increasing her attack power by another 800 points!

(【Puppet Chimera】Attack Power: 4000→4800)

Marufuji Sho: "Attack...attack power...4800?!"

Seeing the terrifying monster leaping back and forth, Marufuji Sho was so frightened that he immediately swayed and fell to the ground behind him.

An immortal body, each resurrection will make it stronger than before...

How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!

"Heh... whether he's immortal or not is hard to say~" Seemingly noticing something crucial, he looked at Yusei on the field and a knowing smile appeared on his face.

It seems that Jaden has found the monster's weakness.

"The battle continues! I'll use [Evil Hero - Lightning Troll] (Attack Power: 2400) to attack [Puppet Chimera] (Attack Power: 4800)!"

"...Take this! Hellfire Strike!!!"

Unlike his previous long-range ball-throwing, the Lightning Troll, now in combat mode, chose a different fighting style.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he opened his arms, fully displaying his powerful physique to everyone.

Then, without hesitation, he launched a desperate and reckless attack against the [Puppet Chimera], whose attack power far exceeded his own!

"...Foolish fellow, the [Puppet Chimera] is twice the size of the [Evil Hero - Lightning Troll]! Are you planning to destroy yourself?"

Alice shook her head helplessly at Jaden Yuki's self-destructive actions.

A faint smile appeared on her lips, as if she had already seen the dawn of victory.

As agreed before the duel, after Jaden Yuki's defeat, she would drag him into that bottomless, eternal darkness...

"No, of course it's not self-destruction."

Shaking his head, Jaden Yuki smiled at Alice and said, "...I'm the kind of person who will never give up until the very last moment, and I'll never have any thoughts of despair in my heart."

"...Even if we lose, we will still be connected to the next hope."

"Heh... Judai Yuki, you really are a lucky guy!"

"Ah! Duels bring joy, so happiness is only natural!"

Nodding to Alice, Jaden Yuki swiftly inserted one of his cards into the back row of the Duel Disk: "At this moment, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card from my hand—[Battle x2]! The effect of this card is that when the ATK of the opponent's monster in battle is more than twice that of my monster, the ATK of my monster is also doubled!"

"Varied……?!"

Like a moth drawn to a flame, the Evil Hero Lightning Troll charged headlong into the Puppet Chimera, only to be blessed by a spell card effect at the last moment before its demise.

His body visibly expanded, eventually becoming twice its original size!

【Evil Hero - Lightning Troll】(Attack Power: 2400→4800)

The [Puppet Chimera], who had been looking at the Lightning Troll with disdain, now had a look of astonishment on its distorted face.

And so, the two monsters, with equal attack power, used their strongest moves on each other.

With two explosions rang out simultaneously, Jaden Yuki's [Evil Hero - Lightning Troll] and Alice's [Puppet Chimera] were both reduced to golden specks of light and sent to their respective graves.

"Hehehe~~ It's no use, the Chimera puppet is... Oh no!!!"

With a smug laugh, Alice tried to repeat her old trick, having her "Puppet Parts" monster replace "Puppet Chimera" in being destroyed.

However, when the deck was laid out in front of him, an embarrassing fact was revealed...

In the rules of Yu-Gi-Oh!, a maximum of three copies of the same card can exist in a deck.

During her previous back-and-forth maneuvering, Alice had already exhausted all the "Puppet Parts" monsters in her deck...

Therefore, the battle just now with [Evil Hero - Lightning Troll] was [Puppet Chimera's] last chance...

Lacking the [Puppet Part] monsters that were consumed as a price, [Puppet Chimera] naturally lost its immortality and perished together with [Evil Hero - Lightning Troll], never to be resurrected from the graveyard again...

"How could this be? The [Chimera Doll] is..."

"...It's not over yet! I'll attack [Laris the Star-Viewing Bird] with [Laris the Bewildered Porcelain Doll - Alice]!" Jaden Yuki gave the attack order to the last monster on Alice's field in defense position.

"Based on the effect of [Star Bird Laris], this card gains ATK equal to 200 times the target monster's Level during battle!"

Alice's Defense Rank [Lacehide the Bewildered Porcelain Doll] is 3, therefore [Hoshinobi Laris]'s Attack Rank will increase by 600 points!

(【Star Bird Lares】: 800→1400)

"Take this! The stars shine upon you!!!"

Jaden Yuki called out the familiar name of the attack once again, but this time, the target of the attack had changed. It was no longer the [Puppet Chimera] but the [Bewildered Porcelain Doll - Alice].

--boom! ! !

Starlight filled the entire arena, and the [Bewildered Porcelain Doll - Alice] was destroyed under the attack of [Star Bird - Laris].

Based on her effect, Jaden Yuki will suffer 500 points of effect damage at this moment. After that, her control will be transferred from Alice's side to Jaden Yuki's side.

(Yujo Judai LP: 1500 → 1000)

"...Entering Main Phase 2, I activate the Spell Card from my hand—[Infiltrate! Spy Hero]—sending two cards from my Deck to the Graveyard. Until the end of the turn, I can treat one card from my opponent's Graveyard as part of my hand!"

As the magic card was activated, a humanoid black shadow emerged from the card's artwork and quickened its pace to reach Alice.

Reaching out of Alice's graveyard, the figure, resembling the Black Demon from Detective Conan, ignored the Duel Disk and pulled out a card from Alice's graveyard, handing it to Jaden Yuki.

"Well……"

"Hehehe! This is the card I'm adding to my hand!" Laughing and waving his hand, Jaden Yuki showed everyone the card Kuro had handed him: "Spell Card [Puppet Hammer] activated! Based on this card's effect, I destroy [Bewildered Porcelain Doll - Alice] on my field and draw two cards from my deck!"

"It's not over yet! I... I'm going to activate my backcourt face-down card too!"

The composure on his face vanished. After Jaden Yuki's furious onslaught cleared out Alice from the front row, he frowned and flipped over his face-down card in the back row: "Trap Card [Curse of Liberation] activated! According to this card's effect, if [Lost Porcelain Doll - Alice] is destroyed, destroy all cards on the field except this card!"

"...Furthermore, both sides will also suffer damage equal to 300 points from the card whose effect was destroyed!"

The image on the trap card depicts Alice, a doll kneeling on the ground in a duck-like position.

Alice, a doll with a sorrowful face and tears streaming from her eyes, was enveloped in a terrifying darkness that was visible to the naked eye...

With the activation of this card, Alice's previously activated Field Spell Card and a card in front of Jaden Yuki were all destroyed, and both sides suffered 300 points of damage.

(Alice LP: 1100→800)

(Yujo Judai LP: 1000 → 700)

Alice: "..."

The advantage was gone, and the ace monster had been destroyed by Jaden Yuki. At this moment, Alice looked at Jaden Yuki with a hint of hatred in her eyes.

"Well... don't make such a scary face! Duels are supposed to bring joy, right?"

"Well……?!"

"Alice, as promised, I will let you see the light of hope..." Looking at Alice opposite him, Jaden Yuki smiled and placed his two cards face down in the back row: "Two cards are buried, end of turn!"

The dark clouds that had been obscuring the moon seemed to sense the disappearance of darkness and left the area where the two were dueling, looking rather bored.

As the moonlight spilled onto the ground, Alice's body was also bathed in its light at that moment.

"The resentful [Chimera Doll] is no more..."

Alice sighed softly, her expression relaxing, and looked up at Jaden Yuki, who was grinning foolishly across from her: "...Jaden Yuki, you seem to be having a lot of fun with your duel?"

"Of course!" Jaden Yuki patted his chest and replied with a smile, "I can be super happy right now!"

"Heh...Is that so?" Blinking her eyes, Alice, infected by Jaden Yuki's optimism, also spoke slowly after a moment of silence: "Um, you know what? I'm actually a doll spirit."

"Hey?"

"Kuri kuri~~~" Just as Jaden Yuki looked puzzled, Winged Kuriboh appeared on his shoulder.

Turning to look at his companion, Jaden Yuki's face suddenly showed a look of sudden realization: "A Pokémon? So that's why Winged Kuriboh was making noise earlier?"

Kenzan (Charm): "Alice...chan~~~"

Yusei: "No wonder... If Alice is an elf, then all of this makes sense."

"Since my birth, I have been protecting those who aspire to be duelists..."

With a look of reminiscence on her face, Alice didn't rush to draw a card, but continued to explain: "But... after seeing those despicable duelists who wantonly tore up cards, blamed their weakness on the cards, and didn't cherish them at all... the evil card spirit's consciousness also unknowingly eroded my heart..."

"After that, influenced by the evil card spirits, I also began to hate duelists and wanted to drag all duelists into the abyss of despair..."

“…Alice?”

"...But!" Alice abruptly changed the subject, shaking her head violently, a look of utter anguish on her face. "Ultimately, the reason things have turned out this way is because my own heart is too fragile. That's why I was influenced by the [Puppet Chimera] and blamed everything on the duel..."

"I'm so sorry, I'm really so sorry... I..."

"Hey! Alice!"

Waving to interrupt Alice's apology, Jaden Yuki tapped his Duel Disk: "I don't care about what happened before... but the duel isn't over yet!"

"Why……?"

"Do you remember what I said before? No matter what, even to the very last moment, never give up the light in your heart!"

Seeing Alice stunned across from him, Jaden Yuki curled his lips into a smile and said, "You should know... your turn has only just begun!"

Alice: "..."

"Yes...that's right..."

Alice, her eyes wide with shock at Jaden Yuki's words, paused for a moment before a look of realization dawned on her face.

She nodded, then smirked and reached out to draw the card at the top of her deck: "My turn, draw!"

Just as Jaden Yuki said, her turn, her life, has only just begun, and it is far from over!

"...The Spell Card [Gate to the Mirror Kingdom] is activated!!!"

Waving her arms, Alice, now free from her inner turmoil and with a relaxed expression, inserted a card into her Duel Disk to activate it, and began explaining the card's effect: "According to this card's effect, if I have 'Lost Porcelain Doll - Alice' in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon 'Beautiful Porcelain Doll - Aishira' (ATK: 1000) from my hand or Deck!"

With a dazzling light, a new monster appeared before Alice.