Yu-Gi-Oh! The Pitfall Hero

“Ed…you…”

Deeply moved by these words from Edward, the King of the West was momentarily speechless and unable to offer a proper reply.

This was perhaps the first time in his life that he had felt the warmth of humanity from someone other than his family.

"Although I am glad that you have the intention to save me, it is now too late."

Shaking his head, the King of the West's face then showed a sorrowful expression: "Ed, I have seen it clearly now, fate... a shattered fate cannot, and should not, be changed... I..."

"Ignore those so-called prophecies!"

Edward gently placed his hand on Saiou's shoulder, and in his azure eyes, he saw Saiou's slightly surprised face reflected: "...What I believe in is not that so-called fate, but you, who once helped me!"

"As long as you firmly believe that fate can be changed, then I will personally shatter that fate for you!"

Prince Sai: "...!!!"

……

"Ed...Ed!!!"

"Ed, wake up! Stop spacing out, we're still in the middle of a duel!"

Hearing Yusei and Jaden Yuki's shouts, Edward suddenly snapped out of his reverie.

His vision gradually cleared, and he looked at the scene before him. He looked at the evil spirit Saiō, who was staring at him with a strange gaze from the empty space opposite him. Edward finally realized the situation he was in.

Yes, I still have a goal that I must achieve.

To fulfill his father's last wish, to help Saiō escape his doomed fate, and even more so to make his once stagnant time flow again...

Ed Phoenix, you must win this duel! You must defeat that other Saiou who calls himself the Will of Destruction!

"Hmph! My turn, draw a card!"

With a disgruntled snort, Evil King, who had finally suffered a setback, frowned and drew a new card from his deck.

Sensing the presence of that other personality hindering him, Evil Saiou directly revealed the card in his hand and activated it: "Equip Spell Card [Reverse Regeneration] activated! According to the effect of this card, I can Special Summon 1 [Arcane Power] monster from my Graveyard in Attack Position and equip it to this card!"

"...I choose to resurrect [Arcane Power 15 - Demon]! Return to my side, Demon!!!"

Amidst the almost screaming shout of the King of the West, the alien demon broke through the limitations of resurrection and reappeared in front of him in perfect form.

As he appeared, a card that kept spinning appeared above his head.

"This time, [Secret Power 15 - Demon] will gain a reversed position effect." Under the deliberate manipulation of the King of the Sea, the card above the Demon's head finally stopped in a reversed position.

In doing so, the demon also gained a completely different effect than before.

"The reversed effect of 【Arcane Power 15 - Fiend】 is that when this card attacks, destroy all monsters on the field... Of course, this effect includes Fiend itself."

"Varied……?!"

"Battle has begun! The Demonic Calamity!"

As the merciless command of the King of the West sounded, the demon instantly teleported behind the charging man.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, it swiftly extended multiple arms, restraining the charging man's body from various angles.

647 If you want to end your fate, this card, which is the starting point of your destiny, is the perfect choice!

Under the instructions of the King of the West, the [Mystic Power 15 - Demon], which had been resurrected from the graveyard, used a new power different from the previous one to send itself, along with the Dash character in defense position on the field, to the graveyard where the dead slumber.

As both monsters disappeared from the field at the same time, the front fields of both sides became strangely empty.

Incidentally, since [Destiny HERO Sprinter] was destroyed, the effect of the Continuous Spell Card [D-Construction] on Aide's field was automatically activated, adding a D counter to itself.

At that moment, two opposing D symbols lit up simultaneously on the artwork of the magic card.

"Next, I'll lay a trap, and then the turn ends."

With a card face down in the back row, the malevolent Saiō looked at Edward with a hostile expression: "Edward, since you insist on defying fate until your death, then I will destroy everything!"

"Until everything disappears... along with the monster hiding behind you! I will reduce everything to nothingness!" A glint of hatred flashed in his purple eyes, and Evil King pointed forcefully behind Edward: "My other self, now that things have come to this, do you still intend to stand against me and continue that fearless struggle?"

"Behind me... is another Jai-wang (monk).

Following the direction pointed out by the evil-minded Saiō, Edward instinctively turned his head and looked behind him, along with the others watching the battle, at what appeared to be an empty space.

There was no trace of anyone in that place, and naturally, there was no "monster" as described by Evil King.

……

In Edward's inner world.

King Jai stood alone in the dark forest, holding an umbrella amidst the torrential rain.

After appearing for a while, he just watched, observing Edward and his evil self battling it out, without taking any further action.

Just as he was in a daze, the other King of the Vajra, who was enveloped in light and possessed a malevolent personality, appeared here following the previous trail and stood in front of him.

Facing the main personality who stood still and did nothing, Evil King Saiou curled his lips and revealed a mocking expression: "That's right, my clone. You and I are just monsters chosen by a doomed fate. All resistance is futile."

"So, stop resisting fate! Join me and submit to its arrangements!!! Become one with me once more, and together we will welcome the new era!"

"I……"

Influenced by the words of the malevolent personality, Saiō seemed to have made up his mind.

He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

However, at that very moment, Edward, who had noticed the strange occurrence, suddenly appeared and stood between Saiō and his evil personality.

"Prince Zhai, simply holding up an umbrella is not enough!"

Walking up to the King of the West, and raising the large umbrella together, Edward continued to the stunned King of the West: "We are in the middle of a storm, constantly getting soaked, so we must move forward! If we just stand here and wait for the rain to stop, we won't change anything!"

"...If you don't actively seek change, your fate won't change!"

"Ed..."

"King, act now! Only by acting together can we turn the wheel of fate and transcend destiny! Lend me your power of destiny!"

"Beyond...fate..."

As he murmured to himself, upon hearing Edward's voice, a glimmer of hope gradually appeared in Saiō's eyes, which had been filled with confusion.

As this change occurred, Evil King clearly sensed that his body was about to be expelled from this place.

After all, this is Edward's inner world; in the end, he is just an external entity.

Therefore, even though he was unwilling and did not want to leave, Evil King could not take any effective measures to resist. He could only watch as his main personality stretched out his arm and tightly grasped the hand of the silver-haired girl.

"...Ed! You bastard!!! How dare you ruin my good time!!!"

Expelled from his inner world, Evil King's face finally lost its composure, turning into an angry expression.

At the end of the scene, he saw the main personality, as the spirit behind him, merge with Edward, which means that in the upcoming duel, he will have to face two people at the same time.

Witnessing this unexpected situation, his face contorted with rage, he then vented all his anger on Edward through his words.

Judging from the main personality's reaction just now, it's clear that he was inclined to be persuaded by him.

If Edward hadn't interfered, then the main personality of the king would obviously have been persuaded by his evil self.

At worst, he would remain silent, doing nothing and passively awaiting his final judgment, and Edward would no longer be able to receive his help.

But now it's all too late.

Oh, tears! Damn it!

"...We can't delay any longer; we must speed up the completion of this card!"

As the spirit of Saiou, which was now even more obvious than before, gradually emerged behind Edward, Evil Saiou frowned and turned to look at his hand card.

Besides the cards already on the field, he has two cards left in his hand.

One of them is 【Arcane Power 14 - Temperance】, which has the effect of discarding it from your hand to reduce the damage of a battle to 0. In the previous battle against Prince Auchindoun, Saiou used this card and achieved a perfect counterattack.

The other card, however, emitted a faint glow. Apart from the faint black shadow visible on the card, it had no text markings and seemed to be an unfinished, unknown card.

At this moment, Saiō was gritting his teeth, placing his hopes on this unfinished card.

【Arcane Power 21 - World】Although it is the last member of the Grand Arcane family, it is not the strongest card in the Arcane Power deck.

Above that, there exists the ultimate, strongest, and absolutely invincible God of Destruction, who has mastered light and reached the ultimate realm. He is specially marked as "EX" outside of the 22 Tarot cards!

"…My turn."

Feeling the familiar figure of Saiō appear behind him, Edward took a deep breath and drew a card from the top of his deck.

At this moment, she was not fighting alone.

"I feel like Edward's eyes have changed..."

"What happened just now?"

"...Ed, have you found your friend yet?"

The onlookers reacted to the changes happening to Edward in varying degrees.

As the draw phase ended and it was time for Edward's preparation turn, the opposing Evil Saiou simultaneously stretched out his arm and reminded Edward, "If I remember correctly, the [World] that was previously banished by the Devilman's 'Path of Fate' effect should be back on my field, right?"

Edward: "..."

Evil King: "Hmph! Silence will be taken as consent! Resurrect! Come before me once more! [Secret Ritual Power 21 - World] (Attack Power: 3100)!!!"

With a sudden wave of his arm in front of him, accompanied by the shout of the Evil King, the black alien angel reappeared in golden light, shrouded in indescribable power, and silently floated in mid-air.

"...Gurgle! Mystic Power 21 - World! It's that troublesome monster again!"

The familiar sense of oppression washed over him once more, and Jaden Yuki, who was subconsciously gritting his teeth, couldn't help but utter such a sigh.

The World, which has the ability to skip the opponent's turn, will become quite troublesome if we don't find a way to deal with it this turn!

"I summon [D3] (Machine/Dark/1-star/Attack: 0/Defense: 0) in attack mode."

A black mechanical dog with a pink D-mask on its head appeared in front of her, crawling forward as Edward moved.

Judging from its appearance, this monster corresponds to the Support Dog, a secondary card in the Elemental HERO deck.

"Ha, a monster with 0 attack power, how do you plan to break through my [world]?"