Yu-Gi-Oh! The Pitfall Hero

"This attack will be devastating! Go to hell! [Evil Hero - Wilderness Demon]!!!"

With a sudden swing of his arm, O'Brien loaded the monster cards in his hand into [Flame Cannon - Trident] and unleashed a fiery attack on the monster that had dealt him massive damage in the previous turn.

As the [Flame Cannon - Trident] unleashed its [Volcanic Shell] as ammunition, it engulfed the entire body of [Evil Hero - Wild Wind Demon]. At the same time as the monster was destroyed, Yusei also received 500 points of effect damage.

(Yusei LP: 4000→3500)

"..."

Feeling the pain of losing health points, Yusei frowned slightly but did not react too emotionally.

After activating his overlord mode, his mindset seemed to lean more towards indifference and composure.

Even if Mount Tai collapsed before his eyes, he probably wouldn't have much of an emotional reaction.

"I cannot attack during the turn I activate [Flame Cannon - Trident], but... that doesn't mean the damage ends here!"

Watching Wild Wind Demon be reduced to ashes by the impact of the fireball, and Yusei also affected by the aftershocks, taking 500 points of effect damage, O'Brien nodded in satisfaction. He then placed a monster card from his hand horizontally onto his Duel Disk: "I summon [Volcanic Blade] (DEF: 1200) from my hand in Defense Position and activate its effect."

"Once per turn, inflict 500 effect damage to your opponent. This card cannot attack during the turn this effect is activated."

Like a carnivorous dinosaur, the eyeless volcano beast appeared on O'Brien's field as he made his move.

Embracing its own body, this monster appeared in a crouching position in a defensive stance. It opened its mouth towards Yusei, who was now without monster protection, and unleashed a fireball carrying a fire attribute impact.

Affected by the fireball from [Volcanic Blade], Yusei's HP was reduced once again, decreasing by 500 points.

Normally, during the turn when the effect of [Flame Cannon - Trident] is activated, O'Brien cannot allow monsters to attack Yusei.

Therefore, the negative effect of [Volcanic Blade] is practically non-existent.

Incidentally, at this point, O'Brien had two cards left in his hand.

(Yusei LP: 3500→3000)

"...Damn it! Why am I getting so excited, O'Brien!!!"

"You... have you got something wrong? Have you misunderstood the purpose of this duel? To me, you're just a catalyst to unleash Yusei's power, so what's all the excitement about?!"

As O'Brien relentlessly whittled down Yusei's health, seemingly entering a focused battle state, Professor Cobra, who was observing the duel between the two in the abandoned research institute, visibly darkened his expression.

From the moment it started, the amount of dueling energy transmitted to him was almost negligible.

Professor Cobra, whose thinking was limited, subconsciously ruled out the correct answer and the fact that Yusei might not have been wearing the energy absorption device.

According to Professor Cobra's observation, at this moment, the only energy the research institute is absorbing is the fighting power of O'Brien, whose heart is burning with excitement.

As for Yusei's side, it remained as calm and uneventful as still water.

There is only one explanation for this phenomenon: Yusei did not exert his full strength at all, and there was no extra energy to absorb.

O'Brien didn't act according to his plan and didn't unleash Yusei's full power!

"A mere stray dog ​​dares to disobey my orders! O'Brien... you have some nerve!"

He clenched his fists and pounded them hard on the table in front of him.

In the reflection of the screen, which was shaking from the vibration, Professor Cobra's volatile face was fully displayed in the abandoned research institute where no one else was present.

Staring intently at O'Brien's face on the monitor, Professor Cobra's eyes flashed with a look of "anger"...

676 The Scales of Judgment

With the help of [Flame Cannon - Trident] and [Volcanic Blade], O'Brien destroyed [Evil Hero - Wild Wind Demon] on the Starfield and also successfully dealt a total of 1000 points of effect damage to him.

Although it didn't cause significant damage to Yusei's health, only reducing it from 4000 to 3000, for O'Brien, this was just the beginning...

Next, there will be an even bigger surprise; the flame burning in his heart is not just something like this!

“…O’Brien! You damned little beast!!! Have you forgotten who took you in when you were homeless?”

Unlike O'Brien himself, Professor Cobra felt nothing but annoyance and anger at O'Brien's behavior of abandoning the mission and simply burning himself out in the duel, unable to obtain the dueling energy he wanted.

If it weren't for maintaining his serious teacher persona, Professor Cobra would have wanted to rush out right now, grab that brat O'Brien, and give him a loving slap to wake the idiot from his frenzy!

The goal is to inspire you to unleash the power of the stars, not to unleash your full potential!

O'Brien, are you out of your mind? Or are you just not able to understand human language?

You bastard, how dare you disobey my orders?!

Through the monitor screen, with an extremely angry gaze fixed on O'Brien, Professor Cobra forcefully suppressed his inner rage, trying to force the surging anger back into his body.

"...Next, I'll lay two cards in the air."

During the turn in which [Flame Cannon - Trident] is activated, O'Brien will be unable to issue battle commands to his monsters.

Therefore, after summoning [Volcanic Blade] (Defense: 1200) in Defense position, O'Brien chose to bury his remaining two cards in his back row.

Then, he decided to just wave his hand and end his turn.

The two cards hidden in O'Brien's backcourt were the trap card "Firepower" and the quick-play spell card "Mad Flames".

The effect of the Quick-Play Spell Card "Mad Flame" is to pay 500 LP to destroy one card on your field whose name contains "Flame Cannon," then destroy all monsters on the field, and then Special Summon a "Flame Token" with 1000 ATK to the field.

The other trap card, [Firepower], allows him to Special Summon his ace monster, "Volcano Demon," from his Deck, hand, and Graveyard by sending his face-up [Flame Cannon - Trident] to the Graveyard, ignoring the Summoning conditions!

It was a monster with a taunting effect and extremely powerful destructive force, and its appearance was completely different from that of ordinary monsters.

-

Volcano Demon

(Fire Clan/Fire/8-Star/Attack: 3000/Defense: 1800)

Special Summon/Effect:

This card cannot be Normal Summoned. You can Special Summon it by sending 1 face-up "Flame Cannon - Trident" from your field to the Graveyard.

During your opponent's Battle Phase, if they control a monster in Attack Position, they must attack this card. When this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, destroy all monsters on your opponent's field and inflict damage to your opponent equal to 500 x the number of destroyed monsters.

-

"Two face-down cards, one defense position monster, and one continuous spell card, [Flame Cannon - Trident], right?"

Just as O'Brien stretched out his arm, about to announce the end of the round, Yusei finally made a new move.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he pressed the button on the Duel Disk, activating the face-down card that had been lying in wait in the back row: "...At this moment, I open the hidden card in the back row and activate the Trap Card [Judgment of Scales]!"

"Varied……?!"

Seeing the card that Yusei flipped open at this moment, not only O'Brien, who was dueling with him, but even Professor Cobra, who was hiding behind the scenes and silently observing everything, couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock.

"【The Scales of Judgment】...If I remember correctly, this card's effect seems to be the type that replenishes your hand..."

He unconsciously muttered to himself, his eyes fixed on the Cobra Professor Trap Card, his mind replaying the card's effect.

At that moment, he instantly understood the significance of Yusei's deliberate choice to activate this card at this time.

-

The Scales of Judgment

effect:

"Judgment of the Scales" can only be activated once per turn.

①: This effect can only be activated if the number of cards your opponent controls is greater than the total number of cards in your hand and on the field. Draw the difference from your deck.

-

O'Brien's field contains [Volcanic Blade], [Flame Cannon - Trident], and two other face-down cards, making a total of four cards.

On Yusei's side, he only has the card "Judgment of the Scales" which is in an activated state, and he also has 0 cards in his hand.

Therefore, according to the effect of the trap card, he will be able to draw three more cards from his hand at this moment without any conditions!

"Well... that's how it is. Based on the effect of [Judgment of the Scales], I can draw three cards from my deck."

As he said this, Yusei placed his palm on top of the deck and drew three cards from it in one go.

"...Gah! I can't believe...that's how it is!"

An unexpected situation unfolded before his eyes. Watching Yusei replenish his hand in one go, O'Brien, feeling deeply frustrated, could only helplessly wave his hand and end his turn: "My turn... is over just like that!"

Although he wanted to do something, O'Brien had already done everything he could.

Despite his reluctance, he felt a deep sense of helplessness regarding Yusei's gacha pulls...

"Ha... My turn, draw a card!"

Taking over the turn from O'Brien, Yusei waved his arm and drew a new card from the top of the deck.

With this card added to his hand, Yusei's hand size increased from 0 cards in the previous turn to a total of 4 cards!

"It's my turn. Let's end this duel in this round."

Looking at O'Brien's remaining 1100 Life Points, Yusei waved his arm and placed one of his cards into the side area of ​​the Duel Disk: "I activate the Field Spell Card 'Overlord' from my hand. As long as this card is in the Field Zone, I can Fusion Summon any Fusion Monster that can only be Special Summoned by the effect of 'Dark Fusion', except by the effect of 'Dark Fusion'."

Purple lightning descended from the sky and struck the cliff next to the Osiris Red Dormitory.

A black obelisk shrouded in dark clouds appeared behind Yusei as the magic card was activated, transforming the surrounding environment into the desolate landscape of the Overlord Castle.

With the appearance of the Overlord's Demon City, the fusion restriction that [Evil Hero] could only be specially summoned by [Dark Fusion] also vanished at this moment.

Even now, Yusei can fuse and summon the Fiend-type "Evil Hero" using ordinary Fusion Spell Cards.

"Overlord City... what exactly is this...?"

Looking around at the altered landscape, O'Brien couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Next up is this card."

After activating his Field Spell Card, Yusei inserted the second Spell Card from his hand into the back row of his Duel Disk: "...Activate Spell Card [Dark Fusion]! According to this card's effect, I can banish monsters used as Fusion Material from my hand and Graveyard, and Fusion Summon monsters that can only be Special Summoned by the effect of [Dark Fusion] as Fusion Summons from my Extra Deck!"

O'Brien: "...What?! They're using monsters from the graveyard as fusion material?!"

If O'Brien had seen Yusei's [Summoner Aleister], he probably wouldn't have been so surprised.

Unfortunately, he never actually saw Aleister and the monsters in the other's graveyard, except for the form of fusion.

"I banish 'Evil Hero: Wild Wind Demon' and 'Evil Hero: Dark Star Gold Demon' from my graveyard and fuse these two cards!"

His hands continued moving. After banishing the two monsters from the graveyard, Yusei took a new Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck and placed it on the front row of the Duel Disk: "...Fusion Summon! Come forth! The most ferocious evil hero—[Evil Hero: Evil Blade Death Demon] (Fiend/DARK/Level 8/ATK: 3000/DEF: 3000)!"