"You're getting strong, Hoshino," Yuta said, with a tinge of relief in his voice.
The girl who once faced him in a duel used to appear timid, like a beginner duelist.
But now, the person standing in front of him had insight, decisiveness, and the confidence of an elite duelist.
"In such a short time, you've grown at an incredible rate. No wonder you became the Duel King, Hoshino," Yuta said quietly as he slotted another card into his Duel Disk.
"I set one card and end my turn!"
Kajiki Yuta's remaining hand: 2 cards, 1 set card.
"It's my turn, draw!"
Drawing a fresh card, Hoshino also searched her deck for Hyde.
"Thanks to the special effect of the [Heroic Spirit– Jekyll] destroyed by Torrential Tribute last turn, [Heroic Spirit – Hyde] is special summoned during this turn's standby phase!"
Responding to the maddening laughter from both the graveyard and her hand, Hoshino placed Hyde's card onto her Duel Disk.
"Come forth, special summon in attack position, [Heroic Spirit– Hyde]!"
[Heroic Spirit– Hyde ★★★★(4-star)][DARK][Warrior/Effect][ATK 1450/DEF 800]
[This card cannot be Normal Summoned. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effect of [Heroic Spirit – Jekyll].]
"Hahahaha!" Though he had the same appearance as Jekyll, the hunched, knife-wielding Hyde had more of a beast-like presence. "Die! Disappear! I'll kill everyone, no matter who they are!"
"This... is such an ill-tempered monster," Yuta's eye twitched, taken aback by the stark contrast between the refined Jekyll and the ferocious Hyde.
"What!? How dare you call me ill-tempered!" Hyde roared, licking his dagger as he glared at Yuta. "I simply... love the evil deeds of humanity!"
"Hyde, show him a little taste of what you can do!" Hoshino, too distracted to care that Heroic Spirits could speak, didn't bother warning him as she launched her attack.
"From my hand, I activate the Equip Spell [Fou of the Sun]! The equipped monster gains 500 ATK!"
[Heroic Spirit– Hyde ATK 1450 →1950]
"Hahahaha! Fou, you little bunny!" Hyde's laughter became even more twisted as he glanced at Fou, whom Hoshino played from her hand.
Meanwhile, Fou, now perched on Hyde's shoulder, was trembling in fear.
"Don't be scared, Fou. Even though Hyde seems like this... he's actually pretty gentle... probably?" Hoshino tried to comfort Fou, though she didn't sound confident.
"Next, I change [Heroic Spirit – Leonidas I] to attack position and prepare for battle!"
She rotated the Spartan card that had been laid horizontally on the Duel Disk, striking a battle pose.
The Spartan, now lowering his shield, flexed his proud muscles. "Muscles, ready for attack!"
"Now Hyde's attack power surpasses that of the Legendary Fisherman! And because of Hyde's card effect, he can attack twice in one turn!"
[①: This card can attack twice during the same battle phase.]
"Too bad, Yuta. Just obediently let me finish you off!" Hyde, brandishing his dagger, effortlessly moved through the Legendary Ocean palace.
"What a shame. The Legendary Fisherman is invincible in the sea!" Yuta said with a straight back, his large hand gesturing forward.
"The Legendary Fisherman's special effect makes him untargetable while [Umi] is on the field."
[While [Umi] is on the field, this card cannot be targeted for attacks, but does not prevent your opponent from attacking you directly.]
Just as Yuta said, the Legendary Fisherman, standing in the ocean, easily dodged Hyde's ferocious assault by leaping across the waves.
"Yuta, are you crazy..." Hoshino murmured, confused by Yuta's determined expression.
The effect that makes the Legendary Fisherman untargetable seemed powerful, but with only the Legendary Fisherman on Yuta's field, it was as if he had no defense at all.
"Hahahaha! If I can't attack your monster, I'll just cut down your master!" Hyde, quick to react, shifted his target to Yuta the moment he realized he couldn't attack the Legendary Fisherman.
"Yuta, don't forget Hyde can attack twice! Do you really think your Life Points can withstand it?"
Two attacks of 1950 ATK would easily surpass Yuta's current Life Points, not to mention there was still a muscular man eager to attack next.
The gleam of the dagger reflected dangerously as it struck Yuta's unguarded body.
"This... how could this happen..." Hyde, who had successfully hit his target, was left with a stunned expression.
"Men of the sea don't go down from such a petty attack!" With a determined gaze, Yuta's powerful, darkened hand tightly gripped the dagger that Hyde had stabbed into him.
"Yuta?"
"If you want to defeat me, you'll need an attack strong enough to flip over tidal waves and cleave the sea!" Yuta brushed off Hyde's dagger with his bare hand and activated his set card. "I activate my set trap card, [Tornado Wall]!"
[Tornado Wall Continuous Trap Effect: Activate only if [Umi] is on the field. While [Umi] is on the field, you take no battle damage. If [Umi] is not on the field, destroy this card.]
A massive tidal wave formed a terrifying tornado, shielding Yuta and completely blocking Hyde's attempt at a second attack.
"This combo from Kajiki Yuta!" Some of the more skilled spectators had already realized how well Yuta had set up his play.
"The opponent can't target the Legendary Fisherman, so they have to attack directly, but the direct damage is negated by the Tornado Wall."
"This is a pseudo-invincible combo, so impressive!"
"Hoshino, you're not the only one who's grown!" Yuta's presence, standing tall behind the Tornado Wall, radiated with the energy of the hurricane swirling in the sea.
"Interesting, Yuta! A duel that's just one-sided isn't any fun!" Hoshino grinned, not at all fazed by the pseudo-invincible combo, clearly enjoying the challenge.
"You said I'd need to flip over tidal waves and cleave the sea, right? Then let me show you something!"
Raising the Heracles card she had added to her hand last turn, Hoshino called out, "This is the mightiest hero who moves the earth and cleaves the sea with his axe!"
"Thanks to Hyde's card effect, when summoning a higher-level monster, Hyde can be used as two tributes!"
[②: When Tribute Summoning a monster, this card can be counted as two tributes.]
"I use [Heroic Spirit– Leonidas I] and [Heroic Spirit– Hyde] as tributes to summon [Heroic Spirit – Heracles]!"
"Tribute summon, Heracles!"
"A monster summoned with three tributes? That's practically a god-level monster!" Yuta's face was full of shock, as he found it hard to breathe under the overwhelming aura.
Thanks to the duel video between Hoshino and Kaiba blowing up on YouTube, most people had a basic understanding of the God cards.
At the forefront of that understanding was the high cost of needing three monsters as tributes for a God's tribute summon.
"Go, Berserker!" Hoshino placed the tribute monsters in the graveyard slot on the Duel Disk, slapping Berserker's card onto the Duel Disk.
"RRRRRROOOOOAAAAAARRRR!!"
[Heroic Spirit - Heracles ★★★★★★★★★ (9 stars)][EARTH][Warrior/Effect][ATK 3000/DEF 2800]
[If this card is Tribute Summoned using 3 monsters, including a [Heroic Spirit] monster, place 12 Valor Counters on this card.]
[Valor Counters x12]
A massive body of iron and steel plunged into the sea, the dark giant with an aura capable of tearing the heavens apart seemed as though he alone could crush Atlantis beneath his feet.
"Hoshino... you really like muscular men, huh?" Yuta couldn't help but gulp at the sight of Hoshino's monster, its overly muscular physique leaving even a son of the sea like him feeling a bit intimidated.
"Ugh, I'm tired of explaining to this fool!" Hoshino clicked her tongue in frustration, pointing to Yuta's side of the field where the Legendary Fisherman lurked.
"Just like you said, let's flip the waves, Heracles!"
The steel giant roared, swinging his massive axe, which weighed thousands of pounds. The sheer force of the waves stirred up by his raw strength was equal to Yuta's Tornado Wall.
The destructive blue waves surged like a rampaging beast toward the Legendary Fisherman swimming in the waters.
No matter how agile the Legendary Fisherman was, faced with this disaster-level attack, he seemed utterly powerless.
"How can this be!" Yuta couldn't believe what he was seeing. His Legendary Fisherman, who wasn't supposed to be targeted by attacks, was swallowed up by the giant wave.
"Even if it's a strong monster, its attack shouldn't be able to hit the Legendary Fisherman!" he exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yuta, you said it yourself, only a wave strong enough to flip the tides could defeat you." Hoshino smirked, a teasing glint in her eyes.
"Is this wave strong enough for you?"
[Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can target 1 Defense Position monster or a monster with lower ATK than this card; remove 1 Valor Counter, destroy that monster.]
[Valor Counters x11]
"And since Heracles lost one Valor Counter, his attack power increases by 300 points!"
[Heroic Spirit – Heracles ATK 3000 → 3300]
"Is this the monster of the Duel King? So strong!" The onlookers were in awe of Heracles' sheer strength, his ability to flip the tides leaving them all stunned.
"No wonder she's the Duel King. If I had a rare monster like that, I'd be Duel King too."
"Even if you had a monster like Hoshino's, you'd never become Duel King in a lifetime!" A familiar young voice suddenly called out from the crowd, shooting down the spectator's assumption with full force.
"You think having a rare monster is all it takes to become Duel King? At your level, entering Duel City would just be a waste of cards. I advise you to give up and go home. Otherwise, once you lose your rare cards, it'll be too late to regret it." Like hitting a nerve, the sharp words brutally cut down the man's pride.
"You little brat!" The man, humiliated in front of the crowd by a kid, was clearly enraged.
"Mokuba?!" Recognizing the familiar voice from the crowd, Hoshino turned toward the source, surprised and delighted.
"Hoshino, I came to watch your duel!" Mokuba waved cheerfully at her, his menacing expression from a moment ago replaced with a bright smile.
"Mokuba?! As in Kaiba Mokuba?!"
"The younger brother of Kaiba Seto, the president of Kaiba Corporation?!"
Upon realizing who Mokuba really was, the crowd began to buzz with excitement.
"So, you still think I'm just a brat?" Mokuba taunted the now-cowed man, who had turned into a quivering wreck. "Weren't you acting all tough just a minute ago? What, scared now?"
It was clear to everyone that the man wasn't scared of Mokuba himself, but rather the large, imposing bodyguards in black suits standing behind him!
Hoshino couldn't help but mentally comment on the scene unfolding in front of her.
"So, did you come here specifically to find me, Mokuba?" Domino City wasn't that big, but it wasn't small either. The fact that Mokuba had found her right when the duel started seemed like too much of a coincidence.
"You summoned Heracles, and it used so much data from the supercomputer, so of course I tracked your location right away." Mokuba waved around his device, which resembled a high-tech smartphone, looking rather proud.
"My brother told me to monitor you and also check if the new Duel Disk has any overload issues."
"He's treating me like a product tester!" Hoshino grumbled in irritation, but she refocused on the duel at hand. "Well, keep watching, because I'm not going to hold back just because of a technical issue!"
"Sorry about that, Yuta. This turned into a bit of a sideshow."
"It's... it's fine..." Yuta, standing awkwardly on the sidelines, seemed a bit embarrassed. "I had no idea you knew the president of Kaiba Corporation. You're really amazing! And I can't deny, your monster Heracles does have the power to flip the ocean itself."
"Oh? Getting scared already, Yuta? Have you run out of that sea man's spirit?" Hoshino smiled faintly as she lowered her Duel Disk and gestured for Yuta to take his turn.
"It's your move."
Hoshino's remaining hand cards: 2
"Even though I acknowledge the strength of your monster, that doesn't mean I'm afraid! My turn, draw!" Yuta, determined to hold onto his sea man's spirit, regained his composure, though his eyes reflected a hint of sadness.
"My Legendary Fisherman being swallowed by the wave... it reminded me of my father..."
"Hoshino, do you want to know the dream I carried into Duelist Kingdom and Duel City?"
"No, just play your card already!" Ruthless as always, Hoshino wasn't interested in wasting time hearing Yuta's life story.
(*****)
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