Since the other side can print cards, I’ll print one as well.
PS: The cover has been changed. Not bad, right?
...
“At this moment, I activate the trap card ‘Soul Barrier’!”
As expected, following Mai Valentine’s turn, the Soul Barrier is activated for the second time, helping Yugi fend off the Meteor Flare’s lingering force after defeating the Wildman!
“Tch! If I don’t get rid of that trap card, I can’t deal damage to Yugi through battle!”
There are cards in his deck that can deal with Soul Barrier, but the problem is he doesn’t have any in hand right now. In this situation, he can’t think of any way to chip away at Yugi’s remaining 1300 Life Points.
“My turn, draw!”
Glancing at Sparkman in his hand, Yugi decides not to play it; summoning it would only send it to its doom. He ends his turn, choosing to wait another round to see if he can draw a card to turn the tide.
“My turn, draw!”
Yugi clearly notices the glint in his opponent’s eyes—the look of someone who has drawn exactly the card they needed. A spell card that can break a trap card, and one that exists in this era… Could it be!?
“I activate the spell card ‘Trap Removal’! Destroy Yugi’s ‘Soul Barrier’!”
Trap Removal, as its name suggests, brutally and directly dismantles a face-up trap card on the opponent’s field!
Yugi: “……”
What can I say? What else can I say!
凸(艹皿艹)
“Battle!”
Though the Soul Barrier is gone, fortunately Clayman is in defense position, so its destruction doesn’t cost any Life Points.
“My turn, draw!”
Deck! Respond to my bonds! The Dark Dragon with 3200 attack points—even as a blank vanilla card, it’s a huge threat to me now!
YA★DA☆ZE!
“I activate the spell card ‘Ace’s Chalice’! If it lands on heads, I draw two cards; if tails, the blank Yugi draws two cards!”
Ding~
Under everyone’s watchful gaze, the coin slowly stops spinning, and as one face lands, the other’s fate is sealed—
“The result is… what?! Tails?!”
Staring at the blank face upturned, Yugi is completely dumbfounded.
No way, Sir Luck (Luck Stat)! Why are you failing me at such a crucial moment? Wasn’t it supposed to be 100% luck?
System: [Correction, Host. Your luck stat is 50. And a reminder: Yugi Muto/Yami Yugi’s luck stat is 100–99.]
Yugi: “……”
So, I’m a misfortunate encountering a walking luck god—both are unbelievable in their own ways!
Ahem… Well, all of the above is just Yugi’s imagination. In reality—
“Heads! I draw two cards!”
The cards he draws are Fusion Recovery and Golden Captain.
Excellent! The pieces for victory are all in place!
“I activate the spell card ‘Fusion Recovery’! Its effect allows me to add one ‘Polymerization’ spell card and one monster that was used as Fusion Material for a Fusion Summon from my graveyard to my hand.”
Of the monsters in Yugi’s graveyard that were used as Fusion Material, only Bubbleman and Clayman remain, and to summon the fusion monster capable of defeating the Dark Dragon with ‘Skyscraper,’ it must be the normal monster Clayman!
“Next, I activate the effect of the effect monster ‘Elemental Hero Golden Captain’ from my hand! By discarding it to the graveyard, I can add one ‘Skyscraper’ field spell card from my deck to my hand.”
With these two moves, Yugi’s opponent instantly guesses what he’s planning.
“I fuse the normal monster ‘Elemental Hero Sparkman’ in my hand with the normal monster ‘Elemental Hero Clayman’!”
Yugi and the others: ???
Fusing is nothing new, but why specify the types of the Fusion Material monsters?
Next, everyone understands why Yugi went out of his way to name the types of both materials—
“Fusion Summon! Elemental Hero Grandman!”
His overall appearance is a fusion of the ‘Elemental Hero’ series’ ‘Fantastic Four’—clearly bearing the wings of Avian, the red torso of Burstinatrix, the arms and shoulder guards of Clayman, and the body most reminiscent of Sparkman, the leader of the four.
(Elemental Hero Grandman, Level 6, ATK: 0)
“Huh? The fused monster’s attack power is actually 0?!”
Seeing the value displayed for Grandman on the dueling platform, everyone is stunned.
Seeing their reactions, Yugi smiles and explains:
“Grandman requires two ‘normal monster’ heroes to be Fusion Summoned. The reason his attack and defense points are both zero is because his stats depend on the combined Level Stars of the two normal hero monsters used as Fusion Material!”
“Level Stars?”
This is the first time they’ve heard of a monster whose attack depends on its Level Stars.
“Exactly! The higher the combined levels of the two Fusion Material monsters, the higher Grandman’s attack and defense points!”
As Yugi explains, Grandman’s stats on the dueling platform begin to change, rising from zero to stop at 2400.
“2400… So, for every star in the combined level of the material monsters, its value increases by 300 points?”
2400 ÷ 8 stars = 300, an easy calculation.
“Right! And paired with my field spell ‘Skyscraper,’ when an Elemental Hero monster battles a monster with higher attack, the Hero gains 1000 attack points before damage calculation that turn.”
A sphere of elemental energy bursts from Grandman’s arm cannon, its attack power 200 points higher, easily defeating the fusion monster born of Yugi and Joey’s friendship.
(Yugi: 500 LP → 300 LP)
“In that case, I’ll use Monster Reborn to revive the just-destroyed ‘Dark Dragon’!”
Watching his Dark Dragon get destroyed, Yugi activates the last card in his hand, ‘Monster Reborn.’ ‘Skyscraper’s’ effect only applies when an Elemental Hero monster is the attacker, so when his own turn comes, he can easily take revenge on Grandman.
But in the next instant, as Yugi reveals Grandman’s second effect, Yugi’s plan completely falls apart.
“I forgot to mention: besides ‘its own attack and defense depend on the combined levels of its Fusion Materials,’ Grandman has another effect! That’s where its true value lies!”
“Oh?”
Curiosity intensifies.
Taking a deep breath, Yugi slowly says:
“When Grandman destroys an opponent’s monster in battle, it can sacrifice itself to special summon an ‘Elemental Hero’ Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck, ignoring its summoning conditions! Though a monster summoned this way can’t attack monsters with lower levels than itself, it’s still a powerful effect!”
Yugi: “……”
Ah, this… is just broken.
“Now, I use Grandman’s effect to special summon the Level 8 Fusion Monster ‘Elemental Hero Shining Flame Wingman,’ ignoring its summoning conditions!”
Although this card isn’t in his deck yet, he has both Flame Wingman and Sparkman as materials, right? Besides, if you—Yugi—can pre-print ‘Spiral Spear Strike’ and post-print ‘Dark Dragon,’ why can’t I, Yugi, pre-print ‘Shining Flame Wingman’ now that I have the materials?
(Elemental Hero Shining Flame Wingman, Level 8, ATK: 2500)
“That’s… only 100 points higher than Grandman, right?” Yugi says, a little awkwardly.
“Yugi, take a closer look.”
“Hm?”
Yugi peers again at Shining Flame Wingman’s attack power, realizing its strength now completely outstrips Dark Dragon!
“This…!”
“One of Shining Flame Wingman’s effects is that for every ‘Elemental Hero’ monster in my graveyard, it gains 300 attack points!”
After such an intense duel, Yugi’s graveyard is already piled with Elemental Heroes:
At the start, Sparkman was normal summoned, then Clayman and Bubbleman were used for the fusion that brought out Clay Guardian, followed by the normal summoned Wildman, then Golden Captain who was discarded to search for Skyscraper, and finally the second Sparkman and Clayman fused to form Grandman.
A total of eight Elemental Hero monsters—8 × 300 + 2500 = 4900 attack points.
Everyone: “……”
“And finally, because Shining Flame Wingman was fused from ‘Flame Wingman’ and ‘Sparkman,’ he perfectly inherits Flame Wingman’s special effect! When he destroys a monster in battle and sends it to the graveyard, the opposing player takes damage equal to half the destroyed monster’s attack!”
Everyone: “……” (second time)
At this point, there’s no need to continue the duel. As Pegasus’s personal butler, the judge, an expert in Duel Monsters, immediately announces the result:
“By decision! Duelist Kingdom Semifinals: Yugi versus Yugi—the winner is Yugi! He will earn the right to challenge Master Pegasus in the finals!”