Heroic Spirit Deck in Yu-Gi-Oh!-Chapter 354

"This guy is seriously annoying!"

That said, Hoshino had already anticipated that Kaiba wouldn't believe her. It didn't matter. As long as either Yugi or Kaiba believed her and agreed to let her take over the duel, that was enough.

"Sorry, Hoshino. I believe what you're saying... but I still want to finish this duel with Kaiba myself."

Annoying! One after another, you guys all act like this. Do you even understand what kind of mindset I had coming into the Pyramid of Light?

Irritated, Hoshino glanced at the stubborn but weakened Yugi beside her. Then, suddenly, an idea struck her.

In TV shows, the protagonist could knock out a teammate instantly with a precise karate chop to the carotid artery, creating the perfect opportunity to take on a dangerous mission alone.

"Yes, that's it!" Mimicking the stance from her memory, Hoshino raised her hand and brought it down hard.

"—Sorry, Yugi. But for the bigger picture, you'll have to take this finishing blow!"

Smack~

"Ouch! Hoshino, what are you doing?" Yugi winced, clearly in pain.

Huh? That's not how this is supposed to go. That strike should've knocked him out instantly. Did I mess up the posture?

Smack~!

With that thought, Hoshino delivered another chop—this one even harder—nearly bringing tears to Yugi's eyes.

"Stop hitting me! Did I do something to make you mad, Hoshino? I get that you're worried, but—"

Smack—!

"I get it, I get it! I'll let you take over the duel, okay?! Just stop hitting me already!"

After three chops, Yugi finally surrendered under the mysterious force of Hoshino's "negotiation tactics."

Rubbing her sore palm, Hoshino nodded in satisfaction. "TV shows really are full of lies. Oh well, at least I got the result I wanted. Now, all that's left is dealing with Kaiba."

Even Kaiba—usually proud and composed—struggled to maintain a straight face as he watched Hoshino's assault on Yugi. He couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that he hadn't been on the receiving end.

Taking Yugi's place, Hoshino activated her Duel Disk and stepped forward to face Kaiba directly.

"As I said, I'll be taking over this duel. The Graveyard, field, and Life Points remain unchanged. Both players draw until they have five cards. You have no objections, do you, Kaiba?"

Anyone could see Kaiba had a huge advantage on the field. Forcing a restart was hardly fair to him.

More importantly, considering Kaiba's current mindset, there was no way he'd willingly give up a victory that was already in reach.

"Oh? You're going to challenge my strongest Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon with only 100 Life Points and an empty field? If you want to throw away the title of Duel King, be my guest."

"So you're not stopping me. That means you accept the duel. In that case, no more wasted words—let's begin!"

Drawing five cards from her deck, Hoshino officially took over Yugi's place in the duel, ready to overturn the battle between light and darkness.

[Duel: Hoshino Chiyuki VS Seto Kaiba!]

Current Field—

[Seto Kaiba: Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon (ATK 4500), Peten the Dark Clown (ATK 500), 1 Set Card, Continuous Trap: The Pyramid of Light]

[Hoshino (Yugi): No monsters, 2 Set Cards]

Since Kaiba originally had no cards in hand, he also drew five under the agreed condition. Now, he had both field advantage and card resources.

From the sidelines, Yugi offered a serious warning. "Be careful, Hoshino. That Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon isn't just any monster."

"Yeah, I know!" Hoshino nodded. "Pegasus said it's a monster he designed to surpass even the gods. Sacrificing Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon just to summon it... that's some luxury."

Glancing at his new hand, Kaiba picked a card and slid it into his Duel Disk, creating a second Set Card at his feet.

"Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon gains 300 ATK for each Dragon in the Graveyard. I've got three Blue-Eyes White Dragons, one Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, and one Rare Metal Dragon—five Dragons total. That makes its ATK 4500, matching Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

Hoshino thought to herself, So its power scales with the number of Dragons in the Graveyard... If only I had Siegfried right now...

"I Set one more card and end my turn! Now, Hoshino—show me what kind of fight you can put up against this overwhelming power!"

[Seto Kaiba: 4 Hand Cards | 2 Set Cards]

Kaiba remained fully confident. His duel with Yugi had already proven the reliability of his Duel AI simulations. Even Hoshino couldn't defy the cold calculations that pointed toward his inevitable victory.

"My turn! Draw!"

As expected, she didn't draw Illya. But compared to before, at least one of her deck's secondary core cards was now in hand.

"—I summon [Magical Girl – Miyu] in Attack Position!"

[Magical Girl – Miyu ★★★★ (Level 4)][LIGHT][Spellcaster/Effect][ATK 1000 / DEF 1000]

A cute, black-haired girl wearing a school uniform identical to Illya's appeared on the field, wielding a blue sapphire wand.

"This time, since she didn't get to show up properly last duel, we'll work extra hard, Sapphire!"

Sapphire: "Target locked. Leave the support to me, Miyu-sama!"

Side note: Miyu's magical device, Sapphire, was the younger sister of Illya's Ruby—the latter being a notoriously perverted sentient staff. Unlike its eccentric sibling, Sapphire was surprisingly serious.

"A Magical Girl? Not a Heroic Spirit monster? What's this?"

Kaiba hadn't expected Hoshino to summon such an unfamiliar monster—especially not one without the "Heroic Spirit" prefix. He was momentarily thrown off.

If Hoshino had altered her deck with too many new monsters, it could cause discrepancies in his Duel AI's predictive simulations.

But after a moment of confusion, Kaiba regained his composure. "Hmph. At most, you've added a few new monsters like usual. A couple of new cards won't cause a qualitative change in your deck's overall strength."

However, Kaiba had no idea what was coming.

Even though Hoshino had only added two new monsters to her deck—those two alone were enough to completely revolutionize her strategy.

"Enter the Battle Phase—attack, Miyu!"

On Kaiba's field stood not only the overwhelmingly powerful Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, seemingly impossible to defeat, but also a monster with a mere 500 ATK—Peten the Dark Clown—clearly meant to bait an attack.

As Miyu swung Sapphire and fired a blast of starlight, Kaiba sneered in disdain.

"Heh, a reckless attack. You've fallen for it—going after the only monster on my field that can be destroyed without considering the consequences. Next turn, your monster in Attack Position will be the opening my Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon needs."

"Reckless? Kaiba, who do you think I am? Don't forget—when I took over this duel from Yugi, I also inherited the power he left behind! The one who's going to find a breakthrough here isn't your Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!"

Hoshino pointed at the two face-down cards Yugi had left on the field.

"Yugi, I'll be borrowing the cards you entrusted to me! Face-down Trap Card, activate—[Magician's Circle]!"

As Miyu's magical blast launched, a glowing six-pointed magic circle appeared beneath her feet, triggered by the trap.

[Magician's Circle – Trap Card Effect: When a Spellcaster monster declares an attack: Each player Special Summons 1 Spellcaster monster with 2000 or less ATK from their Deck in Attack Position.]

"Since Magician's Circle was activated when Magical Girl – Miyu declared an attack, both players can now Special Summon one Spellcaster-type monster with 2000 or less ATK in Attack Position!"

Drawing a card from her deck, Hoshino confidently slammed it onto her Duel Disk.

"This feeling...!" Miyu, sensing the familiar magical presence, beamed with excitement.

"Come forth! I Special Summon the Spellcaster monster—[Magical Girl – Illya]!"

A weak but relieved smile appeared on Yugi's face. "So my Magician's Circle ended up helping you, Hoshino. If you can summon Illya, then maybe you can turn the tide of this desperate battle—and create infinite possibilities."

[Magical Girl – Illyasviel ★★★★ (Level 4)][LIGHT][Spellcaster/Effect][ATK 1000/DEF 1000]

The adorable Illya, clad in the same school uniform as Miyu, floated gracefully onto the field. Thanks to the Spellcaster-specific trap Yugi had left behind, the magical girl duo now stood united.

"Love and justice, magical—no, no! I mean... Illya, 5th-grade elementary school student, and... well, I'm kind of a magical girl!"

Ruby: "Honestly, Illya, the line you were about to say would've made a great entrance!"

Illya: "I wasn't going to say anything!"

"When Illya is Special Summoned, her effect activates! I can add one Phantasm Summon card from my Deck to my hand!"

After successfully summoning Illya and searching a Spell Card, Hoshino turned to Kaiba. "Since Magician's Circle applies to both players, Kaiba—you can also Special Summon a Spellcaster with 2000 or less ATK."

Kaiba frowned, puzzled by Hoshino's play. "Another unfamiliar monster... a magical girl instead of a Heroic Spirit? What are you scheming, Hoshino?"

Despite his doubts, he complied. Magician's Circle was a mandatory effect—unless he had no eligible targets, he had to summon something.

"I only have one remaining Spellcaster-type monster in my Deck. Due to Magician's Circle, I'm forced to Special Summon it in Attack Position—[Peten the Dark Clown]."

[Peten the Dark Clown – ATK 500]

Kaiba's second Peten the Dark Clown appeared on the field—another frail monster with no offensive threat, and another easy target.

"Now—continue the attack! Miyu, Illya—take down both of his Dark Jesters!"

Standing side by side, the two magical girls raised their staves in perfect sync.

"Leave it to us, Master! Let's show them the power of magical girl teamwork!"

Ruby: "Ohhh, this is too beautiful! The perfect elementary schoolgirl friendship attack! I can die happy now!"

Sapphire: "Then hurry up and die, sister!"

Beams of pink and blue starlight fired from their wands, intertwining and blasting apart Kaiba's two Dark Jesters.

[Peten the Dark Clown ×2 – Destroyed]

[Kaiba Seto LP 3000 → 2000]

Inside the Pyramid of Light, the space trembled. Kaiba winced visibly—he wasn't immune to the pain this duel was inflicting.

Hoshino warned sharply, "Stop lying to yourself, Kaiba. You feel it too, don't you? This duel isn't normal. If this keeps up, I can't guarantee your safety!"

"Safety? Don't make me laugh! You think just because you destroyed my bait monsters, you've turned the duel around? Naïve!"

"So they were bait after all." Hoshino had suspected it—those weak clowns had clearly been set up to provoke attacks.

But even so, she had no choice. Using Magician's Circle to summon Illya was essential to her strategy.

"The moment my Dark Jester Peten was destroyed in battle, the virus of death had already begun infecting your entire Deck!"

From the shattered remains of the jesters, a thick purple mist erupted, spreading rapidly toward Hoshino's hand and Deck.

"—Face-down Trap Card, activate! [Crush Card Virus]! This card triggers when one of my DARK monsters with 1000 or less ATK is destroyed—it destroys all monsters in your hand, field, and Deck with 1500 or more ATK!" (Anime effect)

Using his Peten as the vector, Kaiba unleashed a viral curse, intending to purge Hoshino's most powerful monsters.

"A ruthless trap, Kaiba. But too bad for you—I don't have any monsters in my hand with 1500 or more ATK, and both Illya and Miyu only have 1000 ATK!"

Meaning Kaiba's terrifying Crush Card Virus had virtually no effect on the current state of the duel.

More importantly, if Hoshino had still been using her old Heroic Spirit Deck, the virus would've annihilated it. But with her new Magical Girl Deck, built around low-ATK spellcasters, the damage was negligible.

Kaiba wasn't a fool. He immediately noticed something was off—only a handful of cards from Hoshino's Deck had been destroyed. The discrepancy was too blatant to ignore.

"Hoshino… don't tell me—you changed your Deck?!"

(*****)

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