A Heart to Duel For; Yu-Gi-Oh! Protagonists x Reader

Chapter 7: Fighting the Flames

Taking a moment to recollect myself, I continued on. I couldn't let one mistake cost me the entire duel. Things were just starting after all.

"Michael's effect activates in the graveyard. I can choose any number of Lightsworn monsters in my graveyard and shuffle them back into the deck. Then I gain 300 life points for each one I shuffle back," I explained.

I looked at all of the cards in my graveyard and searched for a certain one. "I choose Wulf the Lightsworn Beast."

I saw confusion spread over Takeru's face, and I couldn't help but smile at that. He'd see why I chose only one monster soon enough. I took the card and slipped it back into my deck. The duel disk shuffled my deck with a soft whir and then I felt a glow of warmth as I gained 300 life points, putting me at 7,100.

"I normal summon Lyla the Lightsworn Sorceress in attack mode," I said, smiling once I saw the dark haired girl on my field, her long translucent cape flapping behind her.

"I activate her effect to target your facedown and destroy it while Lyla gets switched into defense mode." As soon as I said it, Lyla's golden staff began to glow, shooting out a dazzling golden beam onto Takeru's other facedown card and making the card fizzle into dust.

Takeru held up his duel disk defensively against the blast, his jaw clenched, but he was otherwise unharmed.

"Now I activate Solar Recharge. I discard this–" I showed him the final card in my hand: a second Wulf–"and now I draw two cards from my deck. Then I send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard."

I pursed my lips after I sent Wulf to the graveyard. I just had to hope for a good draw now. I had no more cards in my hand left so whatever I drew, it had to be big. Big enough to do something.

I took in a small breath, my hand on my duel disk and ready to draw. Please. . .

Looking at the cards triumphantly, I pumped my fist in excitement and relief. This could potentially save me if I did it right. But first I had to discard the two cards on the top of my deck. I drew them one after the other and looked at them before putting them in the graveyard.

"Performage Damage Juggler activates from the grave," I said to Takeru. "I use his effect to banish himself, and now I can get another Performage monster from my deck to my hand."

I took the card out of the graveyard and stowed it in my pocket to act as the banished zone since the duel disks didn't come with an actual slot for banished cards.

Looking through my deck, I found the monster I wanted. "Here's Performage Hat Tricker. Since there's two monsters on the field, I can special summon him." I put the monster in defense mode.

I glanced at the two cards in my hand. Danger! Mothman! and Twilight Eraser. What I had to do was crystal clear. Even if using Mothman's effect was dangerous, it was worth the risk. And I had a backup plan even if it didn't work.

I looked up at Takeru and showed him my Danger! Mothman! "I activate Mothman from my hand," I said. "I reveal him and now you pick a random card from my hand. His effect depends on which card you end up choosing. If it's Mothman, he goes to the graveyard and we each draw from our decks and discard a card. If not, then I discard the card and special summon Mothman."

He was surprised, but smiled. "Are you sure you want to take that gamble?" I knew he was referring to my failure with Michael. And if this backfired too, then it would be even harder to turn the duel in my favour.

I smiled back, nodding. "A duel wouldn't be fun without risks." I didn't just have to trust my cards now. I had to trust Takeru as my opponent too.

I shuffled the cards around and then held them out. Two projections of the cards appeared on the field in front of me for Takeru. He looked at the cards thoughtfully. I could almost see the gears turning in his head, trying to see which card would be better for him to pick.