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

Chapter 9: Second Round Rev Up

The duel started off quickly. It had felt like only minutes ago that I was dueling Takeru, but really it had been nearly half an hour ago. If I won now against Yusei, I'd be able to go to the final match. And then I'd bring honor to Adelfell!

"Your turn (Y/n)," Yusei said after he finished his first turn. He had summoned a synchro monster called Turbo Warrior and set two cards in the spell/trap zones.

I realized he wanted to try to stop Michael if I summoned him, since Turbo Warrior's effect lets him half the attack of a level six or higher synchro monster when Turbo Warrior declares an attack on it, and my Michael was a level seven so he wouldn't be safe from that. Even though Michael did have more attack points than Turbo Warrior, I didn't want to risk it in case Yusei's facedowns were dangerous.

I drew out a card and looked at my hand. What could I do here?

"I'm going to use this," I said, putting a familiar card into one of my magic zones, "Charge of the Light Brigade." It was how I started off my duel against Takeru, but I would be doing something completely different if I could get the right cards.

I took three cards from the top of my deck and put them in the graveyard and then looked through my deck to get Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn.

Now my hand consisted of Raiden, Lumina, Goblindbergh and Performage Trick Clown as well as the spell card Solar Recharge and my Twilight Eraser trap card.

"I'll throw down a facedown and normal summon Goblindbergh in attack mode and activate his effect," I said.

I brought out Lumina and then used her to get Raiden. Then I activated Raiden's effect, sending another two cards from my deck to the graveyard.

"Here's Wulf, the Lightsworn Beast," I said, seeing that Raiden's effect had sent the beast-warrior off to the graveyard, which allowed me to special summon him.

I took a moment to look at my field, recalling all of my extra deck options and seeing which would be the best to use. My plan quickly started to form and I grinned.

"Link summon!" I declared. "I summon Curious the Lightsworn Dominion!"

My three Lightsworn monsters lit up, rising into the circuit that appeared over my field.

A ray of sunlight beamed down into the circuit, and my Link monster materialized, a wise looking woman wearing extravagant gold and white robes. She wore a tall crown on her head and held a staff with a small balance scale attached to it.

"Curious has an effect when she is Link summoned," I explained. "I get to send any card from my deck to the graveyard, and then I send off another three from the top of my deck."

I showed him the card I was sending to the graveyard. "I choose Felis the Lightsworn Archer. And when she is sent to the graveyard by a monster effect, I get to special summon her too."

I brought Felis to my field in defense mode and then sent off three cards to my grave.

"Nice combo." Yusei complimented.

"Thanks." I smiled. "I'm not done though. I XYZ summon Minerva the Exalted Lightsworn."

She was the final ace of my deck. Felis cocked an arrow and shot it above herself and Goblindbergh. Gold sparks fizzled in the air and landed over the two level four monsters. They disappeared and the elegant figure left standing on my golden field was a girl dressed in white. Frills laced her gold accented dress, and her red hair was covered with a hooded cape. She flapped her delicate wings and raised her gloved hand, silently calling for a giant snowy owl that flew down to her from out of nowhere. In her other hand she gripped a staff, less decorated than Curious but still just as stunning.

"I activate her effect. I detach Felis and then I can send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard. If there are any Lightsworn cards then I get to draw that many."

Only one card was a Lightsworn, so I drew out a card from my deck.

Minerva had a second effect. If she was destroyed in battle, I could send another three cards from my deck to my graveyard and then destroy the same amount of cards that were Lightsworn ones. And that was how I could destroy Yusei's monster and possibly at least one of his back-row cards.

"Minerva, attack Turbo Warrior!" I commanded.

My monster raised her staff to strike, but Yusei was quick to counter the attack.

"Not so fast! I'm using my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow," he said, revealing one of his facedowns. "I'm negating Minerva's attack and then I get to set my trap card again instead of sending it to the graveyard."

The trap card lowered face down again on the field while Minerva returned back to my side. Yusei's move was really smart. I'd have to take out Scrap-Iron Scarecrow first before I could use my monsters to attack. He saved himself by not allowing me to destroy Minerva in the battle.

"I'm ending my turn then," I said. There wasn't anything else I could do. I'd just have to bet everything on my own trap card. I'd definitely be taking out Yusei's trap. And the safest thing seemed to be to take out his other facedown too. I could deal with Turbo Warrior and any other monster he summons by trying out Minerva's attack and destruction effect again.

"My draw." Yusei drew from his deck. His face was serious, just like it had been during his duel with Yuya.

"I summon my Junk Synchron and use him to get my Synchron Carrier from my graveyard," he said. His two monsters appeared in quick flashes next to Turbo Warrior. "Now I'm going to synchro summon with them to make Accel Synchron."

I interrupted him before he could do anything else. "I'm using my trap card," I said, revealing Twilight Eraser. "Curious and Minerva have the same attribute so I'm going to banish Felis and Wulf from my graveyard and then I get to banish two cards on the field."

Yusei pursed his lips but nodded. "Go ahead."

"I'm banishing both of your facedowns," I told him.

Two beams of light opened up under Yusei's facedowns, burning the holographic projections of them. He shielded himself from it with his duel disk and then lowered it down, taking a defensive stance again.

"Continuing from where I left off, I use Accel's effect. I'm sending my Changer Synchron from my deck to the graveyard and reduce Accel Synchron's level by one, making him level four."

"Now synchro summon!" Yusei raised his duel disk up. "You already saw Stardust Dragon so I'll show you something else. Meet my Stardust Warrior!"

Rings appeared around his monsters, and then a much larger ring appeared in front of them, revealing his Stardust Warrior. Its armor was the same colours as Stardust Dragon, and it had two mechanical wings on its back.

"I'm moving to the battle phase," Yusei said. "Stardust Warrior, attack Curious."

I grunted as it destroyed my monster. "Curious's effect activates when she's destroyed. I get to add a card from my grave to my hand."

I took out all of the cards in my graveyard to look through them. I had milled a lot of good cards like Judgment Dragon, Reinforcement of the Army and Monster Reborn. But I could only pick one of them. So which one?

"I'm going with my Judgment Dragon." I decided.

That should be the right choice. After all, he had saved me in my duel against Takeru. I'm sure he can save me again.

I took it out and put all of the cards back in the graveyard.

"I'm ending with a facedown," Yusei said, then looking over at me expectantly.

It was my turn now, and that meant Judgment Dragon would rise again.

A/N: It's been a while! How have you all been? I'm so glad I finally got this chapter up. Writing duels is getting progressively tougher but I think I'm managing it pretty well! Let me know what you think will happen next. I'll try to get out the next chapter soon. Also a big thank you for 1K views, lovely readers. Your support is what keeps me updating this story and I thank you for that. Have a good day/night!