"Fusion Summon? Not bad, Sho!"
Seeing the new Machine-type monster appear on Sho's field, Judai was momentarily stunned, then offered his praise again.
Although Steamroid has an effect that increases its ATK by 500 during its attack, when it's attacked instead, the effect reverses—reducing its ATK by 500 during the Damage Step.
Now, through the use of Fusion Magic for a Fusion Summon, although the two effect monsters became a vanilla Fusion Monster, it also eliminated Steamroid's disadvantage during the opponent's turn. What's more, Steam Gyroroid is a monster with a high ATK of 2200—not easy to get past.
But… will things go as they hoped?
"Trap Card, Blast Held by a Tribute, activate! Both players take damage equal to the original ATK of the Fusion Monster Steam Gyroroid!"
"Nani?!"
A ring of eight green grenade-shaped devices locked around Steam Gyroroid's neck. Before the monster could react and remove them—BOOM!—a loud explosion rang out, shattering it into pieces! As its controller and the activator of the trap, both Yuuya and Sho each took 2200 points of damage.
(Sakaki Yuya: 2500 LP → 300 LP)
(Sho Marufuji: 1700 LP → 0 LP)
A single Blast Held by a Tribute ended the duel instantly.
Scene Transition
"Even though we lost, we did pretty well in the second half. And through this duel, I've pretty much gotten a sense of how far you've come in terms of dueling."
Putting away his Duel Disk, Yuuya walked over to Sho and helped him up from the ground, where he had been knocked down by the combined efforts of two HERO monsters.
"By the way, can I take a look at your hand?"
Yuuya suddenly became curious about Sho's remaining cards. He wanted to see if Sho had made full use of the resources at his disposal.
"Sure."
Sho handed over his remaining two cards. One was a spell card exclusive to his "roid" deck, and the other—was a powerful Machine-type spell card:
Power Bond!
A fusion spell card was exclusive to Machine-types. The Fusion Summoning part functions similarly to Polymerization, but any Machine-type Fusion Monster summoned with this card gains ATK equal to its original ATK.
At first glance, it seems like a powerful card—but it has a major drawback: At the end of the turn it's activated, and the player takes damage equal to the amount of ATK the summoned monster gained from the effect!
You could say Power Bond is a do-or-die card. Calling it a high-stakes, all-or-nothing OTK (One Turn Kill) card wouldn't be an exaggeration!
"Sho, you've got such an amazing card—why didn't you use it?"
Looking at the Power Bond in Yuuya's hand, Judai turned toward his junior. Regardless of the outcome, during the duel, why didn't he use such a great card? Sure, the recoil is dangerous, but if you defeat your opponent before the end phase, it's all good!
"Because that's a card my brother personally sealed away. My dueling ability still hasn't reached the level needed to use it."
Who said he didn't want to use it?! Back when he was still in elementary school, he had already thought of using that card in a duel—but his older brother had stopped him, saying he wasn't yet skilled enough to wield such a powerful card.
"Hmm… I suppose I can help you reach the minimum level required to use it."
Yuuya said thoughtfully. Under Sho's hopeful gaze, he picked up the card and showed him the artwork:
"I'll do my best to help you in the coming days. Whether or not it works out in the end… will depend on your potential."
"I'll work hard, Professor Yuuya!"
With a powerhouse like Yuuya as his teacher and the intense pressure of the upcoming tag-team duel just a few days away, Sho was determined to give a thousand percent of his effort into studying!
Not only did he want to avoid dragging his big bro Judai down, but he also wanted to prove to his real brother that he was now capable of using that once-sealed card!
Scene Transition
During the period when Yuuya was tutoring Sho, two other "interesting" events took place.
The first—
Upon learning that Sho's biological brother, Ryo Marufuji, was also enrolled at this Duel Academy—and was even a top third-year student of the Obelisk Blue dorm—Judai immediately wrote him a letter, formally requesting a duel.
Ryo, who was already intrigued by Judai—especially after hearing he had defeated Professor Chronos during the entrance exam—agreed to the challenge without hesitation. The fact that his little brother had acknowledged Judai as his "big bro" only further motivated him to accept.
As for how the duel played out, Yuuya didn't know—he had been too busy tutoring Sho to go and watch. But according to Asuka, Judai ended up losing to Ryo!
"As expected! I knew it—
If both duelists have about the same level of luck, or at least if the opponent's luck isn't awful, then if the opponent's raw skill is greater, Judai will inevitably lose."
From Yuuya's point of view, in Duel Monsters, raw skill accounts for at least 60%, luck for at most 30%, and the final 10%.
That's reserved for external factors—
Things like Dark Games created by dark energies. These are considered "outside influences." If a duelist lacks mental fortitude, even with full power, they may not be able to utilize even 90% of their potential in a duel!
The second incident—
Hayato Maeda, a student who had repeated a year, received a visit from his father, Moyama Maeda, who came to the Duel Academy and sought out the Osiris Red dorm supervisor, Dr. Banner. He wanted his son to drop out and return home to help run the family's shochu liquor business.