Ch.78Midterms of Doom (8)

“Hoeta… Please hang in there!!!”

I immediately started cheering.

Really… it can’t end like this!!!!

“Unicorn Warrior!! Attack!!!!”

Madoka immediately gave the attack command.

“Huuuuuh!!!”

Unicorn Warrior charged across the field.

KWAAAAAANG!!!!

The attack power of 3400 was quite painful.

Hoeta’s search card on the field, Little Orc, was instantly destroyed.

Diririririk-!!!

With the sound of life points being shaved away, Hoeta slumped down.

‘Life Points: 500’

Hoeta’s life was hanging by a thread. Moreover, his hand was reduced to just 2 cards.

His key ace, the Level 6 Orc Warrior, hadn’t even appeared yet.

His hand was depleted, and he didn’t have enough life points to survive the next turn.

He was cornered.

“Is this… the end.”

Sasits murmured, closing his eyes.

“N-No way…!”

But there really was no answer.

Hoeta’s expression was also tinged with a hint of despair.

That’s when it happened.

“Hoeta!!! Hang in there!!!”

“Don’t give up!! Hoeta!!!”

“Win for us!!!!!”

The students began cheering for Hoeta in unison.

“Everyone…..”

Hoeta looked up at the audience with wide eyes.

“Don’t give up!!! Hoeta!!! You still have one turn left!!!”

Even the announcer shouted, riding the wave of enthusiasm.

“Hoeta!!!”

At that moment, the doors to the arena opened. A man with dyed blonde hair and tanned skin appeared. On either side of him were two voluptuous foreign beauties clinging to him, showering him with affection.

“B-Brother!!!”

Hoeta’s eyes widened.

“I came on a short vacation!!! I… like our deck’s ace Orc Warrior!! I worked hard and created a harem!!! I won against my pathetic former self!!”

Hoeta’s brother shouted loudly.

“So!!! Don’t you give up either!!!!!”

Hoeta’s brother yelled loud enough to shake the arena.

“WOOOOOOOOH!!!!!”

The spectators in the stands all shouted at the passionate scene.

“Everyone….. Yes. It’s not over yet.”

Hoeta got up with a grin.

“I’ll bet everything on this draw!!!”

Hoeta shouted loudly, caressing his card deck.

“Hah! What do you think that will change?”

Madoka laughed, unable to hide her sense of victory.

Just then, my eyes in the audience met Hoeta’s.

FWASH-!!

In that moment, a vision appeared that only Hoeta and I shared.

“Hey. Are you going to collapse there pathetically?”

“You beat us. If you lose so miserably, it makes us look like total losers.”

The visions of the Four Heavenly Kings appeared and took Hoeta’s hand. Hey. Don’t touch Hoeta’s hand. The loser aura might be contagious.

“Four Heavenly Kings….!”

However, Hoeta seemed moved. Well, given the atmosphere, I decided to let it slide.

“The deck we created is strong. Trust the deck.”

Sasits’s vision also appeared, placing his hand over Hoeta’s.

“Master…..!”

Hoeta looked at Sasits’s vision.

“Hoeta. Grasp victory firmly in your hand.”

My vision also appeared, placing my hand over Hoeta’s.

“Well, well, well. Struggling in a place like this. How pathetic.”

Just then, a large man covered in bruises appeared. Yes, it was Jack.

“You’re… Barney…!!”

I muttered as I saw his vision. Honestly… I was confused by the appearance of someone completely unrelated.

“You’re the Gen Z who beat me, the king of Teletubbyland. Show them the fearsome power of Gen Z in this duel.”

Barney smiled, emphasizing his swollen lips from all the beatings.

“And…. everyone from Teletubbyland!!!”

In the distance, Tinky Winky, Laa-Laa, and Po were waving from a hill.

“Geruruk…. Geruruk….”

That wasn’t all. The strongest swordsman I’d ever met, Slime Warrior Geruruk, gave Hoeta a thumbs up.

“I don’t know who you all are…… but thank you. I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t fighting alone!!!”

Hoeta shouted, placing his hand on his card deck.

Honestly, a bunch of unrelated visions had appeared, but Hoeta was impressive for just going with the heartwarming atmosphere. This guy… he’s going to go far.

“A united heart….. leads me to victory!!!!”

Hoeta said those words as he drew his card.

“Aaah!! Player Hoeta!!! He’s made the draw of destiny!!!”

With the announcer’s shout, the crowd fell silent.

Being in the stands, I couldn’t see what card he had drawn.

However, Hoeta was smiling.

“Kujo Madoka!!! I’ll make a declaration here that will be the first and last of its kind!!!”

Hoeta smiled with overflowing confidence.

“Your next turn will never come!!!! I’ll end this here!!!”

At Hoeta’s shout, the spectators erupted in cheers.

“WOOOOOOH!!!!!! Amazing!!! Hoeta!!!”

“What a line!!!!!”

The execution BGM was already playing in the spectators’ minds. That famous BGM was playing in my head too.

“Quick-Play Spell!!!! I activate ‘Self-Reflecting Streamer’!!!!!”

With Hoeta’s shout, a green chroma key background appeared across the field.

A streamer in a suit appeared and bowed at a 90-degree angle.

“I apologize.”

It was the textbook example of a proper apology.

“Each player sends all cards in their hand to the graveyard. Then draw 5 new cards!! When the next turn comes, all five cards are sent to the graveyard!”

Hoeta immediately activated the effect.

“That guy….. he’s betting it all.”

Sasits exclaimed with wide eyes. Yes. It was a gambling card that temporarily refreshed the hand, focusing solely on this one turn. If he couldn’t make a play with the newly drawn five cards, Hoeta would inevitably lose.

This guy… has he started to believe in his cards?

And Hoeta drew five cards in succession.

Ping-!!

Though it was probably just my imagination, those five cards were glowing.

“Next I summon the normal monster!!! Yo-yo Fish!!! Special summon three Level 4 or lower monsters from my hand!! On the next turn, send all specially summoned monsters to the graveyard.”

Hoeta immediately normal summoned a monster card.

With this… he’s used up his normal summon.

FWASH-!!

A fat fish-human was summoned to the field. The setting was that he had gained weight due to the yo-yo effect while dieting.

“Give me more food!!”

As the fish wailed, three Level 4 or lower monsters from his hand were summoned by the effect.

‘Elf Queen Riel’

‘Elf Princess Ciela’

And… the sub-ace card ‘Orc Warrior Who Started an Adventure’ was summoned.

“Now I activate a spell card!!!!! Fusion!!! Fuse these three to summon ‘Orc Warrior Who Succeeded in Mother-Daughter Bowl’!!!!”

Hoeta continued his play.

FWAAAASH-!!!

As the three cards fused, ‘Orc Warrior Who Succeeded in Mother-Daughter Bowl’ jumped out from the Extra Deck.

Its attack power was a whopping 5000.

“And!!! I activate the spell card Quick Attack!!! Monsters normal or special summoned this turn can attack immediately!!”

Hoeta immediately activated the spell card.

“Mother-Daughter Bowl Orc!!! Attack Unicorn Warrior!!!”

Hoeta raised his hand.

“URYAAAH!!!”

The Orc Warrior immediately swung his sword at Unicorn Warrior.

FWASHAAAAK-!!!!

With that, Unicorn Warrior was split in half.

“UGAAAACK?!! A married heroine… I cannot accept this!!!!”

With a desperate scream, Unicorn Warrior was immediately reduced to dust.

“KUUUGH!!!!”

That reduced Madoka’s life points by 1600.

“Next, Yo-yo Fish attacks directly!!!”

Hoeta began using all available resources.

PWOOORK-!!

Yo-yo Fish immediately headbutted Madoka. That shaved off another 400 points.

He had forced in a total of 2000 damage.

“That’s not enough. What does that change?”

Madoka forced a smile as she spoke. Indeed. Madoka still had 3000 life points remaining.

“I told you!! Your turn will never come!!!”

Then, Hoeta drew a card from his hand.

“Field Spell!!! I activate Dr. Krigon’s Laboratory!!!! When there’s a Fusion Monster on the field, send the Fusion Monster to the graveyard and special summon the monsters that were used as fusion materials!!!”

Hoeta immediately activated the field spell.

FWAAASH-!!

As an eerie laboratory appeared on the field, the fusion monster in the test tube was immediately defused.

“N-No way….!!”

With that, Madoka seemed to sense her impending defeat.

“Elf Queen Riel!!! Elf Princess Ciela!! Orc Who Set Out on an Adventure still has the Battle Phase remaining!! Direct attack with the effect of Quick Attack spell!!!!”

Hoeta smiled triumphantly.

Each monster’s attack was 1500. If all three attacked at once, it would shave off 4500 points. Yes. It was Madoka’s defeat.

“Impossible….!!! This is cheating!!!”

Madoka screamed as if wronged.

“URYAAAAH!!!!!”

The monsters’ direct attacks struck Madoka.

KWAAAAAAANG-!!!!!!!

DIRIIIIIING-!

Madoka’s life points immediately dropped to zero.

“I-I lost…..”

Madoka slumped down in her seat, dumbfounded.

“AAAAH!!! PLAYER HOETAAAAA!!!!!! A dramatic victory!!!!!!!”

With the announcer’s shout, the audience erupted in cheers.

“WAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!”

“Hoeta!!! Amazing!!!!!!!!”

And so, the duel tournament concluded.

——

After the tournament, Hoeta immediately ran toward us.

“Big bro!! Master!! Thank you!!!”

Hoeta said with a bright smile to our group.

“And…. thanks for coming, brother.”

Then, Hoeta smiled at his real brother. Hoeta’s brother grinned in response.

“Thank you for winning.”

I patted Hoeta’s head.

Yeah. If he had lost, he would have inevitably become a slave. Really, what a relief.

This victory was meaningful for Sasits too.

The condition for maxing out his affinity with Hoeta was winning the duel tournament. With this, Sasits would have maxed out his communication with Hoeta.

The reward for max communication was the physical-type psycho-robo that would be used until the final chapter, ‘Ox King Unit 799.’ Since I know the recipe, I’ll give Sasits a hint later. This would strengthen our party’s fighting power.

“And……”

I definitely made a bet with Madoka.

I couldn’t help but smile broadly at the thought of teaching Madoka a lesson.

Just then, my girlfriends woke up.

“What happened? How did it go?”

Umi asked with a yawn.

Really… missing this epic match. They lost half their life’s worth. I thought with a bitter smile.