Daihara obeyed at once. The raptor cried out and charged forward, locking onto the Bowganian on Yugen's field in Defense Position.
"Then I activate my other Trap, Torture Wheel."
Yugen smiled and snapped his fingers.
"Use Torture Wheel to seal Gilasaurus's attack. As long as this card remains on the field, the bound monster cannot attack and cannot change its battle position."
The unlucky dinosaur slammed straight into the spiked wheel and was chained to it on the spot. It let out a miserable cry and could no longer move.
"Ahhh!" Kohara roared in fury.
Their only monster could not attack, and they could not Summon a new monster either. The more he looked at those Ojama projections on the field, the more irritated he became.
"Kohara, we..." Daihara began.
"Shut up!" Kohara snapped.
Daihara said nothing after that.
Watching this familiar scene from the back, Daichi Misawa was speechless for a moment. At some point, this style of Duel unique to Yugen had stopped feeling strange to him. Sometimes he even felt a little sympathy for the other side.
Of course, earlier in the day he had already heard Yugen's "deduction" and understood that the spider freak hunting Rare Cards was really the big Kohara from Yellow Dormitory. The masked Daihara was the one dueling in the open, but the one hidden away and giving commands was Kohara. The two of them were together every day and as close as real brothers, and maybe that was exactly why they could coordinate so perfectly.
But looking at this now, Daichi Misawa suddenly felt uneasy for no clear reason. With Yugen as their opponent, he could not help wondering whether their little boat of friendship might capsize tonight.
Just then, Asuka Tenjoin's voice came from behind him. "What's going on?"
"Asuka Tenjoin?" Daichi Misawa turned around.
"I was just passing by and heard the noise over here."
Asuka Tenjoin swept her gaze over the scene. When she saw Yugen in the middle of a Duel and the few Ojama projections on the opposite field, she seemed to understand immediately.
"So this time's victim... no, wait, who's the Duelist?"
She let that slip without thinking, and Daichi Misawa did not even find anything wrong with it. He only said, "The spider freak Duelist that's been going after Obelisk Blue students lately."
"I see. That's really miserable," Asuka Tenjoin said.
Daichi Misawa nodded in agreement. Of course, both of them knew the miserable one was definitely the spider freak.
"Then, my turn. Draw. First, I activate a Spell Card! 'Pot of Greed' and draw two more cards from the Deck."
Yugen drew his cards.
"During the Standby Phase, the effects of 'Bowganian' and 'Torture Wheel' activate. These two cards deal 600 and 500 damage to the opponent during the Standby Phase respectively, for a total of 1100 damage."
Daihara, LP 4000 -> LP 2900
"Damn it. Seal our Monster Zones, then slowly grind us to death like this?" Kohara said through clenched teeth.
"Next, I Normal Summon 'Submarineroid'."
Submarineroid, ATK 800
Submarineroid appeared, carrying its usual look of contempt for everything.
"Submarineroid can attack directly." Yugen waved his hand. "Go, torpedo shot!"
A humanoid torpedo slammed straight into Daihara's face, blasting him hard enough to make him grunt and stagger back half a step.
Daihara, LP 2900 -> LP 2100
"Damn it all!"
Kohara could only rage helplessly. Were they really going to stay locked in these zones and suffer Death by Dismemberment like this?
"After Submarineroid battles, it changes itself to Defense Position."
Submarineroid, ATK 800 -> DEF 1800
"Then My Turn! ends."
Yugen made that polite gesture again, inviting them onward. Come on, your turn again. No rush, take it slow. He had plenty of time to play Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Kohara: "..."
He stared at the field on the other side: Torture Wheel, Bowganian, and the submarine. Then he looked at the pile of Ojama junk clogging up his own field. A deep sense of helplessness washed over him all at once.
In just that single turn, he had already lost 1900 Life Points. On top of that, his Monster Zones were still locked down, leaving him no room to move. No matter how he looked at the cards left in his hand, he could not see any way to turn this around.
He could not recover this duel anymore.
"Don't give up!"
Daihara suddenly spoke.
The Kohara behind the scenes froze. "Daihara..."
But then he shook his head and clenched his teeth. "So what if I don't? This is that person from Yellow Dormitory. He was never someone we could beat in the first place.
"And with a field like this, I honestly can't see any hope of breaking through. After everything we've done, we still haven't even touched his Life Points.
"In this situation, are you really saying we can turn it around with just one Card Draw?"
Daihara fell silent for a moment. Then he said slowly, "Kohara, the truth is... when it comes to Duel, I know I'm far below you. I don't really understand it that well.
"But I do know this. Before, no one ever cared about me. It was only after I came to Duel Academy and ended up sharing a dorm room with you that things changed. When you got just as angry over what happened to me as if it had happened to you, I was really happy.
"The reason I did all this was never because I hated those arrogant elite students that much. I just wanted to do something for you too."
"Daihara..." Kohara was so moved that he could not speak for a moment.
"So..." Daihara stepped forward, his voice full of force. "Every duel until now has depended on you. We only made it this far because of your tactics. But now it's my turn... to do something for you!"
Yugen: "..."
No, had these two gotten something mixed up? They were the ones illegally hunting Rare Card, so why did their lines make it sound like he was the Big Bad?
"My Turn!, Card Draw!"
Daihara shouted as he drew, his arm slicing sharply through the air.
"I activate a Spell Card! 'Allure of Darkness'! Draw two cards from the Deck, then banish one DARK Monster from my hand!"
His momentum surged as he drew two more cards in one motion. The instant Kohara saw what he had drawn, his face froze.
"That card..." he said blankly. "At a moment like this, you actually drew that card. Daihara, you really did this for me..."
He quickly pulled himself together.
"Summon it, Daihara! This is proof of the bond between us. This is our move to turn the duel around!"
"Right!"
Daihara first pulled a card from his hand. "First, with the effect of 'Allure of Darkness', I banish the DARK 'Goblin Elite Attack Force' from my hand."
After banishing the card, he immediately played one of the cards he had just drawn.
"I tribute 'Gilasaurus' for a Tribute Summon! Appear now, break through this hopeless lockdown, and show the card that carries the bond between me and Kohara!
"Level 6, Prime Material Dragon, Summon!!!"
The velociraptor vanished into a vortex of sacrifice. From the light emerged a golden dragon whose body looked almost abstract.
Prime Material Dragon, ATK 2400.
"At the very last moment, he drew a Level 6 High-Level Monster, and it's even Prime Material Dragon, the natural enemy of burn effects..." Daichi Misawa said.
"Exactly." Asuka Tenjoin nodded. "As long as Prime Material Dragon is on the field, every effect that would deal Life Points damage is reversed into recovering Life Points instead.