"—The Sixth Heavenly Demon King descends upon this land! Banish Marie from the Graveyard and Special Summon the searched 'Heroic Spirit – Oda Nobunaga: Summer Demon King'!"
[Heroic Spirit – Oda Nobunaga: Summer Demon King ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][FIRE][Warrior/Effect][ATK 3000/DEF 2500]
[Effect: You can activate this effect by banishing 1 'Heroic Spirit' monster from your Graveyard. Special Summon this card from your hand in Defense Position.]
"Get hyped! Everybody—!!"
Even louder than Kaiba Man's draw call, the Summer Demon King fully embraced the holiday atmosphere, strumming her guitar as piercing notes rang out.
"When you talk about summer, it's swimsuits and rock 'n' roll! I am the long-awaited seaside Sixth Heavenly Demon King!"
Continuing the effect of Oda Nobunaga: Summer Demon King, Hoshino slammed a second monster card from her hand onto the Duel Disk.
"—Oda Nobunaga's effect! When this card is Special Summoned, choose 1 'Heroic Spirit' monster in your hand, negate its effects, change its Level to 8, and Special Summon it! Come forth—Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji!"
[Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji ★★★★★★★★ (Level 7 → Level 8)][WIND][Warrior/Effect][ATK 2500/DEF 2000]
Ever since gaining access to Xyz-specialized cards, the once-bricky duo could no longer clog Hoshino's hand. With Xyz-focused effects, she could now summon them in all kinds of creative ways.
["Aibo—two Level 8 monsters! Are you going for an Xyz Summon on the first turn?!"]
Okita & Nobunaga: "Heh, heh, heh! With our invincible Oki-Nobu Xyz monster, a mere Blue-Eyes White Dragon is nothing to fear!"
"No, no—you think I'm going for Xyz Summoning, but my true objective is…"
Drawing another monster card from her hand, moonlight glinting off her smile, Hoshino's lips curved into a mysterious grin.
"My real goal is to find an opening and slam Attila down to wipe you out!
I Tribute Nobunaga and Okita on the field to perform a Tribute Summon—Heroic Spirit – Altera!"
[Heroic Spirit – Altera ★★★★★★★★★ (Level 9)][LIGHT][Warrior/Effect][ATK 3350/DEF 2400]
Before any Xyz Summon could even begin, the bewildered Nobunaga and Okita were sent back to the Graveyard as Tributes, without understanding what had just happened.
"—The power of the God of War is in my hands!"
Raising her vividly colored Sword of the War God, Altera's Summon carved a destructive rainbow arc across the night sky.
Kaiba Man frowned. "What?! You didn't go for a Rank-8 Xyz—instead, you Summoned a monster from your hand?"
"Kaiba Man, it seems you still haven't grasped how serious this is. When that tasteless mask of yours gets blown off later, don't blame me!"
Hoshino waved her hand to enter the Battle Phase as Altera spun her Sword, concentrating magic capable of shattering entire civilizations at its tip.
"Battle! Altera effect—when this card destroys a monster by battle, that monster is banished face-down instead of being sent to the Graveyard!"
Not only did Altera possess Attack power surpassing Blue-Eyes White Dragon, she also had the ability to banish it face-down—Hoshino's ultimate anti-Kaiba weapon.
"I will not take your life… but I will destroy your civilization! (Photon Ray)!!"
A Noble Phantasm born from the fusion of Altera's fearsome legends as "God's Punishment" and "the Scourge of God," combined with the tale of her obtaining the sword of the war god Mars.
Its three-colored blade was said to destroy all existence upon the earth.
Upon True Name Release, the blade unleashed rainbow-like magical light, and Altera charged forward like a meteor, annihilating the enemy field in a wide-area assault.
"And when Altera destroys a monster, all cards with the same name as that monster are banished face-down from the opponent's Graveyard, hand, and Deck!"
The ultimate anti-Blue-Eyes Noble Phantasm—the Sword of the War God.
If this attack destroyed the Blue-Eyes White Dragon on Kaiba Man's field, then the civilization known as 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' would be completely erased from this duel.
"A troublesome effect indeed—but I won't let you resolve it so easily! Quick-Play Spell activated—Majesty with Eyes of Blue!"
[Majesty with Eyes of Blue – Quick-Play Spell Effect: Send 1 "Blue-Eyes" monster from your hand or Deck to the GY, then target 1 face-up monster on the field; it cannot attack while it is face-up on the field.]
"I send Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon from my Deck to the Graveyard! Be bound beneath the might of the emperor, Hoshino!"
But with a confident grin, Hoshino fired back immediately:
"I knew you'd try that, Kaiba Man! But today, you have to take this Sword of the War God!
Quick-Play Spell activated—Vessel of the Saint!"
[Vessel of the Saint – Quick-Play Spell Effect: Target 1 'Heroic Spirit' monster you control; that monster is unaffected by your opponent's card effects for the rest of this turn.]
"O holy vessel!"
Sacred light draped itself over Altera's smooth, alluring shoulders like a cloak of starlight.
With Hoshino's Quick-Play Spell targeting Altera, she became immune to the opponent's card effects. Even though Kaiba Man had already sent a Blue-Eyes monster to the Graveyard, the Sword of the War God would not halt its strike.
"Voice of the stars, fill my body! Shatter it—rotten civilization!"
With True Name Release at full power, the spiraling rainbow light of the Sword of the War God pierced straight through Blue-Eyes White Dragon from head to tail. Due to Altera's effect, however, no battle damage was inflicted.
Just as she always said—I will not take your life, but I will destroy your civilization.
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon banished]
At the same time, Kaiba Man's Duel Disk automatically ejected two cards from the top of his Deck, banishing them face-down as well.
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon banished] ×2
With the strategy executed perfectly, Hoshino put her hands on her hips and declared:
"A family should always stay together. Now all three Blue-Eyes are banished—let's see how you plan to keep dueling, Kaiba Man."
"Heh… heh heh heh—HAHAHAHA!"
Throwing his head back in laughter, Kaiba Man showed none of the panic or confusion Hoshino had expected after losing all three Blue-Eyes.
"Now this is getting interesting, Hoshino. You think you can defeat me just because I'm not using Blue-Eyes White Dragon?"
Hoshino frowned in suspicion.
"You're running a Blue-Eyes deck, and now you don't have a single Blue-Eyes left—and you're still this confident?"
Ending her Battle Phase, Hoshino activated Altera's effect during Main Phase 2.
[Once per turn, during your Main Phase: Your opponent declares a number from 2 to 4. Then both players banish that many cards from the top of their Decks.]
"Make your choice, Kaiba Man."
"Two!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Kaiba Man chose the smaller number. From this alone, it was clear that the Deck he was currently using couldn't precisely take advantage of resources in the banished zone.
On the other hand, Hoshino could retrieve banished cards through card effects.
The top two cards of the Deck were flipped and sent to the banished zone. After that, Hoshino set one card face-down on her Duel Disk and ended her turn.
"It's your turn, Kaiba Man!"
[Hoshino's: 0 Hand Cards | 1 Set Card]
"My turn! Draw!"
After drawing for the turn and bringing his hand up to three cards, Kaiba Man immediately activated a Spell.
"—I activate the Spell Card Trade-In!"
[Trade-In Spell Effect: Discard 1 Level 8 monster; draw 2 cards.]
"I discard the Level 8 monster Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon from my hand and draw two cards!"
Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon must reveal a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in the hand in order to be Special Summoned. However, with all of Kaiba Man's Blue-Eyes White Dragons banished, this card had effectively become a dead draw.
"Next, I activate the Spell Card Monster Reborn, reviving the Dragon that was just sent to the Graveyard!"
Pulling out Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon, Kaiba Man placed it onto the Monster Zone of his Duel Disk.
[Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][LIGHT][Dragon/Effect][ATK 2500/DEF 2500]
With long legs, a voluptuous figure, and a proud chest, the seductive white dragon spread its beautiful wings beneath the moonlight as it elegantly appeared on Kaiba Man's field.
["┌(.Д.)┐ It's that dragon with the amazing body again! No wonder Kaiba's movements weren't as rough as usual when he played that card just now."]
Hoshino shot back, "But Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon's effect requires Blue-Eyes White Dragon to be on the field or in the Graveyard to activate, right? In the current situation—"
"Hmph! While Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon exists in the Graveyard, its card name is treated as Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Raising his Duel Disk, the image of Alternative White Dragon appeared behind Kaiba Man.
The effect of Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon treats it as Blue-Eyes White Dragon only while it exists on the field or in the Graveyard. That was precisely why the card Kaiba Man had been holding earlier hadn't been banished by Altera's effect.
Hoshino exclaimed, "I thought it was a card you couldn't use—but instead, you took advantage of Alternative Dragon's name-substitution effect after sending it to the Graveyard? Using Blue-Eyes this skillfully… as expected of a true Blue-Eyes fanatic."
"Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon! Let them witness the power of chaos! I activate its effect—!"
[If "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" exists on your field or in your Graveyard: When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, you can add 1 Ritual Spell Card or 1 "Polymerization" from your Deck to your hand.]
A soaring dragon's roar guided the power of chaos as Kaiba Man stylishly caught the Ritual Spell Card launched from his Duel Disk.
"Ritual Spell Chaos Form! Feel this ultimate power that can shatter even the earth itself, Hoshino!"
[Chaos Form – Ritual Spell Effect: You can Ritual Summon 1 "Chaos" Ritual Monster from your hand by Tributing monsters from your hand or field whose total Levels equal that monster's Level, or by banishing "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" or "Dark Magician" from your Graveyard instead of Tributing.]
"I banish Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon from my Graveyard, whose name is treated as Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Black-and-white chaos effects flooded Kaiba Man's field. Alternative Dragon leapt forth, its pristine white body plunging into the ritual magic as a furious dragon's roar echoed across the sky.
"In the instant light and shadow intertwine, the ultimate chaotic form of Blue-Eyes is born! Kneel before absolute power!
Ritual Summon—Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon!"
[Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon ★★★★★★★★ (Level 8)][DARK][Dragon/Ritual/Effect][ATK 4000/DEF 0]
[Must be Ritual Summoned with "Chaos Form." This card cannot be targeted or destroyed by your opponent's card effects.]
"ROOOAAAR—!"
A dragon of darkness born from light—
the strongest MAX form of the Ritual White Dragon, Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon. As its massive legs crashed onto the ground, it looked as though it might tear the roof off Hoshino's villa.
["To think he could summon something like this without a single Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field… This Kaiba Man is truly something else."]
"Now my attack power surpasses Altera's! Battle!! Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon, attack!!!"
Kaiba Man roared with all his might, his voice resonating with the thunderous howl of Chaos MAX Dragon as it unleashed a chaos-rending strike that tore through the sky.
"—Under the MAX destructive jet of white light, be burned away down to every strand of your DNA!"
The chaotic aurora—boasting attack power that surpassed even the God of War—instantly swallowed Attila on Hoshino's field.
[Heroic Spirit – Altera destroyed]
The overwhelming realism of the energy made it impossible for Hoshino to even open her eyes as she faced Chaos MAX Dragon's attack head-on. If Tomoe Gozen hadn't been supporting her from behind, Hoshino might have been blown straight off the rooftop by that merciless blast of chaotic light.
Tomorrow's headlines might have read—
Duel Academy Headmaster Tragically Falls to Her Death from Her Own Rooftop
"Even so, because of Altera's effect, this battle deals no battle damage!"
"But my Battle Phase isn't over yet—and there's no monster left on your field to serve as a wall, Hoshino!"
Pointing stylishly toward the sky, Kaiba Man issued another attack order to the beautiful white dragon dancing beneath the moonlight.
"Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon, direct attack! Feel the white light of the frozen abyss!"
Silver radiance flooded the field as Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon struck at point-blank range, dealing the first massive Life Point damage of this duel.
[Hoshino Chiyuki LP 8000 → 5500]