"16000 DEF?! This time, Jaden really slammed straight into a wall!"
Looking up at the massive mechanical Camelot wall summoned by Mash on the field, everyone cried out in shock while also breaking into a cold sweat for Jaden.
"This is way more than just hitting a wall — that's practically a steel plate! The kind that'll crush you to pieces the moment you crash into it!" Minazuki said.
"If the DEF damage hits directly, then without question, Jaden's Life Points will immediately drop to zero, giving Headmistress the victory in this duel," Bastion added.
"How could this happen… getting beaten to death by a shield…" Blair lowered her head unwillingly. "Even I know Headmistress is strong, but losing like this is way too frustrating for Jaden-sama…"
However, standing at the very center of the dueling vortex and facing Mash's mechanical fortress head-on, the emotion visible on Jaden's face was not panic, but excitement.
"So cool! So this is a Grand Order-level Spirit Origin exoskeleton?! To actually reach 16000 DEF — just what you'd expect from Mash! …But a hero's attack won't end here!"
Without retreating — more accurately, with nowhere left to retreat — Jaden firmly declared Masked HERO Koga's attack trajectory as it collided head-on with Camelot's wall.
"Jaden, there are some things that can't be overcome through sheer spirit alone," Hoshino countered.
Even the full-powered strike of Masked HERO Koga could never shake the fortress-like mechanical wall with its mere 3500 ATK.
"And at the same time, you'll take reflected damage equal to the difference between DEF and ATK, Jaden!"
"Of course I'll take it — and I'll accept it with gratitude!"
Flipping over the second face-down card he had set earlier, rainbow-colored life energy exploded around Jaden's body.
"—Trap Card activated: Rainbow Life! By discarding one card from my hand, all damage I take this turn becomes zero, and I recover Life Points equal to the amount of damage I would have taken!"
The attack reflected back by Camelot's wall was completely absorbed by Jaden's Trap Card.
[Jaden LP 5500 → 18000]
"What a generous gift, Sensei~"
With his Life Points skyrocketing to nearly 20,000, Jaden stood bathed in the rainbow radiance emitted by the activated Trap Card.
"Jaden-sama, amazing!" Sweeping away her earlier despair over Jaden's possible defeat, Blair cheered excitedly. "Not only did you block the defensive damage, your Life Points recovered all the way to 20,000! That's a huge advantage!"
"And this turn, I still haven't attacked with Air Hummingbird yet!"
Continuing the Battle Phase, Jaden pointed toward the similarly Special Summoned attacking-form Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird after Contact Out, a smug grin spreading across his face.
"Suddenly getting this many Life Points almost makes me feel embarrassed~ Air Hummingbird, attack Mash!"
Using Air Hummingbird's mere 800 ATK to crash into Camelot's mechanical gate, Jaden was obviously relying on Rainbow Life's effect to intentionally take as much damage as possible and convert it into recovered Life Points instead.
"By the effect of Rainbow Life, turn all battle damage Air Hummingbird takes into my Life Points!"
[Jaden LP 18000 → 33200]
"A complete comeback! With this many Life Points, isn't it basically the same as winning already?!" Blair excitedly waved both arms in the air, her earlier frustration and worry completely gone. "Go! Go, Jaden-sama!"
"(｡・`´･) You little brat, you seriously don't understand anything at all!"
Akasha shot an annoyed glance at the wildly cheering Blair and retorted:
"The more Life Points a duelist has, the more dangerous they are. Real strong duelists don't need Life Points — they just need to survive at 1 HP! Go get him, Hoshino-nee! This Jaden's gotten way too cocky already, beat him up!"
"Akasha-senpai, you're the one being ridiculous. That whole 'survive with low Life Points and reverse the duel' thing is just unreliable dueling superstition. Even elementary school textbooks — Fundamentals of Dueling, Volume 1 — clearly explain this!"
Puffing her cheeks, Blair refused to back down as she argued:
"In a real duel, having lower Life Points doesn't somehow make you stronger. Looking at it from both numbers and resources, having more Life Points is obviously an advantage!"
"That's why I'm saying you're still too young, kid~ I can't be bothered explaining it to you."
Shrugging her shoulders, Akasha — despite being the one who started the argument — now acted like an adult unwilling to bicker with a child.
"So unfair, Akasha-senpai!!" Blair angrily stuck out her tongue at her.
While the two women argued noisily outside the duel, inside the arena, Jaden, having finished his Battle Phase, further activated Air Hummingbird's effect.
"Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird can, once per turn, restore 500 Life Points for each card in the opponent's hand."
In front of Hoshino, the three virtual cards displayed by the AR system suddenly bloomed with crimson flowers and were absorbed by the hummingbird.
[Jaden LP 33200 → 34700]
"You already have that many Life Points and you're still forcing more recovery? Be careful you don't bite off more than you can chew, Jaden."
"My opponent is you, Sensei. I won't overlook even a single 10 Life Points. If I want to win, I have to bet everything I can use!"
Carefully inserting the last card from his hand into the Duel Disk, Jaden ended his turn.
"But even for you, Sensei, dealing with this many Life Points has to be a headache, right~"
[Jaden: 0 Hand Cards | 1 Set Card]
"I can't deny it. Thirty thousand Life Points… if I said it wasn't troublesome, I'd definitely be bluffing."
As Jaden's turn ended, the 1000 ATK buff granted to Bride Nero Illya also disappeared.
[Bride Nero Illya ATK 3300 → 2300]
"My turn, draw!"
As Hoshino drew the virtual card appearing before her at the start of the turn, she smoothly activated the effect of the Continuous Spell Card Install.
"By the effect of Install, during my Standby Phase, I can Special Summon one Level 4 'Magical Girl' monster from my Graveyard with its effects negated. Come back, Illya~"
[Magical Girl – Illya DEF 1000]
Illya's small and agile magical girl form reappeared, lightly stepping onto the gate of the mechanical Camelot fortress.
"What a huge shield. If it's this big, Miyu would definitely love it~"
Ruby: "This naturally seductive elementary schooler is casually saying dangerous things again."
"And this turn, I switch Heroic Spirit – Mash Kyrielight Grand Order from Defense Position to Attack Position!"
As Hoshino changed the orientation of the Xyz Mash card on her Duel Disk, the gigantic mechanical Camelot gate suddenly began to shake violently and transform.
"Grand Order Mash's effect — every time 1 Xyz Material is detached, its ATK and DEF are doubled. And after detaching 3 materials last turn, it wasn't just the DEF that got multiplied eightfold!"
"O distant utopian city that still remains afar — mode change!"
Amid crisp mechanical clanking sounds, the wildly transforming Camelot wall shifted — the fortress foundation became legs, the gate pillars transformed into arms, and it transformed into a colossal humanoid Camelot mech towering over the earth.
[Mash Grand Order ATK 8000]
"Senpai, Grand Order-level Spirit Origin exoskeleton transformation complete! This is the Distant Utopian City Still Beyond Reach — Assault Mode!"
The gigantic Crown-designated exoskeleton mech with 8000 ATK concealed terrifying explosive power beneath its jet-black steel frame, every bit as overwhelming as its impregnable defense.
Hoshino exclaimed excitedly:
"Now this is what you call a burning soul of steel, Mash!"
Standing atop the mech's shoulder, Mash eagerly replied:
"As long as Senpai likes it~ Grand Order Spirit Origin Exoskeleton Mash is ready for deployment at any time!"
Staring directly at Hoshino and the absurdly massive Camelot mech on the field, Kaiba remarked:
"To materialize a monster that transcends common sense like this… only the Duel Links system could accomplish something like it."
"And the Duel Links system adjusts its output based on the duelist's strength of will," Mokuba added. "Doesn't this also prove just how enormous Hoshino's willpower as a duelist really is, Brother?"
"I already knew that." Kaiba narrowed his eyes with a smirk. "Though she's worrying in plenty of other ways, when it comes to dueling, that woman won't lose to anyone."
"Go, Hoshino-nee! With 8000 ATK, one slam from that shield will finish the duel!"
"Don't be scared, Jaden-sama! Even with 8000 ATK, it still can't deal decisive damage right now!"
Like cheerleaders from opposing factions, Akasha and Blair shouted desperately from outside the arena, each refusing to let the other side drown out their voice.
"8000 ATK, huh? I can't just ignore that! I activate the effect of Masked HERO Koga!"
[Once per turn, you can banish 1 "HERO" monster from your Graveyard, then target 1 face-up monster on the field; that target loses ATK equal to the banished monster's ATK until the end of the turn.]
"At the very least, I'll use the heroic spirit of adversity from my Graveyard to heavily damage that mech!" Pulling a card from his Graveyard, Jaden declared, "I banish Elemental HERO Grand Neos from my Graveyard — strike back, Koga!"
The light-speed Masked HERO gathered the heroic spirit of Grand Neos into his weapon and swung with all his might, carving a deep slash into the exoskeleton armor of the giant Camelot mech.
[Mash Grand Order Mecha ATK 8000 → 5500]
Holding his head helplessly, Jaden sighed:
"Even after lowering it by 2500 ATK, it's still at 5500… that hardly counts as heavily damaging it. But at least now that you've got more monsters on your field, Koga's ATK also increases."
[Masked HERO Koga ATK 3500 → 4000]
"Then I activate the effect of the Continuous Spell Card Install, sending the two Magical Girl monsters on my field to the Graveyard as Fusion Material!"
Fusion effects appeared, enveloping both Magical Girl – Illya and Heroic Spirit – Nero Bride – Illya together.
Alexis frowned in confusion.
"But the effect of Install lets you choose materials directly from the Deck when Fusion Summoning a 'Magical Girl' Fusion Monster."
"Isn't it obvious?" Akasha explained. "By choosing the two monsters on the field as materials, Hoshino-nee is obviously planning to fuse a non-Magical Girl Heroic Spirit monster!"
After sending the two Illyas into the AR Duel Disk's Graveyard area as Fusion Material, Hoshino directly thrust her hand into the physically manifested fusion effect on the field and forcibly pulled out the Fusion Monster card.
That kind of move was only possible with an AR Duel Disk.
"—Fusion Summon! Heroic Spirit – Mysterious Heroine Z!"
[Heroic Spirit – Mysterious Heroine Z ★★★★★ (Level 5)][LIGHT][Dragon/Fusion/Effect][ATK 2100/DEF 1600]
[2 or more Heroic Spirit monsters]
Dressed in a white tracksuit, with her ahoge sticking out from beneath a baseball cap, Z appeared wielding dual holy swords.
"Saber! Leave none alive! Exterminate them all!"
["Even though she's an Assassin, every entrance she makes sounds like a Berserker screaming."]
"Meanwhile, Alter, who's actually a Berserker, is surprisingly quiet."
["Which proves that once someone becomes an Alter, they become more mature and dependable. By the way, I'm the Alter side, you know~"]
"You think just because you use an Alter deck, that makes you an Alter?" Hoshino retorted. "Then if I use a Magical Girl deck, does that mean I'm a Magical Girl too?"
"Saber Ninja Art — Annihilation!"
Before Hoshino could even issue a command, Mysterious Heroine Z activated her effect on her own, crossing her twin blades into a sealing barrier as she slashed across Masked HERO Koga.
[When this card is successfully Special Summoned: negate all effects of monsters your opponent controls until the end of the turn.]
"Rest easy, Master. I've already seen through that saber's attack-boosting effect!"
[Masked HERO Koga ATK 4000 → 2500]
"Koga counts as a saber too?" Hoshino muttered. "Well, judging from how Duel Monsters work in this world, she probably sees every Warrior-type monster as a saber. Time to enter the Battle Phase, Z, Mash!"
Declaring Mysterious Heroine Z's attack first, Hoshino targeted the attack-position Air Hummingbird on Jaden's field.
"At this moment, light and darkness intertwine as the strongest! Go, Mysterious Heroine Dual-Wield Style!!"
"—Starburst Stream!!"
"That's copyright!!"