Hikaru took several deep breaths.
Strong.
Unbelievably strong.
The Darkness standing before him was far stronger than the Darkness in Hikaru's memory. The gap between them was enormous.
His greatest strength was that he had found a clear path to victory. He understood that on raw dueling technique alone, he could never match the caliber of a top-tier duelist, but as long as he had a road to winning, skill was something that could be compensated for through strategy.
"My turn! Draw!"
Hikaru drew from his Deck. Beside him, Tierra glanced at his hand and let out a sigh.
Future Fusion was sitting right there in his hand.
Under normal circumstances, Future Fusion could have sent all eleven of her components to the Graveyard in one shot.
All Hikaru would have needed to do was deal with the Field Spell and Amano-Iwato, and then he could have used his Fusion conditions and Fusion Materials to lay the foundation for winning the entire game.
But now, it was useless.
Hikaru stared at the cards in his hand.
Darkness had shown foresight of his own, removing Future Fusion preemptively. That had brought Hikaru's strongest opening play to a dead stop.
He looked across at the field Darkness controlled.
Amano-Iwato and Mystic Mine.
First, to deal with Amano-Iwato, he would need to handle it through the Battle Phase.
And to enter battle, the best approach was to get rid of Mystic Mine.
The good news was that under the new-era Master Rules, each player could activate their own Field Spell without affecting the other's.
But in this world, only one shared Field Spell could exist on the field at a time, and that gave Hikaru an opening.
"I reveal my Set card! Trap Card, Metaverse!"
"Take 1 Field Spell from your Deck, and either activate it or add it to your hand. I choose the Field Spell Fusion Recycling Plant!"
Silver-white light radiated in all directions. The eerie quagmire covering the ground dissolved, and a massive recycling factory materialized on the field in its place.
"Oh! It's Fusion Recycling Plant!" Jaden's eyes lit up the moment he saw the card.
"It's been forever since we've seen Fusion Recycling Plant." Serena looked at the card with a touch of pleasant surprise.
Because Hikaru had gained access to the more convenient Dreamland, he hadn't used this card in a long time. With Metaverse already Set for him courtesy of Senior Jaden, Tierra had assumed her master would search for the more versatile Dreamland. She hadn't expected him to choose Fusion Recycling Plant instead.
"Only one Field Spell can exist on the field at a time! So your Field Spell goes straight to the Graveyard!"
Darkness showed no reaction, watching Hikaru's plays in silence.
"Nice! This way, even if he can't destroy Amano-Iwato this turn, he won't have to worry about a second Amano-Iwato camping out on the field." Chazz called out with excitement.
The nature of a Spirit monster was that it returned to its owner's hand during the End Phase of the turn it was Summoned or flipped face-up.
But Amano-Iwato had already survived one full turn, so it would not return to the hand on its own. Still, without Mystic Mine, at least the next Amano-Iwato couldn't be recycled.
"I activate the effect of Fusion Recycling Plant! Once per turn, I discard 1 card to activate it. I select 1 'Polymerization' from my Deck or Graveyard and add it to my hand."
"I discard Ojamagic from my hand and add Polymerization from my Deck to my hand!"
"Whoa, Ojamagic!"
"Here it comes!"
Everyone who had seen this card before knew what its effect did.
Chazz couldn't help himself: "Ojamagic's effect! When this card is sent from the hand or field to the Graveyard, add 1 each of Ojama Green, Ojama Yellow, and Ojama Black from the Deck to your hand."
On Hikaru's side, he declared the effect as well. He raised his hand, and three cards flew out of his Deck on their own. Three scrawny but spirited little imps appeared alongside them, shouting: "We're here, Boss Hikari!!"
"Give it everything you've got, you three!" Chazz "encouraged" them from the sidelines. "Slack off and I'm stuffing you back down that dried-up well!"
"Yes sir!!" The three spirits snapped to attention with military salutes.
Hikaru smiled and shook his head, then looked down at his hand. "I reveal 1 LIGHT Machine-Type Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck to my opponent, then banish any number of 'Ojama' monsters from my hand, field, or Graveyard to activate this card: Ojamassimilation."
Hikaru raised his right hand, and the spectral silhouette of a twin-headed mechanical dragon materialized behind him. "I reveal the Fusion Monster ABC-Dragon Buster from my Extra Deck, banish the three Ojama brothers from my hand, and Special Summon their..."
"Sorry. That's not going to happen."
!?
Darkness's avatar raised his left hand. The skeletal frame twitched, and a card flew from his grasp.
From his hand?!
"I activate a Trap Card."
A Trap Card!?
From his hand!!
"You can only activate 1 'Dominus Impulse' per turn. If your opponent controls a card, you can activate this card from your hand."
"Trap Card: Dominus Impulse!"
Dominus... Impulse?
Hikaru was stunned.
"When a Spell/Trap Card, or monster effect, is activated that includes an effect that Special Summons a monster: negate that effect. If you have a Trap Card in your Graveyard, also destroy the negated card."
"If this card is activated from the hand, after activation, you cannot activate the effects of LIGHT, EARTH, or WIND Attribute monsters for the rest of this Duel.
Hikaru Amagi, I know you well. You pursue Fusion above all else, and your Deck is packed with effects designed to Special Summon Fusion Monsters.
So as long as I put a card like this in my Deck, I can guarantee an interruption to your strategy."
A blue maiden knelt before Darkness. A sacred blue dragon radiated waves of azure light, and in an instant, the card Hikaru had activated shattered apart.
The three Ojama monsters that had been ready to pull machines from Hikaru's Deck were frozen solid on the spot.
Hikaru's hand stopped mid-motion, and he said nothing for a long time.
He even had Dominus Impulse.
The three Ojama spirits were swept away by the blue tidal wave, still crying out "Boss!!!" as they went, clearly more afraid of Chazz blaming them than anything else.
But at that moment, Chazz had no mind for blame or jokes. He was staring at the scene, jaw hanging open.
"Dominus Impulse??"
"What an incredible effect."
"But wait, why did he activate it from his hand?"
"Yeah, he could have just Set that card, right?"
There was no reason to activate it from the hand at all. Darkness still had open Spell and Trap Zones on his field; he could have Set the card and used it to negate Hikaru's Fusion plays just the same.
The card's range of application was enormous, and Darkness had to know that Hikaru's Deck revolved around Fusion. Normal Summons were rare in his strategy. Under those circumstances, Dominus Impulse could police virtually every move Hikaru made.
But since Darkness had gone first, he could have just Set it. There was no need to saddle himself with that debuff.
"Human lives. Human personalities. Human history. All of it begins to branch in countless directions under the influence of innumerable individuals, each with their own traits, quirks, aberrations, and differences.
Individuality is humanity's strength, and it is also the reason humanity can never walk in unison toward the same conclusion.
In my world, there is no need for beings that possess individuality."
Darkness spoke in a low, distant voice.
The crowd stared at him, dumbfounded.
Just for that reason, he had willingly thrown away the ability to use Attribute monster effects?
"This is bad..." But there were those who reacted faster, paying no mind to Darkness's personal philosophy.
Aster lowered his head, hand on his chin, expression grave. "After activating Dominus Impulse from the hand, Darkness's side can no longer activate the effects of LIGHT, EARTH, or WIND Attribute monsters.
Amano-Iwato is... EARTH Attribute."
Amano-Iwato was EARTH Attribute!
He did it on purpose!!
"I see..." Jesse caught on a beat later, a look of sudden understanding crossing his face. "Everything was part of the plan from before the duel even started.
Because this is a Tag Duel in the style popular among Duel Spirits, both duelists on a team share their Life Points, field, and Graveyard. Only during their own turn does each player have a separate Extra Deck zone and hand.
Beyond that, any continuous effect activated by either partner that persists into the next turn applies to the opposing side, not to the one who activated it.
If this were a standard 2v2 with four players and four separate fields, activating Dominus Impulse from the hand would only restrict one avatar from using effects; Darkness himself could still use them. But that format would actually be worse for his strategy.
What he wanted... was to make monsters like Amano-Iwato unable to activate their effects!"
"This guy planned all of this from the very start!"
Several students who had been slower on the uptake exchanged glances, feeling their understanding of dueling deepen yet again.
But the question that followed was: what now?
Hikaru had failed to Special Summon the three ABC component monsters. He had no way to assemble ABC-Dragon Buster, and his hand had been spent. How was he supposed to deal with Amano-Iwato?
The onlookers watched the duel with mounting tension.
Hikaru looked at his hand.
He was weighing his options, thinking it through.
With his current hand, winning through battle this turn was impossible. Fusing before entering the Battle Phase would waste the effects of certain monsters.
That was a situation he did not want.
If he couldn't guarantee a swift victory, it was better to preserve his resource loop as much as possible.
The silver lining was that since Darkness had already activated Dominus Impulse, there was at least no need to worry about Darkness tossing out the ace monster Maxx "C" out of nowhere.
So should he activate the effect of Ojamassimilation in the Graveyard, return the three banished Ojama monsters to the Deck, and draw one card?
Hikaru looked at the Fusion Spell in his hand. It didn't feel right.
More important than anything else was dealing with Amano-Iwato...
In that case...
"I activate the Spell Card, Primite Fusion!"
"Whoa, a brand-new Fusion we've never seen before!" Serena shouted with excitement.
"Another new Fusion?" Yubel muttered, watching with raised eyebrows.
She had already learned from Jaden that Hikaru possessed the card "Super Polymerization." That revelation alone had made her realize that this person she had once dismissed as a simple fusion maniac was probably even more of a maniac than she had imagined.
"Primite Fusion's effect: Fusion Summon 1 Dragon-Type Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, by shuffling its materials from your field, Graveyard, and/or banishment into the Deck, including a Normal Monster."
Hikaru picked up the banished Ojama Green and Ojama Black, then declared: "I return these two cards to the Deck to perform a Dragon-Type Fusion Summon!"
"The Fusion condition is two Normal Monsters!"
"Fusion Summon! Level 9, First of the Dragons!"
A blast of wind swept across the field. The two Ojama monsters bared their teeth and waved goodbye to Hikaru, and then a dragon covered in jagged spikes materialized before him.
First of the Dragons. Level 9. DARK Attribute. Dragon-Type. ATK 2700.
"Beautiful!"
"A Fusion using banished monsters, that's incredible!"
"I didn't think Hikaru could still find a way to counterattack from that position."
"Terrifying. He used an effect that banished his monsters, and yet he can still Fuse, choosing materials from among those banished monsters." Darkness stared at Hikaru, unable to hold back his admiration. "Your Fusion is truly limitless in its versatility."
Yubel, standing nearby, shared that sentiment.
If her own monsters were banished, she wouldn't be able to retrieve them with Yubel Phantom. Yet Hikaru could pull off a banished Fusion like it was second nature. He had earned the title of "Absolute Fusion Master."
Hikaru, for his part, felt a little helpless.
Thank goodness he had Primite Fusion. Without it, he had no idea how he would have managed.
He was familiar with the Primite archetype, but before seeing this card, he had never realized the Piercing Light Deck was actually a Fusion-based series.
The unfortunate truth was that the only Primite card he had was this Primite Fusion, which Super Polymerization had conjured for him as his "Fusion" power grew. Cards like Primite Piercing Light were out of the question, and no other Primite monsters were anywhere to be found. As for the Primite Fusion Monsters that presumably existed, Hikaru had never laid eyes on them.
But regardless, having a Fusion Spell that could recover banished monsters was a boon in itself. The other banish-Fusion option, Parallel World Fusion, locked you out for the entire turn!
"Battle! First of the Dragons attacks Amano-Iwato!"
Hikaru called the attack while keeping one card pinched between his fingers, ready.
If there was some kind of Battle Phase attack-declaration trap, he could respond with what he had in hand.
But...
It seemed Darkness's avatar had no response.
The ancestral dragon smashed through the sealed boulder, cracking it apart and freeing the sun trapped within, which cast its light across this dark world for a brief moment.
Darkness, LP: 6000 → 5200.
"Yes! He dealt battle damage!"
"He got locked down hard, but as long as he chips away at it step by step, he should be fine!"
The students cheered Hikaru on.
At that moment, Darkness's avatar glanced at the card in his hand, clicked his tongue with a slight grimace of distaste, but activated it nonetheless: "I activate a monster effect from my hand."
There's more?!
"When you take battle damage: you can Special Summon this card from your hand."
"Special Summon, Tragoedia."
A pitch-black insectoid demon crawled out of the darkness. Its body was composed entirely of black liquid; it collapsed onto the ground, looking less like a demon and more like a dying lobster.
Tragoedia. Level 10. DARK Attribute. Fiend-Type. DEF: ?
"Tragoedia's ATK and DEF increase by 600 for each card in the controller's hand. I have no cards in my hand. Its DEF is currently 0."
"Phew..." Several students breathed a sigh of relief.
Both ATK and DEF at 0, and no lockdown effect in sight.
"Even if it had one, it wouldn't matter. First of the Dragons is unaffected by other monsters' effects and cannot be destroyed by battle except with a Normal Monster. No effect can touch it." Serena pumped her fist with excitement.
Hikaru looked at El Shaddoll Fusion in his hand.
Should he Special Summon an El Shaddoll Winda?
Or Set El Shaddoll Fusion face-down and use it on the opponent's turn to block their plays?
After a moment of hesitation, Hikaru decided not to activate it.
Tragoedia could seize control of an opponent's monster by discarding a monster of the same Level, but First of the Dragons was unaffected by other monsters' effects. If he Special Summoned Winda now, he could destroy Tragoedia in battle, sure, but if he ate some kind of effect on the next turn, that could spell trouble.
Then Hikaru glanced at his remaining cards, wondering if Darkness might have more tricks to restrict Jaden's plays as well. He decided to Set a Fusion Spell alongside another card: "I Set two cards. Turn end."
"In the end, he could only manage to destroy Amano-Iwato?"
"Can't be helped. His first Fusion got shut down, Amano-Iwato was still on the field, and there was Mystic Mine too... If Jaden hadn't Set Metaverse beforehand, Hikaru probably wouldn't have been able to do anything at all."
"But..." Someone wanted to say something, but swallowed the words in the end.
The crowd fell silent. No one gave voice to that "but."
Countdown to the End: 4.
"My turn. Draw." Darkness drew a card from his Deck, glanced at it, and said, "Four turns in, and the total damage you've dealt to me is... 800. At that rate, it would take dozens of turns to defeat me. It seems you're destined to lose."
"However, I don't intend to drag this out. I won't underestimate any of you. Besides, leaving a dragon that's unaffected by other monsters' effects on the field would be disadvantageous for me as well."
He played his card. "I activate the Spell Card, Pot of Greed."
"Then... the Spell Card, Pot of Desires."
"Huh?"
"You can only activate 1 of this card per turn. Banish 10 cards from the top of your Deck face-down to activate it. Draw 2 cards."
The crowd exchanged puzzled looks.
Banish 10 cards to draw 2? Why not just use Pot of Greed and call it a day?
But there were those who understood his reasoning quickly enough.
"His Deck has unlimited size, so burning through cards doesn't matter at all. He doesn't even care if his ace monsters get banished, so running as many draw spells as possible is the logical play."
Hikaru, however, felt something was off.
Darkness finished drawing and examined his new cards. The skeletal wings behind him trembled.
"It's time to erase more individuality. I activate the Spell Card, Time-Tearing Morganite."
A purple gemstone materialized before Darkness, then faded away.
"For the rest of this Duel, the following effects apply:
One, I cannot activate monster effects in the hand. Two, my normal draw during the Draw Phase becomes 2 cards. Three, I can conduct up to 2 Normal Summons per turn."
"That's a powerful card..."
"And the cost doesn't seem that steep?"
Since he had chosen to play this card, his Deck probably didn't contain many monsters with hand-activated effects to begin with.
Darkness surveyed his hand, then declared: "I enter the Battle Phase."
?
"I end the Battle Phase."
For a moment, Hikaru thought Darkness was about to play Evenly Matched. Even if it wouldn't have been useful in this situation, the fake-out still made Hikaru flinch.
Then Darkness played the key card: "Normal Spell Card, Gordian Slicer."
What?
Everyone was caught off guard.
In the sky above, an enormous mechanical blade descended, aimed at everything on the field.
"This card's activation and effect cannot be negated. At the start of your Main Phase 1 or 2, target any number of face-up cards on the field. For each targeted card, banish 1 card from your hand, or 6 cards from your Extra Deck, face-down. After that, return the targeted cards to the hand."
!!
"A bounce Spell that can deal with First of the Dragons, but the cost is insane. Face-down banishment means those cards are gone for good... In terms of value, hand cards are worth more. So to deal with a single card, he has to dump 6 from his Extra Deck? That's a terrible trade." Syrus ran the numbers and felt the cost outweighed the benefit.
"No, wait." Chazz had picked up on the same anomaly. He just hadn't caught it as early as Hikaru had. Now it clicked. "That bastard... So that's what the unlimited Extra Deck was for from the start!"
"Heh heh heh. I target Fusion Recycling Plant and First of the Dragons." Darkness waved his hand, and countless Extra Deck cards stood ready to become his ammunition.
"Bastard..." Hikaru clenched his fists, anger climbing with every breath. "Using the monsters of the Extra Deck as sacrificial pawns..."
This was the polar opposite of everything his Fusion philosophy stood for.
"Quick-Play Spell!" Hikaru didn't hesitate any longer. "El Shaddoll Fusion!"
"I fuse the First of the Dragons on the field with Shaddoll Beast from my hand!"
Tierra nodded and raised her right hand, weaving countless purple puppet strings with her own fingers.
A puppet far more refined and radiant than anything Hikaru had summoned before took shape on the field.
"Fusion Summon!"
"Herald of Tierra!"
"Level 5, El Shaddoll Winda!"
The gallant puppet stood tall in this pitch-black world.
El Shaddoll Winda. Level 5. DARK Attribute. Spellcaster-Type. ATK 2200.
"Now, continuing with my card's effect. I banish 6 cards from my Extra Deck face-down, and return your Fusion Recycling Plant to your hand."
Inside the recycling factory, countless small robots lit up red, holding up signs that read "RELOCATING." Then the card flew back into Hikaru's hand.
After that, Hikaru activated the effect of Shaddoll Beast, drawing 1 card from his Deck.
The downside was that this meant Jaden could no longer use Fusion Recycling Plant's effect to search for Polymerization or recover Fusion Materials.
"...Man, a monster he worked so hard to Fuse, and it's just gone like that."
"Look on the bright side, though. At least this way, Darkness can't enter the Battle Phase, which means he can't deal with Winda."
"No... He was never going to attack in the first place." Jesse's expression was grim. "Jaden's team still has a face-down Mirror Force on the field. He was never planning to attack!"
"And with that Morganite active, what he wants more than anything is... to Normal Summon!"
"That damn bastard." Chazz had already cursed once, but he couldn't help himself. "Just as I thought. Those conditions he set before the duel, the ones that looked like they favored Jaden's side, were all part of his strategy from the beginning!"
"Chief, keep it together!" Aster called out in straightforward encouragement to Hikaru.
Hikaru took a moment to steady his anger, then turned to face his friends. He smiled, shook his head.
Furious as he was, he wouldn't let it cloud his judgment.
After all, as long as it was part of a duel, any tactic was legitimate and viable. His Fusion would not reject that kind of play outright.
What he despised was the cold, calculating nature of it all. Seeing those Fusion Monsters banished face-down had lit a fire in him. But in the middle of a duel, he was not the kind of person to lose his composure.
Still, he needed to keep his friends calm too. So he thought for a moment, then spoke: "It's fine.
The more someone relies on schemes, the more they become a prisoner of those schemes, obsessing over gains and losses.
Unlimited access to the Extra Deck does make some of his cards devastatingly effective. But I'm going to prove something.
Schemes... are meaningless against my Fusion!
Because...
Fusion is the noblest form of Summoning!"