Fusion restriction, lifted!
"As expected, Judai isn't so easily constrained as a duelist." Mitsuzawa chuckled lightly, "He still managed to find a way out."
"After all, it's Judai." Hayato nodded, "If he could be suppressed that easily, he wouldn't be himself."
"Alright!" Judai shouted, "I'll activate the Magic Card 'Fusion' from my hand!"
Fusion Unit Two!
"My heroes are just now starting to unleash their power." Judai said, "The real battle is only just beginning…"
"Activate Cover Card."
Yugen calmly revealed another card from the backfield.
"Continuous Trap - Thunder God's Waterfall." Yugen said, "As long as this card is on the field, neither of us... can send monsters from our hand to the graveyard!" (Original Card)
Judai stared at the card, pondering for two seconds.
Then his pupils contracted, his mouth slowly opened…
"What!?" Judai exclaimed, "Unable to send from the hand to the graveyard, meaning…"
"That's right." Yugen smirked, "I'm sorry, Judai, but it seems you still can't fusion from your hand."
The audience, who were just admiring Judai's excellent response, fell silent.
Several seconds later, Hayato said, "Well... although Judai is Judai, after all, Yugen is Yugen."
"Indeed." Mitsuzawa nodded, "If it were that easy to break through, it wouldn't be Yugen."
"..."
Another fusion became a wasted play. Judai scratched his head, "Oh dear, you really have quite prepared a comprehensive countermeasure. If that's the case, it seems like I have to gather the monsters on the field to fuse…"
However, the field was completely suppressed by Yugen, who had the powerful "Chaos Wizard" standing guard. It wasn't that easy to gather fusion material on the field either.
Nevertheless…
Judai glanced at his hand and revealed an unstoppable excited smile.
The means to break through... he still had something up his sleeve!
"Activate the Magic Card 'Soul Return'!" Judai shouted, "Return two Warrior Race monsters from your graveyard to the top of your deck in any order!" (Original Card)
Two cards emerged from the graveyard, briefly displayed by Judai.
"I'll reclaim 'Elemental Hero Wingman' and 'Elemental Hero Blazing Lady' from the graveyard."
He slid the two cards back to the top of the deck.
"And then onto the top of the deck!"
"Oh?" Yugen said with interest, "Returning to the deck top, what are you planning to do?"
"Hehe, you'll find out soon enough."
Judai waved his hand, another Magic Card appeared in the backfield.
"Magic Card 'Fusion Birth'! Send the top five cards of your deck to the graveyard, if the fusion materials are among them, you can perform a fusion summon with the qualifying fusion monster!" (Original Card)
Audience: "What!?"
Even the audience was taken aback.
Such a move? Fusion from the deck?
"Hmph." Yugen squinted his eyes.
Truly befitting of the Fusion Dimension's top dog, Yuki Judai, always full of fancy fusion maneuvers…
"Thus, sending five cards from the deck to the grave!"
Judai swiftly drew five cards. Naturally, the top two were the Wingman and Blazing Lady he had just returned.
"Then, as per the effect of 'Fusion Birth', Wingman and Blazing Lady fuse!"
A fusion vortex appeared over Judai's head. He raised the two cards high; the Model Worker Couple appeared in tandem, transforming into green and red swirls, getting sucked into the vortex.
A fiery storm swirled up, flames descended like a meteor. White wings spread, a hero emerged amid blazing flames.
"Appear, my beloved hero—
— Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, Fusion Summon!"
[Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, Attack Power 2100]
"Even in such a situation, you still managed to summon Flame Wingman, huh." Yugen smiled, "But even if it's your favorite Flame Wingman, its Attack Power is still lower than Chaos Wizard, haven't forgotten, right?"
"Of course."
Judai smiled confidently, flipping a card from his hand.
"Field Spell - Skyscraper!"
The bustling metropolis, skyscrapers rose like grand towers from the ground, standing tall against a sky interwoven with starlight and city lights. Moonlight fell like a silver ribbon over the sleepless steel jungle, with golden beams from searchlights slicing through the night sky, reflecting on glass facades like jewels in the sky.
"I knew it," Yugen wasn't the least surprised.
"Every hero needs the best stage." Judai said, "Battle! 'Elemental Hero Flame Wingman', attack 'Chaos Wizard'!"
Flame Wingman flipped through the air, enveloped in searing flames, diving down from the skyscraper's peak, silhouetted against the moonlight like a shooting star.
"Skyscraper's effect, when your 'Elemental Hero' battles a monster with higher Attack Power, its Attack Power rises by 1000 points only during damage calculation!" (Original Effect)
The physical card was weakened to only increase Attack Power when attacking, but the original version would trigger whether attacking or being attacked, and in the original, it helped Judai withstand damage more than once.
[Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, Attack Power 2100 → Attack Power 3100]
Under the blessing of Skyscraper, Flame Wingman was known as the three-thousand killer, boasting an Attack Power a solid hundred points higher than the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon, truly terrifying. Chaos Wizard naturally wasn't a match, and with one flying kick, was sent flying, consumed in flames.
[Yugen, LP 3600 → LP 2800]
"It's not over yet, I'm sure you haven't forgotten Flame Wingman's effect either, Yugen." Judai laughed, "When Flame Wingman destroys a monster in battle, it inflicts damage equal to the destroyed monster's original Attack Power."
The flame Wingman spun down towards Yugen, raising an arm, flames flickered within.
This hit would inflict an additional 2300 damage, reducing Yugen's LP to a mere flickering 500 points!
Boom!
Flames shot forth, almost face-to-face, but didn't hit directly. At the critical moment, a shield appeared out of nowhere in front of Yugen, all the blasting flames burst against the shield, washing along it.
"Huh?" Judai was surprised.
"Counterattack Trap 'Damage Polarizing Shield'." Yugen said, "Negate the effect of inflicted damage, then both of us draw one card from our deck."
Yugen drew a card.
"No need to rush, the outcome of this duel is still up in the air."
"Haha, that's true."
Judai also drew a card, still confident.
"Though it's not clear now, in the end, it'll be me who wins."
"Is that so?" Yugen chuckled softly, "Then I'm looking forward to it."
Judai glanced at the card he had just drawn, then drew all the remaining cards from his hand.
"Set three cards on the field, ending the turn."