Chapter 211: Crossing Fate

Seeing the three-headed mechanical dragon accumulate a brilliant white energy and charge toward his hero, Ed Phoenix showed not a trace of tension—instead, he revealed a monster card from his hand.

"Activate the monster effect of Destiny Hero Bombman from my hand: This card must be discarded during damage calculation for a monster battle to activate!"

"The battle damage I would have taken becomes 0! Both players take 1000 points of effect damage!"

Hmph!

"Ah!"

A hero covered head to toe in explosives, grinning with startling health, appeared on the field, then lit the fuse—BOOM! —blasting the dragon away and protecting his partner.

Ed LP: 4000 → 3000

Ryo Fujiki LP: 2400 → 1400.

"But the monster—"

"D-Fusion: Monsters summoned by Fusion cannot be destroyed by effects or battle during that turn!"

Facing Ryo Fujiki's attack, Ed did not retreat an inch.

"Brilliant defense," Ryo Fujiki said, turning back with a hearty laugh.

Then he looked at his hand.

Effect damage immunity, battle destruction immunity—this hero's style felt utterly unlike the Elemental Heroes.

Destiny D…

"Activate Quick-Play Magic: Fusion Release! Return the Cyber End Dragon on the field to the Fusion Deck." Ryo Fujiki deeply understood the principle that "powerful cards carry risk, so avoid it when you can"—after demonstrating Cyber Revolution and Limit Release, he now executed a clever recovery to dodge the explosion.

"Next, the effect of Cyber Dragon Core in the graveyard: When my opponent has a monster on the field and I have none, I can banish this card from the graveyard to Special Summon one 【Cyber Dragon】 from my deck!"

Cyber Dragon, Level 5, Light Attribute, Machine Type, ATK 2100.

"Next, Magic Card: Fusion!"

"Fuse the Cyber Dragon on the field with two Cyber Dragons in my hand! Return to me once more, Cyber End Dragon!"

Again—Cyber End Dragon!

No matter the opponent, Caesar always showed his favorite card—Cyber End Dragon!

"Oh? You still have Fusion and two Cyber Dragons in your hand?" Ed showed a flicker of emotion, "Then why didn't you Fusion earlier? You could've summoned Cyber Twin Dragon with 2800 ATK!"

"Even if I had Fusion'd and summoned Cyber Twin Dragon during the Battle Phase, you could've still Set Fusion Enemy Utopia in Defense Position—Cyber Twin Dragon lacks Cyber End Dragon's piercing effect. At that point, my Limit Release would've become the final straw crushing me." Ryo Fujiki smirked, "The essence of Cyber is a single decisive strike. Before achieving that, paving the way for powerful cards is the core of the Cyber strategy."

"Impressive, Senior—even under pressure, you remain calm," Ed couldn't help adding.

Watching from the sidelines, Tenjo Hikari felt a renewed sense of ease.

In the original story, during the Pro League, Ryo Fujiki's duel with Ed was marked by Ed's frantic dueling, speech, and actions—he even activated Power Bond without preparation, something he'd never done before!

It was precisely this recklessness that led to his defeat by Ed's trap.

This world's Ryo Fujiki, regardless of any mental shift, certainly hadn't become "flustered" due to professional dueling pressure.

"I'll Set one card, end my turn!"

Ryo Fujiki Set a card.

"The Magic Card sent to the graveyard by Diamond Dude's effect will activate next turn," Sanzawa Daichi said, frowning as Ryo ended his turn.

"D-Soul Burst… it halves the ATK of one Destiny Hero on the field and deals that amount of damage to both players," Tenjo Hikari explained upon hearing him mention it.

"What!? Utopia's ATK is 2800—half of that is 1400!?" Ryo Xiang screamed.

"I remember Ryo has a Magic-Interference trap card…"

"That won't work," Tenjo Hikari said, shaking his head as Tenjou Asuka spoke, "This isn't a Magic Card's effect—it's Diamond Dude's effect!"

Diamond Dude's effect triggers only Magic Card effects, nothing else.

For example, if it flips Sanzawa's Chemical Bond-H2O, even without Oxygen and Hydrogen on the field, it can still Special Summon Water Dragon; even if it flips Soul Exchange—a card that prevents the Battle Phase after activation—it still allows the next Battle Phase and even using the opponent's monster as a Tribute.

You enjoy the benefits of Magic without its restrictions!"

"This… is the rule of Dueling."

Diamond Dude, even among cards with complex K-language, was among the top masters—this card could even ignore the self-restraint of Red-Eyes Fusion, the strongest of its kind. In a sense, it was an absurdly powerful card.

If Tenjo Hikari had been able to stack Diamond Dude into the graveyard as easily as Ed before his Chuanyue, he'd have included it too.

"This—"

Powerful cards always carry risk?

Wrong!

Powerful cards simply ignore risk!

But in truth…

Tenjo Hikari sighed inwardly.

The duel was already over.

Under Tenjo Hikari's explanation, Ed had activated D-Soul Burst, halving Utopia's ATK—and the damage dealt was exactly Ryo Fujiki's current Life Points!

"Oh no! If this resolves, Ryo Fujiki's Life Points will drop to zero! What should he do, Ryo Fujiki!"

Meanwhile, Ed spoke: "Well, Senior? This is the will of 【Destiny】. At this moment, your Life Points will drop to zero!"

"I activate my trap card!" Ryo Fujiki ignored Ed's words entirely.

"That won't work—there's no way to negate a Magic Card activated by Diamond Dude's effect!"

"Not negate—transform!" Ryo Fujiki immediately flipped his Set card, "Trap Card: Damage Conversion!

This turn, the effect damage I take is halved!"

!!

As Ryo Fujiki's trap activated, Utopia's soul emerged from its body and exploded like a bomb, damaging both duelists.

BOOM—

Ryo Fujiki LP: 1400 → 700.

Ed LP: 3000 → 1600.

"How's that? I've crossed the 【Destiny】 you spoke of."

Ed stared blankly at his opponent for a long moment, then couldn't help smiling. "Remarkable, Senior."

He felt his heartbeat had quickened slightly.

"Now you understand, don't you? Destiny is an illusion," Ryo Fujiki clenched his fist. "What we must do is expand the future—with our cards!"

"Expand the future with cards? I never thought you'd be such a passionate person, Senior."

"Hehe… I wasn't like this before," Ryo Fujiki sighed again. "Last year, I experienced things I'd never known, met fascinating juniors… no, fellow travelers."

"I think you'll meet them too."

Though he still carried deep confusion, though he still didn't know what he truly wanted, in the year since meeting Tenjo Hikari, he realized: holding fast to oneself, to one's true heart, was never wrong—because there were people even more resolute, even harder-working, walking paths far more difficult than his!

"That Absolute Fusionist won't disappoint you," Caesar continued recommending his most promising junior to Ed.

"I see… then after defeating Senior, and after defeating Yugi Tenjo, I'll challenge Tenjo Senior," Ed said, gazing across the field—cold, yet with a faint rise in his tone.

He had no fondness for Tenjo, but after witnessing Tenjo Hikari's duels, he was deeply curious about him.

"Defeat me?" Ryo Fujiki blinked.

With his Life Points this low, and Utopia's ATK reduced to 1400 by D-Soul Burst, how could he possibly defeat Cyber End Dragon with 4000 ATK?

"Perhaps… I've been searching for an answer too—"

As he spoke, Ed pointed at Cyber End Dragon: "Senior, you truly crossed 【Destiny】!"

"But—"

"If 【Destiny】 is useless, then use 【Skill】!"

Ryo Fujiki stared, baffled by the declaration.

But he didn't know—

For Ed Phoenix to say "Destiny is useless, use Skill!" was the highest possible recognition of Ryo Fujiki!

After all, Ed Phoenix was a man who deeply believed in 【Destiny】!

"Activate Utopia's monster effect: When this card's ATK differs from its original ATK, you can target one card on the field. Destroy that card, and restore this card's ATK to its original value! This effect… can be activated even during your opponent's turn!"

…

Ryo Fujiki's eyes widened.

Empty hand, empty back row—

His field held only Cyber End Dragon with 4000 ATK!

"Go, Utopia!"

"Noble Justice!"

Utopia, hearing Ed's command, rushed toward Cyber End Dragon, extended its palm, forming a black hole that sucked in the massive machine dragon and crushed it into fragments!

"Now, direct attack!"

"Utopia's Heavy Fist!"

Utopia leapt high and delivered a punch straight at Ryo Fujiki.

Ryo Fujiki LP: 700 → 0

Ryo Fujiki staggered, half-kneeling, as the entire arena erupted in excited cheers, while the Duel Academy fell into deathly silence.

Ed exhaled.

He had won.

But—

This duel hadn't disappointed him as he'd expected!

On the contrary, he truly felt a strange, rising impulse.

He did not provoke with words, nor use deceit to pressure his opponent, nor target him at every turn—instead, he relied purely on cards and strategy...

It was almost unheard of in professional dueling.

He had originally thought that after climbing to this position so quickly, Ryo Fujiki would be restless and impatient—but he never expected him to be this calm.

Or perhaps, passionate?

He, who placed his life, fate, and future in the cards, had not felt such genuine joy from a duel in a long time.

Unfortunately, he could tell that Caesar still held back, not fully letting go—but even so, it was already deeply satisfying, for... he had not genuinely smiled even once in a very long while.

According to Caesar, was this mindset perhaps born from Tenjo Kou?

He had to admit it.

Previously, he had avoided the academy to evade Ma Ling Wang's subordinates, fearing embarrassment.

But now, after dueling Caesar, he was eagerly looking forward to attending the Duel Academy!

Chapter Three, please vote~~

md, I'm about to unleash Red Dad—now I can finally fuse Red Dad again, haha

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(End of Chapter)