Chapter 23: Strategy and Progress

The current situation, at first glance, does not favor Tenjou Hikari.

Jaden Yuki holds four cards in his hand, with a monster boasting 2400 Attack Points on the field.

Tenjou Hikari holds five cards in his hand, with only a remaining Token and one face-down card on the field.

But all of this changes the moment Tenjou Hikari activates a Spell Card!

Roaring flames rise up around Tenjou Hikari, and everyone who recognizes this card or has seen Tenjou Hikari use it before cannot help but cheer.

It seems the long "wait" is over; now comes the moment for counterattack!

"Continuous Spell Card, Flame Sword Zone's effect: Send one face-up monster from my hand or field to the Graveyard, then Special Summon one 'Flame Swordsman' from my Extra Deck as a Fusion Summon." Tenjou Hikari reveals a monster from his hand. "I send Cyber Wolf to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon!"

"Come forth, Flame Swordsman!"

Boom!

The raging fire intensifies, and a heroic warrior strides forth from the flames!

"Haha, it's finally my turn to appear!"

Flame Swordsman, Level 5, FIRE Attribute, Warrior-Type, 1800 Attack Points.

"No Fusion Materials required, performing a direct Fusion Summon... Here it comes!"

"Tenjou Hikari's Fusion Deck!"

The Fusion Society begins to cheer.

"It's not over yet; immediately following that, I activate another Continuous Spell Card, Super Future Fusion!" Tenjou Hikari promptly reveals another card from his hand. "This card's two effects can each be used once per turn! According to its first effect, I first show a Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck, Steam Gyroid; based on its effect, I send Cannon Soldier from my Deck to the Graveyard! This turn, I cannot Special Summon Cannon Soldier or use its effect!"

"Then, I immediately activate Super Future Fusion's second effect!"

"Once per turn: Banish monsters from the Graveyard as Fusion Materials to Fusion Summon one DARK Attribute Machine-Type Fusion Monster!"

"I banish Cannon Soldier and Cyber Wolf from the Graveyard to Fusion Summon—Steam Gyroid!"

Appearing once again!

The convenient little tank!

Steam Gyroid, Level 7, DARK Attribute, Machine-Type, 2400 Attack Points.

"Ooooooh!"

"Its Attack Points equal those of Thunder Giant!"

Tenjou Hikari glances at his face-down card.

The card he set last turn was Dragon Chain Flame; if he activated it now, he could increase Flame Swordsman's Attack Points and inflict greater damage.

However, he does not intend to do so.

A duel is an exchange of strategies; although he had no monsters in his hand earlier, he never rushed to play his cards. Dismantling the opponent's strategy layer by layer is, in his opinion, the best tactic in this world.

This is unavoidable; if he were using his deck from his own world, he would have long since unleashed various Branded Fusions and standard Fusions, since there are no quantity restrictions there, allowing for direct, powerful suppression to secure victory much more easily.

But in this world, it is difficult, because Super Fusion only grants him "Fusion" and "Fusion Monsters," without Destiny Heroes or Branded low-level monsters, leaving these powerful Fusions useless just to watch.

Therefore, slowly dismantling the opponent's field, using existing cards to pressure the opponent as much as possible, and gradually eroding their position is, in his view, the best choice when facing Jaden.

"Then, Battle!"

"Our Attack Points are the same!" Jaden shows no fear on his face. "Are you going to activate your face-down card?"

"There is no need for that! Attack with Steam Gyroid; simultaneously, Flame Sword Zone's first effect can be activated! Once per turn, when a monster declares an attack, you can target one Warrior-Type monster on your field; until the end of the turn, reduce that monster's Attack Points by 1000, and increase the Attack Points of other monsters on your field by 1000!"

Flame Swordsman ATK: 1800 → 800

Steam Gyroid ATK: 2400 → 3400

"It exceeds Thunder Giant!"

Jaden Yuki braces himself with his hands to withstand this barrage.

"Next, attack with Flame Swordsman!"

Jaden Yuki LP: 5000 → 4000 → 3200

"A steady counterattack." In the stands, after watching Tenjou Hikari's counter, Zane Truesdale cannot help but nod slightly.

As the strongest duelist of the first-year storyline, and as someone who has once defeated Jaden, he understands Jaden's dueling style very well; he gets carried away by passion, yet always manages to pull off beautiful combos. At first glance, he seems rash, but in reality, every move is prepared.

When dueling Jaden, one must never believe he will lose his head or act impulsively just because he appears unreliable.

Pressuring Jaden step by step, forcing him to struggle to deal with the opponent's field, and then striking to kill in an instant—that is the optimal choice—just as he did!

Especially... it seems that after that incident, Jaden has become even stronger?

Tenjou Hikari also wipes the sweat from his forehead.

He feels a long-forgotten excitement, a long-forgotten... pure joy of playing cards.

In his world, playing cards was merely simple pastime; either he would endlessly build fields against an opponent with no hand traps, or he would simply surrender and run away the moment the opponent started building their field.

Such pure, unadorned exchanges have not been experienced in a long time, especially with semi-solid images surrounding them, making his heart pound wildly.

Is this pure joy?

One must remember, the current Jaden is still far from his "complete form"!

"Turn end; the Attack Points of both monsters return to their original values."

Jaden seems infected by this as well; he draws a card, looks at the artwork, and reveals an excited expression: "As expected, when dueling you, I must use this card!"

"Oh?"

"Back during our duel in the Otherworld, it was entirely because you brought out this card that we could win; at that moment, I realized you thought further ahead than I imagined." A brilliant smile spreads across Jaden's face. "Now, I finally have the chance to face you head-on!"

"I activate the Spell Card, Miracle Fusion!"

"Miracle Fusion?"

"Judging by the name, it seems inspired by Tenjou Hikari?"

Tenjou Hikari is also surprised: "Where did you get this?"

"I was opening booster packs at Auntie Tyme's place earlier and happened to pull it."

So rich, so lucky, so damn it...

Tenjou Hikari is practically out of money for bread.

"Then, according to Miracle Fusion's effect, I banish Avian and Burstinatrix from the Graveyard to perform a Fusion Summon!"

"Graveyard Fusion!"

"He definitely learned it from Tenjou Hikari!"

"Fusion Summon, Elemental HERO Wildedge!"

Elemental HERO Wildedge, Level 8, EARTH Attribute, Warrior-Type, 1900 Attack Points.

"Avian... that was the card Thunder Giant discarded from his hand last turn." Tenjou Hikari had checked Jaden's Graveyard earlier, so this is no surprise.

"According to Wildedge's effect: Discard one card from your hand to destroy one Spell or Trap Card on the field! I choose your face-down card!"

Upon hearing this, Tenjou Hikari immediately flips his Trap Card: "Then I activate my face-down card, Dragon Chain Flame, equipping it to Flame Swordsman; according to its effect, I increase Flame Swordsman's Attack Points, then choose one Effect Monster on the field to flip face-down; I flip Wildedge face-down!"

"No problem!" Jaden doesn't mind at all. "Go, Wildedge!"

Flame-enchained chains wrap around Wildedge; he roars desperately, shooting out countless feathers that collide with the chains.

The final result is that Wildedge is flipped face-down, while the chains are shattered by the feather explosion.

"So it was indeed this face-down card?" Seeing this, Jaden is not surprised at all. "You gave up inflicting higher damage on me because you didn't want to waste a powerful face-down effect! Just like before when you stopped me from using Mirror Force!"

"Ha, that's right, Jaden; you learn really fast," Tenjou Hikari says with a smile.

"And with this, you have no protective cards left on your field!" Jaden's eyes light up, and beside him, the floating black-winged hero nods at him.

"I activate the Field Spell Card, Fusion Gate!" Jaden opens the Field Zone on his Duel Disk, places the card inside, and subsequently, the entire duel arena begins to change color, gradually transforming into a pitch-black canopy, with only some green grids retaining color.

"The Fusion Materials are... an Elemental HERO and a WIND Attribute monster—and even a face-down monster can serve as material! This is Fusion!" Jaden Yuki shouts excitedly. "I activate Fusion Gate's effect to fuse the face-down Elemental HERO Wildedge on the field with this... my second Avian in my hand!"

A second Avian.

That spirit, dark in color and fierce in action, completely failing to qualify as "righteous," flies out from the card under Tenjou Hikari's gaze, mixing with the monster on the ground.

"Fusion Summon—Descend beside me, my old friend, Elemental HERO Great Tornado!"

The wild wind howls!

A massive tornado sweeps across the entire duel arena.

Many students begin grabbing nearby objects to keep from being blown away, while some standing female students struggle to hold down their skirts, letting out screams.

Within the gale, a weather-beaten warrior slowly reveals his true form, casting aside his cloak and looking coldly at his opponent.

Elemental HERO Great Tornado, Level 8, WIND Attribute, Warrior-Type, 2800 Attack Points!

"Great Tornado's effect: When this card is Fusion Summoned successfully, the Attack and Defense Points of all monsters on the opponent's field become half their original values!"

Flame Swordsman ATK: 1800 → 900; Steam Gyroid ATK: 2400 → 1200

"Wow! What a powerful monster!"

"Oh my, even with 5000 points, one would have to bow before him, right?"

"Battle, attack Flame Swordsman with Great Tornado!"

The wind blows and sucks; Flame Swordsman tries to struggle but is kicked into fragments by a side kick from Great Tornado. Immediately after, Great Tornado glances at Tenjou Hikari, merely waving his hand casually without striking him.

Tenjou Hikari LP: 4000 → 2100.

"Ha, turn end!"

Tenjou Hikari rubs his shoulder; although Avian talked tough, he was actually quite kind and did not go easy on him, so it doesn't hurt at all.

But Tenjou Hikari's competitive spirit has been thoroughly ignited!

He draws a card from his Deck, glances at it, and cannot help but burst into laughter.

"Jaden, I admit that after that incident, you have become even more excellent!"

"But on the path of Fusion, I will absolutely not lose!"

"The final turn!"

There was a bug in the previous chapter where other monsters could not attack while Thousand-Eyes Sacrifice God was on the field; it has now been corrected, so Tenjou Hikari still has a Sheep Token on his field.

Asking for votes~

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(End of Chapter)