Chapter 292

"My turn."

It was Haruki's turn. He placed his right hand on the very top of his deck, but did not draw a card immediately.

Tenjou Hikari was also quite curious.

This duelist from the Society of Light, who had never appeared in the original work at all, and who was a classmate in the same grade yet left absolutely no impression—what kind of deck would he actually use?

"If I'm dueling you, a normal duel won't cut it." Haruki's hand remained resting on top of his duel disk's deck. "You are a powerful duelist, a genius of Fusion, a duelist who can play smoothly even if they put every Fusion card into their deck. If I'm going to duel you, I have to go all out."

Oh?

Tenjou Hikari was very curious.

And accompanying his curiosity, a strange black mist appeared in the station. Under everyone's gaze, a black skull slowly rose on the back of Haruki's right hand, then covered the back of his right hand, just like a tattoo.

Those tattoos... they weren't actually tattoos?

Before anyone could think it through, they saw ominous black smoke erupting from that skull. Immediately after, that black smoke swirled around, gradually turning into a giant skeleton wearing a cloak. Its image was just like the Grim Reaper from Castlevania—the most classic, most archetypal "Grim Reaper."

"What is that!" Misawa Daichi, who had originally thought this was just a normal duel, exclaimed.

"Wh-what happened?"

Quite a few students were frightened by this ominous black smoke, and upon seeing this eerie Grim Reaper, they had no choice but to hurriedly run outside.

"... The Grim Reaper card?" Tenjou Hikari hesitated for a moment, recalling this card.

"Ah, yes," Haruki replied.

Hiss...

That's a bit scary.

Tenjou Hikari raised an eyebrow.

The "Grim Reaper" card was a card sealed away by the North Academy of Duel Academy in the original work—just like the Sacred Beasts sealed by the main academy, the Grim Reaper was a card sealed by the North Academy.

The Grim Reaper card was also a card that devoured life, but unlike the Sacred Beasts, the Grim Reaper card only devoured the life and soul of its holder.

But compared to the power of the three Sacred Beasts, what the Grim Reaper provided was a special ability that every duelist dreamed of.

Draw whatever you want to draw!

In the original work, someone relied on using "One-Hit Kill! Iai Draw" to one-turn-kill almost every duelist they encountered, until they dueled Jūdai and gave up the Grim Reaper card after realizing what they truly wanted.

The person in front of him was completely different from the one in Tenjou Hikari's memory.

Did Saiou get the Grim Reaper card from that person?

"The skull on my right hand cries out in pursuit of victory!

Defeat, defeat, defeat!

Defeat all enemies before me!

Oh, Grim Reaper, grant me the power to make my wishes come true!"

"Choose: is it life, or is it victory?" the Grim Reaper spoke at the same time.

Tiera was observing the Grim Reaper from the side, looking quite interested.

"Of course it's—victory!" Haruki drew his card fiercely.

Tenjou Hikari frowned.

"My turn. I Normal Summon, Dimension Synthesizer!"

A pitch-black orb appeared before him, and then, a white magician, manipulating the black orb, floated in front of him.

Dimension Synthesizer, Level 4, LIGHT, Fairy-type, ATK 1300.

"Once per turn, this card can banish the top card of the deck, and then gain 500 ATK until the end of the turn." He took a card from the very top of his deck.

Dimension Synthesizer, ATK: 1300 → 1800.

"This... what's the point of that?"

"I activate the Spell Card, Dimension Distortion."

"This card can Special Summon one banished monster."

"Huh?" Misawa Daichi couldn't help but be stunned when he saw this card. "Isn't that a card that can only be activated if there are no cards in the Graveyard? Normally, when you want to activate this card, there are definitely cards in the Graveyard, and even if you can activate it at the start, it's hard to immediately Special Summon a useful monster..."

"And, that Synthesizer only banished the top card of the deck... isn't this too reckless?" It wasn't just Misawa Daichi; the students nearby were basically "honor students," and seeing Haruki activate this kind of card, they naturally couldn't help but discuss it.

How are you so sure that the Synthesizer and this card can combo together?

But—

It definitely can!

This is the power of the 【Grim Reaper】.

"Special Summon, Barrier Statue of the Light."

Hallelujah~~~

A giant stone statue, like the Virgin Mary, descended from the dimension, shining with light, and landed on the ground.

Barrier Statue of the Light, Level 4, LIGHT, Fairy-type, DEF 1000.

"Eh? Barrier Statue of the Light." Misawa Daichi was stunned at the sight.

"What's wrong, Brother Misawa?" Serena asked curiously.

"With the Barrier Statue of the Light on the field, neither player can Special Summon monsters other than LIGHT attribute... and Hikari's deck is actually very lacking in LIGHT attribute monsters." Misawa Daichi's expression was strange. "Did he actually happen to banish this card?"

"But, it only has 1000 DEF." Serena thought about it and felt it wasn't hard to deal with.

Misawa Daichi nodded as well.

"I activate the Continuous Spell Card, Fountain in the Sky."

A giant floating island appeared in the sky, from which water shining with white light flowed down and sprinkled onto the ground.

The style was exactly the same as the consistent style of the Society of Light.

"As long as this card is on the field, when a LIGHT monster is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can banish that card and gain Life Points equal to that monster's ATK."

"I set one card and end my turn."

Haruki's first turn ended in a way that looked strange at first glance, but bizarrely, it was actually a "cycle."

Tenjou Hikari looked at this scene, thought for a moment, and speculated on his opponent's tactics.

In his Extra Deck, there were indeed few LIGHT Fusion monsters, and he was indeed restricted by this "Barrier Statue of the Light."

If he wanted to duel smoothly, he would definitely have to prioritize destroying the Barrier Statue of the Light.

But if he did that, because of the existence of the Fountain in the Sky, the Barrier Statue of the Light would be banished, and he would gain 1000 Life Points.

Then, the Synthesizer had a special effect to recover banished monsters after being destroyed.

Simply put, it was a small "resource cycle."

The problem was that this was only under "ideal circumstances."

Tenjou Hikari could actually just destroy the Synthesizer and leave the Barrier Statue of the Light, focusing on a LIGHT attribute play.

Although few, it didn't mean Tenjou Hikari's Fusion monsters didn't have LIGHT attributes.

Not to mention anything else.

The Cyber Dragon series were basically all LIGHT attribute.

"My turn, draw—"

Tenjou Hikari drew a card.

Just as he was thinking about it, he could use this.

"I activate the Spell Card, Fusion Deployment."

A card that Special Summons Fusion Materials from the deck by revealing a Fusion monster.

"Ah, that's really nice, being able to draw the card you want at will in a crisis," Haruki whispered enviously.

(End of chapter)