Chapter 369: Mirror Reflection (4k)

"Spell Card, Substitution Fusion! I fuse the two monsters on the field—return once more, Chimera Rafflesia!"

Tenjou Hikari’s classic Rafflesia finally descended in truth upon this forest.

Tenjou Hikari pointed at the Gem-Knight on the opponent's field: "I activate Predaplant Chimera Rafflesia’s effect. I target one monster on your field with a lower Level than it. Banish that card."

The massive plant coiled its roots, enveloping the Gem-Knight’s head, lifting it up and sending it off the duel field, where it slowly dissolved into specks of light.

"Battle Phase! Chimera Rafflesia attacks the opponent—"

"Wait—" Kagurazaka raised a hand at this moment, shaking it gently. "Before that, I activate my face-down card."

"Continuous Trap, Toll of the Oppressed."

The trap slowly flipped open, emitting a faint purple glow as it stood on Kagurazaka’s field.

"As long as this card is on the field, neither player can declare an attack without sending one card to the Graveyard."

Tenjou Hikari frowned.

He looked at his hand.

Excluding the Fluffal Chain he had just searched, Tenjou Hikari had three cards in his hand.

The effect of the Chain had already been used; if he sent it to the Graveyard now, his sustainability for the next turn would be compromised.

And the other three cards...

"Then I won't attack. I set one card and end my turn."

"Giving up on dealing damage to choose a more cautious approach?" Manjoume watched the scene, his expression slightly grave.

This was the first time he had seen Tenjou Hikari’s rhythm controlled by an opponent’s tactics and cards during a duel.

"Is this all there is to a so-called 'ultimate fusion duelist'?" Yubel teased with disinterest, then drew a card from the deck.

She glanced down and played it: "Spell Card, Akashic Records. I draw two cards from my deck. If the cards drawn have been used in this duel so far, those cards are banished directly."

Tenjou Hikari raised an eyebrow.

This card... it didn't seem to be Kagurazaka’s card anymore.

Yubel drew two cards from the deck, revealed them—they were unused cards—and added them to her hand.

"One must pay a price to attack, but by using this card, one can skip the battle and proceed to 'Battle'... Hehehe, Equip Spell, Future Fusion!"

Tenjou Hikari’s pupils constricted slightly.

It was here—Kagurazaka’s Future Fusion!

Countless clocks appeared in the sky, their hands spinning in the air as their colors gradually turned black and dim.

These darkened clocks were like mirrors; a casual glance at them revealed strange landscapes.

In the dark mirrors, one could see Kagurazaka’s figure; he seemed to be in a "Duel Academy," living a quite pleasant life.

"Do you see? In that world, he is living very happily. In that world, he has no pain, no need to suffer torture, no need to endure the cold glares of others; he can enjoy everything."

"Is he dreaming?" Manjoume realized the possibility immediately.

"It seems he has fallen into a beautiful dream and cannot wake up," Tenjou Hikari thought as well.

"If only I could become stronger, if only I had made that choice back then, if only I had worked harder—but there are no 'ifs' in this world. Some people work hard their whole lives and still cannot catch up to a genius's flash of inspiration," Yubel said, using Kagurazaka’s voice. "Kagurazaka, this human has always worshipped you, because you once let him experience 'Fusion' in a duel, and you defeated the 'Sacred Beasts' before his eyes, making him feel excited."

"Sacred Beasts!?" Judai caught a detail. "Hikari, you have faced the Sacred Beasts alone!?"

Tenjou Hikari nodded, not denying it.

"But it is precisely because of your selfishness and your arrogance that this person has embarked on a path of no return."

"You preach about your Fusion, your dueling, calling upon friends, yet you show no concern for those ordinary classmates—the darkness hidden within your heart is concealed too well."

"Huh?" Manjoume was amused. "Hahaha, what an unfounded speculation. Tenjou, this spirit is crazy."

"Crazy? It is you who haven't realized it," Yubel said calmly. "That day, the otherworldly god circling this Duel Island—you all must have seen it, isn't it Tenjou Hikari’s spirit card?"

"He has the ability to protect all the students, but he has always let the spirits run wild, never taking action, just waiting on the spot!"

"Isn't this scene today the result of his inaction?"

She raised a finger, and as she spoke, Kagurazaka’s voice echoed as well. Within the pitch-black clocks surrounding them, Kagurazaka’s own inner thoughts began to resonate: "You possess the talent for alchemy, capable of modifying glasses to see the true forms of spirits; you possess extraordinary dueling ability, capable of taking the initiative like Judai to attack the spirits' dwellings; you possess the prestige to unite your classmates, yet every day you just calmly wait for the school's arrangements."

"Possessing ability but not using it—how can you call yourself 'Fusion'?"

"It is simply 'Fusion that leaves nothing behind,' 'Fusion that completely annexes,' 'Fusion of the extreme self'!"

As she spoke, she looked toward Judai: "Possessing the ability but calmly waiting for the situation to gradually become severe, leading to today's scene—don't you have responsibility for this as well?"

"Isn't this body calling for me because of your inaction, wanting me to save him?"

Judai would not doubt Tenjou Hikari.

Manjoume also absolutely believed in Tenjou Hikari.

But they could not refute Yubel at this moment.

Tenjou Hikari couldn't help but sigh softly, a "Heh."

"Fine, since you want to debate so much, I will accompany you to the end today." Tenjou Hikari’s eyes flashed with flickering purple light. "Dueling is originally a collision of spirits. Since you are so willing, I will use dueling to wake up the Kagurazaka you have locked away."

Yubel had too many crooked arguments. Although Tenjou Hikari had no interest in discussing these issues during a duel, if he remained silent while she kept talking, the duel would indeed be difficult to proceed.

Seeing Tenjou Hikari "take the bait," Yubel sneered.

She wasn't afraid of being refuted by Tenjou Hikari; she was afraid that Tenjou Hikari would truly have no reaction and would ignore everything else except the duel.

Now that Tenjou Hikari wanted to argue this issue with her, she naturally had an opportunity.

"Tierra?" Tenjou Hikari whispered to Tierra.

Blue flames erupted beside Tenjou Hikari, and a green mechanical puppet slowly appeared in the flames.

"What is it? Do you need me to help you argue with this dragon demon?" Tierra was slightly surprised and unexpected. "I am not good at arguing; I have never reached a conclusion when arguing with Sophia."

It was certainly impossible to count on her to win a war of words against Yubel.

"It's fine, you just need to be here."

"Heh, did you summon an otherworldly god to bolster your momentum?"

"Ha... I just want you to experience the feeling."

?

Yubel was suddenly a bit dazed.

Then—

Tenjou Hikari’s expression changed abruptly, his aura climbing sharply, and purple air waves spread outward like ripples with him at the center.

Although it wasn't his true form, this sudden outburst still gave Yubel a fright.

Such a strong spirit!! What is the origin of this human!?

"Your aura, I have felt it in the Fusion Department—I have always entrusted my friends to guard the Fusion Department, hoping they could protect it so my members wouldn't be harmed by the outside world. Therefore, I conclude that you must have entered the Fusion Department before, and then left!"

Yubel’s heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, those Earthbound Immortals were also in league with this guy.

"Just as you said, I have excellent partners, I have help from gods of the S-Dimension, and I have many spirits supporting me. If I were to act alone, I could even help the academy survive for several days—"

"But what does this have to do with 'humans'!"

Manjoume and Judai looked at each other, suddenly recovering as if in a trance.

If they were to face the "end-of-humanity extinction outcome," then the most important thing was humanity itself!

If one only relies on others and doesn't work hard themselves, isn't the extinction of humanity reasonable?

Tenjou Hikari continued: "If I and Judai and the others did everything, then why would the students go to school or be duelists? What necessity would there be to face the dangers threatening humanity?"

"If I did everything alone, doing the students' work, the teachers' work, then are they still my friends?"

"Are they 'puppets' or 'partners'?"

Tenjou Hikari then reached out and pointed at Yubel, the purple gale howling and blowing away the broken branches and leaves: "If a person monopolizes work, career, studies, family, friendship, love—everything—is that protecting, caring, or just venting their own desire for control!?"

"Ridiculous!"

Afterward, he and Tierra looked at each other and nodded.

After the duel with Professor Seraph, he had completely understood how to get along with Tierra: "Mutual respect is the foundation. If you don't even respect the other party, how can you claim to support them?"

"Giggle, giggle..." Yubel’s right hand trembled, her teeth chattering, not knowing if it was anger or annoyance.

Not far away, Judai’s heroes heard Tenjou Hikari’s words and almost huddled together, cheering excitedly for Tenjou Hikari.

It had to be Tenjou Hikari!

If you dare to provoke him, he will never be polite to you!

The Fusion Army was gone this year, and they thought Tenjou Hikari’s temper had softened; it turned out there were just no opponents worth arguing with—this skill was still there!

"Unity, mutual assistance, mutual progress—that is what is called... Fusion. I advise you to save your breath on trying to distort my understanding of Fusion. You will never be able to do it in your life," Tenjou Hikari said decisively at the end.

"As for Kagurazaka... I am sorry that he didn't overcome the difficulty at the critical moment. But it's okay. Because I am here." Tenjou Hikari looked at Kagurazaka, and through Kagurazaka’s eyes, he seemed to see through Yubel’s soul and through the dream. "So I will guide and wake him up."

The third eye on Yubel’s head began to flash wildly, observing Tenjou Hikari’s heart.

No flaws—absolutely no flaws!

He said these words from the heart; he truly thought so!

Damn it!!

This guy is genuinely insisting on the path of "Fusion"!

A madman!?

The "classmate" route was a complete dead end!

She had previously thought that she had used the most perfect method to make Kagurazaka voluntarily summon her, so it wasn't actively persuading a student to fall, nor forcing a student to be possessed. Based on the information she had gathered about Tenjou Hikari, he would be moved in such a situation.

Yet she didn't expect that Tenjou Hikari had been prepared for his classmates to court death from the very beginning.

Then she would try other things!

She didn't believe that Tenjou Hikari could be perfect and have no flaws in his heart!

If she had previously sought a duel with Tenjou Hikari simply to possess him and then torture Judai, she had now completely changed that idea.

Tenjou Hikari’s dueling philosophy was completely different from her philosophy of showing love through torture and pain. She must teach Tenjou Hikari a lesson and defeat him completely, both mentally and physically!

If the classmate route didn't work, then she would take another!

Light of Destruction, spirits, dreams, memories, Fusion, Darkness...

No matter what, she must win!

"Hmph... since you protected Kagurazaka in the duel against the 'Sacred Beasts' back then, then I will also use the power of the Sacred Beasts to duel you now."

Sacred Beasts!?

Tenjou Hikari was slightly puzzled.

Although in the original work, Yubel used Marcel to break the seal of the Sacred Beasts and used their cards, in this world, Tenjou Hikari had transferred the "Sacred Beasts" to his replica cards ever since he defeated Akaba Leo, and the school’s Seven Stars Gate had been heavily locked by the school and Tenjou Hikari. It was impossible to get Sacred Beast cards from there!

Not to mention, she had just found her first control target.

"The fusion condition is three Level 10 monsters."

She opened her deck: "From the deck, I send the Level 10 'Absolute Obedience Fiend', the Level 10 'The Wicked Avatar', and the Level 10 'Exodia the Forbidden One' to the Graveyard!"

"The ultimate machine constructed by the power of the Sacred Beasts, appear before me, submit to me!"

"Fusion Summon! Level 10, 'Sacred Beast Emperor Tri-Electronic Man'!"

Three huge purple spheres floated in the air, and then, the three spheres seemed to collide, erupting with terrifying radiance like a black sun.

A moment later, a huge monster, completely different from the three Sacred Beasts but clearly possessing the power of the Sacred Beasts to absorb the life of spirits, appeared on Kagurazaka’s field.

Sacred Beast Emperor Tri-Electronic Man, Level 10, Dark Attribute, Fiend-Type, ATK 4000.

"Sacred Beast Emperor?" Judai had never heard of such a card.

"ATK 4000... but monsters summoned by Future Fusion cannot attack on the turn they are Special Summoned... and although 4000 ATK might be high, Tenjou’s Chimera Rafflesia is even enough to rival Master’s Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

Not to mention whether it could attack, 4000 ATK could not defeat Chimera Rafflesia.

Rafflesia’s combat ability was all-encompassing!

"When Tri-Electronic Man is Special Summoned, or when another card is Special Summoned to my field while it is on the field, I can target one face-up monster on the opponent's field. I inflict damage to the opponent equal to half that monster's value!"

"Eh!?"

Bypassing the flaw of not being able to attack, it directly dealt damage?

"Shocking Torture!"

Tri-Electronic Man jumped high, grabbed the vines on the ground, and purple lightning surged wildly along the vines, zapping Tenjou Hikari.

"Ugh————"

Tenjou Hikari felt a piercing pain, and numbness instantly swept through his body, but the next moment, blue flames burned on his body, bearing the pain for him.

Tenjou Hikari LP: 4000 -> 2750.

"Thanks."

"Ha. A small matter."

Without extra movements or words, the tacit understanding between Tenjou Hikari and Tierra was already overflowing.

Seeing this scene, Yubel’s anger became even more intense.

She raised her right hand, her face cold: "In that case, let me show you the mirror reflected by the darkness and pain in this human's heart, under the power of destruction and extinction."

"Activate Trap Card, Virtual World!"

After this card was activated, the countless mirror shards left by Future Fusion arranged themselves around them, displayed like a collection.

Tenjou Hikari frowned.

Virtual World... it could add a Field Spell to the hand or place it directly on the field.

Could it be 'Nightmare Throne'?

"From the deck, I activate the Field Spell Card, 'Dream Mirror of Joy'!"

Tenjou Hikari was slightly stunned.

Why Dream Mirror?

Immediately, he thought of the card he got from the duel with Kagurazaka...

Back then, he got "Prisma" from his duel with Kagurazaka.

His expression gradually darkened.

Yubel was using the power of the Light of Destruction and Darkness to extract Kagurazaka’s potential to create cards!