Chapter 394: A Brand New Deck (7k for monthly votes)

Tenjou Hikari looked at the cards on his opponent's field, frowning slightly as he pondered the current situation.

When Gold Cloud Beast Malong is sent to the Graveyard, it has an effect that targets 1 face-up card on the opponent's field and returns it to the hand.

And Number 23 possesses a mandatory "three-color negate" once per turn.

This so-called mandatory three-color negate means that as long as either player activates a monster effect, or a Spell/Trap card, Lancelot will automatically activate its effect to negate the activated card.

A key point worth mentioning is that because this effect is mandatory, even Mr. T's own cards would be forcibly negated. If Mr. T were the type of person Tenjou Hikari imagined who "clicks whatever lights up," Tenjou Hikari could Normal Summon a monster with over 1000 ATK to destroy Gold Cloud Beast in battle. If Mr. T foolishly activated this effect, Lancelot would forcibly negate it.

But clearly, Mr. T was not that stupid.

"I set two cards and end my turn."

After finishing the summon of his monster, Mr. T did not stop his actions; he set two cards on the field before confidently yielding the turn, waiting for Tenjou Hikari's move.

Honestly, it was quite surprising.

Although this board state was not particularly difficult for Tenjou Hikari to handle, it was already countless times stronger than the "Mr. T" in Tenjou Hikari's memory.

Of course, while much stronger than he remembered, that did not mean... it was particularly strong.

What truly shocked Tenjou Hikari was that Mr. T had somehow mastered the powers of Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz simultaneously without him knowing.

As expected—

Just as Zone said, Darkness did not just appear in this "F Dimension"; it had also gone to the Synchro S Dimension and the Xyz X Dimension, drawing power and inspiration from those dimensions.

Before him, this Mr. T was clearly born from such changes.

"How will you respond?" Tierra asked curiously from the side.

She didn't know the abilities or effects of the monsters on Mr. T's field, but with three in the front and two in the back, it looked quite intimidating.

Tenjou Hikari looked at his hand, thought for a moment, and said, "Minor problem."

He looked at Mr. T and continued, "Indeed, mastering Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz simultaneously makes you much stronger than the vast majority of humans, but... you have probably never truly dueled a human, have you?"

Mr. T frowned and said, "What about it?"

The question Tenjou Hikari asked actually made Mr. T feel unexpectedly insecure.

He truly had never dueled a human before.

To be precise, "they" had never officially dueled a human.

Most of the time, they were in the darkness, dueling each other, deducing the usage range and effects of every card, then designing combos to use at the start of a duel.

They possessed this ability.

Although they had dueled some people, in reality, their own traits and abilities would help them modify the opponent's memory, making the opponent feel pressured until they ultimately lost.

Facing a duelist who was not affected by their abilities in a proper duel... this was the first time.

"I Normal Summon Elemental HERO Prisma!"

"Prisma?" Seeing this monster, Mr. T felt slightly confused. "Using a monster like this?"

"Compared to me, are you interested in activating an effect?" Tenjou Hikari asked with a smile.

Mr. T remained silent and did not answer.

Tenjou Hikari guessed that Mr. T's set cards were likely cards that would send his own monsters to the Graveyard, allowing him to maximize the effect of Gold Cloud Beast.

However—

Lancelot's effect is "bound" to activate, so before Tenjou Hikari used an effect, Mr. T could not use any cards, otherwise he would be "stuck" by his own monster and have it negated.

This was not a matter of operation or choice, but a limitation of the card itself.

"No. 23's effect is one that, once activated, will negate that effect, and it is a mandatory trigger effect."

Mr. T did not ask questions like "How do you know?" or "Humans shouldn't know about Number monsters!" As beings who silently observed human life in the darkness, they had long known that Tenjou Hikari possessed some "knowledge" that transcended ordinary people, so he was prepared even if Tenjou Hikari knew about his effects.

Regardless, Lancelot's effect would inevitably block one card effect; Tenjou Hikari could not avoid it.

"At first glance, it seems so, but... what about in reality?" Tenjou Hikari raised a finger. "Let me show you something interesting. Sometimes, what's important isn't the effect, but the cost paid.

Just as humans are born, grow old, fall ill, and die in a cycle, it is precisely because life is fleeting that what is created during a magnificent life is love and wisdom.

I activate the monster effect of Elemental HERO Prisma!"

"Once per turn, reveal 1 Fusion Monster in your Extra Deck, and send the Fusion Material monster specifically listed on that card from your Deck to the Graveyard. Until the End Phase, this card's name becomes the name of the monster sent to the Graveyard for this effect."

"But don't forget—Lancelot will negate that effect!"

Just as Mr. T said, as Tenjou Hikari activated the effect, Lancelot had already raised its hand, and a black energy sphere flew from its side, merging into its rapier.

Mr. T saw Lancelot move on its own and said, "Lancelot's effect: once per turn, when a monster effect, Spell, or Trap card is activated, except for this card's effect, detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to activate. Negate that activation."

"So, that effect is negated!"

"However—the [cost] that must be paid still has to be paid!" Tenjou Hikari smiled and opened his deck, revealing a card from it. "The Fusion Material for Invoked Mechaba, Aleister the Invoker!"

A card flew out of the deck and landed in Tenjou Hikari's Graveyard.

"If the goal was to change the monster's name to Aleister the Invoker, this action would undoubtedly be useless," Tenjou Hikari continued. "But if my goal was to send a monster to the Graveyard, this [effect] has already succeeded."

Mr. T looked troubled.

A card's effect is not simply an "effect." In reality, all the information on a card like Prisma includes at least two parts: "cost" and "effect." Among them, the cost is something you must do as long as you activate the effect; regardless of whether you are negated or what happens, as long as you choose to "activate" the effect, you must pay its cost.

Tenjou Hikari then sent Aleister from his deck to the Graveyard.

Although Prisma remained Prisma because of Lancelot's effect, it didn't matter anymore.

"I activate the Spell card, Invocation!" Tenjou Hikari played another Spell card from his hand. "This card can fuse monsters from your hand. If performing a Fusion Summon of an [Invoked] monster, you can also banish monsters from your field or either player's Graveyard to perform the Fusion Summon."

"Now, in my Graveyard, there is Aleister the Invoker, and in your Graveyard, Alexandrite Dragon and Galaxy Serpent are both LIGHT monsters—do you have any moves to make?"

"...No." Mr. T felt he had nothing to say.

"Then, I banish the LIGHT Alexandrite Dragon from your Graveyard and Aleister the Invoker from my Graveyard to fuse—"

"Fusion Summon!"

"Level 9—"

"Invoked Mechaba!"

The roar of metal wheels exploded as a massive mechanical knight driving a mechanical chariot charged fiercely to Tenjou Hikari's side. Its light shone everywhere, even faintly making Mr. T feel a sense of being unable to contend with it.

Invoked Mechaba, Level 9, LIGHT, Machine, ATK 2500.

"It's actually Mechaba!"

Clearly, Mr. T also knew this card.

"Then—I activate the Quick-Play Spell, Instant Nirvana!" The moment Mechaba appeared, Mr. T sensed danger.

Mechaba possesses a powerful effect similar to Lancelot's. Although it differs from Lancelot's effect which only requires detaching a material, Mechaba can negate and banish a card of the corresponding type by discarding a card of that same type.

In terms of range, it is much simpler than the mandatory Lancelot!

"Mechaba's effect!" Seeing Mr. T activate an effect, Tenjou did not hesitate and activated Mechaba's effect on the spot. "Once per turn, when a monster effect, Spell, or Trap card is activated, send 1 card of the same type from your hand to the Graveyard to activate.

Negate that activation and banish it."

Tenjou Hikari picked up a Spell card from his hand. "I send Fusion Recycling Plant from my hand to the Graveyard."

"Naive, Tenjou Hikari—I activate another card, the Trap card, Skill Drain!"

While Tenjou Hikari was operating, Mr. T also flipped his final Trap—Skill Drain!

"Pay 1000 Life Points; all monster effects on the field are negated!"

A pale golden light spread from the center of the field, reaching Tenjou Hikari.

Mr. T, LP: 2000 → 1000.

On the field, all cards lost their color and turned gray.

Only—

Mechaba lost its effect and was just a monster with 2500 ATK, but—

Five-Headed Dragon's ATK is 5000!

When everyone has effects, a card like Five-Headed Dragon, which has no effects and is essentially a vanilla, cannot prevent effect destruction, nor can it destroy or interfere with other cards, making it seem very dull—but once both players' monsters lose their effects, a full 5000 ATK becomes quite exaggerated!

That's 5000 ATK!

How can monsters that have lost their effects possibly add up to 5000?

Not only that—

With the appearance of Skill Drain, the effect of Instant Nirvana could also be processed.

Mr. T showed a strange smile on his face. "It seems this negation forces you to discard a card and still be unable to deal with my card.

Instant Nirvana's effect: Select 1 monster on my field and send it to the Graveyard. I choose Gold Cloud Beast - Malong."

Malong's body began to disintegrate, then turned into countless black cards that were buried in the Graveyard. At the same time, a large number of black cards covered Mechaba, crushing it into a card in its panic.

"Gold Cloud Beast Malong's effect: If this card is sent to the Graveyard, you can activate this. Select 1 face-up card on the opponent's field and return it to the hand—because the effect is activated in the Graveyard, Skill Drain's effect cannot affect the activation of this card."

"And when the card [returned] to the hand is a card from the Extra Deck, that card returns directly to your Extra Deck—go back, mechanical monster."

Mechaba turned into a card and flew toward Tenjou Hikari's Extra Deck. Just then, Tierra, who was beside Tenjou Hikari, suddenly reached out and grabbed the card.

"What's wrong?" Tenjou Hikari, who was still looking for a way out, stopped and asked Tierra in confusion.

"This card is not right—" Tierra frowned, gripping the card. "Filthy creature, daring to plot against Tenjou Hikari."

Tierra's expression was not good. Blue Purgatory Fire burned on her hand, and under the continuous burning of the flames, a mass of black energy gradually rose from the card and then dissipated.

Seeing this, Tenjou Hikari narrowed his eyes and looked at Mr. T.

"Just some simple visual deception," Mr. T said shamelessly.

It sounded like the black energy on the card was just a visual trick.

But Tenjou Hikari understood—if Tenjou Hikari had kept this card, he might have later mistaken someone else he was familiar with for Mr. T and fought to the death with that person.

[Simple visual deception]!

Although it was done very covertly, Tierra had been specifically studying all of Darkness's actions and ability manifestations during this time. Previously, Darkness had silently made a spirit imitate the appearance and behavior of an acquaintance of Tenjou Hikari, and she hadn't noticed, which made her lose face in front of Tenjou Hikari. Later, Tenjou Hikari had his memory modified right in front of her, which caused an indescribable malice to grow in her heart.

Today, facing the subordinate of that future god, Tierra did not want her "divine favor" to be messed with by the opponent.

"Ha..." Tenjou Hikari laughed coldly.

"Then, the duel should continue, right, Tenjou Hikari? Let us see your so-called human duel."

In front of Skill Drain, 5000 ATK was an almost insurmountable mountain.

Tenjou Hikari looked to his left.

He said, "I activate the effect of Shaddoll Fusion in the Graveyard, returning this card to the deck to shuffle, then draw one card."

Tenjou Hikari looked at the card he drew, then looked at the card in his hand, raised an eyebrow, and chuckled.

"Oh ho, you drew a super good card," Tierra said, looking at Tenjou Hikari's hand, feeling that Tenjou Hikari should have the victory in his grasp.

"I'm really sorry," Tenjou Hikari said, looking at the card in his hand, unable to help but laugh. "If it were a day earlier, no, if it were a few hours earlier, facing your current board, I might have had to think about it."

"But now, it's different." Tenjou Hikari held up a card. "My deck now... is super strong."

"Normal Spell card, Shaddoll Fusion." Mr. T's eyebrow twitched.

It was Shaddoll Fusion.

That was bad.

"If the opponent controls a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, Shaddoll Fusion can send Fusion Materials from the deck to the Graveyard to perform a Fusion Summon.

I send Shaddoll Dragon and Thunder Dragon-Thunderbird from my deck to the Graveyard."

"Thunder... bird?"

This was a card Mr. T had never seen before.

But then, he realized that this card was likely another form of that "Thunder Source Dragon"—that card and its Fusion form were rare cards unique to Tenjou Hikari. If that Thunder Dragon had evolved without others knowing, and Tenjou Hikari had kept it hidden, then no one knew its effect!

"Fusion Summon, Level 8, El Shaddoll Construct!"

A halo rose in the sky, a purple halo hanging over Tenjou Hikari's head, making him look like an angel. On the other side, a massive stone angel made of rock slowly appeared.

El Shaddoll Construct, Level 8, LIGHT, Fairy, ATK 2800.

"When Construct is Special Summoned, I can send one Shaddoll card from my deck to the Graveyard."

"Heh, don't forget, Tenjou Hikari, Skill Drain is still on the field—"

"I know that, of course..." Tenjou Hikari replied, his face still wearing the same smile, no, even brighter than before. "I know Skill Drain's effect better than you do.

You wouldn't forget, would you? I faced Skill Drain at the GX Tournament."

Mr. T did not refute.

"Indeed, as long as Skill Drain is on the field, monster effects on the field are negated. Even if it's a monster with full immunity, if Skill Drain existed before it landed, it would become a vanilla upon landing.

But—

There are as many ways to break it as you want!"

"The simplest is to chain them yourself!"

Tenjou Hikari held up two fingers and said, "Shaddoll Dragon's effect: if this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, I can destroy 1 Spell/Trap card on the field.

If I want to activate this effect first, and then activate Construct's effect. Then, based on the principle of 'last in, first out,' Construct's effect is processed first and negated by Skill Drain.

However, no one would be that stupid—first activate Construct's effect, then activate Shaddoll Dragon's effect.

Based on Shaddoll Dragon's effect, I destroy your Skill Drain!"

A mechanical dragon flew out of the card, rushed to Skill Drain, frantically waved its claws, and then tore the card to pieces.

At the same time, the invisible golden light maintained on the field slowly dissipated.

"When processing Construct's effect, Skill Drain is no longer on the field, so Construct can activate its effect normally—I send Shaddoll Beast from my deck to the Graveyard.

Then, based on Shaddoll Beast's effect, if it is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, I draw one card from my deck."

Tenjou Hikari drew a card again and took a look.

Mr. T felt a sense of embarrassment.

Lancelot's effect was directly ignored, Gold Cloud Beast's effect seemed to have no impact at all, and Skill Drain was completely bypassed—

Humans are truly despicable!

Fortunately.

He hadn't lost yet.

Construct does not engage in battle and directly destroys the opponent's Special Summoned monster. Even if Tenjou Hikari recovered the banished Aleister and increased Construct's ATK by 1000, it could not cause damage.

If Tenjou Hikari did not attack Lancelot, next turn, Lancelot, which had materials, could attack directly. If the attack succeeded, it could activate its second effect to destroy Construct. When Construct activated its Graveyard effect, it could be negated by Lancelot again, still maintaining an advantage.

Not only that, Number monsters can only be destroyed in battle by Number monsters. If it were in Defense Position, there would be no piercing damage, and it could not be broken.

Opposite him.

Tenjou Hikari looked at the card he had drawn.

Fortunately—

He returned to looking at the cards on his left.

Thunder Dragon Fusion, Shaddoll Schism.

These two cards were either unusable or had to be set, so he left them there. What was important was the other card in Tenjou Hikari's hand, which was—Evil HERO Malicious Bane.

This card could almost be said to be a gift from Judai earlier. Because this card's effect could only be used once per duel, Judai had several and didn't have much need for them, so he took the time to trade it with Tenjou Hikari for a Fusion Spell, which was mutually beneficial. At the time, Judai also gave him an Evil HERO Adusted Gold, but unfortunately, Tenjou Hikari hadn't had a chance to use it yet.

Tenjou Hikari happened to be lacking high-level HERO monsters. Although this card looked quite humorous, other high-level HEROes—Neos, unique to Judai, couldn't be given; Dasher, unique to Edo and a spirit, couldn't be given; Malicious, although Edo had three, one couldn't fully utilize its own ability, so it was better for Edo to keep all three.

There were too few useful, adaptable high-level HEROes. Even if this card looked a bit weirdly humorous, both strong and not strong, it was still a self-summoning board-wipe, so Tenjou Hikari was quite happy to take it.

And it ended up in his hand today.

Whatever—it was a common occurrence.

Before coming to this world, when Phoenix Enforcer was just released, playing Master Duel often resulted in Malicious or Denier in hand. Now, this Mr. T's "power" was clearly far stronger than those small-fry spirits, so it wasn't strange to draw it.

He looked at the card he had just drawn again.

The corners of his mouth curled up: "I activate the Spell card, Fusion Destiny!"

"Fusion Destiny...???"

Tenjou Hikari's mouth curled up: "Be honored. What you are seeing is the [Fusion Deck] born when [Fusion] reaches a brand new stage.

[The Passionate Fusionist Deck]."

Mr. T looked at Tenjou Hikari in a daze.

"This card can send cards from your hand or deck to the Graveyard to perform a Fusion Summon of a Destiny HERO monster. The monster Special Summoned by this effect is destroyed during the End Phase of the opponent's turn. After this card is activated, until the end of the turn, you cannot Special Summon monsters except for DARK HERO monsters."

"Hmm—"

Colossus, Winda, Phoenix Enforcer, Mechaba—Tenjou Hikari's deck had already gathered these great generals, and their appearances were all extremely simple, so Tenjou Hikari had significantly modified and adjusted the deck. Except for Mechaba, which was harder to bring out because there was no "Link," Tenjou Hikari felt the others were not a problem.

Today, the fact that he could fight this well even without his own "power" being too high proved this point.

"The Fusion conditions are a Level 6 or higher HERO monster and a Destiny HERO monster!"

"I send Evil HERO Malicious Bane from my hand and Destiny HERO Drawhand from my deck to the Graveyard, Fusion Summon!"

"The world, humanity, the process of dueling, is shattering and recreating, purifying everything, and sublimating into a brand new form!

Fusion Summon!!!"

"Level 8!"

"Become the immortal HERO!"

"Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer!"

Scorching flames surged up, and a HERO waved his hands, spread his wings, and slowly descended.

Destruction, death, pain, but in the end, what would come—is rebirth.

A muscular, pitch-black, fierce HERO burning with crimson flames slowly raised his head.

Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer, Level 8, DARK, Warrior, ATK 2500.

"Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer reduces the ATK of monsters on the opponent's field by 200 for each HERO in my Graveyard."

Two monsters meant 400; it wasn't much, but it was decent.

However, even with a 400 reduction, Five-Headed Dragon still had 4600 ATK.

But—

The duel was already over!

"Battle—" Tenjou Hikari raised his hand and pointed at Five-Headed Dragon. "Construct attacks Five-Headed Dragon! Because of Construct's own effect, it does not engage in battle and directly destroys the opponent's monster!"

"But—Number monsters can only be destroyed in battle by Number monsters!"

"Then I'll activate an effect!" Tenjou Hikari didn't mind. "Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer's effect: once per turn, during either player's turn, I can activate this. Destroy 1 card on my field and 1 card on the opponent's field—Number monsters cannot be destroyed by non-Number monsters, but that's just battle destruction resistance. As long as it's destroyed by an effect, it doesn't matter what Number it's called, that won't change!"

"Hmm—"

Tenjou Hikari selected Prisma on his field, then pointed at Lancelot.

Prisma turned into a ball of fire, its prisms burning with flames. Tenjou Hikari could faintly feel an impulse, as if it also had its own consciousness and wanted to help Tenjou Hikari.

Tenjou Hikari was stunned for a moment.

Was it... the fighting spirit in Kagurazaka's heart?

The consciousness that wanted to help me even while unconscious?

He didn't understand, but in the meantime, Prisma had already rushed at Lancelot, and with a bang, it exploded with the opponent.

Mr. T looked troubled.

However, he was not afraid.

Although he would "die," his memories would be passed on to all his other counterparts. They would still inherit his memories, then innovate their strategies, and become stronger next time.

Seeing his completely indifferent look, Tenjou Hikari frowned slightly.

This duel was undoubtedly a "Shadow Duel"—or rather, the moment that black wall descended, normal dueling no longer existed on this island.

"Are you not afraid of death?"

"Even if I die, my counterparts will inherit my memories and use them to defeat you. Since that's the case, what's the big deal—we have always been one." Compared to death, he cared more about the fact that he had lost to Tenjou Hikari in a single turn!!! Their training was clearly not enough!

Tenjou Hikari frowned. Mr. T was a "whole"; even if there were thousands of Mr. T's, they actually shared a single consciousness.

But, can spreading memories to other versions of oneself after death really be called the same individual?

"Pathetic creature—"

Tierra expressed her own sentiment.

How could one who doesn't know the magnificence and sorrow of death understand the preciousness and beauty of life?

No wonder—she hated these creatures so much.

"Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer, attack the opponent directly!" Tenjou Hikari remained silent for a long time, finally realizing that there was no need to try to collide with "things" like Mr. T using language and thought as one would with spirits—they didn't have such things to begin with.

Phoenix Enforcer rose silently, rushed in front of Mr. T, and punched through his body. A huge hole was broken in the chest of that thing as it smiled, and the countless cards that made up his body shattered, with black slime splashing everywhere.

Mr. T, LP: 1000 → 0.

With his life reaching zero, his body became formless, his appearance was lost, and his body turned into countless cards, which, along with his Duel Disk and deck, all became cards.

Tenjou Hikari stepped forward and picked up the cards on the ground.

The Synchro Monster and Xyz Monster all began to slowly distort, then turned into cards without a "front."

Tenjou Hikari frowned slightly.

It seemed they were [Copy] cards. Tenjou Hikari was not too surprised; after all, he had seen the Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax created by Darkness in the S Dimension before, so he wasn't too surprised.

He looked at the cards emitting black energy.

Whatever—it was fine.

If he had actually obtained a Number card, Tenjou Hikari wouldn't have known what to do. Now that he had "blank" cards with a magnitude equal to Number cards, they were much more useful for Tenjou Hikari's alchemy workshop.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 606 =====