Chapter 398: Breakthrough!! (6k, seeking monthly votes!!!)

"...Continue to resolve Construct's effect."

Tenjou Hikari felt somewhat helpless.

Because Construct being controlled by the opponent was actually quite bad for him.

First, there was no way to use Construct's effect to directly destroy that Dark Gaia, and second, Tenjou Hikari had no way to easily use other fusion cards to assist in the effect of sending this card to the Graveyard to recycle fusion materials.

However, although the monster was taken, its effect was not negated, so Tenjou Hikari could still continue to activate Construct's landing effect.

Tenjou Hikari opened his deck, thinking carefully.

If Construct were still on his field, he would have directly sent "Shaddoll Schism" to the Graveyard, then combined it with Shaddoll Schism next turn to fuse into Winda, send Neos Overlord to the Graveyard, and also restrict the Supreme King's Special Summoning.

But now it was a bit difficult.

He pondered for a while and took out one of the cards: "I send Shaddoll Lizard from my deck to the Graveyard."

"Then, the effect of Shaddoll Lizard: send Shaddoll Hedgehog to the Graveyard. Chain again, the effect of Shaddoll Hedgehog: add 1 Shaddoll monster from my deck to my hand. I add... El Shaddoll Apkallone to my hand."

"Bai Jing?" Although the appearance was different, the Supreme King recognized at a glance who this card was.

Tenjou Hikari nodded slightly and continued his operation.

In this case...

"Spell Card, Frightfur Patchwork, add Polymerization and Edge Imp Chain from my deck to my hand."

"..." The Supreme King watched Tenjou Hikari's operation, silent.

"What is he doing, Tenjou Hikari?" Tie La asked curiously from the side.

Tenjou Hikari's actions suddenly made her a little unable to understand.

This hand should still have hope of dealing with this situation, right?

Why such frequent hand replacements?

Judai was also thinking about this question.

But compared to them, the Supreme King saw it more clearly: "Compressing the deck, increasing possibilities."

"Ha, that's right." Tenjou Hikari heard this, raised his eyebrows, and said happily.

"Activate the effect of Thunder Dragon in my hand, discard this card, and add one 'Thunder Dragon' card other than Thunder Dragon from my Graveyard or banished state to my hand.

I add Thunder Dragondark from my Graveyard to my hand. Then—activate the effect of Thunder Dragondark.

Discard this card from my hand, and Special Summon 1 Thunder Dragon monster other than Thunder Dragondark from my Graveyard or banished state.

I Special Summon Thunder Dragon!"

Blue lightning struck down from the sky. A black thunder dragon, one size smaller than Colossus, appeared on the field. After appearing, it chirped happily twice, then wrapped around Tenjou Hikari, affectionately rubbing its head against his.

After more than a year, the Thunder Source Dragon had finally grown up and reached adulthood. Not only had it completely stabilized its "Colossus" state, but it had also transformed into the other three forms of Thunder Dragon that Tenjou Hikari had particularly wanted.

Tenjou Hikari responded to it, then continued his operation, saying: "In a turn where I activated the effect of a Thunder-Type monster in my hand, I can release a Thunder-Type Effect Monster on the field other than a Fusion Monster, and summon it directly—

Descend!

Thunder Dragon Colossus!"

BOOM!

Thunder struck down. Thunder Dragon's body expanded, turning into a giant dragon that summoned wind and rain. The Colossus, now an adult dragon, roared, wanting to show its power, but didn't expect the demon's power to sweep over it; its 2600 ATK instantly turned to nothing, and it became a small dragon again.

Thunder Dragon Colossus, Level 8, Dark Attribute, Thunder-Type, ATK 2600 -> 0.

There's no possibility of a future without dealing with Dark Gaia.

Tenjou Hikari observed the situation and continued: "The effect of Thunder Dragon: once per turn, when this card leaves the field or is banished, I can add 1 'Thunder Dragon' card other than 'Thunder Dragon' from my deck to my hand. I add Thunder Dragon Fusion to my hand."

Further compression.

Tie La noticed that Tenjou Hikari's deck had become much lighter.

"Spell Card, Polymerization!"

Tenjou Hikari played the Polymerization he had searched earlier: "The fusion conditions are a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck and a monster in my hand!"

"I fuse the Thunder Dragon Colossus on my field with the El Shaddoll Apkallone in my hand!"

Light began to flicker beside Tenjou Hikari.

"Fusion Summon, Light of Circulation—

Level 8, Magnum the Reliever!"

Light shone, and a ram-horned demon appeared on Tenjou Hikari's field.

Magnum the Reliever, Level 8, Light Attribute, Fiend-Type, ATK 2800 -> 0.

"At this moment, the effect of Apkallone activates! When this card is sent to the Graveyard by an effect, I can send cards from the top of my deck to the Graveyard equal to the number of original attributes of monsters on the field!"

Tenjou Hikari slowly clenched his fist, pointing at the Supreme King's field: "Now, you have the Fire-Attribute Infernal Backfire, the Earth-Attribute Dark Gaia, the Dark-Attribute Neos Overlord, and my two Light-Attribute monsters on the field, so I can send 4 cards from my deck to the Graveyard!"

The Supreme King calmly folded his arms, as if he didn't care what Tenjou Hikari was doing at all.

Or rather, before Tenjou Hikari attempted a "counterattack," there was nothing for him to do either.

Tenjou Hikari silently took the top four cards from his deck and looked at them.

He squinted.

Got it—

Shaddoll Schism!

He looked at the other three.

Beautiful, they were piled very well!

Subsequently, he sent the 4 cards to the Graveyard one by one.

"Activate the effect of Magnum the Reliever, once per turn, return 1 Spell Card with 'Fusion' in its name from my Graveyard to the bottom of the deck, then draw one card."

"I return Polymerization from my Graveyard to the deck and draw one card."

He drew the card with a swoosh and glanced down.

"Activate the effect of Brilliant Fusion in the Graveyard, return it to the deck, shuffle the deck, and draw one card—

At this moment, chain the effect of Magnum the Reliever. When another card's effect is activated, banish 1 Spell Card with 'Fusion' in its name from my Graveyard and target 1 card on the field. Destroy that card."

Tenjou Hikari looked at the Supreme King's field.

If Construct hadn't been controlled, Tenjou Hikari would have prioritized destroying that Dark Gaia, but now, it was better to prioritize Construct.

"Banish Instant Fusion from my Graveyard, target your El Shaddoll Construct."

Magnum the Reliever slowly charged up with his right hand. Although his body had shrunk to about the size of a card, his ability hadn't diminished at all. He aimed at the Construct on the Supreme King's field, then threw a golden ball of light directly. With a boom, Construct exploded.

"Construct's effect: when this card is sent to the Graveyard, I can recycle one Shaddoll Spell/Trap card from my Graveyard."

"Good, at least Construct is dealt with!"

"Next is Dark Gaia!"

"Then, at this moment, the effect of Malicious Bane in my Graveyard will also activate." The Supreme King spoke suddenly while the two spectators were happy, making them realize clearly that he was not a machine that wouldn't act, "When a monster on my field is destroyed by battle or effect, Special Summon this card from the Graveyard. Then, if there is a 'Dark Fusion' or a monster that specifically lists that card name in my Graveyard, I can destroy 1 card on the field."

"Yeah—" A demon with a sharp claw on its right hand appeared from the Graveyard.

Evil HERO Malicious Bane, Level 7, Dark Attribute, Fiend-Type, ATK 2500.

He pointed at Magnum the Reliever: "Disappear under my army's offensive!"

Malicious Bane grinned, suddenly appearing beside Magnum the Reliever, extending his claws and grabbing him. With a boom, he tore him to shreds.

Tenjou Hikari blocked in front of his face with his left hand. Magnum the Reliever's death created a terrifying explosion, forcing him to extend his left hand to block the gale.

"...I add Shaddoll Schism from my Graveyard to my hand."

Tenjou Hikari's field was empty again, but he wasn't discouraged; he accepted the status quo and silently put the cards from his Graveyard back into his hand.

"Sigh—"

Judai, who was watching the battle, saw this scene and showed a headache-inducing expression on his face.

It was too comprehensive.

Negation, control seizure, card destruction, ATK restriction, and it was a mixed scene of traps, monster effects on the field, and Graveyard effects. Not to mention being all-encompassing, but to have such a scene appear without spending many cards was indeed very powerful.

Hikari had performed multiple fusions so far, but it had no effect at all, and even "Magnum the Reliever," which symbolized Tenjou Hikari's fusion cycle philosophy, had been destroyed!

Tie La also looked troubled.

Tenjou Hikari had already used several Fusion Monsters, but he hadn't cleared the Supreme King's field at all; instead, his own cards had almost all been dealt with, and after going around in circles, he was back to the situation at the start of this turn.

"Rest assured, this is exactly what I wanted to see—" Tenjou Hikari smiled.

Although it seemed that the current situation hadn't changed, and the Supreme King's field had an extra 2500 ATK monster out of thin air, the Supreme King's interruptions seemed to have been used up—

The only one that might still have an effect was that Infernal Backfire, but Infernal Backfire looked more like a transition, so the possibility of having strong interruptions wasn't high.

That meant he could truly start to "counterattack."

He looked at the card in his hand.

"Normal Summon, Aleister the Invoker!"

A magic book fell from the sky, and a young man wearing glasses appeared abruptly on Tenjou Hikari's field, pushing his glasses casually.

Aleister the Invoker, Level 4, Dark Attribute, Spellcaster-Type, ATK 1000 -> 0.

"Aleister? Are you trying to perform an Invoked fusion?" The Supreme King looked at Tenjou Hikari's search, and for once, he was interested enough to speak.

He also knew Aleister, the top spirit in "fusion." Seeing this monster and knowing the possibilities behind it, the Supreme King was also slightly expectant.

"However, if it's Invoked, it shouldn't be able to deal with this situation." Tie La looked at Tenjou Hikari's field and shook her head.

"Indeed, Invoked cannot deal with this situation—but don't forget the foundation of fusion!" He laughed.

?

Tie La looked at Tenjou Hikari in confusion. "Aleister's effect: add one 'Invocation' from my deck to my hand."

He added Invocation to his hand, then activated: "Normal Spell Card, Invocation! This card can fuse monsters in my hand!"

Eh!

Direct fusion!

Tie La suddenly realized.

The most basic, most common, and most core, fundamental fusion!

"I fuse the Edge Imp Chain in my hand with the Fluffal Penguin in my hand!"

"Giant demon wearing a plush doll costume, now, appear before me and bring me victory!"

"Fusion Summon, Level 8!"

"Frightfur Hook Kraken!"

Countless tentacles rose from the ground, and a comical-looking doll was born from the "sea of darkness," looking gloomily at the field.

"Oh... a disguised god?" The Supreme King recognized the essence of this card at a glance, "Interesting."

This monster clearly made him truly interested.

Frightfur Hook Kraken, Level 8, Water Attribute, Fiend-Type, ATK 2200 -> 0.

"Penguin's effect: when this card is used as fusion material for a Frightfur, draw two cards and discard one; Chain's effect: I add one Frightfur card from my deck to my hand. I add the second Frightfur Patchwork to my hand."

"Similar to Liquid Soldier's effect?" Judai watched the two duel, feeling an impulse burning in his heart.

Tenjou Hikari first added Frightfur Patchwork from his deck to his hand to prevent drawing it. Then, he drew two cards and casually sent the Thunder Dragon Fusion he had searched earlier to the Graveyard.

Unfortunately, he didn't have Thunder Dragon Colossus, and he didn't have enough deck space to put in Prisma, so Thunder Dragon Fusion was actually used for searching.

"Hook Kraken's monster effect, once per turn, target 1 monster on the opponent's field. Send that monster to the Graveyard. The turn this effect is activated, this card cannot attack directly."

Tenjou Hikari took a deep breath and pointed at Dark Gaia.

"Send Dark Gaia to the Graveyard."

Dark Gaia was originally standing on the field, sneering and playing with the spear in his hand. Suddenly, the ground seemed to crack, or perhaps the ground was "seawater" to begin with, and countless tentacles emerged from it, dragging Dark Gaia down into the water.

Hook Kraken, ATK: 0 -> 2200.

"Good! That monster that reduces ATK is also dealt with!" Tie La was excited for Tenjou Hikari.

As Tenjou Hikari's partner, as someone who was most familiar with the composition of Tenjou Hikari's deck, she could see that Tenjou Hikari's duel with the Supreme King was not just about fusion, but also about maximizing every detail and advantage of his deck. Every step was carefully considered. Before this, perhaps only when dueling Daidokoji was he this cautious.

"Dark Gaia's effect."

There's more?

Tenjou Hikari was stunned.

"When this card leaves the field due to an opponent's effect. Special Summon one Fiend-Type or Warrior-Type monster from my Graveyard."

That's fine, in the Supreme King's Graveyard, there should be...

"I Special Summon Elemental HERO Shadow Mist in Defense Position—then, activate its effect!"

!!

Tenjou Hikari was suddenly stunned.

Right—

There's also that!

Elemental HERO Shadow Mist, Level 4, Dark Attribute, Warrior-Type, DEF 1500.

"Add 1 Quick-Play Spell Card with 'Change' in its name from my deck to my hand." The Supreme King slowly raised his hand: "Quick-Play Spell Card, Form Change."

Subsequently, a card jumped into his hand automatically amidst the crazy rotation of his duel disk.

"So cautious!" Judai in the mental world understood the Supreme King's idea in an instant.

Next turn, Tenjou Hikari would definitely use the effect of Shaddoll Schism to Fusion Summon Winda. At that time, as long as the Supreme King chained Form Change, he could not only avoid the effect of Shaddoll Schism sending monsters of the same attribute to the Graveyard, but also take the opportunity to Special Summon another HERO!

While avoiding risks, he could also increase his field presence!

So amazing, so careful—so serious!

Judai watched this scene excitedly.

He could feel it.

The Supreme King was more serious than ever before, more serious than when he was dueling himself in his heart, more serious than at any time before!

"...That's the last of it—activate the Spell Card, Fusion Destiny!"

Tenjou Hikari looked at his hand and decisively played this card.

"Send fusion materials from my deck to the Graveyard to perform a Destiny HERO Fusion Summon. After activating this card, I can only Special Summon Dark-Attribute HERO monsters this turn."

"Oh?" The Supreme King was slightly surprised to see this card.

"Send Evil HERO Malicious Bane and Destiny HERO - Drawhand from my deck to the Graveyard, Fusion Summon!"

"Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer!"

Flames burned!

The immortal hero was born burning in the flames!

Just as others felt—

Whether it was the Supreme King or Tenjou Hikari, both were in a state of full power—

Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer, Level 8, Dark Attribute, Warrior-Type, ATK 2500.

"Oh oh oh oh!! It's the Destiny HERO created by Hikari and Edo!" Judai became more and more excited as he watched.

This ticket price was so worth it—

"Interesting... that monster is the brand-new monster born from your 'fusion,' right?" The Supreme King saw at a glance the special power on this monster that shouldn't belong to it.

Tenjou Hikari nodded and continued: "While Phoenix Enforcer is on the field, the ATK of monsters on the opponent's field is reduced by the number of HERO monsters in my Graveyard x 200."

Evil HERO Neos Overlord, ATK: 2500 -> 2100; Evil HERO Malicious Bane, ATK: 2500 -> 2100; Evil HERO Flame Wingman - Infernal Backfire, ATK: 2100 -> 1700.

Unfortunately, Shadow Mist was in Defense Position.

"Battle—Hook Kraken can attack twice per turn!"

Tenjou Hikari pointed at Infernal Backfire, and countless tentacles flew out, wrapping around this pitch-black female demon.

Boom—

Supreme King, LP: 4000 -> 3500.

"Hook Kraken attacks Malicious Bane!"

The giant-clawed demon had successfully destroyed Magnum the Reliever before and was in high spirits, but seeing two huge blades swing down, he panicked and hurriedly tried to defend, but was instantly defeated and chopped into pieces.

Supreme King, LP: 3500 -> 3400.

"Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer attacks Neos Overlord!"

"Neos Overlord cannot be destroyed by battle or effects." The Supreme King didn't care about this loss of Life Points, "Counterattack, Neos Overlord!"

Although Neos Overlord's ATK had been reduced, he wasn't afraid at all. Facing the Phoenix Enforcer with higher ATK, he raised his hand and punched it.

Supreme King, LP: 3400 -> 3000.

Dual resistance to battle and effect destruction?

Tenjou Hikari frowned.

He had originally wanted to use Phoenix Enforcer's ability to deal with the Supreme King's field, making him unable to use Form Change.

It's a pity. If that were the case, he should have used Hook Kraken's effect to send Neos Overlord to the Graveyard, and then used Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer to destroy his own Aleister and his Dark Gaia... Of course, if that were the case, Shadow Mist probably wouldn't have searched for Form Change, right? Instead, it would have been placed on the field, waiting to search for monsters.

"Then, Phoenix Enforcer's effect: target 1 card on my field and 1 card on the opponent's field and destroy them. I destroy Phoenix Enforcer itself and the Shadow Mist on your field."

Shining flames burned violently on Tenjou Hikari's field, burning the malicious Shadow Mist. Subsequently, the flames didn't dissipate and continued to burn on Tenjou Hikari's field.

"Phoenix Enforcer's effect: when this card is destroyed by battle or effect, I can Special Summon a Destiny HERO from my Graveyard during the next Standby Phase."

"Battle Phase ends, Hook Kraken's effect: at the end of the Battle Phase that this card battled, change it to Defense Position."

The Kraken slowly dived into the dark seawater.

Hook Kraken, ATK: 2200 -> DEF: 3000.

"Set two cards... end my turn."

Tenjou Hikari looked at his hand for a few moments, let out a long sigh, and silently set two cards.

The situation gradually calmed down. Both of their Life Points had become 3000; it could be said that they had almost returned to the same starting line. It's just that this time it was Tenjou Hikari's turn to build a field, and the Supreme King's turn to deal with Tenjou Hikari's cards.

In just two turns, in just the initial confrontation, the two's duel had already exceeded the performance of the vast majority of people in the world, and even Judai and Tie La were stunned, having to marvel at the strength of the two.

Not only that.

As Tenjou Hikari declared the end of his turn, this place, which seemed to be isolated from the human world, this place that seemed to be the peak of darkness, also had countless [gazes] projected onto it!

Those were some powerful existences, those were some existences that ordinary people could never touch, those were some existences that either had great ambitions or terrifying wild desires.

And now, they all put down their work, put down their preparations, put down the tasks they were doing, and almost instinctively cast their [gaze] onto this universe, this world, this dimension, this...

Peak of [Fusion]!

The strongest fusion duelist of the past and the absolute fusion duelist currently growing, the duel between the two was enough to make them interested just by being the "opening."

Not to mention—

That absolute, invincible power hidden in their hearts, swallowing rivers, seas, and heaven and earth, vowing to [fuse] all things!

That ultimate power that was gathering momentum, waiting to be driven by the two!

Zzz, zzz...

Golden lightning splashed in this space. Because of the "observation" of countless existences, this high-rise became increasingly dangerous, and this isolated space seemed to be gradually cracking, as if it were mutating because of the power of fusion.

In the end, what would happen? I'm afraid even the two dueling couldn't predict it!

"My turn, draw!!"

The Supreme King's voice finally changed.

It was no longer that cold, ruthless, machine-like reading, but finally, a trace of fiery emotion appeared!

Experiencing such a duel after death is not bad!

(End of chapter)