XVI
Earlier
Time seemed to stand still for Akaba Himika.
From the moment she saw Hotene, Shen, and Fuyu blasted from the top of her own Duel School with Crowley's gigantic Infernoids, the LDS headmistress knew that she only had a window of seconds before terminal velocity set in, and her students passed beyond all manner of help. But she also knew that with how close she and the JSDF forces that encircled that Duel School on the ground were to the primary hub of the Solid Vision generator that fueled the ongoing Duel a thousand feet above them, then they still stood a chance.
It was the slimmest of chances—and it grew slimmer with each passing millisecond—but a chance it still was.
Himika would never have admitted it publicly—and she did not plan on giving the notion any more time to take root in her mind—but Masumi had been right about before: this was no longer a time to investigate, but to defend. They already knew what they needed to know, and so it was time to put that knowledge to good use. No more dithering, no more debating—there was only the need for swift and decisive action. She could worry about the ramifications of those actions later.
Immediately, she whirled on the soldier closest to her. "Get them on the ground—now!" she bellowed.
The soldier saw the urgency of the situation, and heard it in her words. He didn't even think twice about pulling out a Duel Disk of his own, much like the one she knew Nakajima still retained from his own service. Several nearby soldiers, having seen and heard all that transpired, were doing the same. Within seconds, those Duel Disks—steel-gray and with the same ruby-red blade—had been clamped onto their forearms and activated with a sizzling slash.
One second after that, the air was thick with Solid Vision given flesh and blood. Himika caught the faint glimpses of a Mist Condor, a Jurac Ptiera, and several other birdlike monsters she had no time to identify. Their wings flapped once, and they raced into the air; the blowback from their ascent almost caused Himika to topple to the road.
Himika knew that the monsters couldn't rescue them directly. Since the JSDF's monsters now had their own mass, like any Duel Monster created with the Leo Corporation's take on Solid Vision, that mass could be used to the detriment of their students; the momentum from the impact alone would have caused severe internal injury in even a best-case scenario. Something like this needed a little more precision—and she was grateful that the JSDF seemed to be acutely aware of this as well.
Even as she watched, their monsters weren't flying straight for the three flailing blobs of matter that were Hotene, Shen, and Fuyu—even as they continued to plummet back to earth. Instead, the massive avian creatures had flown almost straight up, stalled for just a moment, and then let gravity take hold of them. They fell, and kept on falling—
—right until they were neck and neck with the three students.
Then, wings spread to their fullest, claws sank into clothing—and Himika expelled a sigh of relief she hadn't been aware she was even holding until she watched all three pairs of rescued and rescuer slow in midair, disperse, and finally fly back to earth with a clack of claws. One—two—three muffled thuds followed soon after as the Duel Monsters disappeared into nonbeing, almost as quickly as they'd been formed; all three of Himika's students hit the asphalt with just enough force that it knocked whatever wind they still had in them out of their bodies—
—but safe and sound.
Shen got to his feet first; Hotene and Fuyu were too busy shivering and dry-heaving on the pavement between their ragged sobs of relief to be in any condition to thank the soldiers for rescuing them—to say nothing of their principal, who'd commanded those soldiers to do so in the first place. The Synchro Duelist—alone of them all and speaking for them all—merely nodded in their direction in gratitude, before he approached Himika.
"Crowley used yet another virus to merge with Q via the nanotechnology he implanted into his body," he recounted, only sounding a little bit out of breath. "The two of them have been Dueling the five of us ever since as a combined entity. Masumi and Yaiba are still continuing the Duel, but both Q and Crowley have Summoned the strongest monsters in their Decks. I cannot say how much time they have left. It may be minutes … or it may be seconds."
"Then there is no time to waste," Himika replied, thinking quickly. Her memory had been replaying every turn of the Duel up until this point—every card played, every effect activated—and a plan was already forming in her head—unthinkable, and two steps from unworkable, but she needed to make every second of action and inaction count. "You three, take a moment and catch your breath. You'll need every bit of it in just a little while."
"What … do you … mean?" Fuyu had recovered enough to regain the power of cogent speech, but the Xyz Duelist was still shaking so violently from the near miss that an earthquake might have happened right under his feet. His rapid descent had caused every strand of platinum-blond hair on his head to billow every which way, exposing both of his bright blue eyes—and the shining tears that trickled from them onto the scars that still lined his face.
"If Masumi and Yaiba are still up there," said the LDS Headmistress, "then their Duel isn't over yet. That means we still have a chance to turn this fight in our favor." It would mean breaking a lot of rules, she suspected—and if the situation were any different, she would not have squashed the thought under her cold logic for even a moment—but desperate times, as the old saying went, called for desperate measures.
And just because Masumi and her friends were protecting the city didn't mean they had to be the only ones playing the part, she had come to realize. Yes, Himika knew—while the LID were perfectly capable of functioning without her guidance when it came time to do what they were created to do, the fact remained that she was still the group's creator. The group was also young enough that Himika was also the closest thing they had to a leader—no matter what she thought about Masumi's capabilities both on and off the battlefield.
Even she had one more part to play tonight—and the time to play it at last had finally come.
Her eyes flicked to the tiny Duelist at her feet, only just now picking herself off the ground. "Hotene."
There was a long, hacking cough and a deep gasp before the Fusion user stood up at last. "Y-yes, Headmistress?"
"I must continue coordinating with the JSDF here," said Himika. "I need you, Fuyu, and Shen to keep an eye on the Duel. If things go south once more, we will have little time to act. I trust the three of you to know what to do next."
The trio took one look at the top of LDS, where their companions still fought. Both seemed to understand what their principal was implying. They then looked at each other for a long moment, in a silent conversation that nevertheless spoke a million words; Hotene and Fuyu were both seen to mask a gulp.
Shen, once again, spoke for the three of them. "We understand."
Himika saw him clench his fist, as if to activate his Duel Disk once more—and threw out her hand. "No. Not yet," she said urgently.
The superhuman Synchro user was still human enough to look perplexed at his principal's words. "I don't want Crowley to know the truth until it's too late," muttered Himika. "Keep your Duel Disks shut off until I say otherwise. Wait for my signal—I want every last iota of his twisted mind directed on your classmates up there."
As it turned out, the headmistress didn't have to do much to that end. The JSDF had started broadcasting TV coverage of the Duel to gather more intelligence on the situation a thousand-plus feet above them. Which meant that Himika, her three students, and every JSDF soldier within range of the television got a good look at the strange turn the Duel had just taken.
Only Hotene had any visible reaction to the sight. Even then, her narrow brush with certain death had ensured that that reaction wasn't much more than a gasp, a hand to her wide-open mouth, and a faint tinge of pink on her cheeks. Shen or Fuyu had frozen, their gaze riveted to the screen, but did not move any more than the soldiers around them.
Even Himika later admitted, though only privately, that the sight of her two most prized students sharing a kiss had—even if for just a moment—made her forget about her plan.
Then, an enormous blast of fire from atop the school brought them back to reality with a thunderous BOOM: Infernoid Tierra had attacked once again.
The soldier nearest the TV had leapt forward. "Another one down!" he shouted. "It's the other Synchro guy!"
Fuyu's eyes threatened to leap out of their sockets. "Yaiba … " was all the Xyz user could say. "No …"
Himika didn't give him time to say any more. "Now's your chance!" she yelled at her students. "Go—go!"
They didn't need telling twice. Three Dracomets were already beginning to shimmer around Shen, their translucent forms writhing into being from seemingly out of thin air. Hotene, surprisingly, was quicker still—the golden feathers of Kannahawk, sparking with electricity, had fully materialized above her in seconds. All four monsters shot into the night sky at a steep climb, with a speed and urgency that no JSDF aircraft could fully reproduce.
Himika observed the quick response with satisfaction, and then turned her attention to the soldiers—there wasn't a moment left to waste. "I need a chopper ready yesterday!"
They hastened to obey …
Time seemed to stand still for Kōtsu Mezumi.
A large part of her had wanted to shut off the broadcast out of sympathy. Five grieving parents were still with her, stricken at how quickly and explosively the lives of their children had been taken. Mezumi felt dangerously close to joining them, too; they had witnessed the first spark of young love blossoming on the screen of her phone—only to watch that perverse hybrid of man and machine that these five children—children! she thought, as if that made it more believable—had been fighting snuff it out, as quickly and nonchalantly as if he'd brushed away an anthill. That this spark had existed for only a moment in the heart of her only child felt even more agonizing to her.
You don't know what you've got till it's gone.
But Masumi wasn't gone just yet, she knew. And that had been the one reason Mezumi had left Kishō to comfort the others as they mourned for Hotene, Yaiba, and all the rest—why she'd stuck it out and continued to watch her daughter continue this impossible, unwinnable Duel.
For there was more than one person who knew how to use Gem-Knights in Maiami City, she knew. And just like the girl who used them now, their previous owner had pulled some reversals out of nowhere in days past, even in the most hopeless of situations. Whether it was on break during guard duty, or in between jobs with her coworkers—or even during those jobs, when confronting a particularly obstinate and well-prepared burglar trying to break into a museum under her watch, Mezumi had always counted on those shining, colorful warriors to come through for her.
Fragments of the conversations she'd shared with her daughter now trickled into her ear. She remembered what Masumi had said about the thought process she used in a Duel—how she would whittle away a stone, sliver by sliver, until the gem resting inside was exposed, polished, and cut into a gem for all the world to see.
With Mezumi, it had been different: her own thoughts had relied upon the gem being there from the very beginning, and merely turning it over and over again in her hand, waiting for it to catch the light in a way that resonated within her eye. For even though not every precious stone in a museum was flawless, sometimes the imperfections in their composition made them all the more stunning to look at. Flashes of lightning, slivers of ice, and blooming flowers of fire would erupt and fade with even the slightest change in position, while images of animals and symbols, their likenesses frozen within the crystals' many facets, gazed back as if to convey a vision of things to come—
Now what was that? Her eyes had strayed back onto her phone without her awareness, and Mezumi had noticed a brief spark on the footage, like a stray bolt of lightning. Was it something from the Duel? No, she decided; it was too far away—and what was more, it didn't look like it was moving like lightning at all. It was too slow—and she was certain this wasn't one of the rare instances where it could move upwards.
Then the camera had panned to a second helicopter, rapidly ascending in the air towards LDS. Whatever the man or woman behind it was saying, Mezumi didn't register a word—the cut had happened at the precise moment that the craft had passed by, displaying its open bay doors—and the small forms of the people inside.
The camera zoomed in then, and those people filled the screen completely. A stunned Mezumi would have been blind to not recognize any one of them.
She felt her eyes widen, and her heart inflated in her breast so quickly that she had to bite her tongue. "Nari?" Her voice was a breathy, excited whisper. "Sh-Shigeru?"
Time seemed to stand still for J.D. Qrowley.
[reverting to autonomy mode]
From the start of this Duel, he'd felt on top of the world—certainly on top of this miserable city. And yet he knew he could soar higher and higher. With each man, woman, and Duelist he'd battered and crushed under his heel, he could sense the helplessness inside the survivors of this pointless exercise. He could feel the burning zeal—smoldering like a slowly rising fire, from the first day Academia had instilled it in him as a boy—licking at his insides, waiting for the inevitable moment when he would unleash it on an unsuspecting dimension. That his plans had been interrupted was of no consequence. He would finish his work here, pick up where he'd left off, and begin with the knowledge that none would be left to oppose him.
And then came the children.
He had come to hate it now, this L-I-D, this haphazard rabble of idealists, supposedly the best Duelists in this corner of the dimension that just wouldn't give up. He'd loved them at the start—alone, they had been examples: singular poster children, so to speak, of what would happen to anyone who opposed the great cause he championed, or dared to interfere in the delicate framework of the plan that would make it possible. As a team, they had proved themselves even more of the same. Whether individually or together, they had been the defenseless infection Qrowley could expunge from his perfect world, the blind mice on which to test his genius and sublime vision.
But as time passed, he saw something impossible take place before his eyes. The infection he'd tried to scrub out of existence had mutated into something that wasn't, yet was more. The mice were beginning to memorize the maze.
And Qrowley hated it.
A disease made benign through methods not his own was of no more use to him than rodents who'd already served the one purpose for which they'd been rounded up and tagged. They were expendable—and so he'd pulled out all the stops for this Duel, to make sure they expended everything—both the cards in their hands and the hope in their hearts—before they realized the same truth that burned feverishly through both his circuits and his gray matter. He'd made the decision to do so from literally the first card he'd drawn in his hand. Q, now slave to him, had had no choice but to bolster his already considerable power and intellect, and employ the same overwhelming force with which this battle had progressed …
It seemed so small an act, using the strongest monsters in his and Q's Deck to smite three children off the tallest building in the city. To use them in eradicating even the slightest spark of potential life—of a future—felt even smaller still, but there went the fourth of them. That had only left the girl—the first one he had faced, even as the echoes of his program had subjugated the rest. He had moved to finish her—to erase her—
Until
[duel intrusion detected] [2000 LP penalty assessed]
he just could not give up.
They. Just. Could. Not. Give. Up.
He saw them, all of them, in the helicopter that thundered just below eye level long enough for them to intervene one last time. Infernoid Tierra's all-consuming flames were extinguished as quickly as they'd been given life. He sensed the behemoth, far above him, searching the roof of the skyscraper as if it would explain where they had suddenly come from.
Qrowley, however, did not care about the where—only for the how and the why. He knew the answer to both questions was the same: they were back because of Her. The meddlesome mother of an equally meddlesome child, the reason why he had been forced to rework and revisit his plan—to stay in the shadows until the last possible moment. The reason why this rabble—no, this entire city, this whole dimension—just Could Not Give Up.
[unhandled exception 0x1f-1610217 access violation] [override]
He felt the flames lick deep inside him again. The zeal was gone. All that was left was anger.
[warning approaching advised operational limit] [override]
He would not allow himself to be denied. Not now. Not when he was so close—
[advise shutdown repeat advise shutdown] [OVERRIDE]
Qrowley opened his mouth, letting every curse he could think of pour from his mouth, willing it to burn these children more thoroughly than his monsters ever had—
[error type 322 advise immediate emergency reversion] [OVERRIDE OVERRIDE OVERRIDE OVERRIDE]
—but nothing left his lips but rage beyond words, and fury born of failure.
In another time, Qrowley's inarticulate scream would have terrified Tōdō Yaiba. No grown man should make those sounds, he reasoned. He knew the man was too far away to hear what he'd said to Masumi and the others about Hotene's Kannahawk finding him first, bearing him to blessed earth—and then just as quickly nudging him none-too-gently towards the helicopter that had lifted him back up to the battlefield. But Yaiba knew it didn't matter. Whatever Qrowley, or Q, or whoever was in control of the crazed American now had seen … that was enough.
"Infernoid Tierra." There was a moment of dead silence. "Destroy!"
Yaiba had only needed to look for a split second at the girl he'd kissed bare minutes ago to know what was about to happen. Alone of them all, she had not been defeated tonight. He suspected Himika knew this—and that this was why he and the others had been brought back up here, breaking a hundred rules of Dueling into pieces along the way. And yet, despite all this logic, it seemed to take a back seat to what he did next.
Tierra opened its mouth, and the Synchro user moved without thinking. He charged for Masumi, and bulled into her shoulder with his own, sending the Fusion Duelist crashing to the gravel in a heap. Yaiba heard her cry in pain, but that mattered little to him now—not compared to what would have come after—what was coming now—
With the last of his momentum, he spun round, and in a final moment of inspiration, he dug the point of his Duel Disk's blade into the roof—right as the miniature hell that burned inside Tierra's belly was unleashed in its entirety. Yaiba felt his Life Points plummet to zero before he'd even had a chance to draw breath. He felt the pain sear him inside and out, felt the Solid Vision tear at flesh and clothing alike, felt it push him back to the precipice of the building—
—but he still held on.
When the conflagration faded from his eyes, and the spots that had leaped up from the flames subsided, Yaiba finally got to his feet. His bamboo shinai was as blackened and singed as he must look, and the polished surface had warped from the intensity of the attack. Had it been real, and not more hard-light, it wouldn't have lasted much longer than his body. But he was still here, and so was Masumi—which meant they all had one more chance.
Yaiba took the time to spare one more defiant glare in Qrowley's direction, before stepping forward once more. He pressed some buttons on his Duel Disk, and braced himself for what he knew was coming.
"Duel intrusion detected—assessing 2000 LP penalty."
He didn't even flinch at the bolt of lightning that struck him, halving his fresh pool of Life Points in the space of a millisecond. Compared to the agonizing torture that he'd faced over the past couple of days, it was nothing.
"Why?"
The Synchro Duelist almost didn't hear Masumi. Only the brief moment of affection they'd been able to share persuaded him to tear his gaze away from the enraged Qrowley.
"Why?" the Fusion Duelist said again, as Yaiba turned to her at last.
And in spite of it all, he felt a smile crease his dirty face. "You're really going to ask me that now?" He tried to laugh, but it hurt too much for even one small chuckle. "After I promised you those two minutes and delivered?
"C'mon, Masumi." He offered a hand. "Put it together—it's really that simple: I want to take those two minutes you gave me just now, and make them last for as long as I can. I don't care if they last for two seconds, or two hours … two days, two months … "
"Two years?"
Yaiba saw the wetness trickling down Masumi's face; entire geodes' worth of jewels and precious stones, each one a vista of what could be—what she wanted to be—blossoming before her eyes—
He pulled her in close, with both hands this time. "Two lifetimes." He stepped back to enjoy the impact of his declaration—and he wished he could fix that look on her face into his mind forever.
It was a sight more beautiful than any jewel out there.
"Let's make the most of them." The cocky smile was back on his face as he turned back to face the seething Qrowley. "Hotene?"
Beside him, the tiny Duelist grinned her trademark shark-smile. "Way ahead a' you." Five cards were already in her hand, and her blue eyes shone like twin suns as they committed each one to memory.
It was, as the old saying went, now or never.
Menoko Hotene had never remembered moving so slowly in her life.
They were spreading out along the edge of LDS, Duel Disks ignited, moving a bit at a time—keeping themselves directly in between the pylon atop which Qrowley hovered, and the precipice that had almost claimed their lives. None of them broke eye contact with the insane American, who looked as though neither the machine inside of him, nor what little humanity the machine had left behind, could comprehend that his opponents were still in one piece.
"You shouldn't be alive," he growled. "You shouldn't be able to rejoin this Duel at all! Your bodies are wrecks! Your minds shouldn't even be able to function after a fall like that! How the hell are you still standing here?!"
"Because we can!" Hotene shot back indignantly. Because people like Rika are counting on me!
She stuck her tongue out at Qrowley as if it was the most devastating weapon in her arsenal. "An' if I hear one more bad word out of you," she added, as if wishing to inflict even more damage with words alone, "I'll knock every tooth out of your mouth—like this!"
She swiped a card on her blade. "I activate the Spell Card: Boogie Trap!" she cried. "By discarding two cards, I can Set a Trap Card from my Graveyard to my field!" She plucked a duo of cards out of her hand thus, slipping each one into a different spot of her Duel Disk—one into a separate compartment, and another onto her screen, causing a giant card to appear and disappear before her eyes.
"An' then," the Fusion Duelist went on, "I'll Summon Spirit Beast Tamer Lara in Attack Position!" Her already messy hair rippled every which way from the gust of hot wind that had blown in her face: a byproduct of the teenaged, redheaded mystic she'd just conjured to her field (Level 2: ATK 200/DEF 1000).
"Lara's effect lets me target and Special Summon a Spirit Beast monster from my Graveyard!" Hotene grinned at Qrowley. She didn't wait for him to answer. "So I'll use it to Special Summon the other card I sent to my Graveyard for Boogie Trap—my Noble Spirit Beast—!"
Qrowley, damnably, twitched at that precise moment to give way to Q. "Our Continuous Trap: Reqliphort is still in play!" he barked. "Its effect triggers if a Level 4 or lower monster is Normal Summoned, and negates that monster's effects until the end of the turn!"
Hotene made a face, not even fazed. "I know something you don't know!" she sang back mockingly. "That effect only works if my Summoned monster's effect activates when it's on the field. An' not"—she puffed out her chest—"when that monster's Summoned! So you're gonna need a lot more than that Trap to get rid of my monster!"
The cyborg drew back, perplexed. "An' that monster will be my Noble Spirit Beast Rampenta!" Hotene didn't even flinch at the miniature windstorm that erupted right before her eyes. She only blinked when the flash was strongest, and by the time that had happened, the green-feathered penguin had alighted before her, its beady black eyes narrowed at Qrowley with deepest loathing (Level 4: ATK 1600/DEF 400).
Twitch. "So … you found a way around Reqliphort." Qrowley's shock at this oversight, however miniscule, did not last. "It won't trigger if a lower-Level monster is Special Summoned … but no matter." Twitch. "Our Apoqliphort Killer is still in play as well—and because of its effect, all Special Summoned monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF while it is on the field!"
The four legs of Killer snapped with electricity—enough to rival a small typhoon. Before Hotene could blink, the blinding arcs had encircled her Rampenta in a jagged, sizzling cage, causing its point gauge to drop to 1100/0.
But Hotene didn't care too much about that—the important thing was that Rampenta was still free to use its effect. "An' that effect," she told Qrowley, grinning all the while, "lets me banish a Spirit Beast monster from my Extra Deck—then sends another Spirit Beast monster of the same Type from my Deck to the Graveyard!"
She ejected two cards from different places in her Duel Disk, placing them in the same slot. Meanwhile, Rampenta knelt down, placing one fin on the gravel, and touching the other on the crest it wore like a necklace. A moment later, that crest surged with orange light, and the fin was withdrawn, leaving a jewel of liquid fire in its place.
This ritual done, Hotene drew herself to her full height. "An' now," she crowed, clasping her hands together, "I banish my Noble Rampenta an' my Tamer Lara! Guess what's gonna happen next?!"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Masumi whirl around, shock on her face, but Hotene paid it no attention: both of her monsters had drawn closer to one another, extending hand and fin until fingers touched feathers, and the blossom of fire that bloomed between them both concealed beast and beast-tamer from view:
"When the bond between man and beast is at its strongest, the spirit of the blazing inferno will be united with the burning hearts of our prime!"
"You guessed it!" crowed Hotene. "Contact Fusion! Appear! Tamed Spirit Beast Apelio!"
With a mighty leap, the muscular, dark form of Apelio—as long and broad as Nakajima's car and standing at least twice as high—soared into the air, hovering at eye level with Qrowley for a brief moment before gravity took hold. It landed with a crunch of gravel and a baying roar, and wasted no time in stalking Qrowley like a cat before a mouse (Level 6: ATK 2600/DEF 400).
But again, Qrowley showed no sign of fear—twitching from green circuits to red in a flash. "You waste your time!" he snarled. "Reqliphort's second effect! If a Level 5 or higher monster is Special Summoned, we can negate its effects until the end of the turn—and banish that monster if it ever leaves the field! Furthermore, our Apoqliphort Killer's effect will trigger as well! There's nothing you've got on your field to get around that!"
High above him, as if to underscore Qrowley's fury, the double-X shape of the unfolded Assembler in Q's Pendulum Zone pulsed with scarlet light; at the same time, the four legs of Killer bristled with more multicolored lightning. The dome of combined energy and electricity raced outwards, engulfing beast and rider simultaneously and nearly sending Apelio off the edge of LDS. It managed to recover, though its point gauge was seen to rest at 2100/0, and its once-glossy fur looked distinctly limper and duller.
"You see?" smirked Qrowley. "Rules are rules. Some can be bent, others can be broken—and others just aren't worth the effort." He glared gloatingly at the little girl. "There isn't one card in your hand that can help you win now. No—we stand corrected," he added, narrowing his eyes. "There's only the one card left in your hand!"
"Aw, shut up already!" Hotene was starting to feel fed up with Qrowley's know-it-all attitude—and she had just the card that would shut him up for good, she knew. "I can prove you wrong with just six words!"
She grinned wider than ever, baring every tooth of her shark-smile. "Trap Card, activate—Ambushed Spirit Beasts!"
Qrowley rounded on her—"What?!"—but this time, he hadn't even been the first to be shocked; all four of Hotene's teammates had spun round with the same wide eyes and slack jaws.
"Hotene, have you gone mad?" Yaiba's eyes and jaw were the biggest and slackest of all. "You can't activate a Trap the same turn you Set it—you should know that by now!"
Hotene winked impudently at the Synchro Duelist, knowing full well that doing so would make Qrowley even madder. "Boogie Trap's effect says I ca-a-an!" she sang. "Now! Ambushed Spirit Beasts lets me target 1 Noble Spirit Beast and Spirit Beast Tamer each that's either banished or in my Graveyard, an' Special Summon them both in Defense Position! So I'll Special Summon my Kannahawk an' my Elder!"
She raised both her stubby hands skyward—and as if in reply, both Lara and a younger Apelio had emerged from behind her as if they'd somehow leapt the entire height of LDS in a single bound. Killer wasted no time in zapping them with more of its lightning, but Hotene didn't care—even as she watched their gauges adjust themselves accordingly (Level 4: ATK 1800 » 1300/DEF 200 » 0; Level 1: ATK 100 » 0/DEF 2000 » 1500), she was already doing her best to think one step ahead of what was happening on the field.
"It's just like you said," Hotene said, hands on hips as she looked up at Qrowley. "Some rules can be bent, an' others can be broken. I don't like ta bend the rules any more than I like ta break 'em—but cheaters like you just break the rules all the time, doncha?!" She leveled a pudgy finger at the cyborg. "It's people like you that make honest Duelists like us hafta break the rules themselves just so bad guys like you don't ever win! An' I won't let you do that anymore! So WATCH THIS!"
She screamed the last two words at Qrowley as if doing so would mortally wound him—but the little girl's thoughts were already elsewhere. She thought of her mother and father, and how far away they must be. She pushed aside the thought of them being in danger, because she was a Duelist of LDS—a special Duelist with a special talent. No one else could do what Hotene could in a Duel—and even if they could, were they able to go as far as she had once before? As far as she was about to go now?
And then her thoughts went to her best friend, still recovering in the hospital after the man she'd been Dueling had attacked her for no good reason at all—none at all save for the fact that she'd been in his way. Yes, Hotene knew—that was why she was here. Up until now, she'd just been Dueling—she hadn't had a reason to fight. She did now.
This one's for you, Rika-tan.
"An' now," Hotene clenched her fists together, "I'm gonna banish my Tamer Lara an' my Noble Apelio—along with my Tamed Apelio, too—so that I can Special Summon this!"
The tiny Duelist stole a look at Masumi—partially to avert her eyes from the blazing light that erupted from the three monsters before her, and partially to see the face of the girl she'd idolized more than any other, even before they'd met for the first time in a Duel both would remember for the rest of their lives:
"When the bond between man and beast surpasses its strength," the little girl chanted, "let the blazing inferno and the burning hearts of our prime be united with the courage of our allies!"
She would remember, too, the growing smile that beamed back at her, of surprise giving way to naked, undisguised pride. This was the moment, Hotene knew, as the light before her reached a crescendo—
"Triple Contact Fusion!" she screamed to the heavens. "Appear, my strongest servant! Tamed Spirit Beast Gaiapelio!"
The light faded, and heavy footfalls—from paws wider from toe to toe than Hotene was tall—thudded on the gravel. The building shook—both from the thudding steps and the baying roar that split the air in two—and the LID stumbled to find better footing. But the Leo Duel School had been structured to handle the rigors of Action Duels, to say nothing of the battle that was taking place atop its crown, which meant that none of them were in enough danger that it took away from the awesome sight before them.
Gaiapelio's white-armored bulk took up a large portion of the school's roof. The miniature forest grove that it supported on its back, under whose shade the form of Lara crouched, made it seem even larger. But there was still room enough here for the leonine behemoth to prowl from side to side, snarling menacingly at every one of the mechanical monstrosities that loomed over it, whether it presented a threat to them or not (Level 10: ATK 3200 » 2700/DEF 2100 » 1600).
Hotene didn't care that the biggest monster in her arsenal was as good as powerless, thanks to the combined efforts of Killer and that stupid Reqliphort card. She didn't care that since it was her first turn in a Battle Royale, she couldn't have attacked at all with it—or even that if she lost it now, it would pass beyond any hope of bringing it back. But she did care that even after all that, it was still stronger than half the monsters that stood between her and the monster that had hurt Rika—and she hoped Qrowley knew it.
She curled her upper lip, concentrating every last ounce of her sneer on the cyborg hovering above. "Turn end."
Taut cords of muscle strained beneath Li Shen's hairless skin as Hotene looked expectantly to him. The Synchro Duelist could already feel the gazes of all the others—watching him, waiting for him to begin his turn.
Long ago, in the days before Shen had even discovered Duel Monsters and discovered his aptitude at it, he had been taught to strive for a peace and calmness of spirit, even in those parts of the world that were anything but peaceful and calm. For a time, the sifu of the mountain temple that reared him had left him to his own devices, that he might find this spiritual order in the midst of physical chaos.
In that time, Shen had traveled all over the most remote parts of China. For days on end, he had meditated in every location he thought might help him attain that balance of body, mind, and spirit: a grassy plain, beneath the shade of a solitary tree; the warm light of a fire, which he would always light when the nights grew long and cold; even a cave beneath a stark cliffside that he'd sought during a rainstorm, slick with moisture within and without. Then he had journeyed to a small creek, on the outskirts of a village much like the one in which he'd been born. Curious, he followed the stream, and happened upon the rapids of a great river the next day. Shen, musing on this discovery, immediately sat down to empty his mind. He listened to the water before him through day and night: the constant rush of the whitewater against the rocks, the spray of foam tossed by the wind—allowing it all to fill his very being.
He'd spent eight days there, meditating near the river, before he was satisfied enough to return to the temple. Since then, Shen had embraced the philosophy of the water—to be flexible and fulfilling in all things. As the calmness of a babbling brook fed the roaring river, he had related to his sifu, so too did the roaring river feed the peace of the sea.
But the peace of his own personal sea, deep inside his mind, had been disturbed of late. Shen, while stoic enough that he did not let this show, had grown more and more determined to make sure that the brothers of the shrine he tended in this city would not die a needless death. It had taken a great deal of his effort to snuff out any trace of the fires of revenge that had erupted within him after being forced into battle with his enemy—while one by one, his fellows had succumbed to the destruction.
As he glanced at the cards in his hand, Shen's thoughts went again to that nameless stream, and the river it fed. Willing himself to imagine the waters within at their calmest, he finally acted.
"I will begin my turn"—the Synchro user fought to keep his voice level—"with the Spell Card: One for One. With this," he said, placing the card on his screen, "I may send a monster from my hand to the Graveyard, and Special Summon a Level 1 monster from my hand or Deck. I will Summon the Tuner monster Liwen, Dracomet of Light."
He extracted Bixi, Dracomet of Water, sliding it into his Graveyard. Seconds later, his chosen monster had whirled onto the field: a translucent white dragon, undulating and twisting its serpentine body in midair like a fish in water (Level 1: ATK 0/DEF 0).
"Next, I will Summon Suanni, Dracomet of Fire." Shen spent only a moment to admire the irony in this action—of throwing away water in favor of fire, while the exact opposite was playing out in his thoughts even now—before he placed the monster on his blade. Immediately, a dark red, lionlike dragon shimmered out of thin air, landing on the gravel next to Liwen with barely a sound, and crouching as if ready to strike for the kill (Level 4: ATK 1900/DEF 0).
But just as quickly, the double Xs of Assembler flashed, and Suanni slumped where it stood, weakened momentarily by the loss of its inherent abilities. Shen, however, noted this with the most minimal amount of concern; he did not intend for either of his monsters to remain on the field for long. That his monster had lost its effect now was an inconvenience, but only an inconvenience—by next turn, it would be right back to its old self.
He double-checked the remaining duo of cards in his hand, thought briefly on his plan of attack, and Set them both to his field after a long moment. "That will do to go on with," he said. "I end my turn."
Shen took a deep breath, and found with some satisfaction that the tremor in his voice had lessened a great deal. But it was not completely gone—and he hoped the Duel would allow him to make his next move without interruption.
A month ago, it would never have crossed Rokkaku Fuyu's mind that he would be fighting for his life up here—to say nothing of how close he had come to death, or even the cause of death that had nearly claimed him.
Fuyu was no stranger to the notion of anyone's life hanging in the balance—least of all his own. He knew that the long illness he'd endured in his youth had had a non-zero chance of killing him. But it never did—though it did much worse than that, he sometimes thought. The Xyz Duelist had become a ghost of his former self: unable to lead the life of a typical boy because of his frailty, he instead immersed himself in the beckoning infinity of the night sky.
He felt his eyes travel upwards, searching for any such stars in the growing nighttime, but he knew it was a futile gesture. There was simply too much light here—even without the enormous monsters that populated the Duel field, downtown locations were never good to stargaze. It was unfortunate; Fuyu liked to imagine that the stars weren't just immense balls of hydrogen and helium that he knew them to be, burning for millions or even billions of years. He knew about the constellations, after all—the mythological figures some of them represented—and there had been times where he'd imagined those figures looking down at him from the stars, as if praising him for using a Deck whose monsters referenced those stars and figures.
It was a comforting thought, for someone so far removed from the life of a normal boy—but there were no stars tonight to shine down upon him.
Constellations aren't anything without the stars that make them.
He paused—where had that thought come from? He racked his memory, and got his answer seconds later. Yes … Hokuto had said that to him one day, after one of their Tag Duels. Hokuto had provided the winning blow in that Duel, if that memory was true—but he had been adamant in his claim that Fuyu had made the win possible instead.
But isn't the sum of us greater than our parts? he'd remembered asking in reply, as they walked back to the planetarium. Don't they always say that, Hokuto-san?
Hokuto had rolled his eyes. Not that simple with stars, had been his answer. Every star shines bright in a perfect night sky, Fuyu. Some just shine brighter than others because they're a lot closer. It's only when we see them up close that we see how bright they really shine.
He'd ruffled Fuyu's hair playfully. There's not a kid in this whole city who's closer to you than I am. And that's why I know what I'm saying is true. You're the brighter star out of both of us. You had the stronger Deck today—you deserve this win. And you deserve every win that ever comes to you …
A gust of wind disturbed the Xyz Duelist from his thoughts just then, ruffling his shiny bangs. For a moment, Fuyu had been certain that it had been Hokuto mussing up his hair again. He felt a rush of excitement through his frail body, from the tips of his toes to the faded scars on his moon-pale face, and a shuddering breath escaped him.
"Fuyu?" He jumped—Yaiba had leaned in, concerned. "You okay?"
He was—indeed, the Xyz Duelist felt better than okay for reasons he couldn't quite explain. But he could wait to fill his teammates on them later. "Y-yeah," he said breathlessly, before turning at last to the cards in his hand.
Two of them caught his attention almost immediately. "I activate the Field Spell: Hexatellarknight," Fuyu rasped, placing a single card on his blade. He saw his own shadow in front of him for a moment, as though a bright flash of light had flared behind him, and then it was gone—but even before then, he was already moving to follow up.
"Next, I Summon Satellarknight Sham," he said, smiling as he watched the familiar winged form materialize on his field (Level 4: ATK 1400/DEF 1800), a golden arrow already nocked on its bow. "Its effect also activates when its Summoned—so Reqliphort won't activate in time to negate it! And I think you know what it does by now—don't you?" he grinned at Qrowley.
"All too well," said the cyborg—"and that's exactly why we're going to activate Infernoid Lilith's second effect!"
For a moment, Fuyu froze. That monster has even more effects?!
Qrowley's grin stretched his face to inhuman proportions. "If a monster effect is activated," he gloated, "we can Release a monster, negate your effect's activation—and banish your monster! We Release an Infernoid Token—"
The tiny bulb of the Token winked and faded out, and Lilith's monumental jaws opened wide—but Shen sprang forward just then. "Counter Trap: Nine Branches of Dracomet!" cried the Synchro Duelist. "If a card effect is activated while I control a Dracomet card, I may negate that activation—and shuffle the card back into the Deck!"
The American's smile slid right off his face. "What?!"
Fuyu was amazed at how quickly he recovered from the stunning reversal. "That's right!" he cried. "It negates—but it doesn't destroy! So you won't be able to use Lilith's effect to Summon it from your Graveyard again!"
As if to underscore this, Liwen glowed with golden light, so bright that the Tuner was encased within seconds. The luminescent sphere rippled outward, forcing Fuyu to cover his eyes. When next he opened them, Lilith was … gone. The night sky looked noticeably darker without the serpentine machine-demon that blocked most of it out.
To Fuyu's shock, he noticed Liwen was gone as well—but Shen didn't seem fazed by this in the least. "When my Nine Branches resolves, I must destroy a Dracomet card I control," he said. "However, I destroyed my Liwen to do so—and when it is destroyed and sent to my Graveyard by a card effect, I may Special Summon another Dracomet monster from my Deck. I choose to Summon another Tuner monster—Jiaotu, Dracomet of Darkness!"
The gathering dark appeared to ripple around Shen's left side. A moment later, that ripple had solidified into the indigo-scaled, four-legged beast Fuyu had seen earlier tonight (Level 2: ATK 0/DEF 2000 » 1500). "Furthermore," said Shen, "when Fuyu activated his Field Spell, I activated my other face-down card in response—my Continuous Trap: Creation of Dracomet!"
He thrust out his left arm. "And when a Dracomet monster is destroyed by a card effect," he explained, "I may use the effect of Creation to Special Summon a Dracomet monster from my Deck. Thus, I shall Summon Bi'an, Dracomet of Earth in Attack Position!"
"Which just leaves the effect of my Sham," Fuyu smirked, watching the golden-brown form of Shen's tiger-dragon gamboling beside its Summoner out of thin air (Level 3: ATK 1600 » 1100/DEF 0). "So—what was that you were saying earlier, about not letting me use it against you again?"
He raised a hand—"Too late!"—and let it drop. Sham's arrow flew straight and true, burrowing itself in Qrowley's shoulder and causing the American to roar in pain. The sight of his LP gauge dropping to 3000 was even more satisfying to Fuyu than he had imagined.
Shen's next move gave him even more time to savor his success. "I will Chain the effect of Bi'an to Sham!" he cried. "During my opponent's Main Phase or Battle Phase, I may use it in a Synchro Summon with any Dracomet monsters I control! And as we are Dueling in a Battle Royale," he continued, "Fuyu is still my opponent, even if he and I are Dueling as a team!"
He threw out both his arms, and crouched upon the gravel. "And thus, I will Tune my Level 3 Bi'an with my Level 2 Jiaotu!" The two dragons swirled above him in a circle, rotating faster and faster until their combined forms were lost to sight. The scales of the duo glowed a bright green, and a trio of stars began to shimmer in the center:
"Guardian phantom of justice. From your throne upon the universe, drive away the darkness and guide us to a new future!"
There was a flash of verdant light, and Shen, barely a flickering shadow at this point against it, launched himself into the air, straight for the merging forms of his monsters above—he met them right in the middle—
"Synchro Summon!" he yelled. "Descend from the stars! Level 5! Denglong, Dracomet of Origin!"
THUD.
The Xyz Duelist kept his gaze covered until he was sure the light and sound had dispelled. He lowered the crook of his elbow from his eyes—and gasped at the newest arrival to the Duel: Denglong resembled a statue of semi-liquid jade, every inch of its scales gleaming and undulating in the wind (Level 5: ATK 0/DEF 2800 » 2300). Not even the rippling energy of Q's Reqliphort washing over its body seemed to dim the stunning brilliance it possessed.
Shen himself now dismounted from where he had been standing atop Denglong's back with a simple full twist. He alighted on the roof in a three-point stance, his dark eyes and Denglong's own burning gaze glaring defiantly at Qrowley. It was impossible to tell which gaze was the more resolute.
Fuyu allowed himself to gawk at the beautiful dragon for a moment longer before he remembered it was still his turn. He scanned his hand—and immediately saw the perfect followup for his strategy. "Next, I activate the Quick-Play Spell: Starcrossed Satellarknights! By targeting a tellarknight monster I control—"
"You will do no such thing!" snarled Qrowley, foam flying from his mouth. "Infernoid Nehemoth's second effect! If a Spell or a Trap is activated, we can negate its activation by Releasing a monster, and then banishing your card! So we'll Release our second Token and—"
"Nuh-uh!" Now it was Hotene's turn to swagger forward, hands on hips. "You think I'm gonna let you boys have all the fun? I'm gonna activate my Tamed Spirit Beast Gaiapelio's effect—because that stupid Reqliphort isn't negating it anymore!" she added with a smirk—for Fuyu, Shen, and even Qrowley had all rounded on her in shock. "If a card effect is activated, I can negate its activation by banishing a Spirit Beast card from my hand, an' destroy your card! An' I'm gonna banish my Combination with the Spirit Beasts!"
She slipped the final card in her hand into her Duel Disk—and raised a stubby finger. "Sic 'em, Gaiapelio!" she cheered—and her massive monster proceeded to do just that. The tree that sprouted from its broad back bloomed with hundreds of glowing flowers, each one twinkling like just one more miniature star in the sky. Their collective illumination now radiated from Gaiapelio, focused into a single ray that struck—for only an instant—the metal torso of Nehemoth. In the next instant, the winged demon began to glow from the inside, as if something in its innards was being superheated to the point of—
BOOM.
The detonation threw Fuyu off balance, sending him dangerously close to the precipice of the building. But he stood firm—and had good reason to do so this time; when next he looked, there was nothing left of Nehemoth but the wide slice of the night sky it had blocked. Gaiapelio had blown it into oblivion, leaving nothing behind but stray photons.
"All right!" Fuyu heard Yaiba yell. "That's two of his monsters gone in one turn!" He knew that wasn't saying much; the Xyz Duelist still had no idea how to get rid of Tierra—let alone Q's twin behemoths—but he sensed this was still just the start of something incredible.
So he spared a moment to raise a thumbs-up at Hotene—just a moment—before returning his attention to the Duel. "Now! I use the effect of my Starcrossed Satellarknights to target and shuffle my Sham—and then I can Special Summon a different tellarknight monster from my Deck! And that monster will be Satellarknight Vega!"
No sooner had he spoken than Sham flickered in and out of existence, before disappearing completely—leaving nothing behind but the hovering golden hoop in which he'd been enclosed. But an instant later, a completely different figure had shimmered into the middle of that hoop: a slender female clad in a lavender dress and a ribbon of golden metal (Level 4: ATK 1200 » 700/DEF 1600 » 1100).
"Since all my tellarknights have effects that activate when they're Summoned," Fuyu went on, "they can all bypass the effect of Reqliphort! So I'll activate Vega's effect to let me Special Summon a tellarknight monster from my hand! I Summon my Satellarknight Altair in Attack Position!" And a third warrior in white-gold armor appeared before him with barely a flicker, this one clad in robes of blue that flowed like water (Level 4: ATK 1700 » 1200/DEF 1300 » 800).
"Hold! I will Chain the effect of Suanni now!" bellowed Shen, as he threw out his hand, "and use it to Synchro Summon a Dracomet monster from my Deck! I may do so," he added, for Fuyu had rounded on him in confusion, "for my Denglong is an extremely rare type of Synchro Monster … known as a Synchro Tuner!"
Fuyu felt his jaw drop. "A Synchro … Tuner?" he repeated in wonderment. It's a Synchro Monster and a Tuner monster?! He heard the mutterings of his teammates, and knew they had to be thinking the same thing. The Xyz Duelist did some quick math in his head—and realized with a gasp precisely what Shen was attempting to do.
Yes! "Thus I shall Tune my Level 5 Denglong with my Level 4 Suanni!" Shen roared, at the precise moment his two monsters glowed a familiar green for the second time this Duel. As they transformed into yet more rings and stars, they leapt into the air, higher than even Jiaotu and Bi'an at the apex of their jump—they were still rising—
"Divine phantom of heaven and earth. Descend from your throne of stars, and bestow a new light upon your domain!"
The sky was riven with a thousand bolts of lightning, making Tierra and Adramelech growl in agitation at the disturbance. They seemed to strike from everywhere at once—yet within seconds, each bolt began to writhe and twist along the biggest of them all: a multicolored ribbon of energy that thrashed as if suddenly given life—
"Synchro Summon!" thundered Shen. "The father of all dragons! Level 9! Chaofeng, Dracomet of Phantoms!"
The dragon wasn't nearly as massive as Tierra—and yet, Fuyu thought, the coils of the impossibly beautiful dragon still seemed to go on forever. Many-scaled and many-colored, it slithered through the sky in a full lap around LDS, before it finally came to a stop directly behind Shen (Level 9: ATK 2800/DEF 2200).
"Because Suanni was used to Synchro Summon Chaofeng," Shen explained, "my monster gains 500 ATK and DEF—enough to withstand the effect of your Apoqliphort Killer!" And indeed, right as the mechanical menace in question had responded with its own barrage of lightning, Chaofeng was suddenly wreathed in a torrent of fire and wind—enough that every single bolt was turned away from the dragon in vain.
"It's still no match for our Reqliphort!" Qrowley shot back. "And because of that card, your Denglong was banished when you used it as your other Synchro Material! It was a pretty monster—we'll give you that—but 'pretty' doesn't mean a thing when you're fighting in a war!"
Fuyu felt his face split in a grin at this. He had just the monster in mind to make Qrowley eat his words. He felt that grin grow wider still as he took a look at his field, and the one card he still had left in his hand.
Hotene and Shen had already surprised him at least twice this Duel; Shen had even done so in the same turn. Maybe it was time he added a shocker of his own. "If you're done, Shen," he said, clasping his hands together and taking a deep breath, "then I'll use my Vega and my Altair … to construct the Overlay Network!"
He didn't wait for the Synchro user to give him the OK. At the last word, both of his monsters glowed gold, rising into the air until they looked like just another pair of stars in the sky. Fuyu could see them winking far above him, as if even they—like all his other friends—were waiting with bated breath for his next move:
"Somber knight of the skies," he began to chant, "who watches over this plane from the center of the cosmos, descend and make all tremble in your sight!"
He saw a galaxy of a thousand colors, heard the rush of sound that filled the night. Even the ugly head of Tierra tilted upwards, as if to regard this newest insolent intruder upon its domain. But even as the light within its center glowed brighter and brighter, Fuyu could hear the steadily rising noise of hooves—
"Xyz Summon!" he shouted, so loudly that his voice cracked. "Rank 4! Tellarknight Ptolemaios!"
The galaxy did not burst into its millions of stars when the monster appeared; it merely seemed to distort in midair, becoming less a spiral and more of an eight-pointed star, orbited by two golden lights of lesser size. But within a second, even this was changing shape—it rippled and solidified into a massive white cloak, its iridescent insides shimmering with every color the naked eye could name, and more besides.
Then a hand was thrown aside, and Ptolemaios revealed itself in full: a majestic centaur clad head to hooves in splendid white-gold armor (Rank 4: ATK 550 » 50/DEF 2600 » 2100, ORU 2). A veritable river of golden hair waved in the wind below the gleaming horns that adorned its crown. A long scepter—topped by a great sphere of glass that seemed to dance with all the stars in the universe—twirled in its hand, raised aloft as Ptolemaios settled to its knees in one serene, flowing movement.
"Whoa … " Fuyu felt a great rush of pride at Hotene's awestruck voice. "So pretty … "
But then Qrowley, damnably, had to open his mouth and ruin the moment yet again. "'Descend and make all tremble in your sight'?" he said derisively. "That monster only has 50 ATK! Any one of you could sneeze and shatter something that fragile!"
" … Except I Summoned Ptolemaios in Defense Position." Fuyu was beginning to tire of the cyborg's gloating. "And," he added, "my Field Spell: Hexatellarknight grants each tellarknight Xyz Monster on the field an extra 200 ATK and DEF for each Overlay Unit attached to it!" The miniature spheres that revolved around Ptolemaios pulsed with sudden ripples of light, bathing the monster in their radiance and increasing its gauge to 450/2500.
"But I've still got one more card to play—the Equip Spell: Stellarknight Factor!" Fuyu yelled, doing just that and slapping the card on his Duel Disk hard enough to make his hand sting. "I'll equip it to my Ptolemaios to make it gain 500 ATK and DEF—and also make it immune to any of my opponents' card effects! Which means," he smirked, "that it's now the strongest monster on the field! Nothing here can take it down now—not your Killer, and definitely not your Tierra!"
He felt a surge of radiant joy as Ptolemaios raised its scepter high into the sky. The glass top brimmed with light as its gauge soared to an incredible 1450/3500—more than enough to withstand an attack from any one monster Qrowley controlled, as he'd said—Qliphort or Infernoid.
Yet there was one more trick Fuyu had left this turn, and he knew that using it now would serve him well for later. "Since Ptolemaios is an Xyz Monster, it can't be affected by Reqliphort," he said, "because Reqliphort only works on monsters with Levels, not Ranks! So I'll activate my Ptolemaios' effect, and attach a Stellarknight monster from my Extra Deck to it as another Overlay Unit!" Triverr would do just fine, he thought as he searched through his Extra Deck for the monster in question; he would have no need of it this Duel.
Ptolemaios' staff, meanwhile, began to glow with a lavender hue; Fuyu thought he could see the faintest mirage of the monster he'd attached within the crystal ball before it faded away, and a third shimmering sphere drifted into orbit around the armored centaur as its gauge climbed further still, before finally stopping at 1650/3700.
"And with that," Fuyu finished, gazing at his monster, his heart soaring higher and beating faster than it ever had in his life, "I end my turn."
Between the stunning reversal that had happened the previous turn, the turmoil that was still coursing through his mind at what he'd said and done before that, and the blood that was pumping through his veins with each passing second, Tōdō Yaiba had little time for introspection. Too much was going on for him to think about it for even a moment that he'd long since decided to address this one issue at a time, before Fuyu had even started his turn.
And so—clutching his blackened bamboo shinai once more—he acted. "I Summon XX-Saber Boggarknight in Attack Position," he yelled, watching the familiar shape of the armored warrior materialize before him (Level 4: ATK 1900/DEF 1000), "and then I'll activate its effect to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower X-Saber monster from my hand! Don't bother," he sneered at Qrowley. "You already know I can do that when Boggarknight's Normal Summoned—your Reqliphort's too slow for it! So I'll Special Summon the Tuner monster X-Saber Pashuul!"
Beside Boggarknight, a second armored warrior took shape: smaller but more stocky than its companion, and clad in dark blue-and-gold armor rather than silver-and-red. Pashuul unsheathed a gleaming broadsword from his back, whipping it round in a battle stance at the field that opposed him (Level 2: ATK 100 » 0/DEF 0).
"Furthermore," Shen cut in, "my Chaofeng is no longer bound by the effect of your Reqliphort, which means its effect is no longer negated! And because of that, none of my opponents can activate the effects of monsters whose Attributes match those of the materials I used to Synchro Summon my monster! Which means in turn," he added, glaring at Qrowley through dark eyes as Chaofeng roared in response, "that since one of those Synchro Materials was a FIRE monster, your Infernoids can no longer activate their effects! You can no longer Summon them by their own procedures—and you can no longer use them to banish our monsters!"
Qrowley bared his teeth in a feral growl. Yaiba only had to look at Infernoid Tierra to know that Shen was right; the black-and-gold armor of the behemoth was noticeably duller than it had appeared before. Seeing this put him in even higher spirits than before—and he knew just how to sustain that soaring feeling in his heart.
"Now," said Yaiba, "I'll Tune my Level 4 Boggarknight with my Level 2 Pashuul!"
As both his monsters rose into the air, their armor gleaming brighter and brighter until all sense of form was lost in the light, he saw Masumi whip around at this from beside him, her face slackened in recognition of what he was about to do. The Synchro Duelist briefly wondered if his friend—could he really call Masumi merely his friend after all he'd done tonight? Yaiba wondered—had guessed that this was only the beginning:
"Slay the enemy with your dance of swords as your red cape whips about!"
"Synchro Summon! Show yourself! Level 6! XX-Saber Hyunlei!"
He had to squint, such was the intensity of the green light-flower that had bloomed above him. A slender figure somersaulted from within, hurtling through the air in a blur of red, blue, and golden armor until it landed in a three-point stance directly before Yaiba (Level 6: ATK 2300 » 1800/DEF 1300 » 800). The glittering edge of a scimitar sliced through the air, and though he could not see most of Hyunlei's face owing to the visor that covered her eyes, he had no doubt she was ready to tear apart anything that stood in her way.
Indeed, he already had a few things to tear apart in mind. "Don't feed me that bull about how my monster will be banished when she leaves the field; I couldn't care less about that. Because my Hyunlei's effect activates the moment she's Synchro Summoned—and lets me target and destroy up to three Spells and Traps on the field! Oh yes," Yaiba smirked at Qrowley, who had suddenly drawn back, his face twisted in utter horror. "I know exactly which Spells and Traps to destroy! Hyunlei, wreck that son of a b—!"
His next word was drowned out in a deafening explosion; Hyunlei had wasted no time in carrying out his wishes. With a single mighty heave, she'd hurled her scimitar at the conjoined forms of Qliphort Tool and Qliphort Monolith—and the glistening energy field lining them both that constituted Reqliphort. The blade was soon lost to sight, but it didn't matter—the moment it was, all three Qliphort cards disappeared in a monumental gout of flame that brought a brief, false dawn to Maiami City.
Pendulum Monsters that were inside the Pendulum Zones, Yaiba knew, were treated as Spell Cards, not as monsters. Without them, no more Qliphorts could be Pendulum Summoned until the Scales were replaced, nor could Q use their effects to build up a superior hand. It was the biggest mistake the supercomputer could have possibly made, to allow him to Synchro Summon his Hyunlei.
He frowned. Something about that train of thought made him pause for a moment—but only a moment; the Synchro user still had more to his turn. "Next, I activate the Spell Card Gatmuz' Emergency Convocation!" he cried. "With this, I can target and Special Summon 2 X-Sabers from my Graveyard with their ATK reduced to 0! So I'll revive my Boggarknight and my Tuner Pashuul!"
He watched his two monsters rise up from the ground either side of Hyunlei, swordpoints to the ground in defensive positions (Level 4: ATK 1900 » 0/DEF 1000 » 500, Level 2: ATK 100 » 0/DEF 0), before he made his next move. "Then, since I control at least 2 X-Saber monsters, I can Special Summon XX-Saber Faultroll from my hand by its own procedure! Show yourself!" he bellowed—and Faultroll did just that; its scarlet-armored bulk filled his face completely as it charged onto his field, swinging a massive claymore in a wide arc (Level 6: ATK 2400 » 1900/DEF 1800 » 1300).
It was too bad he'd already emptied his Graveyard of monsters with his Convocation, Yaiba thought; he would have loved a chance to flex his muscles against Qrowley now that they were making every advantage the cyborg had used against them disappear with each passing turn. But he had enough monsters to go on with for now—and the one card he had left in his hand would ensure he put them all to good use.
"Next," he cried, slapping that card on his Duel Disk, "I activate the Spell Card: Star Blast! By paying any multiple of 500 LP, I can target a monster on my field and reduce its Level by that multiple! So I'll pay 1500 Life Points and reduce my Faultroll's Level from six to three!"
He braced himself—just in time for the lightning to course over his body, and his LP to drop to 500. But it didn't hurt him nearly as much as he was expecting; whether this was because of the nonlethal nature of his card's effect, or just that he'd been through enough pain and torture as it was, Yaiba didn't know—and neither did he care.
As his monster's gauge changed to match, the Synchro user saw Masumi pump a fist in triumph—she knew what he was going to do! He decided it wouldn't be proper to let her wait any longer—"so now I'll Tune my Level 3 Faultroll and my Level 4 Boggarknight with my Level 2 Pashuul!" he screamed, throwing a hand into the air.
He watched with bated breath as all three monsters leaped high into the sky, Faultroll in the lead. Their gleaming armor disintegrated into more green rings and stars of light, whirling round and round in a glimmering tornado:
"Let your silver armor shine! Crush the hope of all who oppose you!"
"SYNCHRO SUMMON!" Yaiba roared. "Come forth! Level 9! XX-Saber Gatmuz!"
He braced himself just in time: Gatmuz hit the field with a force so tremendous that it was a wonder how the roof didn't collapse on them, holograms be damned. But there he stood: amidst the cloud of dust it had created on impact, the strongest monster in Yaiba's Deck drew himself to his full, gigantic height. The wind billowed his scarlet cape so violently it seemed like a living thing, and the huge blade he wielded was lifted with so little effort it seemed nothing more than a child's toy (Level 9: ATK 3100 » 2600/DEF 2600 » 2100).
"You know what happens next, Qrowley!" Yaiba grinned. "With that Reqliphort out of the way, I'm able to use my Gatmuz' effect now! And I'll do just that—by Releasing an X-Saber monster, I can discard a random card from my opponent's hand! Only it won't be so random," he sneered at the cyborg, "because there's only one card left in your hand—isn't there?!"
He didn't wait for an answer—not that the seething Qrowley would have willingly given one. Hyunlei, her purpose served, vanished with a mournful scream into the blade of Gatmuz as he whirled his greatsword in a horizontal arc, releasing a surge of energy. The blast struck Qrowley full in the chest, causing the American to roar in agitation, his exposed circuits to flash red and green—and more importantly, Yaiba knew, to let go of the last, best hope in the cyborg's hand. He barely saw the edges of an Infernoid Dekatron fluttering to the ground, hopelessly out of reach.
Yaiba drew himself to his full height, then, satisfied beyond words at the destruction he'd wrought. "I end my turn," he said smugly, crossing his arms as confidently as he felt was necessary.
Which, given the circumstances, was rather a great deal.
"It's all you now, Masumi! Knock 'em dead!"
Masumi tore her gaze away from the cards in her hand just in time to see Yaiba tip a roguish wink in her direction. For a moment, the Fusion Duelist quite forgot her plan of action; her memory of the kiss they'd shared—impromptu as it was—still burned bright enough in her mind that she felt her cheeks burn just as fiercely.
"Not yet!" Fuyu cried. "I activate Ptolemaios' effect again, and attach another Stellarknight monster to it from my Extra Deck as an Overlay Unit!"
As a fourth glowing sphere materialized around the kneeling form of Fuyu's monster, the turbulence inside Masumi slowly passed; nothing was left of the fire within but a small spark, fluttering about in her mind's eye like the last firefly of the night—or might it be the first of many?—refusing to be extinguished. In its light, Masumi saw the fine sand that had once been her foolproof strategy, trampled to dust beneath the metal claws of all the Qliphorts and Infernoids that had ruined it.
The sand began to stir, as if by a breeze. Then that breeze became a gust, and the gust became a gale. Finally each grain began to distort and wriggle from the heat given off by the spark that wouldn't fade away—
Spark.
The single word hit Masumi like a thunderbolt. In that one instant, the sand had turned red as blood … then orange as open flame … and finally the bright yellow of a furnace. The molten slag had crystallized into a globule of clear glass, misshapen but perfectly clear—perfectly flawless. She took a look at all five cards in her hand—knowing that what she could do with them depended entirely on what she drew next—
Grind.
—as her hand drifted to her Deck, she thought of her parents, who had voiced their support for her membership in the Lancers, even as they feared for her safety—
Sand.
—her fingers touched the edge of the card, and she thought of Himika, who had ordered her into battle as a Lancer in the first place, but had swiftly realized how rash her actions had been in eliminating this threat to her school—
Lap.
—every muscle in her body tensed, and she thought once more of Yaiba, of all the days and weeks and months and years they would have to talk about the intimate moment they had shared … and of the moments to come—
Polish.
—this was the moment—
"My turn!" screeched Masumi. "DRAW!"
The Fusion Duelist's hand whipped outwards, the card clutched in her fingers, and the winds that shrieked around her suddenly became very calm, as if the force of her motion had completely dispelled them from all around her—she glanced at the card—
—and beheld in her mind a perfect sphere of clear crystal, more dazzling than any gem she had ever fashioned. The spark that had given it life now sustained it from within, its flickering light encased forever inside her crown jewel.
Et voilà.
"I activate the Continuous Spell: Brilliant Fusion!" she cried, placing the card on her screen. "With this card, I can Fusion Summon a Gem-Knight Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck by sending its materials from my Deck to the Graveyard, with its ATK and DEF reduced to zero!"
She knew just the cards to send—because they were almost the only monsters in her Deck Qrowley's Tierra hadn't ravaged with its devastating effect. "I'll send my Gem-Knights Ganet, Saphire, and Roumaline to Summon this!" She ejected the cards from her Deck, and a trio of knights—one clad in red, a second in blue, and a third in bright yellow—shimmered all around her, here yet not, their gleaming armor nothing more than half-formed illusions:
"Crystal of burning resolve!" she chanted, watching the tornado of light appear above her. "Stone of selfless sacrifice! Gem tinged with lightning! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance!"
Those illusions began to shimmer, like the jewel that still sparkled in her brain, as they drifted into the miniature hurricane—it grew brighter and brighter until she could no longer bear to look at the blinding display—
"Fusion Summon! This is my true ace! Dazzling lady, Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Dia!"
Something enormous dropped like a stone from the whirlwind, landing without even a sound on the gravel before her. Fifteen feet tall, and brandishing a sword half as high as Masumi again, Brilliant Dia rose to her feet with a resolve in her eyes harder than any diamond on earth (Level 10: ATK 3400 » 0/DEF 2000 » 0).
"That's what I was waiting for!" Fuyu cut in, nearly wrecking Masumi's train of thought completely with his outburst. "I wanted to make sure you had every chance to use that card first—because now I'm going to activate Ptolemaios' second effect!"
The Fusion Duelist spun round; her teammate was smiling more broadly than she'd ever seen him. "During any player's turn," the Xyz Duelist said, "I can detach three Overlay Units from Ptolemaios, and Xyz Summon an Xyz Monster whose Rank is 1 higher—by using it and any remaining units as an Overlay Unit itself!"
Masumi watched in shock as three of the orbs that revolved around Fuyu's monster disintegrated into glowing dust, falling like fresh snow upon the white armor of the centaur. That armor began to glow itself as Ptolemaios rose into the air, its multicolored cape billowing around it like a pair of giant wings:
"Invincible might of the skies, whose holy light was gifted by the stars who witnessed its birth, dispel the gathering darkness once and for all!"
"Xyz Change!" screamed Fuyu. "The brightest servant of the heavens! Rank 5! Stellarknight Sacred Dia!"
There was just enough of Ptolemaios visible that Masumi could see the changes being wrought over its body: the neck was elongating, its jaw becoming more prominent and pointed. The slender hooves grew and split into muscled claws, and the pristine cloak lost its many hues of color, darkening into a twilight that sparkled with more stars than the skies of Earth could hold—
Finally the light faded, and with a single flap of its new wings, Sacred Dia stormed onto the battlefield in full (Rank 5: ATK 2700 » 2600/DEF 2000 » 1900/ORU 2). The nighttime skyline of Maiami City glinted off white-gold armor plating, further adding to the destructive beauty of Fuyu's most powerful monster.
"Sacred Dia's effect!" The light that scattered off its armor reflected off the Xyz Duelist's moon-pale face. "While even one Overlay Unit is attached to it, no Duelist can send any cards from their Deck to the Graveyard, and any card that returns from the Graveyard to the hand is immediately banished! Which means you have no way of recovering the Infernoids you spent to wipe us out, Qrowley! Your monsters, and your entire Deck, are useless!"
Sacred Dia let fly with an earsplitting roar, as if to underscore Fuyu's statement. Qrowley faltered at this, and he slipped a few feet from where he'd been hovering. Masumi saw, for only a moment, how the pupils of his eyes had shrunken to mere dots.
For the first time since she'd seen him in the flesh, the American was afraid.
But Masumi wasn't done—she hadn't even started. "Now for my Brilliant Dia's effect!" she cried. "By sending a Gem-Knight monster I control to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon another Gem-Knight from my Extra Deck, and bypass any Summoning conditions it might possess! So I'll send my Brilliant Dia, and Special Summon this!"
She ejected a card from her Extra Deck, gathering both her Brilliant Dia and her Brilliant Fusion into her Duel Disk. The gigantic form of her ace monster faded from view—but was just as quickly replaced by a totally new figure: a warrior clad in much the same sort of elaborate, dark blue cloak that had once covered Fuyu's Ptolemaios—
"Behold!" Masumi cried, throwing a hand out to her newest arrival. "My Gem-Knight Seraphi!"
The wind swirled, and the cloak billowed outward to reveal its owner in full. Much like Sacred Dia, Seraphi was clad head to toe in gleaming armor of silver and gold, and something of Brilliant Dia was present in the rapier it clutched in its hand (Level 5: ATK 2300 » 1800/DEF 1400 » 900). It even had a pair of splendid wings unfurled behind it—though nowhere near as massive or majestic as those of Sacred Dia—
"You would sacrifice your ace monster to bring this out?" Qrowley said, glancing at the monster with a disdainful snort. "Pitiful. You're going to need much more than that to even touch us right now. Because if you don't, we will personally make sure this monster will be the last one you ever Summon." He gestured to his Apoqliphorts, both of whom still flanked his Tierra—looming large on the field like so many miniature floating citadels.
"You're already too late, Qrowley," Masumi grinned, plucking a pair of cards from her hand. "I still haven't used my Normal Summon for this turn—and Gem-Knight Seraphi's effect allows me to have two of them—not just the one! So I'll use them to Summon Gem-Knight Lapis and Gem-Knight Sanyx!"
Four wide ribbons that lined Seraphi's cape coiled through the air like live snakes, two apiece on either side of her. They shimmered with light, and two figures materialized within them: one, a lithe female in a purplish-pink robe hovering a few inches aloft (Level 3: ATK 1200/DEF 100); the other, a broad, hulking berserker wielding a mace and chain of the same banded crimson as its armor (Level 4: ATK 1800/DEF 900).
Masumi felt her smile turn more reckless now. Her friends had done so much for her tonight—and not merely in what they'd done for this Duel. But now it was time to bring it all to a head; she stared, longingly, at the last card in her hand—the same one she'd drawn to start her turn … the one card that her friends' actions had made possible to put into her hand.
"Ready to take a trip back through time, Qrowley?" she called out. "Because I think you're going to remember this next card all too well!" She slapped it on her screen. "I activate the Spell Card: Particle Fusion!"
Qrowley's eyes went wide. "What?!"
"Then you know what it does, don't you?" the Fusion Duelist smirked. "That's just perfect—it'll make Summoning this monster all the more satisfying … because I know you remember it, too! So I'll use Particle Fusion's effect to banish my Seraphi, my Lapis, and my Sanyx!"
As if sundered apart by miniature hurricanes inside them, all three of her monsters whirled away from view. Each vortex remained there for the briefest of moments before they too were consumed in a whirlwind far greater than any she had yet conjured; she could feel it buffet her as it exploded behind her:
"Clear paragon of virtue! Gem of crimson fire!" Masumi chanted. "Become one with the blue stone and create a new light!"
She heard the thundering footsteps, saw the long shadow it cast—then, from the corner of her eye, she saw the massive blade precede its owner onto the battlefield, slicing through the air as if attempting to cut the wind itself—
"FUSION! SUMMON!" she howled, feeling every word strain her voice. "One who illuminates everything with its supreme radiance! Gem-Knight Master Dia!"
Armored boots, polished to a mirror finish, strode above her, their owner standing so tall as to walk over Masumi without needing to watch his step. Masumi saw her own face reflected back at her—battered and haggard, every strand of black hair bent hopelessly out of shape from intense heat, vicious lightning, and God only knew what other tortures. But for only an instant, she had seen the spark that still danced in her eyes, even as the rest of her body ached and screamed in protest. But it was all worth it, she knew. She had taken the pain, made it her own—and thrown it right back at the monster who'd inflicted it on her in the first place.
Because Master Dia—her most loyal of warriors—was here at last: the enormous, jeweled sword he clutched in his hands was like seeing the return of an old friend (Level 9: ATK 2900 » 2400/DEF 2500 » 2000).
Qrowley, on the other hand, looked as though he'd seen the return of his most hated enemy: one that he thought he'd destroyed for good, only to come back that much stronger. His rage had passed beyond words, now—hatred blazed in his eyes so brightly that it dared to outshine the armor of Master Dia. But even as the demonic American gnashed his teeth, Masumi saw the black smoke of terror that stifled Qrowley's fury.
He knew this monster, all right. And he knew full well what it could do to him.
Because—"Particle Fusion's effect banishes it from my own Graveyard," Masumi said triumphantly, "and makes my Master Dia gain ATK equal to one of the materials used to Fusion Summon it! Three guesses which one I'm going to target!" she laughed savagely at the cyborg, as if offering him the choice would help him now. "That's right—Master Dia will gain the ATK of Gem-Knight Seraphi!"
The titanic knight spread his legs in an executioner's stance, adjusting his blade slightly. An electrum edge rushed through his broadsword as its ATK swelled to 4700—but it didn't stop there. Within moments, it had reached 5000 … 5500 …
"I think you remember Master Dia's effects, too," Masumi, grinning madly, could feel her heart pounding; as Master Dia's ATK now reached a titanic 6000, her breathing was becoming more and more impossible to control. "Not only does it gain 100 ATK for every Gem- monster in my Graveyard—but I can banish a Level 7 or lower Gem-Knight Fusion Monster from my Graveyard to have Master Dia inherit its effects for the rest of the turn!"
And there it was, she saw. There was the moment the smoke smothered the fire. Qrowley's wrath had evaporated completely—all that was left to course through man and machine was blood, electronic impulses … and naked fear.
"You made a big mistake from the moment you Summoned Infernoid Tierra, Qrowley" Masumi told him. "All those cards in my hand it sent to my Graveyard … my Deck … and my Extra Deck. My friends might not have had the luxury of choice when you used Tierra's effect against them. But me … "—the best damned Fusion Duelist who's ever walked through the doors of the Leo Duel School, she heard herself say—" … Me, I did have that choice. And I made sure from the beginning that my choice could be used the first chance I had. All that my friends had to do was to keep you from making sure I didn't."
She cast a longing smile at them all: Hotene and her massive Gaiapelio, which had destroyed the one monster that could have ruined all her plans; Shen and his Chaofeng, whose radiance outshone the most hellish fires any Infernoid could conjure; Fuyu and his Sacred Dia, whose armored claws had become the final chokehold on the demonic host of Qrowley's Deck … and finally Yaiba, whose XX-Sabers had annihilated any chance of Q coming to his master's rescue. They smiled back at her, willing her to continue.
"Remember when I used my Gem-Knight Iola to return a Gem-Knight card to my Extra Deck?" Masumi gloated. "How I told you that card was actually a Fusion Monster? Let me tell you which one it wasn't—just so you know once and for all how screwed you really are … "
Her chest rose and fell with every ragged breath. So, too, did Qrowley's. The moment had come.
"The monster I returned," she said, "wasn't Gem-Knight Paz."
That did it. The crimson flush of smoldering anger that had erupted over Qrowley's face faded and died, like the last embers of fire against the flood. He looked ghastly now, centuries old—a pale husk of a man drained from a hundred futile gestures against a handful of kids—
"Q," he was heard to whisper. "Execute emergency shutdown. Authorization: Crowley, iota-two-one-zero!"
Red circuits twitched, and became green. "Unable to comply," was the mechanical reply. "Auto-concede protocol disabled. Emergency shutdown impossible until current Duel has been concluded."
"NO!"
But Masumi had already moved to act. "I banish Paz to transfer its effect to Master Dia!" she screeched, watching millions of volts of lightning snake over her armored giant—turning it a bright, deep gold. "It can make a second attack during each Battle Phase—and each monster it destroys in battle inflicts that monster's ATK in damage!
"GO, MASTER DIA! BATTLE PHASE!" With a single twirl of his blade, Master Dia and all the lightning that wreathed both him and his weapon leapt into the air, disappearing into the sky until he was just one more star. But as quickly as he'd vanished, something else had twinkled in the sky—falling to earth at incredible speed—
"Time for a reality check, Qrowley!" Masumi snarled defiantly. "Your genocidal fantasy ends tonight! You will never break our city, or any other city, for as long as my friends and I live! YOU—LOSE!"
She stabbed out with a finger—"GO TO HELL!"—and then the world exploded.
Twin bolts of crackling energy, guided by the unerring blade of Masumi's monster, crashed down from the heavens. Apoqliphort Killer's mechanical body, heretofore invincible, was splintered as if it were nothing more substantial than tinfoil. Infernoid Tierra had time for one last roar of fury before it, too, was totally disintegrated. Apoqliphort Kernel and Infernoid Adramelech were too slow to get out of the way; they were consumed in the cataclysmic blast before they could even turn to flee.
Masumi's attack had been overkill; Master Dia had delivered the final blow twice over even before Paz' effect was triggered upon the monsters' destruction. But it was worth it to her, to see all the fruits of her efforts manifest on the field … to see justice exacted upon the man that had caused so much grief in her life—
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—"
Qrowley's final, tortured scream was the only sign he hadn't gone the same way as his monsters. It transcended fury … pain … everything. He was left to writhe and convulse in his own agony of thunder and fire as all around him crumbled: the wake of all the twisted wreckage that was left of his last, best hope to annihilate any resistance against the organization he served—the hulks of his strongest monsters disappeared, eradicated into a few scattered photons that disappeared themselves not long after—
Then it was over, and an eternity of silent shock that felt too short to grasp descended upon the sky. The lightning ceased, the inferno was dispelled … and the broken body of Jonathan Damon Crowley, no longer the master of the supercomputer he'd enslaved to do his bidding, finally hit the roof of the Leo Duel School with a wet CRUNCH that sounded more final than the dual shriek of the Duel Disks he wore, each announcing their owner's Life Points at 0.
Beaten.
A/N: … I don't know what more I can say here. Part of me hoped this wouldn't take as many words, so that I could slip in one more scene where everyone can soak it all in. But good Lord this Duel. I've never been so glad to get the final battle completed to my satisfaction.
On the plus side, I should only need one more chapter, maybe two, before this story's finally complete. Thanks so much for sticking with it for this long. Hope you enjoyed reading it! – K
