Starting Notes:

Welcome back! Thank you for the good reception on the last chapter! Like I said—this chapter only has a single duel in it, but we all know what the duel is going to be, and I've been waiting for this forever, so let's go go go! More later!


Chapter 46: The Flower That Only Blooms In The Dark

A few months ago:

"Things are going rather well," the figure next to Aki said. He was wearing sunglasses in a faint attempt to disguise himself, but it honestly didn't do much, considering that he was still wearing the same clothes that he wore when he was addressing people as the King of the City. The two of them were watching the duels below, where young Psychic Duelists were learning to control their powers properly. "You've turned this place into what it should always have been."

"I feel that way too," Aki admitted. "There's something that feels right about… teaching them, you know? It's what I would have wanted for myself, when I was younger. Someone with more knowledge about this than me, who could convince me that my powers were all within my control."

"... it's not what you got," Jack said.

"I don't hold that against others," Aki said. "Just because I lacked something doesn't mean that I shouldn't give it to others." She raised a hand, before closing it, conviction in her eyes. "And I guess I'm searching for something too."

"Searching for something?"

"Someone, rather…" Aki looked to him. "I told myself on the day that I took over all of this. I wouldn't be like Divine. I wouldn't use the people here for my own purposes, or make decisions for them because I think it's for their own good. To be honest, it's a wishful thought, but… I want to find someone like me. Someone that was lost. A flower that has yet to bloom, born into soil that withholds any chance of growth from it, hiding in the shadows. Someone that has slipped through the cracks."

"And what do you want to do when you find them? Guide them?" Jack seemed rather expectant—as though he already knew the answer. However, Aki shook her head, denying the answer that he had given.

"I don't need to guide them," she said. "I just want to see that person be able to bloom gracefully. Even if I play no part in it… seeing that might make it easier for me to move on from everything too."

After all, if she could see someone like her move on from their own trauma, then it would mean that she wasn't just an anomaly.

It would mean that all the other people in the world like her—or unlike her, but who suffered from some kind of pain that might make it hard for them to survive—would be able to heal someday too.

So she waited, and she hoped to find that person.


Weeks ago:

Aki looked at the girl that shared Rin's face. There was less fire there, but just as much will to fight.

"Teach me, Aki-san," Miharu said. She didn't say it, but Aki could read it in her voice. I will become even stronger.

Aki nodded, offering a smile. "Of course," she said. "I'm interested in your deck, regardless."


In the present:

"... Aki-san," Miharu greeted.

"You don't seem surprised," Aki said, smiling warmly. "Did you expect this then?"

"It was the most likely outcome." Miharu pulled out a card from her duel disk. "... here you go, Aki-san." Aki caught the card that was tossed to her—for all that Miharu seemed frail in most physical aspects, her aim was surprisingly sharp.

Aki looked at the card, and the dark blue border immediately clued her in to the card's nature.

"Trying to strengthen your opponent before the match?" She said.

"... I already made it for you," Miharu admitted. "I was going to wait, but if I'm facing you now, either I will win, or you will."

"And you think that I know how to Link Summon?"

"You've seen me do it enough. And you've seen the others do it too."

"Seeing how you do it doesn't mean that I know how," Aki said, though it was just to be contrary. There was a part of her that was buzzing with warmth—after all, for Miharu to have made this card for her, it wouldn't have been easy at all. And considering that she could easily have prioritised making cards for herself or her comrades, to have spent some time making this for Aki…

(Cards that were too powerful were rarely capable of being produced with the usual software. There were always safeguards in place for that. To create a card meant to laboriously balance it over and over again, against several things, such as the requirements, cost, the other cards involved—it was a bunch of arbitrary factors that no one in their right mind wanted to deal with unless necessary. It was why card designers were always paid so much.)

"You can," Miharu said, no trace of doubt in her voice. "You're Aki Izayoi."

And the complete faith and trust that the girl clearly had in her strength…

"I'd be proud of you, if that was the case! If it comes down to you and me—well, I'll fight you with my full strength, and I hope that you'll strive to step over me with all the strength you have."

"What I said back at the start of the Friendship Cup remains true, Miharu-san," Aki said. "Strive to defeat me with all the strength you have."

"... I won't hold back then."

And what else was there to say?

The garage doors opened. The sunlight shone in on them. It was late in the afternoon now, but the light was still scorching.

Aki chanced one more look at Miharu.

Alright.

Sprout that was trapped in the darkness, the aftermath of everything that happened to them—

Show how you rise from where they planted you, and show me how brightly you can bloom in the sunlight.


Miharu took a slow, deep breath. It wasn't necessary to compose herself—simply to steel herself for what needed to be done.

Alright.

Time to duel again.

Obviously, she lost to Aki in terms of driving a motorcycle. Miharu could handle a hoverboard, but as it turned out, a motorcycle was very different.

[DUEL!]

Aki Izayoi: 4000LP

Miharu Kogami: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Aki] [H:5]

"I'll start then," Aki said. "I'll Normal Summon Lonefire Blossom." The familiar fiery sapling appeared in front of her, curling up slightly as orange embers flew around it.

[Lonefire Blossom (3*/500/1400/FIRE/Plant/Effect)]

"I will tribute Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon a Plant monster from my deck. Come—Revival Rose." Three bright red roses appeared, large blue eyes staring at Miharu from within each flower. They were all connected to the same stalk, however.

[Revival Rose (4*/1300/1300/DARK/Plant/Effect)]

"I will then Special Summon Rose Girl from my hand, since a Plant monster was sent from the field to the graveyard." The girl with a large rose for her hair appeared on the field as well, looking rather tired. The vibrant red petals were eye-catching.

[Rose Girl (3*/800/600/EARTH/Plant/Tuner/Effect)]

"Then, since I control a Plant Tuner, I can Special Summon White Rose Dragon from my hand." The small dragon with silvery black scales appeared, white petals surrounding its body.

[White Rose Dragon (4*/1200/1000/DARK/Dragon/Effect)]

"... you were so confident that I could do it," Aki said. "And well, I'm not one to bow down from trying to stand up to your expectations."

Miharu nodded, quietly observing.

"I'll open the circuit of scattered petals! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two monsters with different Types. I'll set White Rose Dragon and Revival Rose in the Link Markers! Beautiful roses blooming within the holy garden. Now, take the form of the dragon that bridges the gap, and scatter beautifully! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 2! Crossrose Dragon!"

A dragon with a violet body appeared, shimmering with the colours of twilight. Its wings started with green leaves and then bloomed as several large red roses. The dragon's midsection and underbelly was entirely made of beautiful colourful roses—one large and primarily pink rose, surrounded by several smaller roses, the colours being a mix of warm and dark colours. The tail was equally eyecatching—black with a red outline, like the stalk of a flower, ending in a bouquet of colourful flowers as well.

[Crossrose Dragon (L2/800/DARK/Dragon/Link/Effect/↙, ↘)]


From above, Jack Atlas blinked. "Aki has a Link Monster?" He murmured. "And she's learned that odd Link Summoning as well… but how did she…"

He glanced at Aki's opponent, the blonde girl behind her.

… that girl, perhaps? Interesting.

It seemed that Aki truly favoured this logical girl then. Perhaps she was the person that Aki had been hoping to find.


"Crossrose Dragon, a Link Monster…" Roget folded his arms. "Now how did she get that? Don't tell me that her opponent made it for her, that's just illogical… still though, it'll be worrying if she's decided to work with the Lancers or something."


"I'll tribute both Crossrose Dragon and Rose Girl with Crossrose Dragon's effect," Aki declared, immediately putting the monster to work. Both monsters on her field dissolved into a storm of bright rose petals. "And then, I can Special Summon a "Rose" Synchro Monster or a Plant Synchro Monster from my Extra Deck. This is treated as a Synchro Summon." It was probably an effect there to allow Aki to be more comfortable with using it—something akin to Synchro climbing. "Beautiful, lonely maiden in the garden of sleeping thorns. Now, rise up in solidarity with the dragons and bring forth the silent destruction! Synchro Summon! Level 5! Garden Rose Maiden!" The beautiful pale woman with white hair appeared, twirling around in a white dress. She looked rather reserved. Rose bloomed all around her as she settled down—she was in Defense Position.

[Garden Rose Maiden (5*/1600/2400/DARK/Plant/Synchro/Effect)]

"When Garden Rose Maiden is Special Summoned, I can add the Field Spell, Black Garden from my deck to my hand." She picked up the card. "And I will activate it—bloom, Black Garden!"

Around them, vines crept up the track. Miharu touched a leaf that flew past her head—it was solid. Interesting.

"I'll set a card and end my turn," Aki said. This left her with a single card in her hand. "Over to you—Miharu-san."

[Turn 2: Miharu] [H:6]

Miharu swiftly drew a card—just as resolute as ever.

She glanced across her hand.

"Will you return the favour?" Aki said warmly.

… that would be sentimental, wouldn't it? And logically, it wouldn't make sense to do that right now, not unless she…

Miharu considered several options before she placed down her starting move.

"Continuous Spell Card, Aroma Gardening," she said calmly. The Spell appeared on her field, though it didn't seem to do anything for now. "I will Normal Summon Lonefire Blossom." The same fiery sapling appeared on her field. It felt almost like she had mirrored Aki's move, but Miharu wasn't one to do something like that out of sentiment. It was simply optimal.

[Lonefire Blossom (3*/500/1400/FIRE/Plant/Effect)]

"I will activate the effect of Black Garden," Aki said. "Your monster's attack points are halved, and a Rose Token is Special Summoned to my field in Attack Position." A small rose bloomed in front of her.

[Lonefire Blossom: 500 / 2 = 250ATK]

[Rose Token (2*/800/0/DARK/Plant)]

"I will tribute Lonefire Blossom with its own effect," Miharu continued. "Come from the deck. Aromage Jasmine." The short girl with white hair appeared, a purple tint to her hair. The white-haired mage smiled widely, sitting down in Defense Position. Black Garden's effect triggered, but this monster was hardly bothered by it at all.

[Aromage Jasmine (2*/100/1900/LIGHT/Plant/Effect)]

[Aromage Jasmine: 100 / 2 = 50ATK]

"Aroma Gardening's effect. Once per turn, when I summon an "Aroma" monster, I can gain 1000 life points." A bright glow surrounded Miharu.

Miharu: 4000 + 1000 = 5000LP

"Once per turn, when I gain life points, Aromage Jasmine lets me draw a card." She swiped up the card from her deck. "While my life points are higher than yours, Aromage Jasmine grants me another Normal Summon of a Plant monster on each turn. Come—Sunseed Genius Loci." The small brown seed in a golden chalice appeared. Black Garden activated again—Aki had three Tokens on her field now.

[Sunseed Genius Loci (1*/0/600/EARTH/Plant)]

[Sunseed Genius Loci: 0 / 2 = 0ATK]

"Open, the future circuit that lights up my path. Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are one Level 4 or lower Plant monster. I will set Sunseed Genius Loci in the Link Markers. Appear now, young tree beginning to bear fruit. Circuit Combine. Link Summon. Link 1—Sunavalon Dryas." Miharu started out with Dryas—it really wasn't anything new to her, but Dryas was her most consistent searcher, after all. To pass up on a free card wouldn't be logical.

[Sunavalon Dryas (L1/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↓)]

Once again, Black Garden's effect triggered, but it didn't really do anything other than giving Aki another Rose Token.

[Sunavalon Dryas: 0 / 2 = 0ATK]

"When Sunavalon Dryas is Link Summoned to the Extra Monster Zone using Sunseed Genius Loci as material, I can add a "Sunvine" Spell from my deck to my hand. I will add Sunvine Sowing to my hand and activate it. I can Special Summon a "Sunseed" monster from my deck and take 1000 damage." She took the damage nonchalantly.

Miharu: 5000 - 1000 = 4000LP

"Come—Sunseed Twin." The pink and blue fairies appeared on the field, vines wrapping around them.

[Sunseed Twin (2*/0/800/EARTH/Plant/Effect)]

The fifth Token appeared on Aki's field, filling up her Main Monster Zones completely.

[Sunseed Twin: 0 / 2 = 0ATK]

"Your Black Garden's effects will still halve my monsters' attack points, even if no Rose Token is summoned to your field," Miharu murmured. "But halving my monsters' attack points… doesn't really do anything to me. Sunseed Twin's effect. I will revive Sunseed Genius Loci." The brown seed reappeared on the field. Its attack points were halved, which once again meant absolutely nothing in terms of actual stats. "Sunavalon Dryas's effect. Once per turn, when I take damage, I can gain life points equal to the damage I took, and then Special Summon a "Sunvine" monster from my Extra Deck. Come—Sunvine Healer." The girl in a pink flower appeared right behind Sunavalon Dryas.

[Sunvine Healer (L1/600/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↑)]

"And Sunvine Healer's effect activates. I will gain 300 life points times Sunavalon Dryas's Link Rating." So just 300, but healing was healing.

Miharu: 5000 + 300 = 5300LP

"Healer's attack points are halved by your Field Spell's effect."

[Sunvine Healer: 600 / 2 = 300ATK]

"I've never seen someone be so unaffected by my Field Spell before," Aki commented, sounding amused. "And now you have five monsters on the field…"

"You have six," Miharu said. One might think that she was being humble, but that person would be forgetting that Miharu had essentially donated five monsters to Aki this turn. "Open again, circuit. The conditions are two or more Plant monsters, including a Link Monster. I will set Sunvine Healer, Sunseed Genius Loci and Sunseed Twin in the Link Markers! Appear now, beautiful woman of the ash tree! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 3! Sunavalon Melias!" The beautiful woman appeared right behind Dryas, her body made entirely out of dark wood.

[Sunavalon Melias (L3/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/←, ↑, →)]

"With Sunavalon Melias's effect, I can revive Sunseed Genius Loci," Miharu said. The small brown seed appeared on her field again.

"Interesting choice," Aki said, before she blinked as Sunseed Genius Loci turned to a beam of light. "Oh, you're not done…"

"Come." Miharu didn't even bother with a summoning chant this time. "Sunvine Healer." A second copy of Sunvine Healer appeared on the field. "I'll gain 300 life points times Melias's Link Rating."

Miharu: 5300 + 300 x 3 = 6200LP

"Then, with Sunvine Healer, Sunseed Twin and Aromage Jasmine—" The three monsters shot up in streaks of light. "I will Link Summon a second copy of Sunavalon Melias." Another copy of the tree woman appeared on her field. "Sunavalon Melias's effect triggers. I will revive Sunseed Genius Loci."

"That's not a hard once per turn effect?" Aki mused. The chalice of roots with a seed in it appeared once again.

From above, Yuno was frowning. "... usually she'd bring out Dryanome and stall until she's clear on her opponent's capabilities," he said. "Is she immediately going on the offence? That's… an interesting tactic."

"Open, my future circuit. Sow the seeds that lead me to the future! Arrowhead confirmed! The conditions are two or more Link Monsters! I will set the Link 3 Sunavalon Melias and the Link 1 Sunavalon Dryas in the Link Markers! Bloom, springtime's loveliest tree, the loveliest memory with the traces of malice! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 4! Lovely flowers scattered in the wind—Sunavalon Dryatrentiay!" The Melias in the zone right behind the Extra Monster Zone shot up with Dryas, before the beautiful cherry blossom tree emerged, blooming brightly.

[Sunavalon Dryatrentiay (L4/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↙, ↑, ↓. ↘)]

"I—"

"When my opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster, I can activate the Counter Trap Card, Pollinosis," Aki said. "By tributing a Plant monster—of which I have plenty—I can negate that summon or activation, and destroy that card. I will destroy Sunavalon Dryatrentiay!"

Sunavalon Dryatrentiay was immune to destruction by card effects. However, in that brief period of time when it was summoned, its effects were not active. And Miharu didn't have Sunvine Maiden in her hand either. Thus, she had no choice but to watch her monster be destroyed, despite the efforts that she had put into getting it on the field.

"I saw your last match," Aki pointed out. "Your intention, naturally, was to tribute Sunavalon Melias to destroy my set card, my Field Spell and my Synchro Monster. Sadly—I saw right through that."

"... at least it won't be that easy," Miharu replied. The beautiful circuit of vines, leaves and flowers appeared above her again. Her first plan had been thwarted, but obviously, she had a backup plan. It would never do to assume that her opponent couldn't stop her. "Opening my circuit again. Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are two Plant monsters! I will set Sunavalon Melias and Sunseed Genius Loci in the Link Markers. Healer with the capacity for love, appear now as my blade! Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 2! Aromaseraphy Jasmine!" Jasmine's evolution appeared with a wink, fairy wings glimmering in the sunlight.

[Aromaseraphy Jasmine (L2/1800/LIGHT/Plant/Link/Effect/↙,↘)]

Jasmine's attack points were halved by Black Garden soon afterwards. The Rose Token that had been tributed was swiftly replaced.

[Aromaseraphy Jasmine: 1800 / 2 = 900ATK]

"You downgraded your Link 3 monster to a Link 2 monster?"

Miharu shrugged. "Different purposes." Melias was intended to aid in offence, but with the interruption, it would be much better to swap out her monster. She could have brought out Benghalancer, but she'd rather wait until Aki's ace—Black Rose Calamity Dragon—came out first.

So this would suit that different purpose.

"I'll set two cards facedown," Miharu said. She glanced at the other two cards in her hand. "... Aromaseraphy Jasmine attacks one of your Rose Tokens." One of the roses was cut down as well, leaving four more on the field.

Aki: 4000 - 100 = 3900LP

"I'll end my turn."

[Turn 3: Aki] [H:2]

"Draw," Aki said. "Since I control a Plant monster, I can add Rose Girl from my graveyard to my hand." She hummed. "You're troublesome. I thought about bringing out Queen of Thorns earlier, but… your monsters are all Plant monsters. My floodgates don't affect you that much."

The red-haired woman revealed Rose Girl in her hand, Normal Summoning the card. A Rose Token bloomed on Miharu's field as well.

[Rose Girl: 800 / 2 = 400ATK]

"I'll tune the Level 3 Rose Girl to the Level 2 Rose Token," Aki said. One of the four tokens shot up, turning into a dark streak. Rose petals flew all around her. "Lovely beauty lying in the white rose cloister, rise up and strike our foes down with the power of your heart of nature. Synchro Summon! Level 5—Garden Rose Flora!" A woman that looked remarkably similar to Garden Rose Maiden appeared, but with a radiance to her—while Garden Rose Maiden was dainty and deathly pale, Garden Rose Flora seemed like she emitted daylight. She was smiling sweetly and confidently as well.

[Garden Rose Flora (5*/800/1600/LIGHT/Plant/Synchro/Tuner/Effect)]

"Garden Rose Flora's attack points are halved, and a Rose Token is summoned to your field." Another bright red rose bloomed on Miharu's field.

[Garden Rose Flora: 800 / 2 = 400ATK]

"I'll then activate Garden Rose Flora's effect," Aki continued. "I will destroy a Field Spell on the field and Special Summon a Rose Token to its controller's field. I will destroy Black Garden, naturally." The black vines receded. A rose filled in the Main Monster Zones that had just been vacated. "However, I can't Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck this turn, except Synchro Monsters!"

Miharu nodded, continuing to quietly observe.

"I will tune the Level 5 Garden Rose Flora to the Level 2 Rose Token!"

"... so Garden Rose Flora isn't just a Synchro Monster. It's a Tuner." Miharu took the additional trait in stride.

"Correct," Aki said. "Pacifistic flames burn in the depths of the peaceful forest. Pitch-dark flower, set into bloom! Rain calamity upon those who threaten the amity of this sacred rose cloister! Synchro Summon! Level 7! Black Rose Calamity Dragon!" The flaming dragon appeared, rose petals and dark thorned whips lashing out everywhere. The dragon lifted its slender head, its eyes burning like embers, and it let out a ferocious roar.

[Black Rose Calamity Dragon (7*/2400/1800/FIRE/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"I will activate the effect of Black Rose Calamity Dragon!" At this point, Aki did not hesitate. "You control three Special Summoned monsters. Therefore, I can destroy three cards you control. I will choose Aroma Gardening and your two set cards! Black Rose Ceasefire!"

So Aki had purposely given her two Tokens, just so that she could wipe out her whole backrow. Miharu had been wondering about that…

But she had also been prepared for that, so it wasn't a big deal.

"Trap Card, Breakthrough Skill," she said quietly. "I will negate Black Rose Calamity Dragon's effects until the End Phase." The effect was sealed off, and Black Rose Calamity Dragon flew backwards, some of the flames dissipating. It let out an affronted growl.

"Well done," Aki said. "It's only fair that if I negate your monster's effects, you get to negate mine, right? But Black Rose Calamity Dragon's attack points still exceed your monster's. I will change Garden Rose Maiden to Attack Position." Currently, she had Black Rose Calamity Dragon, Garden Rose Maiden and three Rose Tokens. "Garden Rose Maiden will attack Aromaseraphy Jasmine."

The pale maiden darted forward—and yet, as she struck the monster, Jasmine was not destroyed.

Miharu: 6200 - 700 = 5500LP

"While my life points are higher than yours, Aromaseraphy Jasmine cannot be destroyed by battle," Miharu explained. "Nor can the monsters that she points to." In this case, that meant the two Rose Tokens, which Miharu had directed to bloom on the zones that Jasmine was pointing to.

"Well, in that case, there's no point attacking your Link Monster," Aki said. "Attack the Rose Token, Black Rose Calamity Dragon!"

After all, if Miharu's monsters couldn't currently be destroyed, all Aki could do was deal damage to her.

And so the attack went through. The rose persevered through, but Miharu's life points fell.

Miharu: 5500 - 1600 = 3900LP

"And now our life points are tied, so your monster's effect no longer applies," Aki explained. "Two of my Rose Tokens will attack the two Rose Tokens on the field." Not even letting Miharu make use of them, the roses exploded against each other like fireworks. The final Rose Token's attack points didn't exceed Jasmine's though, so Aki ended her Battle Phase there. "I'll activate the Spell Card, Frozen Rose. By sending the Rose Token on my field to the graveyard, I can draw two cards and discard a card during the End Phase."

So she was getting rid of her weak point. After all, leaving a weak monster in Attack Position on the field with no way of defending it was always a bad idea.

"I will chain my other set card," Miharu said. "Continuous Trap—Blessed Winds. Once per turn, I can activate one of three effects. I will use the third effect. By paying one thousand life points—I will Special Summon an "Aroma" monster from my graveyard."

Miharu: 3900 - 1000 = 2900LP

"Return, Aromage Jasmine." The younger form of Jasmine appeared behind her older sister. "And since an "Aroma" monster was summoned—I can gain 1000 life points with the effect of Aroma Gardening." She replenished the exact same number of life points that she had paid as a cost in the first place.

Miharu: 2900 + 1000 = 3900LP

"With Aromaseraphy Jasmine's effect, when I gain life points, I can add a Plant monster from my deck to my hand. With Aromage Jasmine's effect, when I gain life points, I can draw a card."

Aki clicked her tongue as Miharu added the two cards to her hand. "You even took my turn as a chance to gather hand advantage… no wonder you wanted to protect that backrow of yours then. Well, no matter. I will set a card facedown and end my turn." She drew two cards and discarded one at the end of the turn, as she had explained earlier.

[Turn 4: Miharu] [H:5]

"Draw." Miharu looked at her hand. "... this will do."

After all, Aki Izayoi's ace monster, Black Rose Calamity Dragon, was a monster that could negate attacks and destroy attacking monsters. Being impulsive would never work against her. So naturally, Miharu had to dismantle every option that Aki had, one by one.

Starting with this…

"I will Normal Summon Angel Trumpeter," Miharu said. A strange fairy whose body was made of a bright orange trumpet flower and bright green leaves appeared in front of her.

[Angel Trumpeter (4*/1900/1600/EARTH/Plant/Tuner)]

"I will then activate the effect of Blessed Winds," Miharu declared. "I'll choose the second effect. By shuffling a Plant monster from the graveyard into the deck, I can gain 500 life points. I will return Sunavalon Melias to the deck." Another glow surrounded her.

Miharu: 3900 + 500 = 4400LP

"I gained life points again," Miharu explained. "So Aromaseraphy Jasmine and Aromage Jasmine's effects both trigger." She added two cards from her deck to her hand again. "And I will tune the Level 4 Angel Trumpeter to the Level 2 Aromage Jasmine!"

Aki nodded, seeming proud.

"She learned Synchro Summoning," Yuno said. "... wow!"

"Link, Pendulum and Synchro," Reiji said. "And yet she still seems to use them sparingly. Interesting. It's not for nothing that she and Yuno Sugisaki are more practical, then…"

"Beautiful mage surrounded by the heavenly sunlight," Miharu chanted quietly. "Let the petals flicker, unfurl, fade in your presence. Invisible, sweet scents that dance in the fleeting wind, be collected in the dark leaves, the gentle white flower. Synchro Summon. Level 6—Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram!" A black-haired woman appeared on the field, fairy-like wings spreading out like those of a butterfly. She was holding onto a staff of dark brown wood, curved around a white orb, with small white flowers blooming all along the staff. Her pinkish-red cloak was swept back by the wind.

[Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram (6*/2200/2000/LIGHT/Plant/Synchro/Effect)]

"So you can do it after all."

"This is out of practicality," Miharu said. "Not sentiment." She ignored the slight warmth that Aki's praise brought to her heart. "When Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram is Synchro Summoned, I can add one of the three winds of the Aroma monsters to my hand. I will add Humid Winds to my hand." She revealed the card. "And when I summon an "Aroma" monster—I can gain 1000 life points with the effect of Aroma Gardening."

Miharu: 4400 + 1000 = 5400LP

"I will activate the effect of Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram. When I gain life points—I can target and destroy a card you control. I will target and destroy your set card."

"Quickplay Spell, Basal Rose Shoot," Aki explained. "I'll Special Summon a "Rose Dragon" monster from my graveyard in Defense Position. Return—Roxrose Dragon." The dragon that appeared was small and crystalline, with a bright pink body.

[Roxrose Dragon (3*/1600/1200/DARK/Dragon/Tuner/Effect)]

That had to be the card that she had discarded with the effect of Frozen Rose…

"And since Roxrose Dragon was Special Summoned, I can add a card that specifically lists "Black Rose Dragon" in its card text from my deck to my hand."

And so, she had avoided the destruction effect and gained a search from it. Still though—that was the last unknown variable accounted for.

"I will Special Summon Aromage Laurel from my hand, since my life points are higher than yours," Miharu said. The blond mage dressed in green robes appeared, floating right next to Sweet Marjoram.

[Aromage Laurel (1*/800/0/WIND/Plant/Effect)]

"I will then activate the effect of Aromaseraphy Jasmine," Miharu said. "By tributing a Plant monster, I can Special Summon a Plant monster from my deck. I will tribute Aromage Laurel." The blond mage vanished into bright sparks of light. "Come from the deck—Aromage Marjoram." A younger version of Marjoram without the fairy wings appeared, dressed in a black, somewhat Gothic dress.

[Aromage Marjoram (5*/2000/1600/DARK/Plant/Effect)]

"When Aromage Laurel is sent to the graveyard, I gain 500 life points."

Miharu: 5400 + 500 = 5900LP

"When I gain life points, Aromage Marjoram's effect activates," Miharu continued. "I can banish cards from your graveyard, up to the number of "Aroma" monsters I control. That's three. I will banish Garden Rose Flora, Rose Girl and White Rose Dragon from your graveyard."

Aki nodded. "To remember what cards in my graveyard I can still use…" She chuckled. "Well done." The three cards vanished from the graveyard. "So? Are you attacking?"

"While you control Black Rose Calamity Dragon?" Miharu shook her head. She could afford to let Black Rose Calamity Dragon stay on the field. Her general strength had always come from taking things slowly.

Aki would realise the problem soon anyway.

"I will set a card and end my turn."

[Turn 5: Aki] [H:3]

"Draw," Aki said. "Interesting decision… let's test out how it works then. Your monsters still can't be destroyed by battle. Your life points are too high to hope for that… well, let's cut them down. I'll Normal Summon Rose Princess." A woman dressed completely in pink, with a pink rose for her hair, appeared.

[Rose Princess (3*/1200/800/EARTH/Plant/Effect)]

"I'll tune the Level 3 Roxrose Dragon to the Level 3 Rose Princess," Aki continued. "Hunter of splendid thorns hidden in the sacred forest, with your whip of punishment in hand, come forth now! Synchro Summon! Level 6! Appear now, Splendid Rose!" A woman dressed in a green jumpsuit appeared, red frills around her legs. Dark green whips swept through the air.

[Splendid Rose (6*/2200/2000/WIND/Plant/Synchro/Effect)]

"I'll activate the effect of Splendid Rose," Aki said. "I will banish Rose Princess from the graveyard and halve your Aromaseraphy Jasmine's attack points!" However, her duel disk showed an error. "Hmm?"

"While my life points are higher than yours and I control Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram, you cannot target Plant monsters I control with card effects," Miharu said placidly.

From above, Yuno's eyes widened. "And Jasmine and Marjoram protect—" He laughed. "Has she found another way to make things terrible for her opponent?"

"That's fine," Aki said. "Splendid Rose attacks your Aromaseraphy Jasmine."

The attack hit.

Miharu's life points did not drop.

"While my life points are higher than yours and I control Aromage Marjoram, I do not take battle damage from battles involving Plant monsters," Miharu continued.

"... care to recap all three of your monsters' effects for me?" Aki said with a deadpan look.

Miharu did so dutifully and calmly. "While my life points are higher than yours, Aromaseraphy Jasmine protects herself and the monsters that she points to from destruction by battle," she said. "Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram stops you from targeting my Plant monsters with card effects. Aromage Marjoram stops me from taking battle damage through battles involving my Plant monsters."

Yugo's mouth fell open. "What the fuck?" He sputtered. "That's unfair!"

"A lockdown on damage then," Aki concluded. "Very impressive." She smiled from ear to ear. "You truly are the master of managing your life points, aren't you?" She moved to her Main Phase 2. "Then, shall we try this? I will activate another copy of the Spell Card, Basal Rose Shoot. Return to the field, Roxrose Dragon!" She added a card from her deck to her hand with Roxrose Dragon's effect as well. "I'll set a card facedown. And now, I'll tune the Level 3 Roxrose Dragon to the Level 7 Black Rose Calamity Dragon!"

… a Level 10 Synchro Summon?

"Rend it all asunder, and paint the world red with the power of the blood-coloured rose! Unfurl, thorn-covered flower! When peace cannot be achieved, show that you are no stranger to violence! Synchro Summon! Level 10! Blood Rose Dragon!"

Beautiful.

That was Miharu's first thought when she saw the—what, pink dragon? The dragon of red and pink petals stared at her, petals gleaming with a light of their own. Around the dragon, thorny vines were rising up, waving all around them. They didn't seem threatening though… they just seemed elegant. Beautiful. They were not on fire, unlike the previous form—almost as though this was an alternate form of the dragon, rather than its direct evolution.

[Blood Rose Dragon (10*/3200/2400/FIRE/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"When Blood Rose Dragon is Synchro Summoned," Aki explained, "all cards in both players' graveyards are banished!"

"What?" Miharu immediately reacted. "I'll banish Breakthrough Skill from the graveyard to negate Blood Rose Dragon's effect."

"I'll chain the Quickplay Spell, Forbidden Lance." Aki tossed down the last card in her hand. "I will reduce Blood Rose Dragon's attack points by 800, but it is unaffected by other Spells and Traps until the End Phase." Blood Rose Dragon let out a defiant roar, unwilling to be suppressed.

[Blood Rose Dragon: 3200 - 800 = 2400ATK]

"I will chain the effect of Blessed Winds and activate Humid Winds," Miharu continued. "I'll shuffle Sunavalon Dryas from my graveyard into the Extra Deck to gain 500 life points. I will pay 1000 life points to add an "Aroma" monster from my deck to my hand."

Miharu: 5900 + 500 - 1000 = 5400LP

The effects all resolved in a row. When it finally came to Blood Rose Dragon's effect…

"There was more that I didn't explain," Aki said. "All the cards are banished… and then, every other card on the field is destroyed. Blooming Apocalypse!" The entire field was set on fire—a pink blaze that ate through every monster and every card. Miharu's entire backrow was swallowed, as were her three monsters.

"Of course, I can't attack," Aki continued. "But that's not as big of a problem for you as this. The set card that was destroyed was my third copy of Basal Rose Shoot. Thus—I can Special Summon Black Rose Dragon from my banished cards too. Come—Black Rose Calamity Dragon!" Her original dragon reappeared on the field. "I've reset you to zero, Miharu Kogami. Your move."

[Turn 6: Miharu] [H:7]

"... I have plenty of cards to work with," Miharu said. She drew her next card. "It's not quite zero yet…"

"But Miharu does rely on her graveyard setup quite a lot," Yuno said from above. "Of course, she's going to find a way, but… losing access to her graveyard cards definitely hurts her." He shrugged. "Well, we can just see what she does!"

"Spell Card, Unexpected Dai. Since I control no monsters, I can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Normal Monster from my deck." Sunseed Genius Loci appeared, innocuous as ever. "Dryas." She Link Summoned another copy of Dryas easily, adding another card to her hand. "I will add Sunvine Shrine to my hand with Sunavalon Dryas's effect, and activate it by sending another card from my hand to the graveyard. Once per turn, I can revive a Plant Normal Monster. Return to my field—Sunseed Genius Loci." Her most commonly used monster appeared in front of her. "Since I control a Plant Normal Monster, I can Special Summon Sunseed Shadow from my hand."

The grassy sprout in a brown chalice of roots appeared, seeming like an eerie echo of the monster next to it.

[Sunseed Shadow (1*/0/400/EARTH/Plant/Effect)]

"So you've got your materials for another Link Summon again," Aki noted.

The two monsters turned into streaks—but the circuit didn't appear above her, the way that a Link Summon would normally appear.

"I overlay the Level 1 Sunseed Genius Loci and the Level 1 Sunseed Shadow," Miharu said calmly.

Aki blinked. Meanwhile, the rest of the Lancers had different reactions, ranging from incredulity (Nue) to nodding in satisfaction (Serena) and cheerful confusion (Yuno).

"She's finally using that card…" Reira murmured. "... it's been a while."

"Strength struck still. A silvery white bud blooms. Petals unfurl. Sleeping maiden struck dead by the ugliness of conflict, rise again and sing a song of unfair death. Xyz Summon—Rank 1. Sunavalon Myrsine." A beautiful woman with snow white hair appeared, wearing a headdress of solid gold, gaudy gemstones and thick green leaves. She was wearing a gown of leaves that covered her entire body, and went all the way to the ground, like grass spreading across the ground.

[Sunavalon Myrsine (R1/0/0/EARTH/Plant/Xyz/Effect) (OU:2)]

"So that's an Xyz Summon?"

"... I had a teacher," Miharu said, thinking about Yuto. "... or, I suppose he was also my student. It was an exchange of knowledge, anyway." She had learned Xyz Summoning from Yuto, and when Reiji Akaba had made the Pendulum cards for them, while Yuno had requested a Link Monster for Yuya, Miharu had requested an Xyz Monster for herself.

At the same time, Yuno was recalling that duel with Reiji back in Standard. "Just like you, she asked for one additional card to be made." The Synchro Monster was clearly Miharu's own work, but this card… she had it for so long without using it?

So practical…

"Sunavalon Myrsine's effect activates," Miharu continued. "When Xyz Summoned, I can add a "Sunvine" or "Sunseed" card from my graveyard or banished cards to my hand. I will add Sunseed Sowing from my banished cards to my hand. And then, I will activate the other effect of Myrsine. By detaching an Overlay Unit from her, I can send a Plant monster from my deck to the graveyard."

[Sunavalon Myrsine: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1]

Myrsine lifted her head, and white petals drifted across the entire field.

"Then, I gain 200 life points times that monster's Level."

Miharu: 5400 + 200 = 5600LP

"Spell Card, Sunvine Sowing," Miharu continued. "I will Special Summon Sunseed Twin from the deck. And with Sunseed Twin's effect, I will revive Sunseed Genius Loci to the field." She cleared her throat. "Both Sunvine Sowing and Sunseed Twin's effects require a "Sunavalon" Link Monster to activate. While Sunavalon Myrsine is face-up on the field, she is treated as a "Sunavalon" Link Monster for the activation requirements of effects. Thus, there is no problem. I will open the circuit again."

This time, the circuit appeared above her, glowing brightly.

"Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are two or more Plant monsters. I will set Sunseed Genius Loci, Sunseed Twin and Sunavalon Dryas in the Link Markers. Let the shadow beneath the tranquil tree begin to take its own form. Circuit Combine. Link 3. Sunavalon Dryanome!" Her ace appeared on the field, pointing down—directly to Myrsine.

[Sunavalon Dryanome (L3/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↙, ↓, ↘)]

"I end my turn with a set card," Miharu said.

"Interesting," Aki mused. "Buying time?... or perhaps you simply can't find a way past Black Rose Calamity Dragon's negation effect."

[Turn 7: Aki] [H:1]

"Draw," Aki said. "Spell Card, Fragrance Storm. By destroying a Plant monster on the field, I can draw a card. Your monsters are Plants too, aren't they? I don't know what the 'Xyz Monster' is, but I'll destroy it." Myrsine was destroyed in a flurry of pink petals. "I drew a Plant monster. Thus, by revealing it, I can draw another card. And now, Blood Rose Dragon is at full power, as is Black Rose Calamity Dragon."

She smiled towards Miharu.

"But you don't seem fazed, Miharu Kogami. So there's something I'm missing, isn't there?"

Miharu shrugged.

"Well, let's see it." Aki gestured forward. "Attack Sunavalon Dryanome."

"... Sunavalon Dryanome cannot be targeted for an attack," Miharu said. "It does not stop you from targeting me directly."

"Attack directly then. Black Rose Flare!"

The attack hit, of course.

Miharu: 5600 - 2400 = 3200LP

"Sunavalon Dryanome's effect triggers. Thrice per turn, when I take damage, I can gain life points equal to the damage I took," Miharu said. "Restoration Fruit."

Miharu: 3200 + 2400 = 5600LP

"Then, I can Special Summon a "Sunvine" monster from my Extra Deck," she said. "Come—Sunvine Gardna." The wooden golem appeared on her field.

[Sunvine Gardna (L1/600/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↑)]

"Well, Blood Rose Dragon will attack Sunvine Gardna. Melting Petal Blizzard!"

Miharu's response was as composed as ever. "Sunavalon Dryanome's effect. Once per turn, I can negate an attack directed at a monster she points to, and move that monster to a different Main Monster Zone. I will move Sunvine Gardna to the leftmost Main Monster Zone."

"So you can negate attacks with your ace as well…" Aki nodded. "Interesting." She glanced at the cards in her hand. "... one more turn, Miharu Kogami. Next turn, I will finish you off."

[Turn 8: Miharu] [H:5]

"Draw," Miharu said. "... I doubt you'll manage it." She glanced up. "... not because I don't think that you're strong, but… for most of my life, I've been struggling to be… alive. It's very difficult to knock me down. So… don't think that you can goad me into impulsiveness, Aki-san."

Because that was what Aki Izayoi was trying to do. Trick her into being impulsive. After all, Aki's deck was just as destructive as it was defensive. If Miharu feared losing and tried to charge forward, she'd be burned alive—metaphorically, of course.

"Guilty as charged," Aki said, grinning. "It would have worked on Rin, though—that girl was always so impulsive."

Miharu nodded.

But she wasn't Rin.

"Normal Summoning World Carrotweight Champion," she called. A strange creature made entirely out of carrots appeared, seeming oddly humanoid.

[World Carrotweight Champion (4*/1900/0/DARK/Plant/Effect)]

"Manifest, circuit that sows the seeds to my future. Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are two Plant monsters, including a "Sunvine" Link Monster. I will set Sunvine Gardna and World Carrotweight Champion in the Link Markers. Beautiful purple flower that longs for the sun. Circuit Combine. Link Summon. Link 2, Sunavalon Clytia!" The woman whose body was entirely made of purple flowers appeared on the field, letting out a wispy sigh.

[Sunavalon Clytia (L2/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↑, →)]

"Sunavalon Clytia's effect," Miharu murmured. "Once per turn—I can return a Plant monster from my graveyard to the deck to draw a card. I will return Sunseed Twin to the deck. And I will now activate the effect of Sunvine Shrine. I will Special Summon Sunseed Genius Loci to the field."

So now, Sunavalon Dryanome was in the left Extra Monster Zone. Sunavalon Clytia was in the Main Monster Zone behind her. Sunseed Genius Loci was in the leftmost Main Monster Zone.

"I will send a Plant monster from my hand to the graveyard to Special Summon World Carrotweight Champion from the graveyard," Miharu said. The carrot amalgamation reappeared. "Open, circuit. Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are one Plant Normal Monster. I will set Sunseed Genius Loci in the Link Markers. Sweet-smelling calm adored by death. Circuit Combine! Link Summon! Link 1—lover of death, Sunavalon Minthe!" The slender pale figure with two large leaves for arms appeared, lifting her head. The crown carved from bones only served to make her bright gold eyes even more imposing.

[Sunavalon Minthe (L1/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↓)]

"When Sunavalon Minthe is Link Summoned, I can gain 300 life points for each Plant monster on the field. You control none—but I control Minthe, Carrotweight Champion, Clytia and Dryanome. Shrouded Lament!" Miharu was surrounded by another bright green glow.

Miharu: 5600 + 300 x 4 = 6800LP

"You really are quite good at increasing your survivability by drawing the duel out," Aki noted.

"Of course," Miharu said. "If it takes me five turns, ten turns, fifteen turns—however long that it takes to win, I will struggle for my life until then. That's why I said that I wouldn't get impatient, Aki-san. I can wait however long it takes to win."

"... why does that sound mildly sinister?" Aki joked. "Have you ever considered becoming a supervillain, Miharu-san?"

"Supervillains are wildly inefficient," Miharu said. "If I really wanted to take over the world, I'd just become a businesswoman."

"Did—did you just make a joke?" Aki laughed. "You really can, if you put your mind to it, huh?"

Finding such simple delight in Miharu's words…

Miharu had no clue how Aki was able to manage that.

"Open again, circuit," Miharu said, instead of addressing the slightly complicated feelings that she currently had bubbling up in her chest. "Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are two Plant monsters, including a "Sunavalon" Link Monster. I will set Sunavalon Minthe and World Carrotweight Champion in the Link Markers. Sacrificial lamb who has never stepped foot in the mortal realm. With the ash raining from your twin-faced leaves, let your misery burn itself into a paradise. Circuit Combine. Link Summon. Link 2. Sunavalon Leuce."

In front of her, another tree-woman appeared. The woman's body was made of pale wood. Around her was a dress—half-white, half-green. She gazed forward with a faraway look in her eyes.

[Sunavalon Leuce (L2/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/←, ↑)]

Leuce was summoned to the right side of Clytia, such that the two of them were co-linked.

"I end my turn," Miharu said.

"Are you sure?" Aki replied, arching an eyebrow.

Miharu nodded. "Many people have thought that I would be easy to squash," she said. "Aki-san—if you defeated me, I'd admire you. But until you do so, don't presume that I don't know what I'm doing."

"... haha!" Aki chuckled, still cheerful. "That's fair enough. Well—we'll see if you survive this."

Miharu glanced down.

the truth is, I already know that I'll have to use 'that' in order to win. That's the best way to win. And I could have brought 'that' out…

But I wanted to see.

I want to see this strength that Aki-san is talking about. I want to crush it underfoot.

[Turn 9: Aki] [H:3]

"Draw," Aki said. "I will Normal Summon Red Rose Dragon." A dragon surrounded by red rose petals appeared in front of Aki, looking remarkably small next to the two large dragons.

[Red Rose Dragon (3*/1000/1800/DARK/Dragon/Tuner/Effect)]

"And I'll tune the Level 3 Red Rose Dragon to the Level 7 Black Rose Calamity Dragon," Aki said.

"Another evolution?..."

"This is Black Rose's true evolution," Aki said confidently. The two monsters shot up in the sky.

Then, the sky went black. Or at least, the holograms projected a dark aura across the sky above.

"Pitch-dark flower, restless in the shadows of the holy rose cloister," Aki chanted slowly. There was something almost menacing to her voice—yet tranquil, at the same time. "Let the flames burn you from the inside out. You, born of relentless fire and rebellion, you, suppressed by the light, hope not for salvation. Now, rise, and with the darkness in your heart, blot out the sun for the sake of your own justice and righteousness! Curse those who blindly follow the light! Dragon of peace and calamity! Synchro Summon! Level 10! Dragon who burns out the sun—Sunblight Black Rose Dragon!"

And then, there was fire. Burning petals fell from the sky all around her. Miharu smelled smoke and ash in the air. Above, there was a flaming sphere—before the wings of the dragon unfurled from around it, revealing its body from within. Large, red wings kept the dragon soaring in the sky—golden flames danced over red petals. The dark body of the dragon seemed to blend into the darkness of the sky. The same black thorn whips from before shot out from behind the dragon—each of them carrying a golden glow as well, as though they were burning like the wicks of a candle.

The dragon's red eyes gleamed.

It descended, embers floating around it, looking as though it would belong in a flaming hellscape—perhaps the apocalypse.

Golden light rested within its hands, in the shape of a sphere, though some parts were missing. The dragon leaned down, biting straight into the sphere, its black body completely obscuring the light.

Was it… eating the sun?

[Sunblight Black Rose Dragon (10*/3200/2400/FIRE/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"It's ironic that it's you, Miharu-san," Aki said with a smile. "It's ironic that… your deck invokes the power of the sun, doesn't it? Flowers that bloom in the light. Even those other cards gleam with light. Something innocent. For someone that has been through as much as you… it shows that you have hope, don't you?" Aki glanced back at the dragon. "To be honest, I've been holding back so much of my psychic powers this entire time… not my skill, of course, you are matching me on your own merit. The thing is… this dragon is perhaps the opposite of what I am. I'm afraid that it will hurt you if I'm not careful."

Miharu tilted her head.

"I want to bring peace," Aki said. "I want all of this conflict in our city to stop. I want change. At the same time, I do not want violence. But… that is a naive idea, isn't it? This city will go up in flames someday, no matter what. We're at the point where anyone can spark a flame—those Commons rebels who talk about revolution, anyone who has the clarity to be dissatisfied with how things are. This city… is no longer something that can be saved just by talking things out peacefully."

She placed a hand on her chest.

"Divine once told me this, and I still remember it to this day. 'Someday, Aki, you will have to make a move. If you don't set it all on fire… someone else will. If you burn the world, you are the one that decides what burns.' And so… if it ever comes to that… I worry that I will turn this monster's power on the city. Because everyday, I find myself agreeing with him more…"

Aki trailed off.

"I don't think you have to worry about that, Aki-san," Miharu said bluntly.

Aki looked back at her.

"When it comes to questioning if something deserves to be torn down, you alone are not the arbiter," Miharu continued. "You do not carry the responsibility alone. And—you're a good person, Aki-san. I know that. I believe that. You would never put your own personal feelings over those of others. So—you will never burn this city down with your own hands. Not in the violent way that you imagine, at least."

She stopped, searching for the words. Aki looked at her. "You don't think so?" She asked.

"No." Miharu took a moment, and then she found her reply. "... if you were alone and you felt that you were the only one who believed in justice and fairness, then maybe… but you know you're not alone, right? Maybe this monster isn't meant for destruction. Maybe it's meant to be an equaliser. To say that those born in the light should—"

"... be brought to the same level as those who have always been trapped in the darkness," Aki completed. "Not that they should suffer, but that their privilege should be split—"

A thorned whip struck across the air, another piece of the golden sun disappearing into the air. Darkness and light coexisting.

"So that we all have light," Aki said. "And we all share our darkness too."

"Isn't that what you believe, Aki-san?" Miharu said.

Aki nodded. Miharu spotted a smile on her face.

Above, Jack Atlas exhaled. "... how that girl managed in a single duel what I've been trying to do for a year now is baffling," he muttered, but there was a small smile on his face. "Maybe now you'll stop being afraid of yourself, Aki…"

"Sunblight Black Rose Dragon is unaffected by the effects of monsters with 0 attack points!" Aki declared—an instant blow to everything on Miharu's field. "If this card is Synchro Summoned—I can negate the effects of all other face-up cards on the field, and then, all monsters in Defense Position are changed to Attack Position, and all your monsters' attack points become 0!" That second effect didn't affect Miharu's field, but it didn't matter, regardless. "Devastating Eclipse Expulsion!"

And the field exploded into bright light and flames.

With her monsters' effects negated, Miharu couldn't negate the attacks. Nor could she keep any of her monsters on the field.

"Furthermore, since I used Red Rose Dragon as material for this Synchro Summon, I can Special Summon a "Rose Dragon" monster from my hand or deck." Another copy of Roxrose Dragon appeared from the deck. "And I will add Frozen Rose from my deck to my hand. Roxrose Dragon also lets me add another card from my deck to my hand, as long as that card mentions "Black Rose Dragon"."

She refilled her field.

"And then, Sunblight Black Rose Dragon attacks Sunavalon Dryanome! And when it battles, at the start of the Damage Step—it destroys all monsters you control with less attack points than it! Cursed Blazing Famine!" The flames shot forward.

All of Miharu's monsters—the field that she had just built from the ashes of the previous one—were razed again.

"Of course, Sunblight Black Rose Dragon's attack has to stop there. There's no replay for that. However, Blood Rose Dragon is perfectly capable of attacking. Go! Melting Petal Blizzard!"

The attack shot forward—

Miharu's life points fell.

Miharu: 6800 - 3200 = 3600LP

Before Aki could declare another attack though, Miharu's set card flipped up.

"Continuous Trap—Sunavalon Glorious Growth," she said. "I will Special Summon a Sunvine Token to my field."

[Sunvine Token (1*/0/0/EARTH/Plant)]

"I can immediately Link Summon a "Sunavalon" Link Monster, and gain life points equal to the damage that I took," Miharu declared. "I will Link Summon Sunavalon Dryas." The small tree appeared on her field again. This was the third copy of this card now. If she hadn't returned it to the Extra Deck with Blessed Winds' effect, she wouldn't have been able to achieve this third search.

Miharu: 3600 + 3200 = 6800LP

"And when I gain life points, Aki-san—you take damage equal to the life points that I gained."

A glowing green light bombarded Aki in an instant.

It wasn't a light blow in the slightest.

It was what these last few turns of patience had bought her.

Aki: 3900 - 3200 = 700LP

"So that's what your patience was for?" Aki moved onto her Main Phase 2, since she obviously knew that Dryas was likely able to heal Miharu's life points as well. "I will activate the Spell Card, Fragrance Storm again. I will destroy Sunavalon Dryas!" She drew a card, and then, since it was a Plant monster, she drew another.

"... when a "Sunavalon" monster I control is destroyed, Sunavalon Glorious Growth is destroyed." Unable to finish the job, the Continuous Trap shattered.

"It seems that your attempt has failed you then," Aki said. "... I will activate the Spell Card, Frozen Rose. I will send Roxrose Dragon from my field to the graveyard to add a Level 4 or lower Plant monster from my deck to my hand." She daintily plucked the card from her deck. "I end my turn."

[Turn 10: Miharu] [H:5]

"Draw," Miharu murmured. Aki's monster… it was powerful, but—

It was merely unaffected by monsters with 0 attack points. It did not mean that those monsters could not activate their effects.

So, all things considered…

It wasn't exactly hopeless, was it?

And besides…

Sunseed Sowing was in my graveyard. If I wanted to, I could have protected my monsters with it. But my field was… inconvenient. And their effects were sealed…

Better to start from zero than to be stuck with a field that doesn't work.

"Sunvine Shrine's effect," Miharu said. "Return to the field—Sunseed Genius Loci." She revealed another Continuous Spell in her hand. "Sunvine Cross Breed." She didn't use its effect for now though. "Using Sunseed Genius Loci, I will Link Summon another copy of Sunvine Gardna." The small wooden golem appeared in front of her.

"A rather underwhelming start," Aki quipped.

"We all have to start from somewhere… now, I will use the effect of Sunvine Cross-Breed. By tributing a Link Monster, I can revive a Plant monster." Sunvine Gardna dissolved. "Return to the field. Sunavalon Clytia." The woman made of purple petals appeared in the second Main Monster Zone from the left. "By returning a copy of Sunseed Genius Loci from my graveyard to the Extra Deck, I will draw a card. I will then send a Plant monster from my hand to the graveyard to revive World Carrotweight Champion to the field."

The monster made entirely of carrots appeared to the right of Clytia, at its Link Marker.

"I will banish Sunseed Shadow from my graveyard. By targeting a Link 2 or lower "Sunavalon" or "Sunvine" monster I control, I can Special Summon another copy of it from my Extra Deck." Another copy of Sunavalon Clytia bloomed in the Extra Monster Zone. "And I will Normal Summon Sunseed Twin. With the effect of Sunseed Twin—I will revive Sunseed Genius Loci."

So now, she had five monsters on the field.

"Appear, the future circuit that lights up my path," Miharu murmured. "The conditions are at least two Effect Monsters."

"Not Plant monsters?" Aki creased an eyebrow. "This is new, then?"

"... both yes and no." Miharu glanced away. "Newer than you think, because this is my first time using it. Older than you think, because I've had this card long before I even began to travel dimensions in the first place." She gestured forward to her monsters. "I will set the Link 2 Sunavalon Clytia in my Extra Monster Zone in the Link Markers, along with World Carrotweight Champion and Sunseed Twin." The three monsters turned into streaks of light that shot up.

"That is… a Link 4 monster, correct?"

"Sleeping flower drifting through the emptiness of the closed world," Miharu said. "You who do not know what it means to live, die and be reborn over and over again. For all of eternity, refuse to ever despair and perish. Reject the starlight that illuminates the darkness." She exhaled slowly. "Steal that light from the world that has abandoned you... and bloom into judgement, arbiter, luck and justice, in a single, noble, self-sacrificial form. Circuit Combine. Link Summon."

The circuit ripped open, a single claw tearing through it. Cracking sounds could be heard.

"Link 4." Miharu pressed her hands together. "Topologic Penrose Aitvaras."

And the circuit exploded, bits of metal and leaves scattering across the entire road. A large creature emerged through the ripples in space caused by the explosion. Dark wings spread outwards from a large body that spanned the entire track. The creature was clearly half-avian, half-draconian. It had two feet, both of them large, dark and avian in shape—as though they could each clasp a human neck in their claws. Black feathers scattered around its thin green body. Threads of code spun around it, connecting to the wings on both sides—long, wide black wings that had blue and green code forming streams around them, casting an aura on them. The wings were made of a mosaic of black and white feathers, along with gleaming dark metal, almost as though the metal was filling in the space where missing feathers had once been. Spinning triangles of code—red, blue, green—spun around it, each of them interlocking with the others like chains, orbiting the dragon like a planet orbiting its star. A long tail swept through the air, not blazing—but seeming to glitter, leaving a trail of dark shadows and glittering stars within them, like a piece of night had been ripped from the sky and connected to the dragon's tail. The dragon lifted its head, grey and white downy feathers forming a crown around the top of its head. White flowers could be seen blooming around it—some on the small cracks between metal and flesh around its body and wings, some entwined in the crown on top of its head—and one flower drifting in the void of stars around its tail.

Vines were growing around its body—seeming to cross over the many lines of code that were spinning around it. A creature both draconian and avian, legendary and ordinary, white and black, dark and bright, organic and mechanical.

A contradiction in itself.

Miharu glanced at it.

we fit, don't we?

[Topologic Penrose Aitvaras (L4/3000/DARK/Cyberse/Link/Effect/↖, ←, →, ↗)]

The monster came to rest in the middle Main Monster Zone.

"What a beautiful monster…" Aki said. "But not a Plant monster, right? So you shouldn't have been able to summon it while you controlled Sunvine Shrine…"

"That's true," Miharu said. "But not in this particular monster's case. Topologic Penrose Dragon is always treated as a Plant monster, and that effect can never be negated."

A creature that was truly a hybrid of digital—Cyberse monsters—and nature—Plant monsters. A hybrid of Miharu's own nature, as a hacker and at the same time, her never-fading love for nature and flowers.

"We're not done with preparations yet though," Miharu continued. "I need one more thing."

Topologic monsters… Miharu had seen her brother's monsters as well.

If there were two things that they all had in common, it was that firstly, their effects were indiscriminate between friend and foe. Secondly, they all had a compulsory effect that triggered when a monster was summoned to any monster's Link Marker.

Rather like setting off a bomb.

"I will open the circuit once again," Miharu said. "Arrowhead confirmed. The conditions are one Plant Normal Monster. I'll set Sunseed Genius Loci in the Link Markers. Circuit Combine. Protector of the sacred sunbathed tree. Link Summon. Link 1. Sunvine Thrasher." The green knight reappeared, slashing a sword through the air.

[Sunvine Thrasher (L1/800/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↓)]

"Thrasher gains 800 attack points times Clytia's Link Rating," Miharu continued. "... not that it matters."

"Huh?"

"Since a monster was summoned to a Link Monster's Link Marker, Topologic Penrose Aitvaras's effect triggers automatically. All monsters on the field who were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck have their effects negated." The dragon flew up, and lines of code shot down in vine-like lines that struck at all the other monsters on the field. "And then—Topologic Penrose Aitvaras gains 300 attack points for each Link Monster on the field and in the graveyard. Stardust Extermination Sacrifice!"

"... on the field and in the graveyard?" Aki echoed.

"You might have forced me to start from zero with Blood Rose Dragon's effect," Miharu said quietly, "but I've found my way here again. I have eleven Link Monsters in my graveyard, Aki-san—and three on the field. I don't think… we need to say more." Stars appeared on the ground, all of them flying up and seeming to be absorbed into the dragon's scales and feathers. The dragon didn't become any brighter—it simply consumed the light.

[Topologic Penrose Aitvaras: 3000 + 300 x 14 = 7200ATK]

"And I banished one from my graveyard, and around six from your graveyard before that…" Aki chuckled. "True. You really did build everything up from scratch again."

"Topologic Penrose Aitvaras attacks Sunblight Black Rose Dragon." Miharu raised her eyes, looking directly at Aki in challenge. "Antimatter Spring Annihilation."

The dragon slashed a hand through the air, binary code like the strange fabric of VRAINS appearing in front of it. The 'tear' seemed to spread, forming a black hole.

"... thank you, Aki-san," Miharu said. "But it's over now."

And with the next effect, the holograms cast an appearance of utter destruction across the field—the black role ripping Aki's proud, sun-devouring dragons to pieces.

And through it all, Miharu did not say her true thoughts.

you might think that you and I are the same.

But we're not, Aki-san.

You want to devour the light so that all are equal.

but I never want to be in the light again. It burns too much.

This…

This is enough.

Aki: 700 - 4000 = 0LP

Winner: Miharu Kogami!

From above, Yuno blinked. "That dragon…" He let out a soft chuckle. "Seriously… and Topologic? That's her brother's archetype, right? Is she trying to take his power for her own?"

Miharu tugged at the sleeves of her jacket as the D-Wheel came to a stop.

"... well," Aki said with a laugh, "I'm satisfied. Are you?"

Miharu looked at her.

"... it's finally all that I have," she said honestly. "I don't have anything else locked up."

"So I was the first opponent to face that monster? I'm honoured then."

Aki walked over. Miharu tilted her head in confusion.

Aki lifted her hand, patting the top of Miharu's head.

Miharu blinked in confusion.

"It's my turn to say this to you then," Aki said softly. "You're a good person, Miharu Kogami. I hope you always remember that, even if the world someday forgets it."

Miharu looked at her. Her words were stuck in her throat.

Aki ruffled her hair, touching the small side braids. "Take care of yourself, ojou-san," she said. "Don't get hurt."


A pencil lay in two halves on the ground, from where Roget had tossed it as the match had ended. That… had not been an expected result. Miharu Kogami should have been on her way to the Underground. To think that she would defeat the woman widely acknowledged to be one of the only people that Jack Atlas saw as an equal and a worthy duelist…

Was she stronger than he had anticipated?

Not good. It would ruin the narrative that he had wanted to create.

Then again…

She seemed to be an overly logical person.

If he could use that strength for his own aims… if he could have one of the girls that the Professor was hunting work for him willingly…

Logical people were far easier to manipulate than emotional people. It was the same philosophy that had earned him the forced loyalty of some of the strongest duelists in the City.

This idea… wasn't half-bad.

Roget continued to consider it for a while longer.

Yes.

He could certainly work with this.

If nothing else, this was a pawn that he could not lose so easily.

But if all else failed, he would need a stronger pawn to remove her from the board. And luckily—the upgrades for Sergey's cards were finally done. Enough time had been stalled for them.

It was almost time to show his hand. Not quite yet, but when he could…

It would be far too gratifying.

And his victory would be guaranteed.


Duel 1 Summary: Miharu Kogami vs Aki Izayoi

Duel Format: Normal Duel

Turn 1: Aki Izayoi

Aki Normal Summons Lonefire Blossom (3*/500/1400) from her hand. She tributes Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon Revival Rose (4*/1300/1300) from her Deck. She Special Summons Rose Girl (3*/800/600) from her hand with its own effect. Since she controls a Plant Tuner monster, she can Special Summon White Rose Dragon (4*/1200/1000) from her hand. She uses Revival Rose and White Rose Dragon to Link Summon Crossrose Dragon (L2/800/↙, ↘) to the Extra Monster Zone. She tributes Crossrose Dragon and Rose Girl to Special Summon Garden Rose Maiden (5*/1600/2400) from the Extra Deck, treating it as a Synchro Summon. She uses Garden Rose Maiden's effect to add Black Garden from the Deck to the hand. She activates the Field Spell, Black Garden. She sets 1 card and ends her turn.

Turn 2: Miharu Kogami

Miharu draws. She activates the Continuous Spell, Aroma Gardening. She Normal Summons Lonefire Blossom. (3*/500/1400) Its ATK is halved and a Rose Token (2*/800/0) is summoned to Aki's field. I am not going to write the halved attack points of monsters that are just going to become material, because it will be very upsetting. She tributes Lonefire Blossom to Special Summon Aromage Jasmine (2*/100/1900) from her Deck in Defense Position. Another Rose Token is summoned to Aki's field. Aroma Gardening gives her 1000 LP. [MK: 4000 + 1000 = 5000LP] Since she gained LP, Aromage Jasmine lets her draw a card. Since her LP is higher than Aki's, Aromage Jasmine grants her additional Normal Summon each turn. She Normal Summons Sunseed Genius Loci. (1*/0/600) Another Rose Token is summoned to Aki's field, making for three Rose Tokens. She uses Sunseed Genius Loci to Link Summon Sunavalon Dryas. (L1/0/↓) A fourth Rose Token is summoned to Aki's field with Black Garden's effect. She uses Sunavalon Dryas's effect to add Sunvine Sowing from her Deck to her hand.

She activates the Spell Card, Sunvine Sowing. She Special Summons Sunseed Twin (2*/0/800) from the Deck, and takes 1000 damage. [MK: 5000 - 1000 = 4000LP] A fifth Rose Token is summoned to Aki's field, filling up her Main Monster Zones. Sunseed Twin revives Sunseed Genius Loci. With the effect of Sunavalon Dryas, Miharu gains LP equa; to the damage that she took, and Special Summons Sunvine Healer (L1/600/↑) from her Extra Deck to Sunavalon Dryas's Link Marker. Sunvine Healer's ATK is halved. Miharu gains 300 LP with Sunvine Healer's effect. [MK: 4000 + 1000 + 300 = 5300LP] She uses Sunvine Healer, Sunseed Genius Loci and Sunseed Twin to Link Summon Sunavalon Melias (L3/0/←, ↑, →) to the Main Monster Zone behind Sunavalon Dryas. With Sunavalon Melias's effect, she revives Sunseed Genius Loci to the field. She uses Sunseed Genius Loci to Link Summon Sunvine Healer. Sunvine Healer grants her 300 LP x Melias's Link Rating. [MK: 5300 + 300 x 3 = 6200LP] Using Sunvine Healer, Sunseed Genius Loci and Aromage Jasmine, she Link Summons a second copy of Sunavalon Melias. She uses the Melias in the second Main Monster Zone from the left and Dryas to Link Summon Sunavalon Dryatrentiay. (L4/0/↙, ↑, ↓. ↘)

Aki activates the Counter Trap Card, Pollinosis, tributing a Rose Token to negate Dryatrentiay's Link Summon and destroy it. Miharu uses Sunseed Genius Loci and Sunavalon Melias to Link Summon Aromaseraphy Jasmine. (L2/1800/↙,↘) (AJ: 1800 / 2 = 900LP) A fifth Rose Token is Special Summoned to Aki's Main Monster Zone. Aromaseraphy Jasmine attacks a Rose Token. [AI: 4000 - 100 = 3900LP] Miharu sets 2 cards and ends her turn.

Turn 3: Aki Izayoi

Aki draws. She activates the effect of Rose Girl, adding it from the GY to the hand. She Normal Summons Rose Girl. Rose Girl's ATK is halved, and a Rose Token is summoned to Miharu's field. She tunes the Level 3 Rose Girl to the Level 2 Rose Token, Synchro Summoning Garden Rose Flora (5*/800/1600) to the field. A second Rose Token is summoned to Miharu's field. Using Garden Rose Flora's effect, Aki destroys Black Garden and Special Summons a Rose Token to her own field. She tunes the Level 5 Garden Rose Flora to the Level 2 Rose Token, Synchro Summoning Black Rose Calamity Dragon (7*/2400/1800) to the Main Monster Zone. Aki activates Black Rose Calamity Dragon's effect. Miharu activates the Trap Card, Breakthrough Skill, negating Black Rose Calamity Dragon's effects until the End Phase. Aki changes Garden Rose Maiden to Attack Position. Garden Rose Maiden attacks Aromaseraphy Jasmine. Due to Aromaseraphy Jasmine's effect, it is not destroyed by battle while Miharu's LP is higher than Aki's LP. [MK: 6200 - 700 = 5500LP] Black Rose Calamity Dragon attacks one of the Rose Tokens. Since Aromaseraphy Jasmine points to it, the Rose Token is not destroyed by the battle. [MK: 5500 - 1600 = 3900LP] Two Rose Tokens on Aki's field attack the two Rose Tokens on Miharu's field. Aki activates Frozen Rose, sending her final Rose Token from the field to the GY to draw 2 cards and discard a card during the End Phase. Miharu activates her set card, the Continuous Trap, Blessed Winds, paying 1000 LP to Special Summon Aromage Jasmine from the GY. Since she Special Summoned an "Aroma" monster, Aroma Gardening gives her 1000 LP. [MK: 3900 - 1000 + 1000 = 3900LP] She uses Aromaseraphy Jasmine's effect to add a Plant monster from her Deck to her hand, and Aromage Jasmine's effect lets her draw a card. Aki sets 1 card and ends her turn. She draws two cards and discards 1 card with the effect of Frozen Rose.

Turn 4: Miharu Kogami

Miharu draws. She Normal Summons Angel Trumpeter. (4*/1900/1600) She activates the effect of Blessed Winds, shuffling Sunavalon Melias to the Extra Deck to gain 500 LP. She uses Aromaseraphy Jasmine's effect to add a Plant monster from her Deck to her hand, and uses Aromage Jasmine's effect to draw a card. She tunes the Level 4 Angel Trumpeter to the Level 2 Aromage Jasmine, Synchro Summoning Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram. (6*/2200/2000) She uses Sweet Marjoram's effect to add Humid Winds from her Deck to her hand. She uses the effect of Aroma Gardening to gain 1000 LP. [MK: 4400 + 1000 = 5400LP] She uses the effect of Aromaseraphy Sweet Marjoram to target and destroy Aki's set card.

Aki activates the set card, the Quickplay Spell, Basal Rose Shoot, reviving Roxrose Dragon. (3*/1600/1200) She adds a card that specifically lists "Black Rose Dragon" in its card text from her Deck to her hand. She Special Summons Aromage Laurel (1*/800/0) from her hand, since her LP is higher than Aki's LP. She uses Aromaseraphy Jasmine's effect, and she tributes Aromage Laurel to Special Summon Aromage Marjoram (5*/2000/1600) from her Deck. Aromage Laurel's effect triggers, letting her gain 500 LP. [MK: 5400 + 500 = 5900LP] Aromage Marjoram's effect lets her banish three cards—Garden Rose Flora, Rose Girl and White Rose Dragon—from Aki's GY. She sets a card and ends her turn.

Turn 5: Aki Izayoi

Aki draws. She Normal Summons Rose Princess (3*/1200/800) from her hand. She tunes the Level 3 Roxrose Dragon to the Level 3 Rose Princess, Synchro Summoning Splendid Rose (6*/2200/2000) in Attack Position. While Miharu has higher LP, her monsters stop destruction by battle, targeting card effects and battle damage. Splendid Rose attacks Aromaseraphy Jasmine. Aromage Marjoram protects Miharu from battle damage with Plant monsters. Aki activates the Spell Card, Basal Rose Shoot, reviving Roxrose Dragon. She searches out another card with Roxrose Dragon's effect. Aki sets 1 card facedown. Then, she tunes the Level 3 Roxrose Dragon to the Level 7 Black Rose Calamity Dragon, Synchro Summoning Blood Rose Dragon. (10*/3200/2400) Aki activates Blood Rose Dragon's effect. Miharu banishes Breakthrough Skill from the GY to negate Blood Rose Dragon's effects. Aki activates the Quickplay Spell, Forbidden Lance, targeting Blood Rose Dragon and lowering its ATK by 800 to make it unaffected by other Spell/Trap cards and effects this turn. Miharu chains the effects of Blessed Winds and Humid Winds, paying 1000 LP to add an "Aroma" monster from her Deck to her hand and shuffling Sunavalon Dryas into the Extra Deck to gain 500 LP. [MK: 5900 - 1000 + 500 = 5400LP] Blood Rose Dragon's effect resolves, banishing all cards in the GY and destroying all other cards on the field. Since Aki's set card was Basal Rose Shoot, she can Special Summon Black Rose Calamity Dragon from her banished cards. She ends her turn.

Turn 6: Miharu Kogami

Miharu draws. She activates the Spell Card, Unexpected Dai, Special Summoning Sunseed Genius Loci from her Deck. Using Sunseed Genius Loci, she Link Summons Sunavalon Dryas. With Dryas's effect, she adds the Continuous Spell, Sunvine Shrine to her hand, and she activates it by sending another card from her hand to the GY. She uses its effect to revive Sunseed Genius Loci. She uses the effect of Sunseed Shadow (2*/0/400) to Special Summon it from the hand. She overlays the Level 1 Sunseed Genius Loci and Sunseed Shadow to Xyz Summon Sunavalon Myrsine (R1/0/0/OU:2) Using Myrsine's effect, she adds Sunseed Sowing from her banished cards to her hand. She detaches an Overlay Unit from Myrsine to send a Plant monster from her Deck to the GY. (SM: OU:2 - 1 = OU:1) Since she sent a Level 1 monster to the GY, she gains 200 LP. [MK: 5400 + 200 = 5600LP] She activates the Spell Card, Sunvine Sowing, Special Summoning Sunseed Twin from the Deck, using its effect to revive Sunseed Genius Loci, with Sunavalon Myrsine fulfilling the requirement for the user to control a "Sunavalon" Link Monster with its effect. Miharu uses Sunseed Genius Loci, Sunseed Twin and Sunavalon Dryas to Link Summon Sunavalon Dryanome. (L3/0/↙, ↓, ↘) She sets 1 card and ends her turn.

Turn 7: Aki Izayoi

Aki draws. She activates the Spell Card, Fragrance Storm, destroying Sunavalon Myrsine to draw a card. Since it's a Plant monster, she draws another card. Black Rose Calamity Dragon attacks Miharu directly. [MK: 5600 - 2400 = 3200LP] With Dryanome's effect, Miharu gains LP equal to the damage that she took and Special Summons Sunvine Gardna (L1/600/↑) from her Extra Deck. [MK: 3200 + 2400 = 5600LP] Blood Rose Dragon atttacks Sunvine Gardna. Miharu uses Dryanome's effect to negate the attack and move Gardna to the leftmost Main Monster Zone. Aki ends her turn.

Turn 8: Miharu Kogami

Miharu draws. She Normal Summons World Carrotweight Champion. (4*/1900/0) She uses World Carrotweight Champion and Sunvine Gardna to Link Summon Sunavalon Clytia. (L2/0/↑, →) She uses Sunavalon Clytia's effect ot return Sunseed Twin from the GY to the Deck and draw 1 card. She uses the effect of Sunvine Shrine to revive Sunseed Genius Loci. She sends 1 Plant monster from her hand to the GY to Special Summon World Carrotweight Champion from the GY. She uses Sunseed Genius Loci to Link Summon Sunavalon Minthe (L1/0/↓) to the leftmost Main Monster Zone. She uses Minthe's effect to gain 300 LP for each Plant monster on the field. [MK: 5600 + 300 x 4 = 6800LP] She uses Sunavalon Minthe and World Carrotweight Champion to Link Summon Sunavalon Leuce. (L2/0/←, ↑) Miharu ends her turn.

Turn 9: Aki Izayoi

Aki draws. She Normal Summons Red Rose Dragon. (3*/1000/1800) She tunes the Level 3 Red Rose Dragon to the Level 7 Black Rose Calamity Dragon, Synchro Summoning Sunblight Black Rose Dragon. (10*/3200/2400) When Sunblight Black Rose Dragon is Synchro Summoned, Aki negates the effects of all other face-up cards on the field, all monsters in Defense Position are changed to Attack Position, and all of Miharu's monsters' ATK becomes 0. Aki uses the effect of Red Rose Dragon to Special Summon Roxrose Dragon (3*/1600/1200) from the Deck, and add Frozen Rose from the Deck to her hand. She uses Roxrose Dragon's effect to search out another card. Sunblight Black Rose Dragon attacks Sunavalon Dryanome. With its effect, it destroys all monsters with less ATK than it that Miharu controls. Blood Rose Dragon attacks directly. [MK: 6800 - 3200 = 3600LP]

Miharu activates the Continuous Trap, Sunavalon Glorious Growth. She Special Summons a Sunvine Token (1*/0/0) and uses it as material to Link Summon Sunavalon Dryas, and then she gains LP equal to the damage that she took. [MK: 3600 + 3200 = 6800LP] With the effect of Sunavalon Glorious Growth, Aki takes damage equal to the LP that she gained. [AI: 3900 - 3200 = 700LP] Aki activates the Spell Card, Fragrance Storm, destroying Dryas to draw a card, and then drawing another card since she drew a Plant monster. Since a "Sunavalon" monster was destroyed, Sunavalon Glorious Growth is destroyed. Aki activates Frozen Rose, sending Roxrose Dragon to the GY to add a Level 4 or lower Plant monster from her Deck to her hand.

Turn 10: Miharu Kogami

Miharu draws. She activates the effect of Sunvine Shrine, reviving Sunseed Genius Loci. She activates the Continuous Spell, Sunvine Cross Breed. She uses Sunseed Genius Loci to Link Summon Sunvine Gardna. Using Cross Breed's effect, she tributes Gardna to revive Clytia. She returns Sunseed Genius Loci from the GY to the Deck to draw a card. She sends a Plant monster from her hand to the GY to revive World Carrotweight Champion. She banishes Sunseed Shadow from the GY to target the linked Link 2 Sunavalon Clytia and Special Summon another copy of it. She Special Summons that copy to the Extra Monster Zone. She Normal Summons Sunseed Twin and revives Sunseed Genius Loci. She uses the Sunavalon Clytia in the Extra Monster Zone, along with World Carrotweight Champion and Sunseed Twin, to Link Summon Topologic Penrose Aitvaras. (L4/3000/↖, ←, →, ↗) She uses Sunseed Genius Loci as material to Link Summon Sunvine Thrasher (L1/800/↓) to the Extra Monster Zone. With Topologic Penrose Aitvaras's effect, she negates the effects of all monsters on the field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, and Topologic Penrose Aitvaras gains 300 ATK for each Link Monster on the field and in the GY. (TPA: 3000 + 300 x 14 = 7200ATK) Topologic Penrose Aitvaras attacks Sunblight Black Rose Dragon. [AI: 700 - 4000 = 0LP] Miharu wins!


OC Cards:

Black Rose Calamity Dragon

(7*/2400/1800/FIRE/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)

1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters

(This card is always treated as a "Rose Dragon" monster.) This card's name becomes "Black Rose Dragon" while on the field or in the GY. If this card is Synchro Summoned: You can target cards on the field, up to the number of Special Summoned monsters your opponent controls; destroy them, and then, all face-up Special Summoned monsters except this card have their ATK become 0 until the End Phase. Once per turn, if a monster declares an attack: You can negate that attack, and if you do, destroy that attacking monster.

Sunavalon Myrsine

(R1/0/0/EARTH/Plant/Xyz/Effect)

2 Level 1 Plant monsters

This card cannot be targeted for attacks, but does not prevent your opponent from attacking you directly. If this card is Xyz Summoned: You can add 1 "Sunvine" or "Sunseed" card from your GY or banished cards to your hand. While this card is face-up on the field, it can be treated as a "Sunavalon" Link Monster for the activation requirements of cards and/or effects, and it is treated as having a Link Rating equal to its Rank. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; send 1 Plant monster from your Deck to the GY, and if you do, gain LP equal to its Level x 200.

Trivia: Myrsine is a athletic girl who won Athena's favour in Greek mythology. However, she was murdered by people who were jealous of her victory, and Athena turned her into a myrtle. This Xyz Monster targets cards in the GY and banished cards as a reference to Yuto. Sending a card from the deck to the GY is a reference to Rusty Bardiche.

Sunavalon Clytia

(L2/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↑, →)

2 Plant monsters, including a "Sunvine" Link Monster

This card cannot be targeted for attacks, but does not prevent your opponent from attacking you directly. If you take battle or effect damage: You can target 1 monster on the field; its controller gains LP equal to its ATK. You can return 1 Plant monster from your GY to the Deck or Extra Deck; draw 1 card. You can only activate this effect of "Sunavalon Clytia" once per turn.

Sunavalon Minthe

(L1/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/↓)

1 Plant Normal Monster

This card cannot be targeted for attacks, but does not prevent your opponent from attacking you directly. If this card is Link Summoned: Gain 300 LP for every Plant monster on the field. You can only Link Summon "Sunavalon Minthe" once per turn. All "Sunavalon" monsters you control cannot be targeted or banished by card effects, except "Sunavalon Minthe".

Sunavalon Leuce

(L2/0/EARTH/Plant/Link/Effect/←, ↑)

2 Plant monsters, including a "Sunavalon" Link Monster

This card cannot be targeted for attacks, but does not prevent your opponent from attacking you directly. If a monster you control battles: You can gain LP equal to its ATK, and if you do, at the end of the Damage Step, destroy that monster. Once per turn, during either player's turn, if you control at least 2 "Sunavalon" monsters: You can take damage equal to 1000 x the Link Rating of the Plant Link Monster with the highest Link Rating on the field; negate the effects of 1 monster your opponent controls until the End Phase.

Trivia: This card was supposed to debut during the Reiji vs Yuno and Miharu duel, but I cut it. It's based on the Greek myth of the white poplar. Leuce, a nymph, was abducted by Hades and forced to live out her natural lifespan in the Underworld, before being turned into a tree and planted in the Elysian Fields for all eternity.

Sunblight Black Rose Dragon

(10*/3200/2400/FIRE/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)

1 Tuner + "Black Rose Dragon"

If this card is Synchro Summoned: You can negate the effects of all other face-up cards on the field, then change the battle position of all monsters in Defense Position on the field, and if you do, the ATK of all monsters your opponent controls becomes 0. While this card is face-up on the field, it is unaffected by the effects of monsters with 0 ATK. If this card battles, at the start of the Damage Step: Destroy all monsters on the opponent's field with less ATK than this card. If this card is sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 "Rose Dragon" monster from your GY, except "Sunblight Black Rose Dragon".

Trivia: Oof. Where do I start. So I knew from the start that Aki's dragon counterpart was going to get a separate evolution from OG Black Rose, just like how Scarlight got Tyrant. In a sense, just like how Jack's 'Tyrant' is the opposite of him—he is a King that genuinely wants good things for his people, and Tyrant takes the responsibility of battle on itself, unlike what an actual tyrant would do. Similarly, Aki, who wants to illuminate a path for others, is the opposite of what this dragon represents. Sunblight is a pun on 'sunbright', which means 'having a brightness as bright as the sun'. Just like how 'Tyrant' is a twist on 'King', 'Sunblight' is a twist on 'sunbright'. Of course, the sun association is also in part because of how Aki is in a sense, a mentor-like figure to Miharu here. The effect that en-masse changes all monsters to Attack Position and makes your opponent's monsters have 0 ATK is based on OG Black Rose's secondary effect. The on-battle nuke is basically the philosophy of Aki here—be peaceful, but if someone cannot be moved through peace, sometimes, there is no choice but violence.

Topologic Penrose Aitvaras

(L4/3000/DARK/Cyberse/Link/Effect/↖, ←, →, ↗)

2+ Effect Monsters

(This card is always treated as a Plant monster.)

If another monster is Special Summoned to a zone a Link Monster points to, while this monster is on the field: You can negate the effects of all other monsters on the field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck until your next End Phase, and if you do, this card gains 300 ATK for every Link Monster on the field and in the GY. Effects not fully revealed. You can only use each effect of "Topologic Penrose Aitvaras" once per turn.

Trivia: Let's give a hearty welcome to Miharu's actual ace, who has been waiting impatiently to emerge! You might see that the effects aren't fully revealed—and thus, this trivia section isn't fully complete, because the other part is pretty significant. When the effects are properly revealed—I'll have a lot more to say! But first, naming and design conventions.

Topologic Penrose Aitvaras is based on the topology concept of the Penrose Triangle, or the famous optical illusion of the impossible triangle, similar to the infinity concepts that are used for the Topologic monsters, such as the ring torus used for Trisbaena. Also, the fact that it has 'rose' in it references both Miharu's plants and the fact that she's bringing this out against Aki. Using the 'aitvaras' instead of 'dragon' as species is a deliberate choice. Aitvaras is a bird that looks like a dragon, associated with bringing both wealth and misfortune to the home it stays in. Out of universe, it's meant to reference the fact that Miharu is adopted (appearing to be something while being something else), and her own fears of being a burden to others. She is quite literally a bird that is growing to surpass a dragon. Also, I'll admit it—I just really wanted her to have a Topologic monster. :) As for why it's a "Topologic" monster instead of a "Borrel" monster?... eh. I thought a Cyberse monster was more fitting. It's DARK and not EARTH, because Miharu isn't exactly Attribute-restricted like Yuno. Miharu is quite metaphorically a flower that learned to bloom in the dark. Its effect on summon is clearly also defensive in nature, unlike the literal bomb that is Bomber Dragon, suiting her more defensive playstyle. The 300 ATK boost for each monster is a reference to Raging Mad Plants, the only offensive card that she runs in this entire deck except Thrasher.

You'll note that this monster is not treated as a "Sunavalon" Link Monster. This is intentional, both for balancing the card and in-universe significance. That'll be explained more when the card has its effects fully revealed.

Its attack name, 'Antimatter Spring Annihilation', is a direct flip of 'Dazzling Spring Blossoms'—direct battle and destruction, compared to a beautiful effect. Its effect name, 'Stardust Extermination Sacrifice', has nothing to do with Stardust Dragon. It's named after the Stardust Road. :D As for the other words, it's an effect that profits on the destruction of its own kind—Link Monsters.

And if you think this card's busted… it really isn't! Not now, at least. :D For now, it's just one big attacker that can be stopped by any attack negate in the game, or can be shut down by a single negate of its effects. Its other effect though… ;)


Different Card Effects from TCG:

Sunavalon Glorious Growth - Anime-only card.


End Notes:

I've been saving the Jasmine-Sweet Marjoram-Marjoram combo and its interaction with Blood Rose Dragon for four months. This duel has been giving me brainrot for the entire length of the story. Having Aki and Miharu mirror each other's moves slightly but diverge in different ways was really fun as well—answers that are slightly similar but diverge, similar to the differences in their view of the world. Miharu building up a whole field that gets busted by one single card is also very relatable.

I will not be elaborating on what's said about Aki and Miharu's characters here. :D There's a lot of metaphors, and I'm not digging through them—I think that the chapter itself explains it well enough. But yeah. I unambiguously love Aki's character. And I think that she gets the best showing out of all the 5Ds characters in this story. (Except perhaps Jack.) And honestly, she deserves it.

*dances around* This duel makes the whole Friendship Cup worth it. I've been waiting so long to write it!

Also, the fact that Yuto taught Miharu how to Xyz Summon has just been hanging in the background of the story for… what, since Chapter 11, when Yuno notes that Miharu's been spending most of her time with Yuto and Reira? I laid down the crumbs for it throughout the whole Synchro arc because she was supposed to use it against Yuri—and then it just felt awkward, because I wanted Benghalancer to debut there too. Subjectively, I just didn't like how it made the duel flow, so I removed it. In the end, it debuts here as well. She's actually already known Xyz from the middle of the Standard Arc, and she's known Synchro since the Synchro Arc started. That actually puts her at four out of six summoning methods, funnily enough—the only characters that currently know more summoning methods than her are Reiji, Reira, Mion and Yuya. (One of these is not like the others.)

In the end though, none of those summoning methods grant her victory. They assist her, sure enough, but in the end, it's still her own strength that brings her victory. This final Link Monster that I've been hinting at since—well, since Serena vs Miharu. My favourite OC card in the whole story. I've said most of what I have to say about it in the trivia section, but I'm glad to finally introduce it! Miharu finally has attack points to work with in her duels, for the first time in 46 chapters! Took long enough!

… also, I was today years old when I found out that Link Markers called Link Arrows in the TCG. Well, I've already used Link Markers for so long that it feels weird to change it.

Also, I'll be very honest and say that while I always intended to have Sergey not be here for… reasons, the part about him not participating so that his cards can be upgraded is definitely something that I threw in here, because holy shit did they just release these cards in the TCG two days after I finished the duel outlines for all of Sergey's duels during my spare time? Really? I did those first because I thought they were the least likely to get printed, lmao. Anyway, for any future duels with Sergey, we'll use the TCG version, 'cause that's way more interesting.

Review responses now! Thank you to those who left reviews on the last chapter! I'm pretty surprised by how good the response was, so it was pretty satisfying, haha! I did put in way more effort in that one chapter than most of the other chapters in this story, by necessity of how long it was.

To king, in terms of your opinion on a ship of Yuji/Rin, I would actually see Rin as someone who would impose too many expectations on him! Rin is a lot more forceful in nature—while Chiaki would probably let him be if he chose to stop doing homework or something like that, Rin would probably try to scold him, which would stress him out. And yeah, it really depends on what you count as intelligence. Their skillsets are all wildly different anyway! :) And for now, tentatively, I do intend to have a Q&A at the end of the Synchro Arc? I'll think about it. I was actually thinking of doing something else, but for now, it's still a work in progress. I… can't answer that last question, unfortunately. :)

To Ichigo Kuchiki, I think it's a pretty common experience to watch the dub of DM and GX, and to watch the sub of the rest. :)

To phantomdragons, yeah, I definitely intend to explore Miharu and Serena's dynamic way more in the future. Honestly, in general, Serena is going to get some of the most interesting and complicated relationships with the other Bracelet Girls, and some of it has already been seen. Still waiting on Rin, Ruri and Chiaki to be able to enter the main plot again so I can explore that, haha.

To guesslit, understandable, I was introduced to Arc-V through the fanfics before I actually watched the anime.

To makotoxvalerie, the observation that you made about Yuji and how no matter what kind of job he has in the future, he will still have to meet others' expectations is really good! I wasn't even intending to address that issue yet, haha. Yes, expectations are definitely inevitable, no matter how much he tries to avoid them. It's definitely the reason why people with SzPD struggle in society as well. And yeah, Yuji is going through… a lot of shit. That could totally be the tagline of the first three arcs of the fic, to be honest—'The MCs go through a lot of shit.' Empty Abyss's evolution is already decided upon, though the design isn't exactly what you want. Sorry about that—I've had a certain idea already in mind this entire time. Regardless, thank you for your review! Once again, good observation.

To DSpaceZ, hey, totally understandable about the matchup predictions! Funnily enough, I expected my matchups to be far more obvious than they ended up being—likely because there were simply so many characters to try and predict things for. The Synchro idea is interesting—I'll give it some thought. I didn't really think about the Synchro Summon animation, but I'll just say that it's probably the Arc-V one. It wouldn't make sense for one dimension's animation to be different in the context of all the dimensions in this story being equal. I don't intend to make OC Synchros for all the Lancers—purely because I don't think it's necessary for all of them to learn all the summoning methods, haha. And yeah, I've been waiting to get to use Sweet Marjoram, because it provides a lot of interesting things for the deck. Rosemary will come out later, but I will confirm that Miharu already has it at this point in time. Also yes, that was definitely a P5 reference—I was watching a P5 playthrough, and I got nostalgic, haha. And yeah, I think that the reason why I tend to add in generic cards for characters' decks that can supplement their cards is because of how I figure out how decks are played in the first place—I build the deck on a simulator and figure out what the combos need for them to work out. In general, a lot of older archetypes have holes in them that can only be figured out by experimenting with them. So I definitely have a more TCG approach than anime approach in terms of making cards available to characters.

But yeah! Keeping things to just a single archetype would also limit duel writing. If I didn't give Miharu Aromaseraphy Jasmine and Benghalancer, every Miharu duel would just be link climbing to Dryanome immediately, which would get boring after a while. :D Plus, there are so many generic cards that I love, so if possible (and justifiable in the story), I would give them to characters! Plus, Infernity has like four main Synchro Monsters (Void Ogre Dragon, Doom Dragon, Doom Archfiend, Hundred-Eyes Dragon) and so I was frantically searching for more Fiend Synchros that weren't part of an archetype, haha. I decided that Stygian Sergeants would be a pretty good reference and so I gave it to him. Also, I love the last part of your review! A friend of mine said that Yuno is an even bigger simp for Miharu than Yugo is for Rin, and that's a great accomplishment, haha. Thanks for the review!

To kikuruhime, yeah, Miharu vs Aki has been hyped up for a while, huh? I've been waiting for a long time to write it too! Oh, and only watching Arc-V and VRAINS is pretty interesting! It means that you're probably more used to the modified Master Rule 5 that I'm using, and that you're more used to more fast-paced duels, right? :D

To cardfan135, aww, thanks! It was a bit of a risk that I had to take initially, honestly—I didn't want to overload the reader with too much character backstory at the start, so I made the conscious effort to move Yuno's backstory to the middle of the Standard Arc, while introducing Miharu's backstory first. I just hoped that he would at least be likeable enough that people would be open to learning more about him later on. But I'm glad that you like him! I'm honestly pretty satisfied with how his character turned out.

To PhilJS89, I actually didn't know that the name was a reference to Crash Town! Maybe because I only watched the sub, haha. Honestly, I never took special notice of the soundtrack of either the sub or dub! Do you have any favourites?

To LHOCIN, I don't think I've ever actually stated this before, but yes, you're absolutely right about Yuno being overpowered, simply because his deck is more modern than the other Yu-boys! If you think about it, the other five Yu-boys have Arc-V era decks, whereas Yuno's deck comes from halfway through VRAINS. If, hypothetically, all the Yu-boys were learning in a similar environment and had the motivation to keep on getting stronger, Yuno would definitely be the strongest one of the group by virtue of the deck alone and his analytical skills. Of course, that's just in a bubble though—the wildly different environments the Yu-boys live in and the context of their upbringings make it questionable if that would actually be the case.

And yup, I think I've made it clear, but I really like Yugo as a character! I think the reason why the Synchro Arc in canon (and to a smaller extent, Yugo) felt like such a waste was because Arc V forgot to properly connect it to the main plot—in a sense, nothing that happens in the Synchro Arc feels like it affects anything else in the story at all. The characters could have gone directly from Standard to Xyz and just handwaved new cards, and the plot would have felt the exact same. While the Academia invasion and Roget seem like they're going somewhere, the fact that Barrett and Yuri are the only named invaders and both of them get their duels interrupted makes the invasion kinda fruitless, and Roget kinda goes nowhere. I plan to resolve both of those in a way that'll actually have some effect on how the overall story plays out though. And Yugo was wasted in Arc-V because they never let him interact with anyone in the overall plot except Yuzu, which meant that the entire time, he knew basically nothing about what was going on. Still though—he had great potential. And yes, Shun vs Miharu was definitely hinted at earlier… it might show up, it might not. That would be spoilers! But I will say that I don't intend to have any of the Bracelet Girls/Yu-boys defeat Shun in this arc. Thanks for the review! It was interesting to see your thoughts!

To the Guest asking if I plan on writing any Arc-V stories other than the ones I currently have, that's a bit of a far off thing. I do have another fic that I've been considering, but that one's pretty early in development.

To the Guest talking about Yuri's combo against Yusho… I haven't exactly figured out how all the duels in the story are going to go yet, just what's going to happen! I will spoil this early and say that I am erasing Ivy Bind Castle from existence, along with Destruction Flower and Destruction Fruit—because no, an omni-negate that remains on the field as a Continuous Spell at the cost of one monster, inflicts battle damage and shuts off battle cannot exist in this universe without sawing the power curve in two. I don't ever intend on letting a duel end because of an infinite loop of effects, in general—it's just pretty unfair for the game in general. (And oh, that's also a spoiler, isn't it? Whoops?) Thanks for the enthusiasm though!

To the Guest asking about Accel Synchro and Double Tuning, those methods do exist, but I don't intend on giving that many characters those cards—it just feels a bit cheap. I think it's pretty obvious what characters are going to learn those just from irl cards. But no, we're not going to treat Accel Synchro monsters as different from Synchro Monsters—they're just a different form of Synchro Summon with stricter requirements. (Also, Arisu already eviscerated Yuno with both in Chapter 27, so that should show my pretty casual attitude towards them.)

To T.V. 2000, thanks for the review! I'm glad that you enjoyed the duels. Yeah, with cards that are based on anemone and coral, I thought basing them on plants wasn't too far of a stretch.

To Haru Shinkai, I don't know anything about Spanish voice actors, but thanks for your enthusiasm regardless.

To kurenai lui, to clarify, in this story, there is no difference between the two new dimensions and the other four—all six are treated as the same, and thus, all six Dimension Dragons are on the same level as each other. Empty Abyss and Magnetic Current are not any more important than the other four Dimension Dragons. You brought up a lot of points in your review, so this reply is going to be a bit scattered! Firstly, it's actually pretty ironic, but if Academia had left the Ritual Dimension alone, Yuji would probably have been the Zarc reincarnation that was least affected by Zarc, considering that he doesn't have the motivation to become stronger at all. So nothing would have happened in that regard. I'm not going to confirm anything about the summoning methods that characters are going to learn for now though. :)

Secondly, I do intend to have Yuji grow, though perhaps not in the way that people expect… And thirdly, I see your point about Yuno, yes. I'm not confirming anything with regards to that, but I will agree that Yuno is the most traditional protagonist among the characters. Finally, Yuno's initial discomfort with Miharu hanging out with Yuto was because of his feelings for her, haha. It's more him being worried that Miharu will end up liking Yuto more than him.

QOTC: What are your favourite ships in Arc-V? They can be canon or non-canon! I'm just curious to know your opinions.

Alright, that should be it! Thank you, everyone! See you next time!