In LDS's control room, Reiji sat watching Kurosaki's arrival. The lift behind him rose, and the click of high heels on the floor hinted at who had entered.
Himika Akaba stood next to her son, looking for a sign on his face.
"Any news from Father?" he asked, startling her.
"He believed that the best thing he could do for the event was to stay away," she replied. A sigh nearly escaped her throat before she forced it down. When she had learned why her husband Leo had disappeared and what he was planning, she had decided to pursue any means and pay any cost to stop him, to make him pay for personally hurting her. And what had it got her? They were in the same place now, their reputations in tatters, with a daughter they didn't know and a son who had every reason to hate them. Reiji's face, like so often, betrayed no emotion, so she turned her attention to the screen as well.
"Did you contact Shun Kurosaki as soon as you learned of Sora's disappearance?"
"I had already made an agreement with him during the planning... just in case of anything suspicious," Reiji replied, adjusting his glasses. "After all, when Kurosaki duels, the truth has a habit of coming out."
"Shun..." Yuzu whispered. Yuya could already see unease spreading around the audience. With memories still fresh of what had happened in Kurosaki's first public duel, and Ryo having been a particularly infamous and high-ranked Academia soldier, it was unavoidable that people, him included, became nervous at the thought of what might happen this time. As Ryo and Shun stood watching each other stoically, it was clear Nico was also shaken.
"Select the action field..." he announced, and as the huge card spun Yuya was seized with a sudden and horrified question of whether Reiji would once again use Future City Heartland to bring out the duelists' emotions. Instead however, the field Wild West Duel Town was the one selected. A frontier town with the name 'Hell River' hanging on a sign materialized around the duelists, leaving them facing each other in the dirt street. It really was a like an old wild west showdown, complete with a tumbleweed, and Yuya now wondered if something Yuzu had mentioned earlier was true and Reiji really did have a hidden sense of humor.
"On this field, the first turn will be decided by whoever activates their duel disk first after the clock strikes noon!" Smiley called. "Get ready, duelists!" Both duelists lowered their arms and everyone waited with baited breath as the clock's minute hand began to creak forward. The moment it clicked fully upright, Kurosaki and Ryo both shot their arms up with their duel disk blades out.
"Our high-speed cameras have determined that Kurosaki will go first!" Nico announced. Both duelists nodded and drew their opening hands.
"Here we go..." Yuya said, unable to shake that bad feeling.
"First," Kurosaki called out, "I Normal Summon Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius!" Everyone remembered that monster - the olive green, steel-plated bird of prey. "When I summon this monster, I can Special Summon a level 4 or lower Raidraptor from my hand! I summon Raidraptor - Tribute Lanius!" A second Raidraptor, this one's markings dark blue, joined the Lanius on the field. "Tribute Lanius's effect activates! I send Raidraptor - Fuzzy Lanius from my deck to the graveyard! This activates its effect, which lets me add a new Fuzzy Lanius to my hand!" he explained. "I then activate Raidraptor - Call!" Kurosaki shouted, holding up a spell card. "I target my Vanishing Lanius and Special Summon another Copy from my deck!" He looked over his field. One Vanishing Lanius with 1300 ATK, another with 1600 DEF, and Tribute Lanius with 1800 ATK. He could keep summoning, but...
"I overlay both of my level 4 Vanishing Lanius! Avian hunter of the afterlife, seek the truth with your dark eyes, and grasp glory with your sharp talons! Xyz Summon! Take flight! Rank 4 Raidraptor - Force Strix!"
Force Strix, resembling a mechanical horned owl, floated above Kurosaki, in defense position with 2000 DEF.
"I detach a material to activate Force Strix's Effect!" He shouted. An overlay unit was absorbed into the emblem on Force Strix's forehead. "I can add a level 4 DARK Winged Beast from my deck to my hand! I choose Raidraptor - Mimicry Lanius! I set one card and end my turn."
"He's being uncharacteristically defensive," Gongenzaka remarked.
"No, it makes sense," Yuzu replied. "If he'd gone all out with his Xyz monsters on his first turn, they'd have no targets for their effects and be vulnerable on Ryo's turn."
"Draw," Ryo said. "Since only you control monsters, I Special Summon Cyber Dragon from my hand!"
Gasps rang out all over the stadium - even if there were people unsure of what Ryo had used to devastate his targets, everyone knew that monster. The one that had revolutionized the very concept of high-level monsters.
"I then Normal Summon Cyber Dragon Zwei!" Ryo called out. "Battle phase! I attack Force Strix with Cyber Dragon! Evolution Burst!" Cyber Dragon's mouth lit up with cyan light which blasted out in a stream. Kurosaki leaped from the ground off a wall, and landed on the town water tank. A split second later, Ryo dashed out of sight.
"Action spell: Mircale!" Kurosaki shouted. "I target Force Strix and prevent its destruction by battle!" Then a gunshot rang out and a hole was blasted through the holographic representation of the card before it disintegrated. "What... was that?"
"I found an action card of my own," Ryo replied. "One specially made for this field, I think. It's called Outdraw and it allows me to negate and destroy a card you just activated. Cyber Dragon's attack continues!"
"I activate Radraptor - Readiness!" Kurosaki shouted and flipped over his card. "This turn, none of my monsters can be destroyed by battle!" The beam split and glanced off Force Strix, leaving it unharmed.
"I see," Ryo said. "I end my turn."
"Draw," Kurosaki said. "I activate the effect of Fuzzy Lanius in my hand. When I control a different Raidraptor monster, I can Special Summon it!" Another Raidraptor, this one with purple and blue markings, rose up.
"I detach an Xyz material from Force Strix and add Raidraptor - Singing Lanius to my hand. Its effect lets me Special Summon it if I control an Xyz Monster! I also Normal Summon Raidraptor - Avenge Vulture! Now I overlay level 4 Avenge Vulture, Singing Lanius and Fuzzy Lanius!
Obscured falcon, raise your sharpened talons in the face of adversity, spread your wings of rebellion! Xyz Summon! Appear, rank 4 Raidraptor - Rise Falcon!"
It soared over its fellow monsters, its screech ringing over the field.
"I activate the effect of Rise Falcon! By detaching one material, it gains the attack points of your Special Summoned Cyber Dragon!" Rise Falcon's eyes lit up and its thrusters flared, surrounding its body in flames, and its ATK rose to 2200. "The material I detached was Fuzzy Lanius, so I activate its effect and add another Fuzzy Lanius to my hand! Now, I activate Rank-Up-Magic Raid Force! I Special Summon a Raidraptor one rank higher than Force Strix using it as material!
"Ferocious falcon, cut through this battle and spread your wings to destroy our gathering foes! Rank-Up Xyz Change! Appear! Rank 5 Raidraptor - Blaze Falcon!"
The gleaming red falcon rose up, then swooped down to the ground.
"Now let's battle!" Kurosaki leaped onto Blaze Falcon. "Blaze Falcon uses its effect to attack you directly! Raptor's Break Thunderclap!"
Ryo eyed the falcon as it swooped down at him, then dove aside at the last second, landed in a roll and came to one knee as his life points dropped to 3000.
"When Blaze Falcon deals you damage, I can destroy one monster you control!" Kurosaki shouted, and Blaze Falcon opened up its bomb bays. "I target Cyber Dragon!"
Ryo bared his teeth, displaying the most amount of emotion that anyone had seen from him yet, and leaped onto Cyber Dragon's head and it flung him onto a rooftop where he snatched up an action card.
"I activate Illumination! I choose to use the effect that negates a monster's destruction!" Multicolored lights lit up the battlefield and shone over Blaze Falcon, which swayed in the air and canceled its attack run.
"Then I attack Cyber Dragon Zwei with Rise Falcon! Brave Claw Revolution!" Rise Falcon swooped down nearly too fast to see and Ryo was thrown off his feet, only to be back up again in an instant with 2300 points.
"I detach a material to destroy any Special Summoned monsters you control!" Kurosaki shouted. "Your Cyber Dragon will be destroyed!" Absorbing one of its overlays, Blaze Falcon's metal aileron 'feathers' detached from its wings. "There'll be no saving your Cyber Dragon this time! Then you'll take 500 damage!" Ryo shielded his face as he and Cyber Dragon were surrounded by green laser beams and his life points dropped to 1800.
"I wonder if you underestimated me," Kurosaki said with a raised eyebrow, "or haven't you been able to find Polymerization?"
"I assure you, I'm taking you very seriously," Ryo replied as he drew. "But Polymerization isn't what I've been waiting for. I summon Cyber Dragon Core!" Everyone looked with interest at his new monster, rope-thin and with only 400 attack points.
"I can now add a Cyber spell or trap from my deck to my hand! I add Cyber Emergency and I activate it immediately! I search my deck for a new Cyber Dragon!" Ryo closed his eyes, took a breath and then glared at Kurosaki. "I know what you're waiting for, so I won't delay it any longer. The Cyber Dragon Core on my field, which is treated as Cyber Dragon, I'll now fuse with the original in my hand, using this card - Power Bond!" Blue streaks of lightning arced out, materializing into a Cyber Dragon and forming the figure of a second around Cyber Dragon Core.
"Paired metal dragons, join your voices and roar together in the name of victory! Fusion Summon! Arise, Cyber Twin Dragon!"
Kurosaki steeled himself as Cyber Twin Dragon loomed over him, lowering both of its heads.
"Power Bond Fusion Summons a Machine-type monster and then," Ryo explained, "doubles its original attack!" Twin Dragon began to glow and its ATK increased from 2800 to 5600. Cries of fear rose up from several people in the audience.
"Battle phase!" Ryo said. I attack Blaze Falcon with Cyber Twin Dragon!" One of the dragon's heads opened its mouth and shot a stream of energy. Kurosaki swooped down on his falcon and snatched an action card.
"Action spell: Evasion! Your attack is negated!"
"It won't matter!" Ryo shouted. "Cyber Twin Dragon can attack twice, and with the difference in attack points only one needs to hit! Evolution Twin Burst!"
"I banish Raidraptor - Readiness from my graveyard to prevent myself taking damage!" Kurosaki dropped from Blaze Falcon just before the attack landed, Rise Falcon catching him in midair.
"Main phase 2," Ryo said, calming down. "I set a card. Then I activate One Day of Peace. We each draw one card, then neither of us takes damage until the end of the next turn."
"This hasn't been very peaceful," Kurosaki muttered.
"Hm... no," Ryo admitted. "But in my end phase, normally I'd take damage equal to the original attack of the monster summoned by Power Bond. However, One Day of Peace prevents that from happening."
"Also in the end phase, I activate Rank-Up-Magic Double Doom Force!" Kurosaki called out. "I Special Summon a Raidraptor that was destroyed by battle this turn and use it as material for a monster with twice the rank! I rank up rank 5 Blaze Falcon!
"Supreme falcon, inherit the will of your fallen comrades, and fly into the sky of victory! Rank-Up Xyz Change! Appear, rank 10 Raidraptor - Ultimate Falcon!"
"My turn," Kurosaki said. "I detach a material from Rise Falcon! It gains the attack of Cyber Twin Dragon!" Rise Falcon screeched as its ATK rose to 7800. "Battle! Brave Claw Revolution!"
Ryo watched as his dragon exploded. The smoke parted, revealing Ryo completely unharmed.
"Thanks to One Day of Peace, I didn't feel a thing."
"But your monster is still destroyed!" Kurosaki shouted.
Ryo drew for his turn, glaring back at Kurosaki.
"I activate Cybernetic Fusion Support - I pay half my life points, and for one Fusion Summon of a Machine this turn, I can banish materials from my hand, field and graveyard!" His life points dropped to 900 as he reached for a second card. "I activate another Power Bond! I banish two Cyber Dragons along with Cyber Dragon Zwei, which is treated as another Cyber Dragon, from my graveyard and Fusion Summon!
"Metallic Dragons, unleash your true power and cry out once, twice, three times for victory eternal! Fusion Summon! Take flight, Cyber End Dragon!"
Next time: The duel becomes ever more frantic as Kurosaki ranks up his Xyz Monsters higher against Ryo's rapid Fusion strategy - but what is it about the Hell Kaiser that he hasn't revealed yet?