"Ghost Ogre... Ghost Ogre!"
Of everyone present, Ren was the most excited. She was the one who had personally given Aisha this Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit.
Now, as a Tuner hand trap passed through countless hands, the [Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit] card ignited the radiance of a Synchro Summon.
A miracle born of monster Levels: the Tuner Ghost Ogre became a halo of starlight, the halo ran along the blade, Jack's Knight raised high, and the evolution leapt to a higher Level.
Synchro Summon!
In this duel—this duel against the Old Dominators—Miles finally achieved it.
In a single duel, he wielded the three summoning methods that divided the Spirit Continent: Xyz, Fusion, and Synchro.
As Miles had told Kaima before, the road to ultimate strength never clings to a single summoning method.
And now, putting that theory into practice was his final means to break through the abyssal god.
"Your turn to shine—Astar! No… Stardust!"
"Ooooh—!"
The girl's pure soul became a dragon with a clear, ringing cry.
Starlight bathed the pyramid of light at Aisha's waist, tracing the path where that light would converge.
"Gathering wishes will forge a newborn star—become the shining road of light!—Synchro Summon! Take wing, Stardust Dragon!"
[Stardust Dragon] Level 8│WIND│Dragon│Synchro│2500 ATK / 2000 DEF
[Materials: Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters]
In the abyssal dark, a gleam of prayer rose; beneath the stars, Stardust Dragon flew, its resplendent wings shedding motes of stardust.
Aisha gazed up, captivated by its graceful arc. "What a beautiful monster… Stardust Dragon—so this is Mr. Miles's Synchro Summon."
Astar's true name—Stardust. The soul residing in the pyramid of light had, by fate, become Miles's first Synchro Monster.
"Impossible… at the very end, he used the same Synchro Summon as I did!" Yog-Tos choked.
Miles roared back, "Nothing like yours, cultist!"
Miles & Stardust said in unison:
"Synchro Summoning is no creature of the abyss! Synchro gathers light and prayer!"
"Rooaaar—!"
With Stardust's triumphant cry, the star-born hope of Synchro clashed head-on with the ominous, wicked god from the abyss.
Bathed in starlight, the distant onlookers were no longer peering at a shadow veiled in darkness; the dragon glittering with stardust was reflected in every eye across the Academy town.
"Gathered wishes will become the power to break the wicked god! This is the final battle, Yog-Tos! Battle—!"
"Battle? You dare say 'battle'?!"
Snarling, Yog-Tos glared at Miles, who had declared Battle Phase. At this point, the fanatical cardinal had shed even the last trace of his earlier elegance.
"Look at the Eraser's Attack, then at Stardust Dragon's. Don't drown in the dream of your Synchro, heretic!"
Stardust Dragon's Attack was, without question, 2500.
[The Wicked Eraser]'s Attack equaled the number of cards on Miles's field × 1000.
Because the Equip [Different Dimension Reincarnation] went to the GY along with [Jack's Knight] and [Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit] when they were Synchro'd, Miles's field now held 3 [Nightmare Archfiend Tokens], 1 [Stardust Dragon], and 1 facedown—five cards total.
[The Wicked Eraser, ATK: 5000]
"Five thousand Attack—your Stardust can't surpass that!"
"Beneath the stars, perseverance becomes the spark for miracles! I activate my Set card!"
Even at the cost of raising the Eraser's power, Miles had insisted on Setting this card. As his miracle counterattack unfolded, Stardust shone brighter.
"—Trap Card, [Fiery Fervor]!"
[After activation, this card becomes an Equip Card and equips to 1 face-up monster you control. If there is a monster on your opponent's field whose current ATK is higher than its original ATK, during the Damage Step the equipped monster's ATK becomes double its original ATK.]
"I treat [Fiery Fervor] as an Equip and attach it to [Stardust Dragon]!"
With an opponent's monster whose ATK exceeded its original—an Eraser swelled to 5000—the condition was perfect.
"Burn your starlight to its brightest, Stardust!"
"Aaooo—!"
[Stardust Dragon, ATK: 2500 → 5000]
Doubled to match the Eraser, Stardust unfurled radiant wings beneath the vast night.
"Rewrite the ending with this strike—attack [The Wicked Eraser]!"
"Equal power? If that's the height of your resistance, let the great god bring the end—Soul Annihilation!"
"Shooting Sonic—!"
Miracle and hope gathered at the dragon's maw; a meteor beam roared forth to meet the Eraser's soul-flames.
With equal Attack, the blinding clash raged in the sky as if testing sheer will—Stardust challenging a god of the abyss.
Then Miles and Stardust prevailed.
Before wide, astonished eyes—before the whole town's prayers—Stardust's strike pressed back the abyssal fire.
"Bakana! With equal Attack, Kamisama is being overpowered by that thing?!" Yog-Tos sputtered.
"Even without a God Card, the starlight gathered here can defeat a wicked god—that's how mortals fight! Go, Kuriboh!"
Miles revealed the other ace waiting in the GY—the card discarded for [Different Dimension Reincarnation] this turn.
"Effect of [Relinkuriboh] in the GY!"
[If a monster you control would be destroyed by battle, you can banish this card from your GY instead.]
"I banish [Relinkuriboh] to prevent [Stardust Dragon] from being destroyed by this battle! You alone will sink into the abyss, wicked god!"
No mutual destruction—Stardust's Shooting Sonic overwhelmed the soul-flames, brilliance shattered the night, and [The Wicked Eraser]'s massive form was utterly crushed.
"We did it? No—the real test comes now!"
Irena's eyes stayed locked on the field. Simply destroying the god would not tip the scales.
Once more, the abyssal gate yawned open from the god's corpse.
Countless omens, grudges, evils—nameless terrors—erupted forth.
The Eraser's most lethal last words spread across the stars—hate vast enough to end the world.
"Kehahaha… Your arrogance—your stubborn fight—has brought the end, Aisha Carlos! When the body is destroyed, [The Wicked Eraser] activates!"
[If this card is destroyed and sent to the GY: Destroy all cards on the field.]
"I will destroy every card on the field. No—your arrogant soul is the highest danger. With this final death blast, I'll devour every soul in this town!"
From that door, the ominous surge spread beyond the duel—darkness like doomsday swallowed the Academy's sky.
"All life, all souls, will be buried with the wicked god. With you—fall into the endless abyss and repent forever!"
Panic rose as townsfolk saw the darkness rolling toward them.
"What now?"
"Is it the end of the world?"
"Mom, I don't want to die!"
"Amen—Lord, Buddha—anyone—please protect us!"
Starlight vanished, and with the dark came human despair.
"He's going to bury everyone with him?!" Ren stared at the swirling vortex. "Those Old‑Dominator cultists are raving lunatics!"
Uglier than any soul—so foul it made you gag—the cardinal beneath that fine skin truly was the abyss made flesh. Astar's judgment was proven true.
"You really are a bringer of evil."
"Too late for regret, Aisha Carlos! Today, the straying souls of every heretic will find no escape!"
"Regret? Flee? Don't get it twisted, Old Dominator."
Arms folded amid the creeping gloom, Miles's emerald eyes reflected not despair but starlit hope.
"I will win this duel. Even a wicked god's deathblow can't change that!"
He threw back his head and shouted.
"Stardust Dragon—go!!"
"Aoo—!"
Answering that declaration of victory, the resplendent dragon spread its wings; every mote within its body blazed.
"Relight the glittering sky—bring hope where prayers gather. This is Stardust Dragon's final effect!"
[When a Spell/Trap, or monster effect, is activated that would destroy a card(s) on the field: You can Tribute this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.]
A guardian that counters any destruction—Stardust's glorious form burst into countless stars and rekindled the heavens.
"I Tribute [Stardust Dragon] to negate [The Wicked Eraser]'s board‑wipe! Blanket despair with stardust light!"
Vaster than the abyssal flood, Stardust's hope and light swept over the sky, containing the god's malice.
A heartbeat ago, people had despaired at doomsday; now, like Miles, stardust shone in their eyes.
The sky Stardust restored outshone the old one—a gentle brilliance that could wrap all calamity and malice, falling across the world.
Stardust Dragon stopped a god. With mortal hands, he wrought a god's deed.
"We'll bear this darkness of the wicked god—Stardust and I!"
"Victim Sanctuary—!"
With Stardust's Tribute, the counter took hold; the Eraser's last words erased nothing and dissolved within a sanctuary of starlight.
"Impossible! My god… the god's faith—snuffed out?!"
Twisted past humanity, Yog‑Tos howled. The duel he thought unwinnable to lose—lost, utterly, to stardust light.
"I'll shoulder the god's darkness. Your own darkness, Yog‑Tos—you bear it yourself."
In the final Battle Phase, Stardust's protection kept the 3 forced [Nightmare Archfiend Tokens] from being destroyed. What strangled Miles a second ago became the killing blow.
Three Tokens—total Attack, 6000.
"Be devoured by your own darkness, Yog‑Tos! Nightmare Archfiend Tokens—triple direct attack!"
He declared the direct strikes like pulling a blade from his own throat and driving it through Yog‑Tos's heart.
"AAAAH!"
[Yog-Tos, LP: 5000 → 3000]
"AAAAAH!"
[Yog-Tos, LP: 3000 → 1000]
"AAAAAAAAHHH—!"
[Yog-Tos, LP: 1000 → 0]
Each scream more wretched than the last. The monsters meant to checkmate Miles consumed Yog‑Tos's Life Points instead.
The god pinned to the cross bore witness to it all.
The Contract Duel ended. As Yog‑Tos toppled, the two God Cards dropped from the cross into Miles's hands.
"Sorry. My faith is, and always will be, victory!"
...
If you want to support, please consider Patreon, and read advanced chapters! Your support keeps this series going!
[Patreon.com/RedZTL]