Outside the obelisk tower, the zealots who had been completely corrupted by the Dogmatika faction into Despia fanatics were continuously converging upon Aisha and the others.
Even with Irena's elemental magic barely holding them back, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.
Worst of all, because of the barrier from an ultramodern ancient civilization that Despia had deployed, Spirit Eyes could no longer summon Duel Monsters—meaning the duelists had lost their most reliable combat power in an instant.
Right now, only Ecclesia, whose Stigmata power was incomplete, could barely resist the summons of Despia's Aluber.
"Damn it, this really is a no-way-out crisis." A hint of dread passed through Ren's heterochromatic eyes.
Pushed back again and again by the encroaching crowd, everyone was already pressed up against the obelisk tower.
However, without the key in hand, they had no way to traverse their consciousness inside the way Miles and Kaima had.
"Miles and Kaima still haven't finished yet?" Gritting her teeth, Irena threw out another Ice Wall, barely blocking the path.
Up in the sky, Saint Ecclesia was still locked in a dragon-mounted struggle with Despia's dramaturge, Aluber.
Aluber said, "Give up your futile resistance! You're not even a Tower Warden. How could an outsider possibly awaken the legendary Obelisk the Tormentor?!"
Though Aluber was the dark persona possessed by Arnold, because of the mission and profession of a Tower Warden and the dream planted in the boy's heart since youth, he held a certain degree of longing and obsession toward the Tormentor sealed within the obelisk tower.
"No! I'll struggle to the very end!" Ecclesia refuted firmly. "Miles-senpai and the others are far more reliable than you think!"
Having personally witnessed Miles save an entire nation with Overlimit Accel Synchro, resurrecting the collapsing Axet Republic, Saint Ecclesia firmly believed that a miracle would descend once more.
On the dragon's back, the Stigmata mark on Ecclesia's forehead shone with its final trace of mana.
"It will work! Senpai and the others will absolutely return bearing hope and miracles—bringing back Obelisk, the phantom god of the earth, and the god-slaying weapon that surpasses the prehistoric civilization's barrier!"
...
Ten thousand years ago, humanity—repeatedly pushed to the brink of extinction—finally obtained its twelfth god-slaying spear, forged to defy fate and annihilate all.
Its thunder could scorch the sky, shatter planets, and slay gods.
"With humanity's ultimate final strike—eradicate calamity!"
"Counteroffensive Weapon AA-ZEUS!"
"This feeling… an ultramodern ancient god-slaying weapon!"
Sensing the blazing thunder coalescing in the ancient Egyptian sky three thousand years ago, Kaiba looked up in shock.
Back when Seto had discovered this legendary god-slaying weapon in an underground ruin, he used every method and poured in the corporation's full power, intending to harness its divine might.
Despite that, in the end, all of his attempts failed.
Because in this era, Kaiba lacked the crucial key needed to activate the weapon.
"The key is… an Xyz Summon?! And it's Rank 12?!"
Right now, this summoning method was still in experimental development. Unable to use Xyz Summoning, Kaiba naturally had no possibility of controlling Sky Thunder.
What he never expected was that the only information he'd heard—from Jinno—was simply that Miles might be capable of Xyz Summoning.
And yet at the end of this fated duel of gods, using the Pharaoh Atem's Deck, the first Xyz Summon Miles chose to show him… was the highest rank—Rank 12.
"With the blade carved from the King's Memory, guided by the light of the galaxy, detonating the cosmos! Descend, Rank 12 Ultimate Xyz—god-slaying spear, Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS – Sky Thunder!"
[Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder] Rank 12│LIGHT│Machine│3000 ATK
[2 Level 12 monsters]
At the end of the evolved radiance, thunder erupted across ancient Egypt's sky. The colossal, gleaming mech, [Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder], descended upon the battlefield as a Rank 12 pinnacle Xyz Monster.
Having undergone its ultimate Xyz rebirth, Sky Thunder had shed all the damage and decay buried beneath the desert sands for nearly ten thousand years.
As pristine as if fresh from the factory, its steel body reflected brilliant light. Mechanical wings erupted with thunder as it soared.
Kaima's pupils trembled as she looked upward. "So this is the 'Heaven's Court' spoken of in ancient songs… the thing that slays gods?"
The Blue-Eyes Girl, Kisara, exclaimed, "So it responded to Miles and Seto's battle of gods… awakening from its millennia-long slumber to defeat the divine once more?!"
"I've obtained it!"
Miles clenched his fist and thrust it toward the sky, declaring that the god-slaying spear had been reforged at this very moment.
In the King's Memory, it had been awakened by the gods and reforged by the ultimate blade.
"Standing at the apex of Xyz—obliterate everything! Sky Thunder, activate your effect!"
[(Quick Effect): You can detach 2 materials from this card; send all other cards from the field to the GY.]
It was a field-wiping blast: sending all cards except itself to the Graveyard, and it could even be used during the opponent's turn.
And because it sent the entire field to the Graveyard, even "destruction" resistance could not withstand this god-slaying level of "destruction."
As though annihilating an entire space with humanity's final, ultimate strike, Sky Thunder's radiant lightning raged across the field.
"I detach 2 Xyz Materials and activate—sending all cards except Sky Thunder to the Graveyard! That includes Obelisk the Tormentor as well!"
A Rank 12 Xyz effect, one even the God Cards could not endure.
The god-slaying spear, in that moment, truly fulfilled its name; slaying gods with thunder that engulfed the entire field.
"Go, Sky Thunder AA-ZEUS!"
"GOD-ERASING THUNDERFIRE!"
In that instant, the vision of everyone present was swallowed by a radiance powerful enough to erase gods.
A moment ago, two colossal beings still stood on Seto Kaiba's field—Obelisk the Tormentor and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon—but now they had both been annihilated by this god-slaying thunder.
A perfect field wipe, blasting straight through from the ultramodern ancient civilization ten thousand years ago to the sky of ancient Egypt three thousand years past.
At the final conclusion of this ultimate divine clash, only the god-slaying spear—Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS—remained on the field.
[Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder, ATK: 3000]
The thunderous shockwave was so immense that the AR device attached near Kaiba's right eye overloaded and exploded.
"To think a single strike wiped out both Obelisk and Ultimate Dragon… So this is the legendary god-slaying weapon! Miles, you bastard! Did you really awaken something like this?!"
"It's time to end this, Kaiba! This duel that spans from three thousand years ago back to a prehistoric age of ten thousand years; its destiny is to reach toward the future!"
"Miles!" Kaima and Dark Aisha shouted together in excitement.
"There are people waiting for me; I must return! I have to borrow this power, break through this dead-end, and open the future!"
Miles drew a card. The crimson card face gleamed—it was the one Egyptian God Card that had not yet appeared in this duel: Slifer the Sky Dragon.
"I'll use the final God to search for the card of reversal! Continuous Spell Card 'Millennium Revelation' activate!"
[Send 1 Divine-Beast monster from your hand to the Graveyard to activate. Add 1 'Monster Reborn' from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand.]
"I send the Divine-Beast monster, Slifer the Sky Dragon, from my hand to the Graveyard, and add Monster Reborn from my Deck!"
Earlier, Irena had discarded her entire hand with Left Arm Offering to search Monster Reborn; now Miles used Millennium Revelation, discarding Slifer, to search Monster Reborn.
A holy radiance of revival connected the world of the living to the underworld.
"—Spell Card, Monster Reborn—activate!"
Slamming the final, and most crucial, card onto the Duel Disk, Miles triggered a surge within the collapsing spatial domain. The earth shook wildly once more.
"It can't be?!"
That familiar pressure made Kaiba's eyes widen as he stared at Miles.
"Miles! Don't tell me you're…!"
"When it descends, scorching winds shall strip the earth barren, and the living shall turn to corpses! When light and darkness converge, the ritual of the obelisk tower begins!"
"Revived through Monster Reborn—descend, Obelisk the Tormentor!"
Using the signature Aisha Carlos style of combat, Miles directly revived the Tormentor from Kaiba's Graveyard—the very Obelisk that AA-ZEUS had destroyed.
[Obelisk the Tormentor, ATK: 4000]
This final turn, the last turn of the obelisk tower showdown, Miles had finally completed it.
He gathered both Obelisk the Tormentor and Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS onto his own field.
God and god-slayer—entities that should have been irrevocably opposed—now stood side by side under Miles' control, their massive forms aligned, ready to strike toward victory together.
This was the very scene Miles had been fighting toward ever since entering the obelisk tower.
"Carrying the hopes and expectations of my comrades, let this convergence of god and god-slayer become a miracle!"
Declaring the final Battle Phase, Miles thrust his hand forward with full force.
"Obelisk the Tormentor, 4000 Attack! AA-ZEUS, 3000 Attack! Their combined power—7000 Attack!"
Kaiba's field, after suffering the 'God-Erasing Thunderfire' of AA-ZEUS, was absolutely cleared.
[Seto Kaiba, LP: 6501]
"Obelisk the Tormentor and AA-ZEUS—combined direct attack! Grit your teeth, Seto Kaiba!!"
Both titanic beings drew back their fists.
Obelisk's divine fist and Sky Thunder's steel fist, united into a single light of transcendent will.
The phantom god representing ultimate destruction, and humanity's strongest weapon, crossing their wills and unleashing them together.
"DIVINE FIST SHATTERING • GOD-SLAYING IMPACT!!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!"
[Seto Kaiba, LP: 6501 → 0]
The dual strike born from the union of god and god-slayer crashed space and time alike. Even the sky outside the obelisk tower cracked open with radiant fissures.
...
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