Chapter 319: This Is Proof That He and I Fought Side by Side!
"Knew you wouldn't be able to hold back, Finesse."
Up in the helicopter, Karl watched his own youngest sister suddenly shout "henshin!" and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"That's more like it!"
Latir Wein, watching the same scene from the same helicopter, held the exact opposite attitude entirely.
"Who cares about some campus queen contest? This is exactly the moment to show off the soul of a HERO in full force!"
If Karl remembered correctly, his own eldest sister had won the freshman campus queen title two years ago, and had beaten Kaiba Chiha in the free-for-all duel on her way to the crown.
"Sis, then how come I never saw you transform when you competed that year?"
You'd dutifully worn your school uniform the whole way through, and now here you were cheering your own little sister on for doing something this ridiculous.
"Because I don't measure up to Finesse." Latir admitted honestly.
"When it comes to the soul of a HERO, our little sister is the one with the most conviction in the whole Wein family. Just watch, Karl. Finesse is going to become strong. She's going to become a HERO stronger than anyone."
Karl didn't answer, just looked quietly down from the sky.
Measuring someone's HERO soul by how much they embraced this whole chuunibyou HERO getup? Karl couldn't really get behind his own eldest sister's logic there.
But this time, Karl didn't mock or push back the way he usually would either.
Because ever since dueling Amano Rei, and feeling for himself what it meant to have the resolve to become a HERO, Karl had found, to his own surprise, that the idea of transforming didn't feel quite so hard to accept anymore.
Caught in the middle between his eldest sister and his youngest, the second sibling hadn't so much awakened the soul of a HERO as gotten thoroughly contaminated by the family atmosphere.
Karl could feel himself getting more chuunibyou by the second. "Burn bright, Finesse, just like your own name!"
Having completed her transformation to gasps from the entire crowd, Finesse officially began her turn.
"My turn, draw!"
Post-transformation, even the sheer presence behind her draw felt like an entirely different person.
The scene brought Amano Rei's mind back to the very first time he'd ever met his lady, that Dark Game in the back alleys of District 11.
Back then, Finesse's sudden, unannounced transformation had nearly sent Amano Rei, peeking from behind a wall, curling his toes hard enough to dig a hole clean through the floor from sheer secondhand embarrassment.
But now, watching Finesse transform on stage in front of tens of thousands of spectators, all Amano Rei felt was genuine admiration for his lady's courage and conviction.
"During my Standby Phase, I activate Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer and Drawguy's own effects, reviving them from my Graveyard and Special Summoning them to my field!"
Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer revived through its own undying effect. And Drawguy, blown up alongside it the previous turn, Special Summoned itself through its own effect as well.
[Activate during the next Standby Phase after this card is sent to the Graveyard. Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If this card leaves the field, its Special Summoning through this effect is banished from continuing to trigger.]
"And when Drawguy is Special Summoned by the effect of a 'HERO' monster, both players each draw 1 card from their Deck!"
A bullet of light shaped like the letter "D," representing the power of destiny itself, fired toward both Finesse's and Nanki'in's Decks, letting each of them draw one.
Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer might be completely countered by Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying, but it was still indirectly keeping Swordsoul Grandmaster - Chixiao in check.
Nanki'in Sakuya couldn't just casually hand over Chixiao's once-per-turn negation. She had to wait for Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer to activate its effect first, or risk getting chain-destroyed by the Phoenix instead.
It was precisely because she'd read Nanki'in Sakuya's own hesitation so well that Finesse's board development here felt this fearless.
"I activate the Spell Card Monster Reborn, reviving Destiny HERO - Disk Commander from my Graveyard, then draw 2 more cards!"
Drawguy, Disk Commander, Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer. Finesse's field now had a full three HERO monsters assembled.
"It's my turn to fight back, Nanki'in Sakuya. I'll use this powerful card, the one Amano personally handed me, to bring you to justice!"
"Amano... personally handed you a powerful card?" This time it was Nanki'in Sakuya's turn to have something complicated flash across her eyes.
Finesse raised the Destiny card high to show it off. But rather than flinging it toward the back row of her Duel Disk, she placed it directly on top of her own Deck instead.
Finesse declared, excited, "This is our D-Force!"
[D-Force] [Spell Card: Place this card face-up on top of your Deck. While this card remains face-up on top of your Deck, you cannot draw during your Draw Phase.]
That was the anime version of D-Force's entire effect, in full: place the card on top of your Deck, then you can't draw during your own Draw Phase.
The card Finesse had just activated left every single person in the crowd completely stunned.
What kind of powerful card was that supposed to be?
Wasn't that just a pure, unfiltered self-sabotage effect?
"Beautifully played, class rep!" Kozuka Yoka's admiration only grew.
"Feeding the other side a self-sabotage card like that on purpose, and having her actually fall for it, that's the move of a mastermind! You're really going all out for class rep's win, aren't you!"
Kozuka... you're wronging me again.
This genuinely wasn't a self-sabotage card. Especially not with Finesse's field already stacked with three monsters.
Nanki'in Sakuya, not yet realizing just how bad the situation had gotten, hadn't stepped in to stop it in time, and after this, there'd be no chance left to stop it at all.
Draped in her HERO costume, cape billowing across the stage, Finesse swept a slender arm across the three monster cards on her Duel Disk.
"I release Destiny HERO - Drawguy, Disk Commander, and Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer as tributes, and Special Summon my strongest D!"
"Strongest D?" The crowd's attention snapped right back to Finesse's next move.
"Using three monsters as tributes for a Summon, shouldn't that be a god card?"
"Could that monster actually rival the gods in raw power?"
The three released HERO monsters on Finesse's field dissolved into a pool of crimson mist, awakening the strongest form of Destiny HERO amid a burst of scarlet special effects.
"With the strongest power of destiny, bring an end to all fate itself!"
"The ultimate D! Special Summon! Destiny HERO - Bloo-D!"
[Destiny HERO - Bloo-D] [Level 8 DARK]
[Warrior/Special Summon/Effect]
[ATK: 1900] [DEF: 600]
[This card cannot be Normal Summoned. Can only be Special Summoned by releasing 3 monsters you control.]
A form surging up out of a crimson pool gathering the power of three destinies as one.
Spreading wings even more massive than a demon's own, the ultimate Destiny HERO rose slowly from the scarlet pool, taking flight across the light-drenched stage.
This was currently the strongest finisher in Finesse's deck, and one of the classic faces of the entire HERO series. Not a god card, sure, but against Nanki'in Sakuya's own Level 10 Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying, it carried a presence more intimidating than any god.
Finesse's leather-gloved fingers slammed Bloo-D's card down onto her Duel Disk, then swept her arm forward, pointing straight at Nanki'in Sakuya's field.
"Destiny HERO - Bloo-D's effect, activate!"
[Target 1 monster your opponent controls and equip it to this card (only 1 monster can be equipped this way per turn). This card's ATK increases by half the equipped monster's ATK, and this card gains that monster's effects.]
"Destiny HERO - Bloo-D, absorb Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying and make it your own equip card. Take on all of Chengying's power, and rise above it!"
"Coagulated Blood: Plunder of Destiny!"
A surge of scarlet blood power lunged straight at the Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign standing on Nanki'in Sakuya's field.
"I banish the Trap Card Swordsoul Pursuit from my hand, activating Swordsoul Grandmaster - Chixiao's effect to negate Destiny HERO - Bloo-D's effect!"
"Your struggling isn't going to help you anymore, Nanki'in Sakuya!"
Having activated Chixiao's once-per-turn negation effect, Nanki'in Sakuya had a card banished from her hand as the cost, but it still hadn't stopped Bloo-D's absorption.
Finesse raised her Duel Disk arm, showing off the D-Force sitting on top of her Deck.
"With this card in play, my Bloo-D is an unstoppable, complete form!"
[While "D-Force" is face-up on top of your Deck, negate the effects of all face-up Effect Monsters your opponent controls, and any Spell/Trap Card your opponent activates that targets a card you control has its activation and effect negated and destroyed.]
The anime version of Bloo-D could only unleash its one-sided Skill Drain-style negation, shutting down every monster on Nanki'in Sakuya's field, once D-Force was sitting on top of the Deck.
It also granted Finesse's entire field immunity: any time one of her own cards was targeted by an opposing Spell or Trap, that Spell or Trap would simply be negated and destroyed outright.
The Fusion Academy students, deflated and on the back foot just a turn ago, straightened right back up.
"A triple lockdown across monsters, Spells, and Traps!"
"A card that strong genuinely deserves to be treated like a god card, using three monsters as tribute like that!"
"The tide's turned now! Go, Lady Finesse!"
Unable to stop Bloo-D's absorption effect, Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying vanished from Nanki'in Sakuya's field, transformed into an equip card floating above Bloo-D's massive, terrifying demon wings.
"Bloo-D's ATK rises by half of Swordsoul Supreme Sovereign - Chengying's own ATK!"
[Destiny HERO - Bloo-D] [ATK: 1900 to 3400]
"And it gains the entirety of Chengying's own effects!"
Chengying's first effect raised its own ATK and lowered the opponent's ATK based on the number of banished cards.
Between the two sides, six cards had been banished in total so far.
"Bloo-D's ATK rises by 600, and Swordsoul Grandmaster - Chixiao and Sky Striker Ace - Raye's ATK both drop by 600!"
[Swordsoul Grandmaster - Chixiao] [ATK: 2800 to 2200]
[Sky Striker Ace - Raye] [ATK: 1500 to 900]
[Destiny HERO - Bloo-D] [ATK: 3400 to 4000]
At 4000 ATK, Bloo-D now rivaled the standard 4000-ATK line set by the Egyptian Gods and the polar gods, the very benchmark for god-card power.
"Nanki'in Sakuya, this Destiny HERO - Bloo-D and D-Force combo is the burning hot passion between Amano and me! It's proof of every battle we've ever fought side by side. Don't you dare try to muscle in on it!"
Amano Rei shuddered.
Women fighting is terrifying.
You two are the ones dueling, so why do I keep getting dragged into it?
Nanki'in Sakuya said, "When the Trap Card Swordsoul Pursuit is banished, its effect can activate."
[Activate when this card is banished. Special Summon 1 "Swordsoul Token" (Wyrm/Tuner/WATER/Level 4/ATK 0/DEF 0) to your field.]
"I Special Summon a Swordsoul Token in Defense Position."
"Let's fight, Destiny HERO - Bloo-D!" Finesse declared she was entering the Battle Phase.
A HERO's claw at 4000 ATK crashed down on the 2200-ATK Swordsoul Grandmaster - Chixiao.
"Blood-Colored Terror!"
[Swordsoul Grandmaster - Chixiao, destroyed]
Nanki'in Sakuya LP: 4000 to 2200
Watching Chixiao get pulverized into a mist of blood in a single strike, something wavered in Nanki'in Sakuya's dark brown eyes for the first time in this entire duel.
"Proof of fighting side by side..." Nanki'in Sakuya murmured. "Is this monster proof that Amano and Finesse Wein once fought side by side too?"
The lady wasn't wrong, honestly. The very first time Bloo-D had ever been Summoned, it had been during that Dark Riding Duel against the Earthbound God, when Amano Rei and Finesse had struck as one, souls in perfect resonance.
Bloo-D, even back then, without D-Force's support, had absorbed a god card the very instant it hit the field.
And now, paired with D-Force, it carried a one-sided Skill Drain-style negation that couldn't even be targeted by Spells or Traps.
On top of that, having absorbed Chengying, whenever it was destroyed, it could now banish a card from the Graveyard instead, and in the process, banish one card each from the opponent's field and Graveyard besides.
Not even a god card showing up here would be guaranteed to have this level of resistance and dominance.
"It's not over yet!" Finesse was already reaching for a Quick-Play Spell to add another attack, but Nanki'in Sakuya flipped up her set card the very instant Chixiao was destroyed.
"Trap Card, Synchro Legacy! When a Synchro Monster is destroyed, end this turn's Battle Phase!"
The forced end of the Battle Phase this turn crushed Finesse's plan for a follow-up assault, but the lady still flung the Quick-Play Spell in her hand anyway.
"Quick-Play Spell Card, Infiltration Fusion, activates whenever a monster is destroyed by battle this turn!"
Finesse hand-fused three cards at once.
"I fuse Destiny HERO - Captain Tenacious, Doom Lord, and Dunker from my hand!"
A triple Destiny HERO fusion. Had Nanki'in Sakuya not forced the Battle Phase to end, Finesse had actually planned to fuse Vision HERO Trinity instead, recreating the exact comeback fusion she and Amano Rei had once pulled off together against the Puppeteer, back in their very first battle as partners.
But now there was an even better option available. There was no shortage of proof, after all, of everything she and Amano had fought through together.
"Break free of destiny's chains, and take command of fate's own path! Triple Destiny Fusion!"
"Fusion Summon! Destiny HERO - Dominance!"
[Destiny HERO - Dominance] [Level 10 DARK]
[Warrior/Fusion/Effect]
[ATK: 2900] [DEF: 2600]
["Destiny HERO" monster x3]
A Level 10 Fusion Summon that could only be completed with three Destiny HERO monsters. Draped in armor stamped with the letter D, blade of steel in hand, Dominance tore through a spiraling burst of Fusion effects and touched down heavily on Finesse's field.
"Nanki'in Sakuya, you were once someone I idolized and imitated, I have to admit that much. But after meeting Amano, I finally understood, I never needed to imitate anyone. I never needed to disguise myself as anyone else."
"My mother once told me: I am who I am."
Peering down the path of destiny itself, only then did she truly understand who she was.
"Destiny HERO - Dominance's effect, see through fate itself!"
[Activate during your Main Phase. Look at the top 5 cards of your Deck or your opponent's Deck, then return them to the top of the Deck in any order you choose.]
"I'm reading the top 5 cards of your Deck, Nanki'in Sakuya!"
Born from the fusion of three Destiny HEROes, Dominance carried an effect perfectly suited to its name, dominating destiny itself.
The top 5 cards of Nanki'in Sakuya's Deck displayed themselves through the Duel Disk's own projection, arranged neatly in front of Finesse's eyes, visible from an angle only she could see.
"Huh?" After finishing a look through Nanki'in Sakuya's five cards, Finesse tilted her head, confused, her expression suspicious. "This is really the deck Amano helped you tune?"
Because among those five cards, Finesse had spotted one that was, frankly, completely unusable as things stood.
If it had really been Amano Rei's work, there was no way he'd have made a rookie mistake like that.
"You really were lying to me, you sneaky Nanki'in!"
Finesse decisively rearranged that "completely unusable" card right onto the very top of the Deck.
"I set two cards. Turn end!"
Having rearranged the order of Nanki'in Sakuya's Deck, Finesse set her last two remaining hand cards face down.
With D-Force sitting on top of her own Deck, unable to draw at all, that was the entire extent of the resources Finesse had left to work with.
"Uh oh, class rep's getting locked down." Kozuka Yoka said, "I take back what I said about that card being a self-sabotage move! Class rep, how could you hand over a card that strong!"
"What I'm actually curious about is what Finesse said just now." Amano Rei changed the subject.
What exactly had Finesse seen, after rearranging that card's order, that made her so sure Nanki'in Sakuya had been lying to her?
He was pretty sure he hadn't put anything particularly strange into his class rep's deck.
"My turn, draw!"
Nanki'in Sakuya drew her card.
In truth, she'd already known exactly which card Finesse had been talking about, even before she drew.
That card was one she'd added to her own deck entirely on her own initiative, without asking anyone.
That card was also proof that she and Amano Rei had fought side by side.
But Nanki'in Sakuya had no intention of being some mascot class rep who relied on Amano Rei for everything. As the young head of the Nanki'in family, she hadn't gotten to where she was standing today purely on Amano Rei's back either.
"Finesse Wein, that card really wasn't put in my deck by Amano." Nanki'in Sakuya admitted it honestly.
"But it's proof of my own resolve. I'll prove it to everyone watching: he wasn't wrong to choose me!"
"Huh? Ch, choose you?"
The card in Nanki'in Sakuya's hand, Sky Striker Mobilize - Linkage, was also the exact card that had once let Amano Rei help her turn around a losing Dark Game.
This card's effect Link Summoned a Sky Striker monster, but in a duel field with no Extra Monster Zone, it should have been completely unusable.
And yet Nanki'in Sakuya hadn't simply treated the card as a mascot, keeping it in her deck out of sentiment despite having no way to use it whatsoever.
She'd actually managed it once before.
After awakening to a Link-focused deck, she hadn't just resigned herself to doing nothing about it. Instead, she'd used the Nanki'in family's own intelligence network to dig into the origins and history of Link Summoning in the Top Layer.
Two hundred years ago, before Link Summoning fell out of practice, duel arenas in the Middle District had once been fully capable of Link Summoning too.
The proof was Amano Rei himself, who had also managed to create an Extra Monster Zone that reached toward the future, in a duel field with no such zone to begin with.
"By connecting a portion of one's own consciousness to Eva's network, one gains the opportunity to Link Summon. The more of that consciousness merges into the network, the more Link Summons become possible."
This was the conclusion the Nanki'in family's own intelligence network had uncovered about Link Summoning in the Top Layer.
Link Summoning could only be activated at the cost of one's own consciousness merging with Eva's network.
No wonder duelists who used Link Summoning always carried a hard cap on how many times they could do it. Historically, even the duelist with the highest recorded count had only ever managed six Link Summons in a single duel.
Use it too many times, and your consciousness would merge too deeply with Eva's network, to the point where it might never come back at all.
It was a genuinely dangerous thing to attempt, but out of hundreds of practice attempts, Nanki'in Sakuya had succeeded exactly once. Even with only a single Link Summon's worth of opportunity, it was a power worth gambling on, one that transcended its own era entirely.
Nanki'in Sakuya pinched the card Sky Striker Mobilize - Linkage between her fingers, holding it upright in front of her forehead, her dark brown eyes narrowing slightly.
"Wait, little Sakuya, is she really planning to!" As her mother, there was no way Yukihime hadn't noticed what Sakuya had been secretly studying in her own family's dojo lately. "Trying it out now, of all times? Isn't that a little too reckless?"
Even having only succeeded once across hundreds of attempts, based on Nanki'in Sakuya's own extensive experience reading passionate battle manga, a gamble like this, attempted at exactly the right dramatic moment, would surely succeed at a rate of nothing less than one thousand percent.
The next instant, holding the card upright, Nanki'in Sakuya opened her dark brown eyes once more, and this time, faint traces of pale blue data could already be seen flickering across her pupils.
Connecting her own consciousness with Eva's network!
"Open!"
As Nanki'in Sakuya's consciousness successfully connected, at the very center of the dueling field, the radiant blue light of data representing the Extra Monster Zone reaching toward the future surged outward, and both Duel Disks expanded in that same instant.
"H, how did you even pull that off?" Even Amano Rei was caught off guard.
His own ability to create an Extra Monster Zone came from a system skill boosting him.
Wait, class rep, do you have a skill too?
"It worked." Watching the blue data light flow past her own eyes, Nanki'in Sakuya knew she'd actually done it.
Unlike Amano Rei, who could perform multiple Link Summons in a single duel once his Extra Monster Zone was created, the depth of her own consciousness's connection to Eva's network only allowed for a single Link Summon at most.
But that one, single connection was also her chance to turn this whole duel around.
"Betting everything I have, I'll forge the blade that cuts down the strongest fate there is! Spell Card, Cost Reduction: discard any number of cards from my hand, lowering a monster on my field's Level by that same number!"
Nanki'in Sakuya sent Sky Striker Ace - Roze from her hand to the Graveyard.
"I discard 1 card from my hand, lowering the Level of my Sky Striker Ace - Raye on the field by 1 Level!"
[Sky Striker Ace - Raye] [Level 4 to Level 3]
On Nanki'in Sakuya's field, alongside Raye, sat a Level 4 Tuner Swordsoul Token, Special Summoned the previous turn when Swordsoul Pursuit had been banished.
"I'll tune the Level 4 Tuner Swordsoul Token with the Level 3 Sky Striker Ace - Raye."
The Swordsoul Token wasn't limited to Synchro Summoning only Swordsoul cards. It could also work alongside another entire archetype in Nanki'in Sakuya's Extra Deck.
Power inherited from the Nanki'in family itself. Even though the deck it belonged to had since passed to Yukki, the mark it had left behind in the Extra Deck hadn't vanished with it.
3 plus 4 equals 7!
"Play the song that guides lost souls onward, a hundred demon flames burning bright, and with this blade, cut down every last demon god and every last fate!"
"Synchro Summon to the Extra Monster Zone! Shiranui Squiresaga!"
[Shiranui Squiresaga] [Level 7 FIRE]
[Undead/Synchro/Effect]
[ATK: 2100] [DEF: 0]
A young swordswoman bearing a naginata drew a burning demon blade from within the Synchro flame, materializing and taking her stand atop the surging data of the Extra Monster Zone.
Blue light still flickering across her eyes, Nanki'in Sakuya spoke slowly. "This, too, is proof that he and I fought side by side."
The very first time Amano Rei, in spirit form, had stood beside Nanki'in Sakuya to face down Onikiri in that Dark Game, the monster Amano had Synchro Summoned had been this exact card, Shiranui Squiresaga.
Back then, Amano Rei's own decisive strike had shattered the world itself, destroying Sin - World, clearing out every Sin monster on Onikiri's field, and successfully saving her own life from certain death.
Now, it was her turn to use this same blade to cut down fate itself.
"I'll prove I deserve to have him go this far for me!"
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