Chapter 182: The Unbreakable Strongest Wicked God [2-in-1]
"Why. Why is she."
In Middle School Third Year Class 7, the entire room had gone still around the broadcast screen. The loudest silence was coming from the front row.
Amano Shio stared at the face on the screen. The face she recognized. The face that had been in her dormitory on weekends and at her side for longer than she could easily measure.
"Why is Shiyue the one doing the Dark Game? She called in sick today."
The shock was too large to process cleanly. Some part of it had already converted into anger, and her ocean-blue magical energy was responding to that anger, rising around her without her directing it.
"Some dark duelist got to her. Took control of her. I will not forgive this."
On the rooftop, the situation had no patience for misunderstandings.
Shiyue LP: 4500.
The black liquid from the Wicked Avatar above continued spreading outward, the Divine Grace LP recovery from last turn having already pushed the barrier's reach further into the buildings surrounding the hospital. People were running, scattering in whatever direction took them away from the encroaching dark tide.
"She built LP recovery directly into the dark game's mechanics."
The previous Wicked God duel had already demonstrated how difficult an LP recovery strategy was to deal with. Shiyue had compounded that problem considerably.
Not a moment to waste. Amano controlled Finesse's hand, pulled the next card down, and committed.
"I Normal Summon Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude in Attack Position!"
Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude. Level 4, DARK, Warrior/Effect. ATK: 1400. DEF: 1600.
One of the signature low-level Destiny HEROes of Finesse's deck, Diamond Dude snapped into a combat stance beside the newly revived Dasher, facets catching the dark red ambient light.
"Diamond Dude's effect: I reveal the top card of my Deck. If it is a Normal Spell, it is sent to the Graveyard and its effect activates at my next Standby Phase."
The card flipped. The image that appeared in the diamond's reflective surface was the shape of a cross.
Monster Reborn. A Normal Spell. Diamond Dude sent it to the Graveyard, flagging it for the next turn.
Finesse's fingers slid across the field and stacked the two Monster Zones.
"I overlay Level 4 Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude and Level 4 Destiny HERO - Dasher to build the Xyz network!"
"Still no Fusion?" Shiyue made a face.
Amano would have preferred to Fusion Summon. That was simply the reality. Finesse's deck had a limited number of Fusion-related Spell Cards, and drawing one on opening hand was not guaranteed. This was precisely where Xyz Summons had their advantage: two Level 4 monsters, any Level 4 warriors, stackable without specific support.
If Karl's cards had not been in the deck this opening, Amano honestly was not sure how he would have been handling this hand.
"Ten thousand swords' worth of soul, gathered here. The weight of a thousand battles, forged into a crown!"
Ruined blades surfaced from the black fluid around them, merging into a single massive sword as the Xyz light poured down. A crown of steel hammered itself into shape from the overlay energy.
"Xyz Summon. Rank 4."
"Heroic Champion - Excalibur!"
Heroic Champion - Excalibur. Rank 4, LIGHT, Warrior/Xyz/Effect. ATK: 2000. DEF: 2000. Overlay Materials: 2 Level 4 Warrior monsters.
The holy blade pulled itself from the black fluid, its silver light completely at odds with the dark atmosphere of the surrounding barrier. Karl's second card, placed into the Extra Deck alongside Gandiva.
"Battle Phase!"
It was counterintuitive by any conventional read of the matchup. A HERO deck deploying two Heroic Champion Xyz monsters before a single Fusion Summon had appeared. The field Amano had assembled was unconventional in every sense, and he was throwing it directly at Shiyue without hesitation.
Heroic Champion - Gandiva charged first.
Mounted, bow raised, the rider fixed on Shiyue's Phantom Musketeer still sitting in Defense Position.
"Gandiva attacks Phantom Musketeer!"
"Path of Glory!"
The arrow's golden trace cut through the dark air cleanly, punched straight through the Musketeer's defensive posture, and scattered it.
Phantom Musketeer: destroyed.
"And Heroic Champion - Excalibur attacks Eye Sorceress - Mognasiu!"
The Eye Sorceress had 2100 DEF. Excalibur had 2000 ATK. On raw numbers it was not getting through. But during damage calculation, detaching both Xyz Materials doubled Excalibur's ATK to 4000.
Shiyue clicked her tongue.
"Eye Sorceress - Mognasiu's effect activates when attacked: banish 1 'Mystic Eye' Spell Card from my Graveyard to negate this attack."
The banished Mystic Eye formed a wall of broken time, intercepting the silver blade and dissolving its trajectory.
Excalibur's attack: negated.
It appeared that the generous front armor of the Eye Sorceress came with practical defensive applications as well. Eve would have had strong opinions.
"I Set one more card face-down. Turn end."
Two Set cards now behind Amano's field. The turn went to Shiyue.
"My turn. Draw!"
Two cards, courtesy of the Time-Splitting Mystic Eye's effect. One draw activation. Divine Grace responded.
Shiyue LP: 4500 to 5000.
The half-point gain was modest. Its effect on the barrier was not. Another section of mid-level district buildings disappeared beneath the black flood, the spread accelerating with each recovery.
"This turn's Normal Summon: I Normal Summon my second Phantom Musketeer!"
The blue-winged Fiend materialized again, and exactly as before, its Summon effect triggered: it could Special Summon Musketeer Tokens up to the number of monsters Shiyue controlled. Two monsters, two tokens.
Amano could see the calculation before it finished. Shiyue was already at the Wicked Avatar in hand, two Normal Summons available per turn from the Mystic Eye, and now headed toward three available tributes again.
"Not going through. I detach Destiny HERO - Drill Guy as Xinyi's last Xyz Material. Heroic Champion - Gandiva's effect activates!"
"Arrows of Ten Thousand Armies!"
The destruction of two Level 4-or-lower Special Summoned monsters. Gandiva's bow found both tokens simultaneously and brought them down.
Musketeer Token: destroyed.
Musketeer Token: destroyed.
Shiyue's expression had shed its earlier amusement entirely. The irritation was visible.
"Fine. You win. I give up on Tribute Summoning the evil god."
"They are just giving up?" Finesse's voice carried something that wanted to be relief.
"Finesse. If you believe that, you might as well believe I am an ancient pharaoh."
A pause.
"I believe you are an ancient pharaoh."
"Wonderful support, Finesse."
Shiyue had said she was giving up on Tribute Summoning. She had said nothing about summoning the Wicked Avatar by other means.
A Spell Card went into her Duel Disk.
"Spell Card, Monster Gate!"
Monster Gate: Tribute 1 monster you control; excavate cards from the top of your Deck until you reveal a Normal-Summonable monster, then Special Summon it. All other revealed cards go to the Graveyard.
"I Tribute Eye Sorceress - Mognasiu and begin excavating from my Deck!"
Amano felt it immediately. A Special Summon through Monster Gate bypassed the Tribute requirements entirely. And through excavation, whatever was on top of the Deck came up.
The Wicked Avatar could not be Tribute Summoned on this field. Monster Gate looked for anything it could Normal Summon. The Avatar was not normally summonable either, which meant it should have been a dead draw...
Unless it was already on top.
"In response to Monster Gate's activation, I chain my Set Trap Card, Pot of Humility!"
Pot of Humility. Trap Card: Select 1 card from your hand and place it at the top or bottom of your Deck.
Shiyue showed her hand. The card she had been holding since the opening draw sat there, undeniable: the Wicked Avatar, in her possession from Turn 1.
She had never needed the Tributes to begin with. The Tribute plan had been misdirection.
"Per Pot of Humility, I place Wicked Avatar from my hand to the top of my Deck. And now Monster Gate begins excavating from the top."
One flip. One card.
Shiyue's smile reached its most unpleasant point.
"I wonder what I will excavate. How exciting."
The top card of her Deck was the Wicked Avatar. It always was going to be.
From above the rooftop, the black sun that had been hanging in the sky throughout the duel slowly descended. The Wicked Avatar was no longer maintaining its distant position. It was coming down to the field.
Shiyue's voice dropped into something ritual.
"All living things as the vessel. The true god as the sacrifice."
"False creation. In this shadow's reach, every deity becomes your emissary."
"Special Summon. The strongest Wicked God. Wicked Avatar."
The Wicked Avatar settled onto the field. ATK and DEF: unknown. Question marks where values should have been.
"What are the ATK and DEF?" Finesse asked.
The black sun transformed. It took shape.
"Wicked Avatar's effect." Shiyue placed the card into the Duel Disk. "This card's ATK and DEF are permanently equal to the highest ATK or DEF value among all other monsters on the field, plus one."
The current highest value on the field was Heroic Champion - Gandiva, sitting at 2100 ATK.
The Wicked Avatar chose Gandiva's form. The same silhouette: mounted warrior, bow raised, ready to fire. Every detail preserved, including the bow and the horse's posture. But the color was absolute black, without any highlight or variation, the darkness of something from which no light returned.
Wicked Avatar. ATK: 2101.
"Since this was a Special Summon rather than a Tribute Summon, the Wicked Avatar cannot activate its full sealing effect. You can thank Karl Wein's card for that. Gandiva bought you exactly one breath."
Without Gandiva to block the tokens, the Wicked Avatar would have been Tribute Summoned, and for two full turns, Amano could not have activated a single Spell or Trap card. The small piece of Karl's foresight had closed that door.
The door to direct ATK victory was another matter.
"But the strongest Wicked God remains unbreakable regardless. From my hand, I activate Spell Card, Death-Praising Mystic Eye!"
Death-Praising Mystic Eye. Continuous Spell: For this duel, the following effects apply. The controller cannot activate monster effects from the hand. The controller's monsters may attack opposing monsters up to twice per turn. Battle damage dealt to the opponent by the controller's monsters is doubled.
The same structure as Time-Splitting Mystic Eye. Not a card effect applied to a monster. A rule change applied to the player. The Wicked Avatar was immune to card effects, but card effects that changed the rules of the duel itself worked differently.
"I switch Eye Sorceress - Mognasiu to Attack Position. Battle Phase!"
Mognasiu. ATK: 1500. Attack Position.
"Wicked Avatar, attack Heroic Champion - Gandiva!"
The black silhouette of a mounted archer drew a black bow and released a black arrow. One point of ATK advantage, closing the gap cleanly and fatally.
Heroic Champion - Gandiva: destroyed.
"And because of Death-Praising Mystic Eye, the battle damage you take is doubled. Which is to say: two whole points."
Amano LP: 4000 to 3998.
The Avatar's form shifted. Gandiva was gone from the field. The new highest value present was Eye Sorceress Mognasiu, whose DEF sat at 2100.
The Wicked Avatar assumed Mognasiu's form: the same flowing black robe, the same eye-mask, the same silhouette of a figure that had possessed considerable other visual features. Those features were now entirely replaced with flat black.
"Death-Praising Mystic Eye allows my monsters to attack twice. Continue!"
The black Mognasiu drove a fist toward Heroic Champion - Excalibur at 2000 ATK.
Amano stripped both Xyz Materials from Excalibur simultaneously.
"Heroic Champion - Excalibur's effect! Detach both Xyz Materials during damage calculation: ATK doubles to 4000!"
Excalibur. ATK: 2000 to 4000.
"Useless. Completely useless." Shiyue raised her arm. "When your ATK changes, the Wicked Avatar's ATK changes with it, and it is always one point higher."
The Avatar's response was instantaneous. Not a new activation, not something that could be chained against: a permanent effect continuously recalculating. As Excalibur's ATK climbed to 4000, the Avatar's ATK became 4001. The black silhouette abandoned Mognasiu's form and reshaped itself in the image of Excalibur, the holy blade replaced by an identical blade of absolute darkness.
Silver sword against black sword. They met in the air above the hospital rooftop with everything both cards had, the collision sending metal-on-metal sparks crackling outward.
The silver sword snapped.
Heroic Champion - Excalibur: destroyed.
Amano LP: 3998 to 3996.
Four damage total. The scores on the board were nearly unchanged. But both of Amano's field monsters were gone, and the point was not the numbers.
The point was simple: no matter how high an ATK climbed, the Wicked Avatar climbed one point above it. Real-time. Unchainable. Permanent. There was no ceiling. Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, if it were standing here with its full 3000 ATK and the ability to double that in battle, would still lose by one point. Every monster in existence that relied on ATK superiority to win a battle faced the same answer from the Wicked Avatar.
One point above. Every time. Without exception.
That was what an unbreakable thing looked like.
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