Chapter 183: Take Hold of Your Destiny
There was no ATK value Amano could reach that the Wicked Avatar could not exceed by one point the instant he reached it. Doubling Heroic Champion - Excalibur's ATK to 4000 had accomplished nothing except reducing the damage he took from 2 to a number that was technically smaller. The doubling had not been a strategy. It had been arithmetic on the way to losing.
With Amano's field now empty, Shiyue pressed forward.
"You have nothing left out there, and I still have Eye Sorceress - Mognasiu. The situation has flipped."
She directed her hand forward and sent the Mystic Witch charging.
"Eye Sorceress - Mognasiu, direct attack!"
"Crushing Mystic Eye!"
The spell-blast hit center mass. The Dark Game's feedback system translated the impact as heat through every nerve in Finesse's body, and Amano had to force himself upright through it.
Amano LP: 3996 to 2496.
The one silver lining: the Death-Praising Mystic Eye's damage doubling only applied to battle between monsters. Direct attack damage was not affected.
Amano pushed himself to standing and flipped the Set card beneath his feet.
"Trap Card, Damage Gate!"
Damage Gate. Trap Card: When you take battle damage, Special Summon 1 monster from your Graveyard with ATK equal to or less than the battle damage taken.
"I just took 1500 battle damage. I Special Summon Destiny HERO - Diamond Dude from my Graveyard in Defense Position!"
Diamond Dude: DEF 1600. Defense Position.
The faceted warrior rose from the Graveyard in a low defensive stance, an imperfect wall standing between Amano and Shiyue's next move.
"Keep showing everyone in Eden your pointless struggle, Amano Rei."
Shiyue set her remaining hand into the back row.
"I set two cards. Turn end."
"My turn. Draw."
Amano pulled the card, felt the black flood expanding further beneath his feet, and made his decision.
"I activate the effect of Destiny HERO - Dasher from the Graveyard! When sent to the Graveyard, this card Special Summons itself at the next Standby Phase. Both players draw one card."
The gunslinger materialized on the field beside Diamond Dude, and the draw trigger split between both Duel Disks.
Shiyue reached up to receive her card, voice cheerful.
"Thank you for the gift, Amano-nii."
Shiyue LP: 5000 to 5500.
The black liquid had already swallowed the entire medical district's surrounding blocks. It was now pushing outward toward Academy City.
Amano could only hope the people in the academic district were evacuating while the barrier still had room between its edge and the buildings. He had no time to stop and consider it further.
"I activate Spell Card, Destiny Draw. I discard Destiny HERO - Decider from my hand and draw two cards from my Deck."
Three draws combined. Somewhere in those three cards the hand he needed to fight this duel had to exist. He spread the new cards, assessed, and let out a breath he had not fully realized he was holding.
Diamond Dude was still on the field in Defense. He activated its effect a second time.
"Diamond Dude's effect. I reveal the top card of my Deck and send it to the Graveyard if it is a Normal Spell, scheduling its activation for my next Standby Phase."
The flip came up.
Grand Fusion.
Another spell queued for the future. He filed the information away and moved.
"And from last turn's Diamond Dude activation: Monster Reborn activates from the Graveyard at this Standby Phase!"
"Spell Card, Polymerization! I fuse Diamond Dude and Dasher on the field with Destiny HERO - Disk Commander from my hand!"
Three materials. Three HERO monsters feeding into the Fusion spiral. The combination hit differently now than it would have at the start of this duel: not just a Fusion Summon, but the result of every card that had survived from before this moment.
"Tear through the darkness, massive phantom. With supreme power, shatter what is evil. Open the path to victory!"
"Fusion Summon! Phantom Hero - Trinity!"
Phantom Hero - Trinity. Level 8, DARK, Warrior/Fusion/Effect.
ATK: 2500. DEF: 2000.
Materials: 3 HERO monsters.
Cannot attack directly. During the turn it is Fusion Summoned, its ATK doubles. In a single Battle Phase, it can attack up to three times.
The armored giant crashed down onto the black-flooded rooftop with enough weight to send ripples through the dark liquid around it.
"Phantom Hero - Trinity's effect! On the turn it is Fusion Summoned, ATK doubles!"
Trinity. ATK: 2500 to 5000.
"Pointless." Shiyue's tone had not changed. "Even at five thousand, the Wicked Avatar becomes 5001."
Wicked Avatar. ATK: 5001.
"I am not done yet. Last turn's Diamond Dude scheduled Monster Reborn. Monster Reborn activates and Special Summons Heroic Champion - Excalibur from the Graveyard!"
Heroic Champion - Excalibur returned to the field, ATK 2000.
"That two-thousand card does absolutely nothing. The Avatar could step on it."
"What if I combine them?"
Amano took the Excalibur card from its Monster Zone and pushed it directly into the Spell and Trap Zone.
"I activate Heroic Champion - Excalibur's second effect!"
Once per turn, during either Main Phase: target 1 other face-up monster you control; treat this card as an Equip Spell that increases that monster's ATK and DEF by 2000.
"I equip Heroic Champion - Excalibur to Phantom Hero - Trinity! Draw the legendary blade, hero of heroes!"
In the mythology from which the name came, the sword had been the proof of a kingdom. Here it fell into Trinity's grip as the result of a brother passing what he had to his sister, which perhaps served the same function.
Only the Wein family's combined effort made this particular combination possible.
"Trinity equipped with Excalibur. Total ATK: seven thousand."
Trinity. ATK: 7000.
"Seven thousand and one," Shiyue shot back immediately. "The Wicked Avatar mirrors the field and stays above it."
Wicked Avatar. ATK: 7001.
The Avatar had even taken the sword's form. The same silhouette as Trinity, down to the Excalibur in its grip. But the blade was black, the armor was black, every line of the copied image preserved in absolute darkness.
No one was going to beat the Avatar through raw ATK escalation. That door had been sealed the moment it arrived on the field.
But Mognasiu had not been updated. The Eye Sorceress was still standing in Attack Position with 1500 ATK, a number completely unrelated to anything the Wicked Avatar was doing.
"Battle Phase! Trinity, attack Eye Sorceress - Mognasiu!"
Trinity's great sword swung. The arc was enormous, the kind of blow that seemed to extend until the tip nearly brushed the top of the mid-level district's ceiling.
"Three Pledge Victory Blade!"
"Excellent." Shiyue looked up at the falling light without flinching. "A dramatic reversal like this, landing in front of all of Eden. It will fill people with hope."
The blade descended.
"Which is precisely why, when that hope becomes despair, the despair will be so much larger."
From the black fluid under Shiyue's feet, a Set card turned up. A blue shield surfaced and interposed itself directly in the sword's path.
"Trap Card, Draining Shield!"
Draining Shield. Trap Card: Negate 1 attacking monster's attack; the controller gains LP equal to that monster's ATK.
The shield held. The seven-thousand-point blade stopped dead against it.
Amano felt it before the number even resolved.
He had been prepared for Mirror Force. He had been prepared for Magical Cylinder. He had thought about Decoy Dragon and every negation trap Shiyue might have reasonably been holding. Of every card that could have been buried under those black pools, Draining Shield was the one he had not wanted to see.
Because Magical Cylinder would have reflected the damage back. His Disk Commander in the Graveyard carried an effect that reduced effect damage to zero. He had been counting on that possibility as a soft out to some of the worst-case traps.
Draining Shield did not reflect anything. It absorbed.
Shiyue LP: 5500 to 12500.
Seven thousand Life Points. Gone into her reserves in a single activation. The Wicked Avatar's black liquid responded as if it had been waiting for exactly this much fuel. The slow spread that had been creeping outward became a surge, the kind of movement you saw in disaster footage, dark and total and indifferent to what was in its path.
The medical district was already gone. Academy City was next. The outer reaches of all three academy campuses were now inside the flood's projected path.
Shiyue activated a second Set card from the black flood.
"Quick-Play Spell, Mystic Orient Cauldron. I Tribute Eye Sorceress - Mognasiu and gain LP equal to her Defense: 2100."
Shiyue LP: 12500 to 14600.
With no valid targets remaining for Trinity's two unused attacks, and the Wicked Avatar sitting above every possible ATK value, Amano pulled back the remaining assault. There was nothing to gain from crashing Trinity into the Avatar and losing it. He Set one more card and passed.
Two Set cards in his back row. Turn end.
In the school nurse's office, the walls were no longer a safe distance from what was happening outside.
Sakuya stared at the window and made the calculation. If the liquid reached this floor, there would be no moving the unconscious body in the bed, not without help. The nurse had not returned. The other students had started evacuating when the broadcast began.
"We have to go, Amano."
She reached down and gripped both of his arms. Pulling someone unconscious from a hospital bed and getting them onto your back was harder in practice than it sounded. Sakuya did it anyway through a combination of desperation and a survival reflex she had never previously been called upon to access at full capacity.
She made it through the nurse's office door and into the hallway on legs that were already starting to protest.
At the far end of the hallway, the wrong direction from the evacuation flow, the faces of Class 1-E came pushing against the tide.
"Class rep! Amano!" Kozuka Yoka had her head up above the crowd, shouting. "Are you okay?"
"You all." Sakuya had not expected them. "How did you..."
"How could we forget? You and Amano were still back there, we couldn't just run."
That was Class 1-E. Poor students by academic measure. Good people by every other measure that existed.
"What happened to Amano?"
"He is not feeling well. He passed out earlier." Sakuya's situational improvisation was the fastest she had ever thought in her life.
"Give him to me, class rep."
Fujiwara, who spent most of his class time thinking about his training regimen, came forward and lifted Amano out of Sakuya's arms entirely, cradling him with the confident ease of someone accustomed to moving weight.
"I have the best chest on this floor. I will get him to safety."
"Class rep, can you still run?"
"I am completely fine." Sakuya was, in fact, shaking slightly from the sudden expenditure of effort she had not realized she was physically capable of. But the survival instinct was still running hot and she would process that later.
"Then let's go, no more delays!"
Class 1-E turned around and rejoined the evacuation tide, carrying their own.
Sakuya followed, watching Amano's unconscious face in Fujiwara's arms as they ran.
Win this one too.
Shiyue's turn.
She drew her two cards, felt the Divine Grace trigger, and watched her LP climb further.
Shiyue LP: 14600 to 15100.
"Spell Card, Pot of Greed. Draw two more."
Shiyue LP: 15100 to 15600.
"I activate Spell Card, Embracing Sins Mystic Eye."
Embracing Sins Mystic Eye. Continuous Spell: For this duel, the following effects apply. The controller cannot activate hand monster effects. The controller may Summon Level 5 or higher monsters without Tributes. LP costs for Spell and Trap Card activations become zero. Note: these effects do not override written Tribute conditions on specific card text.
The Wicked Avatar's Tribute requirement was part of its card text. The Mystic Eye's blanket "no Tribute needed" could not override it.
"I Normal Summon Super Conductor Tyranno without Tribute!"
Super Conductor Tyranno. Level 8, LIGHT, Dinosaur/Effect. ATK: 3300. DEF: 1400.
An eight-star monster dropped onto the field without spending anything to get it there. Its ATK exceeded Blue-Eyes White Dragon by three hundred points. Under normal circumstances, that kind of presence would have completely reshaped the field.
The Wicked Avatar did not change its form.
Because Phantom Hero - Trinity, equipped with Heroic Champion - Excalibur, still held the highest combined ATK value on the field: 2500 base plus the Excalibur's 2000 bonus. The turn-of-Fusion-Summon doubling had expired, so Trinity's ATK was back to 2500. Total: 4500. Still higher than Super Conductor Tyranno's 3300.
Wicked Avatar. ATK: 4501.
"Crush the hero. Wicked Avatar, attack Phantom Hero - Trinity!"
The black Excalibur met the silver one. A single point of advantage. The silver sword broke.
Phantom Hero - Trinity: destroyed.
Amano LP: 2496 to 2494.
"Direct attack! Tyranno!"
"I activate my Set Trap Card."
The card Amano had been holding since the first turn. He had been waiting for something in Shiyue's Graveyard that he could copy. For the first two turns there had been nothing. Last turn, Draining Shield had gone in.
"Transaction Rollback."
Transaction Rollback. Trap Card: Pay half your LP; copy the activation effect of 1 Normal Trap Card in the opponent's Graveyard (other than Transaction Rollback itself).
"I target Draining Shield in your Graveyard. Half my LP first."
Amano LP: 2494 to 1247.
"I copy Draining Shield's effect: negate Super Conductor Tyranno's attack, and gain LP equal to its ATK."
Amano LP: 1247 to 4547.
Three thousand three hundred Life Points recovered in a single chain. On the D-Wheel weaving through the evacuation crowd several blocks away, Rin Seiya glanced at the broadcast screen projected from her Eva Terminal.
"His LP is higher than Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's ATK right now?"
The irony of the number was not lost. But LP totals were ultimately irrelevant when the Wicked Avatar's barrier kept expanding no matter how well Amano managed the game state. Staying alive was not the same as winning.
Shiyue watched her hand, then slid every remaining card into her Duel Disk face-down.
Amano set two more cards and passed.
There was one remaining tool Amano had been holding in reserve for the right moment. It was time.
"My turn. Draw. And I activate the Trap Card I Set earlier."
The last Set card in Amano's Spell and Trap Zone flipped up.
"Trap Card, Battle Line Return. I Special Summon Destiny HERO - Disk Commander from my Graveyard in Defense Position!"
Destiny HERO - Disk Commander. Defense Position.
"And when Disk Commander is Special Summoned from the Graveyard: I draw two cards."
Two more cards into the hand. Amano needed one specific piece from this deck. Everything was riding on finding it.
"And at my Standby Phase: Grand Fusion activates from the Graveyard, scheduled last turn by Diamond Dude!"
Grand Fusion. Normal Spell: Fuse Destiny HERO monsters from the Graveyard to Fusion Summon 1 Destiny HERO Fusion Monster.
"With Destiny HERO - Disk Commander, Destiny HERO - Malicious, and Destiny HERO - Dreamer as Fusion Materials from the Graveyard:"
"Break free from destiny's shackles. Govern destiny's course. Triple Destiny Fusion!"
"Fusion Summon! Destiny HERO - Dominance!"
Destiny HERO - Dominance. Level 10, DARK, Warrior/Fusion/Effect.
ATK: 2900. DEF: 2600.
Materials: 3 Destiny HERO monsters.
The armor was engraved with the letter D. The blade was enormous, made from fused steel rather than found. Destiny HERO - Dominance stepped out of the Fusion spiral onto a field that had been building toward this moment through twelve cards, two battles, three allied decks, and a duel that had started in a hospital stairwell against a dead man.
"I activate Malicious's Graveyard effect. When this card is sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon another Destiny HERO - Malicious from my Deck!"
A second copy of Malicious appeared alongside Dominance.
Two monsters. The field was populated again.
"Then: Destiny HERO - Dominance's first effect activates!"
During own Main Phase, once per turn: look at the top five cards of either player's Deck and rearrange them in any order.
"I look at the top five cards of my Deck."
Five cards lifted from the top of the deck and arranged themselves face-up in Amano's awareness, visible to him alone, the entire pivot of the duel compressed into what those five positions contained.
Finesse's voice arrived in his mind instantly.
"Amano. That card."
He looked at it. At what it could do. At what would have to happen for it to work.
"At this moment," Amano said, and he was talking to himself as much as to her, "take hold of your destiny."
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