Chapter 226
Final Battle had rewritten the rules of this duel. Life Points no longer mattered. Cards in hand and on the field had all been swept away. Within the storm wall that enclosed the ultimate arena, each player would send out a single monster. At the end of the turn, the player with a monster still standing would claim victory. No other path to winning remained.
As the initiator of the Trap, Chiaki could only select a monster already on her field.
"In the halls of victory, illuminate our win with the light of the azure abyss. Deep-Eyes White Dragon!"
Deep-Eyes White Dragon at 5000 attack. By any standard calculation, this was Chiaki's guaranteed endgame. Pulling a monster from the main deck that could be Special Summoned immediately and surpass 5000 attack was close to impossible.
Standing in the storm wall that Final Battle had built around them, Amano called out across the field.
"This is everything I have right now."
The moment Chiaki looked at his eyes, she admitted to herself: she was startled.
After everything this duel had thrown at both of them, the man in front of her had not given up. And those eyes, committed to staking everything, were more frightening now than they had been one second into any of the previous exchanges.
Occupation Entry: Deity Tamer.
This was the limit fate had staked everything on. The black storm swept upward into the sky, converging into a chilling spectacle.
"That is..."
"A black sun."
"Is that what Amano is Special Summoning from his deck?"
No one in Eden Tower would have failed to recognize that presence. The shadow it cast on everyone watching was heavier than any of the genuine God Cards. Which was why when someone in the crowd said "that's not a monster," they were not wrong.
Amano pulled the card from the deck the black storm had charged with divine force and raised it above his head.
"It is not a monster. It is a god."
When Amano drove the card onto the Duel Disk and sent it into the storm wall Final Battle had forged, the black sun transformed.
"This body is the shadow of god. The remains of god. The end of god."
"This strike is the despair of the absolute."
"Special Summon! The Wicked Avatar!"
The Wicked Avatar: Level 10. Divine Beast-type Effect. ATK: undetermined. DEF: undetermined.
When the black sun settled into form within the storm, it did not arrive as something alien. It arrived wearing a shape everyone present had been staring at for the last several turns.
It had copied Deep-Eyes White Dragon. The same circular wings, the same towering presence, the same structure, rendered in absolute jet black. Where Deep-Eyes White Dragon radiated the azure glow of an ancient deep ocean, The Wicked Avatar radiated nothing but darkness. The azure dragon from the abyss, when truly corrupted by the shadow of the evil god, no longer projected elegant brilliance. It projected the most extreme, uncanny, soul-stopping terror.
"The Wicked Avatar's ATK is always 1 higher than the ATK of the highest-attack monster on the field!"
With Deep-Eyes White Dragon at 5000 attack, The Wicked Avatar became 5001.
"A black Deep-Eyes!"
The crowd froze entirely. Inside the Final Battle storm, black and white Deep-Eyes White Dragons faced each other, roaring across a divide that seemed to threaten the sky above Eden Tower itself.
"The Wicked Avatar." Chiaki was not a stranger to this monster. For the Kaiba family, The Wicked Avatar was a lifelong enemy. For Kaiba Seto. For Kaiba Chiaki.
"You summoned God's Avatar at the final moment, Amano."
Chiaki knew the truth. The person who had actually won the battle against the Wicked Gods had not been Finesse. At least, the one who awakened Obelisk the Tormentor sleeping beneath the earth of the mid-tier district had been Amano, not Finesse.
And after awakening the great soldier god, Amano had now called forth even this one: the black sun hanging beneath Eden's false sky, symbol of calamity itself.
A Deity Tamer. A duelist who commanded gods.
What Amano had not expected was that when he acquired the Deity Tamer occupation back then, no card had come with it. The occupation itself had been the vessel, waiting. And the occupation required sacrificing three others to activate, exactly as the God Cards themselves required three Tributes for a Normal Summon.
Beneath the storm wall of the final battle, what The Wicked Avatar's presence made undeniably clear was this: immune to all other card effects, with an attack that was permanently the highest on the field by exactly one, The Wicked Avatar could not be defeated in a forced battle.
That meant Amano could not lose this duel anymore.
No matter what the final result, the probability of Amano losing had become zero.
"Under Final Battle, both monsters must battle."
The azure-glowing Deep-Eyes White Dragon and the jet-black Deep-Eyes White Dragon engaged under compulsion. The absolute rule of one ATK higher, always, crushed Deep-Eyes White Dragon's 5000 attack with a single column of despair-black light that broke through the azure radiance.
Deep-Eyes White Dragon was destroyed.
Deep-Eyes White Dragon's dying effect activated: destroy all monsters on the opponent's field.
The destructive energy of the destroyed dragon blasted outward at The Wicked Avatar's jet-black form. It made no difference at all.
"The Wicked Avatar cannot be affected by other card effects."
The highest god-tier entity absorbed the dying blow without a mark. Not even Deep-Eyes White Dragon at Level 10 could break through what stood above it.
Deep-Eyes had fallen. The mandatory battle of Final Battle was resolved. The duel's flow returned to the normal Main Phase.
Chiaki stood in the dispersing azure light particles, her chestnut hair moving in the aftermath. She spoke slowly.
"I have fought against the Wicked Gods more times than I can count. The strike they call the strongest despair, I have experienced it more times than I can count. And now I have resolved to step out of the abyss. Amano, I will not let this Wicked God drag me back in. By the name of Kaiba, I swear I will never lose to a god again."
After Final Battle activated, both sides had no field and no hand, only cards in the Graveyard to work with.
Chiaki raised her Duel Disk arm, Graveyard wind and light swirling around it.
"When a card on the field was destroyed, I Special Summon Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon from my Graveyard!"
Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon erupted from the Graveyard, carrying Chiaki's will on its jet-stream wings, charging into the Final Battle arena.
Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon: Attack 3000.
The Wicked Avatar updated simultaneously: with Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon now on the field, the highest ATK below The Wicked Avatar's own was 3000. The Wicked Avatar became 3001.
Amano's Battle Phase still had an attack remaining.
"I attack with The Wicked Avatar. Target: Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon."
Black and white jet-stream dragons clashed in a battle that left flashing arcs across the ruined arena. The interlocking streaks of black and white seemed to write something with their paths in the fractured sky, the determination of two duelists who had fought to the final moment refusing to yield.
Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon was not destroyed.
Its bounce effect could have returned The Wicked Avatar to the hand, but Chiaki did not activate it. The Wicked Avatar was unaffectable by card effects. Using it would accomplish nothing.
Instead, a card ejected itself from Chiaki's Graveyard.
"This truly is my last card." Chiaki said it clearly, without regret. "I banish Gospel of Revival from my Graveyard to substitute Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon's battle destruction."
Gospel of Revival's second effect read: When a Dragon-type monster you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, banish this card from the Graveyard as a substitute.
The Gospel burned out in exchange for keeping Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon alive. After the battle, both fields still had a monster standing.
The Wicked Avatar on Amano's side. Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon on Chiaki's side.
A wave of noise broke over the arena.
"A draw? It's a draw?"
The Gold Stage Academy Challenge had fought to its conclusion and ended in a draw. The result was more shocking than any upset anyone present could have imagined, and the crowd erupted into layered voices trying to process it.
On the teacher's platform, Fusion Academy headmaster Grafa quietly exhaled. When The Wicked Avatar had first appeared, he had come close to despair. He had already been working through how to manage the reaction if Fusion Academy's Gold Stage was genuinely broken. But Chiaki's decision-making had forced a must-lose situation into a draw. Perhaps for Fusion Academy, that was already the best possible outcome.
"That is not good at all! Are you satisfied with this?" Synchro Academy headmaster Raiden put one foot up on the long table at the viewing platform. "We were that close to a victory. How can this just end here?"
"Have you lost your mind?" Grafa stared at the sudden outburst.
"I haven't lost anything! What I'm saying is, the battle..."
"The battle is not over."
Amano's voice cut through every reaction in the arena.
"Kaiba, forcing a draw against The Wicked Avatar. I admit it: you genuinely are incredible. Among every duelist I've faced so far, you're the best."
"Amano?"
"But I didn't come here relying on a Wicked God's power. I stand here fighting you as the representative of Synchro, challenging the ultimate arena of Fusion."
Amano pulled a card from his Duel Disk.
"I activate a card effect from my Graveyard."
From his Graveyard. What card in Amano's Graveyard could still turn this around? Had he missed something, forgotten something?
Chiaki ran through the possibilities and landed on it. There was one card. The final draw Amano had made this turn. When Final Battle activated and swept all hand cards to the Graveyard, that draw had gone with them, unused, before he could do anything with it.
"Trap Card, Transaction Rollback, from my Graveyard."
Transaction Rollback read: Banish this card from your Graveyard. Pay half your current Life Points. Target 1 Normal Trap in your Graveyard other than this card and activate it with the same effect.
"The Normal Trap I am copying is Graverobber."
The double-copy chain shot outward from Amano's Graveyard and connected to Chiaki's. Graverobber's effect activated from within Transaction Rollback's effect, reaching into Chiaki's Graveyard for a Spell or Trap whose activation effect Amano could use.
Amano raised the card Graverobber had retrieved.
Transaction Rollback.
Graverobber.
Monster Reborn.
The Slum Duelist's ultimate chain: three layers of borrowed and copied effects leading to the most iconic revival card in the game, pulled from the opponent's own Graveyard.
Sacred light carrying the force of a legendary Spell descended onto Amano's field.
"I use Monster Reborn to revive Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon from my Graveyard."
The Ultimate Synchro evolution of Blue-Eyes White Dragon descended onto the final stage of this duel. To represent Synchro Academy. To carry the proof of Blue-Eyes White Dragon's Synchro potential. To challenge and overcome Fusion Academy's greatest.
"The Synchro white dragon!"
Chiaki's jaw tightened. Her eyes widened.
Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon: Attack 3500.
"I attack with Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon. Target: Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon!"
"Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon's effect, during battle, returns one of your cards to your hand!"
"You cannot stop me now, Kaiba. Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon's effect!"
Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon's second effect read: When a card effect activates on the field, negate that activation and gain 1000 ATK until end of turn.
"Sacred Domain Judgment Light!"
Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon's bounce effect: negated.
Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon: 3500 attack becomes 4500.
Everything that had accumulated in this duel, every Synchro Dragon that had taken the field, every Tuner soul that had carried the white dragon forward, converged at this moment.
Three pure white dragon heads, intertwined with the noble souls of the spirit dragon and the blue-eyed lineage, launched the final attack.
"Ultimate Spirit Impact!!"
Sacred light consumed the entire storm arena. Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon was gone.
Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon was destroyed.
Chiaki's field was empty.
Amano's field held two monsters: Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon and The Wicked Avatar, the light and dark forms of the apex dragon, standing together at the end of the longest duel the Academy Challenge Tournament had witnessed.
"It's over, Kaiba."
The duel was decided. But under Final Battle's specific mechanics, the declaration required one final step: the duel would not be resolved until the turn formally concluded.
Amano looked forward. He raised the arm holding his Duel Disk high, and under the gaze of every shocked and excited person in the arena, his voice rang out clearly.
"I end my turn."
Final Battle read: The player who has a monster remaining on the field at the end of the turn wins the Duel.
Victory by Final Battle effect.
Winner: Amano Rei.
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