Chapter 268: One More Time! The Ultimate Fusion Power!
When Evil HERO Malicious Bane's cold, killing-edged twin blades severed Blazeman at the waist along with the ghost silhouette of Neos, the Supreme King's golden eyes had been locked precisely on the position of Amano's last set card.
Bonds. Friendship. These were things he had supposed to have cut away the moment he became the Supreme King. He admitted it: the instant Amano appeared with Neos, something had wavered inside him for just that one moment.
But in pursuit of supreme power, the Supreme King could cut away even that wavering.
Then why was it, the moment Rei flipped his last set card, that he had felt exactly what Rei described: a breath released in relief?
"I activate my set Trap Card, Nutrient Z!"
Nutrient Z. The last of Amano's set cards. When he took 2000 or more battle damage, he would recover 4000 Life Points before the damage was taken.
Senior experience came in useful after all. In alternate-world duels, carrying Life Point recovery cards was the right call.
Amano had borrowed a few recovery cards from Albaz's deck for exactly this reason, a temporary boost to his own lineup.
Amano LP: 1900 -> 5900 -> 3500
"Well then, Supreme King? Does seeing me still alive make you feel pleased or disappointed?"
"I simply felt this duel should not have ended there." The Supreme King's response was cold.
Correct. Supreme power required a supreme rival to verify it against. If the duel ended this easily, it would only be unsatisfying.
That momentary emotional flicker: the Supreme King could only explain it that way.
"Your power doesn't stop here, does it, Amano Rei?"
With that said, Amano's field had been completely cleared in his own turn, which was an extraordinary disadvantage even by his own standards.
But for a HERO deck, an empty field was a field that still had options.
"I haven't used my Normal Summon this turn yet! I Normal Summon Elemental HERO Bubbleman in Defense Position!"
[Elemental HERO Bubbleman] [Level 4 / WATER]
[Warrior / Effect]
[ATK: 800 / DEF: 1200]
The anime version of Bubbleman crouched into Defense Position on Amano's empty field.
"When there are no other cards on my field, Bubbleman's effect activates on summon: I draw 2 cards!"
With his hand replenished, Amano looked at this turn's draw.
"This card!" He activated the Spell immediately. "Spell Card, Legacy of a HERO!"
[Legacy of a HERO (Anime Version)]
[Spell Card: Activate when there are 2 or more Level 4 or higher "HERO" monsters in your GY. Draw 3 cards.]
"Because I have Elemental HERO Thunder Giant - Lightning Strike and Elemental HERO Neos in my GY as Level 4 or higher HERO monsters, I draw 3 more cards!"
A HERO-archetype Spell Card that outpaced even Pot of Greed in draw count. It had a prerequisite condition, but as a resource-recovery tool it was exceptional.
After the Bubbleman and Legacy of a HERO combination, even though Amano had been cleared to nothing in his own turn, the additional resources put him back in a position to fight.
"I set 4 cards face-down. Turn end!"
Facing the Evil HERO assault that was coming next turn, holding back resources was not the right move. Every set card had to go down.
"My turn. Draw!"
Turn change. The Supreme King looked at what he had drawn and played it directly into his black-armored Duel Disk.
"I activate Graceful Charity: draw 3 cards, then discard 2. I discard Evil HERO Sinister Necrom and Elemental HERO Burstinatrix."
"In the moment you activated that Spell Card, I activate Trap Card, Final Scheme!"
[Final Scheme]
[Trap Card: When your opponent activates a Spell Card, after it is sent to the GY, add it to your hand. You may use it as your own card for the rest of this Duel.]
A Trap that captured the opponent's Spell Card for personal use: functionally a Trap-card version of Double Spell, with the advantage of not requiring a hand discard as a cost. The catch was it had to be activated in the moment the opponent's Spell went live.
Looking at every Spell the Supreme King could use: unless he produced an anime-version triple-draw Spell card next, Graceful Charity was the most valuable capture target available right now.
[Graceful Charity added to hand]
"Still playing that style, are you, Rei."
"You started talking like this after you went dark, Jaden. You used to say a fighting style like mine was cool."
"Evil HERO Toxic Bubble's hand effect: I can Special Summon this card!"
[When this card is Special Summoned: You cannot Special Summon except HERO monsters for the rest of this turn.]
[Evil HERO Toxic Bubble] [Level 4 / WATER]
[Warrior / Effect]
[ATK: 800 / DEF: 1200]
Aside from the card name and type, the Attribute, stats, and even the appearance were almost identical to Bubbleman: a dark mirror of the same card, materialized on the Supreme King's field.
As if drawn by identical nature, the Supreme King's Toxic Bubble and Amano's Bubbleman turned to look at each other across the field.
[When this card is Special Summoned, if you control a Fusion Monster that must be Special Summoned with "Dark Fusion": Draw 2 cards.]
"Because Evil HERO Malicious Bane is already on my field, Toxic Bubble's effect activates: I draw 2 cards!"
The Supreme King drew, still living up to his card's nickname even in darkness. Then he banished the Evil HERO sent to the Graveyard moments ago by Graceful Charity.
"I activate Evil HERO Sinister Necrom's GY effect! Once per turn, I banish this card from my GY to Special Summon 1 Evil HERO monster from my Deck!"
Sinister Necrom delivered its maximum value from the Graveyard, as always, awakening another dark hero from the Supreme King's deck.
"I Special Summon Evil HERO Infernal Rider in Attack Position!"
[Evil HERO Infernal Rider] [Level 6 / WIND]
[Fiend / Effect]
[ATK: 2100 / DEF: 800]
The dark knight who rode the gale materialized and charged across the Supreme King's field.
"Infernal Rider's effect on summon: I add Dark Fusion from my Deck to my hand!"
Dark Fusion. The exclusive Fusion Spell for Evil HERO Fiend monsters. After searching it with Infernal Rider's effect, the Supreme King drove it into his black Duel Disk to activate immediately.
[Dark Fusion]
[Spell Card: Using monsters from your hand and/or field as Fusion Materials, Fusion Summon 1 Fiend-Type Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. The monster Fusion Summoned this way cannot be targeted by your opponent's effects until the end of this turn.]
Standard Fusion with a temporary targeting immunity buff applied to the Fusion Summoned monster.
The Supreme King raised two hand cards overhead and sent them into the darkness as Fusion Materials.
"I Dark Fusion using Evil HERO Sinister Necrom and Evil HERO Fallen Claw from my hand!"
"By the soul of Evil HEROs offered as sacrifice, condensed into the blade that tears the boundary between life and death!"
"Erupt, the HERO who brings ultimate despair! Dark Fusion Summon! Evil HERO Malicious Death!"
[Evil HERO Malicious Death] [Level 8 / DARK]
[Fiend / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 3000 / DEF: 3000]
[1 "Evil HERO" monster + 1 Level 5 or higher monster]
[Must be Special Summoned with "Dark Fusion."]
[Effect 1: This card on the field cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects.
Effect 2: During your Main Phase: Destroy all monsters your opponent controls with ATK equal to or lower than this card's ATK. This card gains ATK +200 per monster destroyed this way. After this effect resolves, you can only declare attacks with "HERO" monsters until the end of this turn.]
The Evil HERO Fusion monster arrived clad in an armor of cold blades and spreading razor-dark wings, born from the Dark Fusion.
"Take this, Rei! From the Evil HERO, the slash that shatters every space!"
The Supreme King slammed the Fusion card into his Duel Disk and declared the effect.
"Evil HERO Malicious Death's effect activates!"
[During your Main Phase: Destroy all monsters your opponent controls with ATK equal to or lower than this card's ATK; this card gains ATK +200 per monster destroyed.]
Evil HERO Malicious Death's base ATK was 3000, already matching Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Ordinary monsters clearing that threshold were rare, making this functionally a field-clearing lightning strike. The hero-versus-hero version of the Thunder Strike plays.
But Amano had been through a complete field wipe last turn. At this moment, his field only held Bubbleman in Defense Position.
[Elemental HERO Bubbleman: Destroyed]
[Evil HERO Malicious Death] [ATK: 3000 -> 3200]
Finesse: "What a terrifying Evil HERO. Outpacing Blue-Eyes White Dragon's ATK is as natural as breathing for these cards!"
After destroying Bubbleman and gaining the ATK boost, Evil HERO Malicious Death also carried battle and effect destruction immunity, targeting immunity from Dark Fusion, plus the Supreme King's Castle ATK-spike during combat. Every card standing alongside Evil HERO Malicious Bane made this a formation that would have stopped Austin O'Brien cold.
The total count on the Supreme King's field: Evil HERO Malicious Death, Evil HERO Malicious Bane, and Evil HERO Infernal Rider, ready to launch a combined assault.
"This truly is over now, Rei."
The Supreme King raised his hand and declared the Battle Phase.
"Battle! Evil HEROs! I start with Evil HERO Malicious Death, direct attack!"
The blade-armored dark hero swept its howling strike toward Amano's empty field.
As previously stated: Malicious Death's comprehensive immunity lineup meant standard defensive Traps, Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder, Blast with Chain, none of them would stop this.
Which made Amano's specialty tools more useful here.
Amano flipped a set card: "Trap Card, Counter Gate!"
[Counter Gate]
[Trap Card: When your opponent's monster declares a direct attack: Negate that attack; draw 1 card; if the drawn card is a monster, you can Normal Summon it in Attack Position.]
"I negate Evil HERO Malicious Death's attack! Then I draw 1 card from my Deck!"
The gate to counterattack had opened. The card drawn this turn was payback from the past.
"Draw!"
Amano pulled the card and drove it directly onto his Duel Disk.
"I Normal Summon Fallen of Albaz in Attack Position!"
[Fallen of Albaz] [Level 4 / DARK]
[Dragon / Effect]
[ATK: 1800 / DEF: 0]
A Summon on the opponent's turn. Before Amano's field, the white-haired, dark-skinned boy opened his eyes slowly through the summoning effect and looked at the Supreme King.
Albaz: "Supreme King, I'm back!"
The Supreme King's golden eyes swept over Albaz with cool indifference. "You again. The small one who fled mid-duel, wasn't it?"
Albaz: "I'm not running this time! I'll defeat you alongside Amano Rei, and take back the skies of the Fusion world!"
Amano triggered the ultimate fusion power: "Let's go, Fallen of Albaz's effect activates!"
[When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can discard 1 card; Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster using monsters from either field, but you cannot use other monsters you control as material.]
The power to use the opponent's field monsters as Fusion Material and Fusion Summon to Amano's side: the ultimate fusion force.
Above Albaz, the sky generated the largest Fusion vortex yet, the spiral effect sweeping both fields simultaneously.
"I discard 1 card from my hand, and use Fallen of Albaz on my field and your Evil HERO Malicious Death as Fusion Materials!"
Evil HERO Malicious Death had immunity to battle and effect destruction, and targeting immunity from Dark Fusion. None of that immunity covered being used as a Fusion Material by Fallen of Albaz.
And the Fusion born from Albaz plus a Fusion Monster as material was one of Albaz's own signature cards: Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon, which carried an effect to banish any opponent monster once per turn during either player's turn. Arriving on the field, it could immediately banish Evil HERO Malicious Bane and tear down the Supreme King's entire formation in an instant.
"Your ultimate fusion still has some way to go before it matches the real thing, Albaz!"
The Supreme King was already calm, pulling a Quick-Play Spell from his hand to chain.
The same countermove Amano had once used against Albaz himself.
"Quick-Play Spell, Forbidden Droplet!"
[Forbidden Droplet]
[Quick-Play Spell: Send any number of other cards from your hand and/or field to the GY; choose that many Effect Monsters your opponent controls; until the end of this turn, those monsters' ATK is halved and their effects are negated. In response to this card's activation, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects of the same original type (Monster, Spell, or Trap) as the cards sent to activate this card.]
"I send Evil HERO Toxic Bubble from my field to the GY, halving Fallen of Albaz's ATK and negating its effects!"
The ultimate Fusion storm that had been building over the field halted abruptly.
[Fallen of Albaz] [ATK: 1800 -> 900] [Effects Negated]
Albaz, robbed of his effects and his ATK, could only watch helplessly as the Supreme King's Evil HEROs prepared to attack.
Albaz: "..."
Kit: "That's rough, Albaz."
Ecclesia: "Still can't get it done."
Without the ability to activate his effect, the diminished Albaz stared at the Supreme King's Evil HEROs lining up against him.
"Cut down that useless monster! Evil HERO Malicious Bane!"
Even the Supreme King's battle declarations had grown cold and cutting after the fall into darkness.
"Our fight isn't finished, Albaz!"
But against the Supreme King's bone-deep cold contempt, what came from Amano behind Albaz was warm as sunlight.
"I can't fight this alone. That's what I have a partner for. Quick-Play Spell, Command Silencer!"
Amano's second specialty tool.
[Command Silencer]
[Quick-Play Spell: End the Battle Phase. Draw 1 card.]
Amano forcibly ended the Supreme King's Battle Phase, sparing Albaz from being destroyed in a group assault by the Evil HEROs.
"Still clinging to this wreck of a position with that thing, Rei?"
The Supreme King's field currently held: Evil HERO Malicious Death at 3200, Evil HERO Malicious Bane at 3500, and Evil HERO Infernal Rider at 2100. Each of them capable of spiking even higher with Supreme King's Castle during battle.
In contrast, Amano had exactly one monster: a half-ATK, effect-negated Albaz.
The Supreme King played his last card into his black Duel Disk.
"I activate the Continuous Spell, Mirage of Nightmare. Turn end!"
[Mirage of Nightmare]
[Continuous Spell: During your opponent's Standby Phase, once: Draw until you have 4 cards in hand. During your next Standby Phase: Randomly discard cards equal to the number of cards drawn this way.]
Jaden's classic from GX. Amano had almost forgotten: Jaden might not carry the anime's triple-draw Spells, but he had this.
"My turn. Draw!"
Turn change. As Amano drew and moved into Standby Phase, Mirage of Nightmare on the Supreme King's field also activated.
"Mirage of Nightmare's effect: I draw until my hand reaches 4 cards!" The Supreme King drew.
Amano followed immediately: "And I activate the Spell Card I captured earlier: Graceful Charity! I draw 3, then discard 2!"
After the filter draw, Amano looked at his hand.
Fallen of Albaz's effect could only activate on Normal or Special Summon. Without a new summon triggering it, the Albaz currently on the field had lost its ability to Fuse the opponent's monsters. The Supreme King had called it correctly: in this state, Albaz was nothing more than Fusion material.
Nothing more than useless?
"How can anything in my deck be useless! My deck might have cards nobody wants, but it has never once had a card with no purpose!"
Amano flipped his last set Trap card.
"Remember this, Albaz: the most valuable thing is the courage to try again! Show the Supreme King your resilience. Let's fire one massive Fusion at him!"
[Dark Thunder Trap E]
[Trap Card: Discard 1 card; choose 1 Continuous Trap from your hand or GY and Set it on your field. That Set card can be activated during the same turn it was Set.]
"I discard the Continuous Trap DNA Surgery from my hand, then use Dark Thunder Trap E's effect to immediately Set the DNA Surgery I just discarded to my field!"
By sending the DNA Surgery drawn this turn through Dark Thunder Trap E, the Continuous Trap could be Set and activated all within the same turn.
"Activate! DNA Surgery!"
[DNA Surgery]
[Continuous Trap Card: Declare 1 Type. While this card is face-up on the field, all face-up monsters on the field become that Type.]
"The Type I declare is: Dragon!"
Amano's voice rang out across the bridge, and every Evil HERO on the Supreme King's field became a Dragon-type monster in the same instant.
This Continuous Trap had been brought along specifically for this moment, precisely to enable the ultimate fusion power.
The ultimate fusion power: using the opponent's field monsters as Fusion Material, in a way that could not be chained against.
"Fire the big one, Albaz!"
For this Fusion, Amano did not need to activate a Fusion Spell. He did not need to activate any card effect at all.
Without a card effect activation, the opponent had nothing to chain against.
Amano raised one finger and pointed at the sky above.
At the same moment, the three Evil HEROs on the Supreme King's field, Malicious Death, Malicious Bane, and Infernal Rider, all dissolved into light and flew upward toward the direction Amano's finger indicated.
The Fallen of Albaz on Amano's field raised his head to look at the gathering dragon-soul light coalescing in the sky above.
The most valuable thing is the courage to try again?
Albaz: "It was worth it, meeting you, Amano Rei!"
This time, I absolutely will not lose again.
The boy releasing the last of his fusion power charged upward into the Fusion vortex spiraling in the sky of the Fusion world above.
Amano declared: "Supreme King Jaden! Using all of your monsters as Fusion Materials, together with Albaz!"
"White wings carry the abyss; dark eyes reflect the white boundary!"
"Gathered dragon-souls, awaken the law of rebirth sleeping within the boundary!"
"Fusion Summon! Alba-Lenatus the Abyss Dragon!"
[Alba-Lenatus the Abyss Dragon] [Level 8 / DARK]
[Dragon / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2500]
["Fallen of Albaz" + 1 or more Dragon monsters]
[Cannot be used as Fusion Material. Can only be Special Summoned via Fusion Summon or the following method:
- Can be Special Summoned from the Extra Deck when the above cards are sent to the GY from the Monster Zones.]
[Effect 1: In a single Battle Phase, this card can attack a number of times up to the number of its Fusion Materials.
Effect 2: If this card is sent to the GY: During the End Phase, add 1 Polymerization Normal Spell from your Deck to your hand.]
No Fusion Spell was required. All that was needed was satisfying the material condition and sending Albaz together with one or more Dragon-type monsters from the Monster Zones to the Graveyard. When DNA Surgery had changed every monster on both fields to Dragon-type, the Supreme King's entire board had become an inescapable Fusion feeding ground.
The crimson Abyss Dragon roared as it shattered the ultimate Fusion effect's spiral, diving at high speed from the sky of the Fusion world down to Amano's field.
Kit: "He finally did it! Albaz finally pulled it off!"
Ecclesia: "Now hit back, Amano!"
The Alba-Lenatus the Abyss Dragon born from fusing the Supreme King's entire board could not be used as Fusion Material: even Super Polymerization had no hold over it.
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