Chapter 312: Gathering the Light of the Weak and the Discarded!
"Descend, Slifer the Sky Dragon!"
A familiar script playing out for a second time; the three polar gods, once again, became sacrificial Tributes.
But unlike last turn, when Amano Rei had at least left Molten Demon God, a powerful 3000-ATK monster, behind on the Emperor's field after releasing Odin and Loki.
This time, he'd left absolutely nothing behind at all.
Using the polar gods on the Emperor's own field purely as Tributes for an Advance Summon, then Summoning the god straight onto his own field instead.
Eating and taking, all in one move! How shameless could you get!
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [Level 10 / Divine]
[Phantom Divine-Beast / Effect]
[ATK: X000] [DEF: X000]
Having dethroned the towering, phantom images of the three polar gods that had stood side by side beneath the darkening sky, Slifer the Sky Dragon, which had all but dominated the entire New Riding Duel Invitational, coiled its massive crimson dragon body across the sky above the track once more.
The broadcaster had been right; nobody, it seemed, could ever resist the temptation of Summoning a god.
"The Sky Dragon's ATK equals my hand size times 1000. Right now, I only have 1 card in hand."
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK: 1000]
Sure, Amano Rei only had one card in hand, but Emperor, you don't have any monsters left at all either.
Even at just 1000 ATK, combined with the Thunder Bolt effect, the Sky Dragon effectively carried the weight of a 3000-ATK monster on par with Blue-Eyes White Dragon, more than enough to handle him.
Nobody had expected Amano Rei to not just survive this situation, but completely reverse the board state on top of it. Fiore's excited voice came through the helmet earpiece. "Amazing, Amano! This card is basically a miracle that turned the whole world upside down!"
"Managing to release three monsters and Advance-Summon a god card, all during your opponent's own turn." Celestia said, full of admiration. "That's something even my own Winged Dragon of Ra - Sphere Mode couldn't pull off! No wonder you're my..."
"Ex-fiance," Kaiba Chiaki cut in, emphasizing the word.
Sure, the Quick-Play Spell Card Crossing Souls could bypass resistance entirely and release three monsters straight off the opponent's field to Advance-Summon a Phantom Divine-Beast, but it did come with a fairly serious restriction of its own.
[When this effect is used to release monsters on your opponent's field for an Advance Summon, the following applies: after this card's activation, until the end of your next turn, you can only activate 1 effect of a Spell, Trap, or monster other than a Phantom Divine-Beast monster, once per turn.]
Across the two turns this card's activation covered, aside from the Sky Dragon's own effect, Amano Rei could only activate one more effect total.
Fortunately, the ATK on Amano Rei's field was already high enough without it; besides the Sky Dragon, he still had Stardust Dragon and Wave Dragon Knight standing by. And with only one card left in hand, there wasn't much else he could realistically activate anyway.
With the three polar gods released yet again, the Emperor's furrowed brow only deepened further.
The crowd had already picked up on it. Even the Emperor himself had clearly noticed.
"The three polar gods still haven't gotten to battle even once!"
"Yeah, every single time, they get shut down right before the Battle Phase. They never get a chance to actually swing."
"First time I've ever seen the Emperor get pushed around like this. What's going on?"
"Maybe the other guy's just playing way too dirty?"
Unable to enter battle again this turn, the Emperor glanced over the cards left in his hand and chose one to set on his D-Wheel's Duel Disk.
"I set 1 card. Turn end."
The turn passed over, and Amano Rei drew his card for the turn, boosting the Sky Dragon's ATK along with it.
Amano Rei - Speed Counters: 2 to 3
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK: 1000 to 2000]
Thanks to Crossing Souls's restriction, Amano Rei could only activate one card effect this turn.
Looking over the two cards left in his hand, there wasn't really anything else worth activating anyway, so Amano Rei simply flung a Speed Spell down onto his D-Wheel's Duel Disk.
"Speed Spell - Angel's Scepter, activate. Draw 2 cards, then discard Yuyu from my hand."
Having spent his one effect on filtering his hand, discarding the little tofu-block monster from his hand in the process, Amano Rei was just about to raise a hand and declare he was entering this turn's Battle Phase.
"Before you enter the Battle Phase, I activate my set card!" The Emperor flipped up the one and only set card beside his D-Wheel. "Trap Card, Threatening Roar, activate!"
[Threatening Roar] [Trap Card: During this turn, your opponent cannot declare an attack.]
Since the Emperor couldn't fight himself, he figured Amano Rei wasn't getting to fight either.
Threatening Roar's effect targeted the player directly, preventing any attack declaration outright, so even the three Egyptian Gods, normally immune to Trap effects, would still be stopped by it.
"Then I'll set 1 Trap Card too. Turn end!"
Both players had come out of the gate so intensely at the start of this Riding Duel, practically desperate to Summon a god on the very first turn. And yet somehow, by this point, it had devolved into a "high-speed duel" of both sides just setting cards and passing.
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK: 2000 to 1000]
"My turn, draw!"
Emperor - Speed Counters: 4 to 5
With the three polar gods released and unable to revive after being Tributed for the Sky Dragon, and the board still under threat from Thunder Bolt, the Emperor drew his card and flung a monster down onto his Duel Disk.
"I Normal Summon Blocker Tomato in Attack Position!"
[Blocker Tomato] [Level 2 / EARTH]
[Plant / Effect]
[ATK: 800] [DEF: 800]
A bright red tomato wearing a football helmet materialized, tumbling rapidly along the Riding Duel track, only to take a direct hit from Thunder Bolt the very next instant.
[Blocker Tomato] [ATK: 800 to 0 (-1200)] [Destroyed]
Fiore offered a reminder. "Banishing Blocker Tomato from the Graveyard reduces effect damage you take to 0. It's a monster commonly used in Riding Duels specifically to survive New Speed World 2's finishing damage."
Using the Sky Dragon's Thunder Bolt effect to destroy a monster meant purely to sit in the Graveyard and prevent effect damage; Celestia had used a similar tactic before too.
Except Celestia needed that kind of protection because she was constantly locked at 1 Life Point. The Emperor, meanwhile, currently sat at a full, healthy 3700 Life Points, and he was still playing this cautiously.
"Next, I set 1 more card." Having used up the rest of his hand, the Emperor glanced at his draw for the turn. "Amano Rei, I think neither of our hands can carry this duel much further at this point."
That line sounded familiar.
After that classic incantation, the Emperor flung his last remaining hand card down onto his D-Wheel's Duel Disk.
"I remove 2 Speed Counters to activate the Spell Card Card of Sanctity! Both players draw until we have 6 cards in hand!"
Emperor - Speed Counters: 5 to 3
So it really was the "Summoning chant" for Card of Sanctity. If he'd known, Amano Rei wouldn't have kept a single card in hand either, he'd have set everything to maximize his own draw.
Amano Rei hadn't expected the Emperor to actually be holding a god-tier card straight out of the anime, like Card of Sanctity. Guess that was to be expected from someone the Upper District's great families had poured serious resources into raising, as a son-in-law marrying into their fortune.
Amano Rei drew 5 cards in a row, bringing his hand up to 6, and along with it, Slifer the Sky Dragon's ATK shot up massively as well.
"Roar!"
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK: 1000 to 6000]
Having refilled his hand to 6 cards, the Emperor slammed a second Spell Card down onto his D-Wheel's Duel Disk.
"I remove 2 more Speed Counters to activate the Spell Card Soul Charge!"
[Soul Charge] [Spell Card: Only 1 card with this name can be activated per turn. During the turn this card is activated, you cannot enter the Battle Phase. (1) Activate by targeting any number of monsters in your Graveyard. Special Summon those monsters, then you lose Life Points equal to 1000 times the number of monsters Special Summoned this way.]
A Spell Card capable of reviving any number of monsters from your own Graveyard; if Amano Rei remembered right, this card was one of the Forbidden Cards too.
And a Forbidden Card, inside Eden, represented extremely high strength backed by an equally extreme price tag.
Well, well. First Card of Sanctity, now Soul Charge. Had the cornered Emperor started throwing around the kind of ultra-expensive resources only a great family could supply, just to break through?
"By Soul Charge's effect, I Special Summon Thor, Lord of the Aesir, Loki, Lord of the Aesir, and Odin, Father of the Aesir from my Graveyard!"
Reviving all three polar gods with a single card, creating the magnificent sight of all four gods standing on the field together.
As the cost of activating Soul Charge, the Emperor couldn't enter the Battle Phase this turn, and reviving all three polar gods cost him 3000 Life Points.
Emperor LP: 3700 to 700
No wonder he'd made sure to send Blocker Tomato to the Graveyard ahead of time; he'd already anticipated locking himself down to a sliver of Life Points on purpose.
Amano Rei raised a hand, pointing up at the Sky Dragon, facing off against the three polar gods overhead. "Even the three polar gods have to eat a Thunder Bolt after being Special Summoned!"
"Go! Triple Thunder Bolt, fired!"
The second mouth opened, and the Sky Dragon unleashed three consecutive bolts of thunder, aimed squarely at the freshly-revived polar gods.
[Odin, Father of the Aesir] [DEF: 3500 to 1500]
[Loki, Lord of the Aesir] [DEF: 3000 to 1000]
[Thor, Lord of the Aesir] [ATK: 3500 to 1500]
Having taken Thunder Bolt head-on and had their stats slashed, the mighty three polar gods now had less DEF than even Eve herself.
And this turn, the three polar gods still couldn't enter battle at all.
"Thunder Bolt, huh. What a powerfully oppressive effect. Especially devastating against Synchro Summoning."
Riding at full speed, the Emperor raised a hand toward his own Thor, Lord of the Aesir. "So I'll just take this effect for myself. Thor, Lord of the Aesir's effect, activate!"
[Once per turn, you can negate the effect of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls. After that, this card gains all of that monster's monster effects.]
"Go, Thor! Negate Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect, and make it your own!"
"Thunder Absorption!"
Both being gods of thunder, Thor, hoisting his hammer high, drained the Sky Dragon's thunderous power and transferred it into himself.
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK: 6000 to 0]
Having its effect negated, the Sky Dragon's ATK collapsed to 0 in an instant, as if it had been completely drained dry.
Meanwhile, having absorbed the Sky Dragon's power, Thor, Lord of the Aesir not only gained 5000 ATK, equal to the Emperor's own hand size, but also inherited the Thunder Bolt effect's own oppressive lockdown power.
No wonder the Emperor had specifically Special Summoned Thor, Lord of the Aesir in Attack Position out of all three; he'd been aiming at stealing the Sky Dragon's power all along.
"This is what it means for one god to be the absolute counter to another!" The Emperor smiled, satisfied. "Now it's your turn to taste the crushing weight of Thunder Bolt, Amano Rei!"
So the Sky Dragon's own effect had turned into an inside man against him too. Somehow, Amano Rei wasn't the least bit surprised.
"Finally, I set 1 card. Turn end."
The turn passed over, and Amano Rei drew his card.
"My turn, draw!"
Amano Rei - Speed Counters: 4 to 5
Amano Rei scanned through the hand he'd filled back up thanks to Card of Sanctity's effect, sitting in his D-Wheel's card slot.
Since Blocker Tomato was sitting in the Emperor's Graveyard, even activating New Speed World 2's burn effect wouldn't accomplish anything now; it would just waste Speed Counters for nothing.
And Summoning a monster to go into a Synchro Summon would just get shut down and destroyed by Thunder Bolt all over again.
"Then I'll just Summon a monster Thunder Bolt can't touch!"
Amano Rei pulled Blue-Eyes White Dragon straight out of his D-Wheel's card slot, releasing the two monsters on his field as Tributes for an Advance Summon.
"I release Wave Dragon Knight and Slifer the Sky Dragon on my field!"
"What?!" His friends back in the staging area cried out in unison, shocked. "He actually Tribute-released a god?!"
Something recorded in the history of Duelist City too, as it happened.
"My proud dragon of the soul, come forth! Buruu-Aizu-Howaito-Doragon!"
"Roar!"
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [ATK: 3000]
Descending with a god as its own Tribute, Blue-Eyes White Dragon spread its wings, weaving through the Speed World track, raising its head and roaring defiantly at the three polar gods.
The Emperor swept his hand out, declaring, "Even Blue-Eyes White Dragon has to eat Thunder Bolt's effect!"
Fired by Thor, Lord of the Aesir's swinging hammer, Thunder Bolt bombarded Blue-Eyes White Dragon's magnificent dragon body; though it cut 2000 points off its ATK, it wasn't actually destroyed.
[Blue-Eyes White Dragon] [ATK: 3000 to 1000]
Rin Seiya said, "Now Blue-Eyes White Dragon's ATK is lower than Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Kaiba Chiaki said, "Are you even speaking a human language right now?"
Amano Rei gripped the burning card in his fingers, pointing it up at the massive divine silhouette unleashing thunder across the sky. "Since you activated that effect, take this one!"
He'd heard that top-tier duelists always found ways to turn Thunder Bolt's own effect back against its user; naturally, Amano Rei needed to know how to do that too.
"Time to slay a god, Tendou!"
"I release Thor, Lord of the Aesir on your field, the one that just activated its effect!"
"Cleave the roaring thunder of the northern god with the great blade of the east! Special Summon, Kurikara Divincarnate!"
Descending from the sky, the bare-footed, pink-haired girl, wreathed in a roaring flame dragon, swung her massive black iron sword in a single horizontal strike, shattering Thor's towering divine silhouette clean apart.
[Thor, Lord of the Aesir, released]
The three polar gods, released yet again.
Fair's fair now. Every single one of the three polar gods in this duel had been released twice over; nobody had any room to laugh at anyone else.
[Kurikara Divincarnate] [Level 1 / FIRE]
[Fairy / Special Summon / Effect]
[ATK: 1500 to 3000] [DEF: 1500]
Baiting the effect out with Blue-Eyes White Dragon, then cutting it down with Tendou, Amano Rei was finally free of Thunder Bolt's oppressive lockdown.
"Now it's my turn to go on the offensive!" Amano Rei picked up the cards for Stardust Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon straight off his D-Wheel's Duel Disk, building an Overlay Network.
"Two Level 8 monsters, let's go! A gale of light blowing all the way to the depths of the galaxy!"
"I Xyz Summon in the Extra Monster Zone! Rank 8, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"
[Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon] [8 Stars / LIGHT] [ATK: 3000]
Amano Rei's own signature Xyz ace, though not the only Xyz monster he had, of course.
"Galaxy-Eyes, huh..." Watching the moment Blue-Eyes White Dragon stacked into Galaxy-Eyes, a complicated, bittersweet feeling welled up inside Kaiba Chiaki.
Specifically Xyz Summoning Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon into the Extra Monster Zone was, naturally, Amano Rei's way of clearing enough Monster Zones on his own field for what he had planned next.
"I activate the effect of Junk King from my hand!"
This card was the freshly-copied, still practically wet with ink, card Amano Rei had obtained via Mark of the Heir after defeating Rin Seiya.
[Activate by showing your opponent 1 "Warrior" or "Stardust" Synchro Monster in your Extra Deck. Special Summon this card from your hand. During this turn, you cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck, except Synchro Monsters.]
Sure, activating this effect meant Amano Rei couldn't Xyz Summon again this turn, ruling out any more Galaxy-Eyes stacking shenanigans.
But that was fine. Aside from Photon Dragon itself, every other member of the Galaxy-Eyes line only had destruction-based effects, and destroying the three polar gods wouldn't accomplish anything anyway.
"Let's use the bonds of the discarded to fight against the bonds of Synchro!"
Having shown his opponent Junk Warrior in his Extra Deck, Amano Rei Special Summoned Junk King from his hand, flinging it down onto his D-Wheel's Duel Disk.
[Junk King] [Level 4 / EARTH]
[Warrior / Effect]
[ATK: 100] [DEF: 2300]
"When Junk King is Special Summoned, I add 1 'Junk' card from my Deck to my hand. The one I'm choosing is..."
Amano Rei's fingers caught the card that popped automatically out of his D-Wheel's Deck slot mid-ride, with perfect precision.
This particular card carried three completely different layers of meaning, for Amano Rei, for the Emperor, and for Fiore alike.
"I add Nova Junk Synchron to my hand, and activate its effect right away!"
[While this card is in your hand, activate by targeting 1 Level 2 or lower monster in your Graveyard. Special Summon this card, and the targeted monster is Special Summoned with its effects negated.]
"I Special Summon both Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice and Nova Junk Synchron from my Graveyard onto my field!"
[Nova Junk Synchron] [Level 3 / DARK / Tuner] [ATK: 1300]
[Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice] [Level 2 / WATER] [DEF: 2100]
The monster bearing the Junk name dragged along an even weaker monster from the Graveyard, both materializing and flying side by side down the Speed World track.
"Emperor, this card should carry some special meaning for you too, shouldn't it."
Back when he'd first given this card away, the Emperor and Fiore had presumably still been a secret couple. If this card hadn't meant something special, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to gift it to his girlfriend in the first place.
To own something like Nova Junk Synchron, an ultra-rare card that transcended the boundaries of its own original print, the Emperor, of all people, should have understood the true meaning of Synchro Summoning better than anyone.
Gathering the bonds of weak, small monsters together, and forging a miracle that opened a path to victory.
A duelist who'd once believed in the bonds of his own cards, and yet, in the end, still turned into a "professional" chasing after god cards and Forbidden Card effects instead?
"I know what you're trying to say, Amano Rei." The Emperor's tone turned serious. "But the weak, spineless version of me from back then doesn't exist anymore! Right now, I'm the strongest one reigning over this entire Riding Duel battlefield!"
"A weak monster doesn't mean weakness. A powerful monster doesn't mean true strength, either!"
The legendary duelist Yusei Fudo once said: "Every card has value in its own right!"
"That's the miracle that duelists who trust in their own cards give to them! I tune Level 3 Tuner Nova Junk Synchron with Level 2 Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice!"
Nova Junk Synchron, pumping the accelerator pump on its back, burst into a triple ring of Synchro light in the middle of the Speed World track, passing through Eve's own body.
3 plus 2 equals 5!
"Gathered prayers shall guide the way to a brand-new speed! O pulse of the wind, race across this world, become a road shining with light!"
"Synchro Summon! Appear! Level 5, Junk Speeder!"
[Junk Speeder] [Level 5 / WIND]
[Warrior / Synchro / Effect]
[ATK: 1800] [DEF: 1000]
[1 "Synchron" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters]
The wind of Synchro blew across the track, Summoning Junk Speeder to race across the battlefield, calling out for even more gathered starlight from Amano Rei's Deck.
Unlike Junk King, a turn spent Xyz Summoning couldn't let Speeder's effect through. But thanks to freeloading off of Card of Sanctity's draw, Amano Rei had already pulled every last Synchron Tuner straight into his own hand, letting him "speed up" by hand directly!
"I discard 1 card from my hand to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron from my hand. Then I activate Speed Spell - Tuner Recycle, Special Summoning Junk Synchron from my Graveyard!"
Amano Rei's remaining two open Monster Zones were exactly enough to Special Summon his last two Synchron Tuners.
"I Special Summon Junk Synchron and Quickdraw Synchron!"
Amano Rei flung two more cards down in quick succession, filling his D-Wheel's Duel Disk with six monsters in total.
[Junk Synchron] [Level 3 / DARK / Tuner] [DEF: 500]
[Quickdraw Synchron] [Level 5 / WIND / Tuner] [DEF: 1400]
Right now, a full six monsters surrounded Amano Rei's D-Wheel; dragons, a little girl, and a whole lineup of Junk monsters, all racing forward side by side, down the Riding Duel track.
Rin Seiya couldn't hold back her admiration. "Underclassman, you look so cool right now, exactly like Yusei Fudo at the story's grand finale!"
"I activate Junk King's effect, lowering its own Level to 2, then tuning it with Level 5 Tuner Quickdraw Synchron!"
Dressed in cowboy gear, Quickdraw Synchron drew a gun from its holster in a flash, firing straight into the Junk field.
Quickdraw Synchron could only be used as a substitute Tuner alongside another Tuner as Synchro Material. To break through the three polar gods, Amano Rei needed a way through that wasn't just "destruction."
2 plus 5 equals 7!
"Gathered cries shall become an echoing arrow, splitting the sky itself, becoming a road shining with light!"
"Synchro Summon, appear! Level 7, Junk Archer!"
[Junk Archer] [Level 7 / EARTH]
[Warrior / Synchro / Effect]
[ATK: 2300] [DEF: 2000]
The hard-hitting closer from the anime, Junk Archer now stood on Amano Rei's field, facing down the descended, dignified three polar gods, its bow drawn and aimed squarely at Odin, king of the Norse gods.
"Junk Archer's effect, activate!"
[Once per turn, activate by selecting 1 monster on your opponent's field. Banish the selected monster from the game. The monster banished by this effect returns to your opponent's field in the same battle position at the End Phase of this turn.]
"I select Odin, Father of the Aesir, to banish!"
"Go! Junk Shot!"
Drawing the bow, notching the arrow, pulling back and aiming, all in one fluid motion, the arrow representing the power of the discarded and banished pierced clean through Odin's massive silhouette beneath the darkening sky.
Against three polar gods immune to Spell and Trap effects, being removed through a monster effect's banishing power was their single greatest weakness.
[Odin, Father of the Aesir, banished]
But banishing wasn't the only way through, either.
"Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon's effect, activate! I remove Overlay Material Stardust Dragon to gain control of Loki, Lord of the Aesir! I negate its effect, and its ATK becomes 3000!"
A control-poaching effect, and another way to avoid the three polar gods reviving for free after being destroyed.
Nanki'in Sakuya's mouth dropped open, blank with shock. "The three polar gods, wiped out, again."
Thor released, Odin banished, Loki taken.
None of the three polar gods had actually been destroyed, and yet all three had left the field regardless, leaving the Emperor, now down to just 700 Life Points, completely wide open.
"Finally, I tune Level 3 Tuner Junk Synchron with Level 5 Junk Speeder!"
3 plus 5 equals 8!
"Sacred light gathers upon these wings, let its radiance strike down my enemy!"
"Synchro Summon! Level 8!"
"Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!"
[Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon] [Level 8 / WIND]
[Dragon / Synchro / Effect]
[ATK: 3000] [DEF: 2500]
Amano Rei's final Synchro Summon this turn closed things out with a pair of crystalline wings racing through the wind, transcending the boundary between dimensions.
"Battle! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, direct attack!"
Having used Photon Dragon's poaching effect, only Photon Dragon itself could attack directly this turn.
"Annihilation Photon Stream!"
"Set Trap Card, activate!" The Emperor flipped up his back-row set card, and once again, that all-too-familiar card face appeared. "Continuous Trap Card, Call of the Living Dead, activate!"
This was already the third Call of the Living Dead in this duel.
Sure, this card synergized beautifully with the three polar gods, but at this point, the only god left in the Emperor's Graveyard capable of reviving was Thor.
"Raise your hammer amid the thunder, Thor, Lord of the Aesir!"
Call of the Living Dead could only Special Summon in Attack Position.
[Thor, Lord of the Aesir] [ATK: 3500]
Thor's 3500 ATK might have been higher than Photon Dragon's 3000, but Amano Rei now had the Synchro fight-club champion standing right there on his field.
Just like Yusei Fudo's own philosophy, this turn, every single monster on Amano Rei's field had made its own contribution.
Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon had handled poaching Loki. Tendou had dealt with Thor's Thunder Bolt lockdown. Junk Archer had banished Odin. And Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon was the final breakthrough.
"Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, attack Thor, Lord of the Aesir!"
[Activate during damage calculation when this card battles an opponent's monster with 5 or more Stars. This card's ATK increases, only during that damage calculation, by an amount equal to the ATK of the opposing monster it's battling.]
[Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon] [ATK: 3000 to 6500]
"Gale Wind Crystal Wing Blade!"
Absorbing Thor's own thunderous power into its crystalline wings, Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, racing at full speed, collided head-on with the massive, revived divine silhouette of Thor, shattering the god's dignified form completely.
[Thor, Lord of the Aesir, destroyed]
And yet, even after the revived Thor was destroyed, the Emperor's remaining Life Points didn't drop at all, still holding steady at 700.
Beside the Emperor's racing D-Wheel, his last remaining set card flipped open. "The instant Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon declared its attack, I activated the Trap Card Attack Invulnerability, reducing the battle damage I take this turn to 0!"
This guy. He could have just activated the Trap directly to become immune to battle damage from the start; instead, he'd deliberately revived Thor first just to let it get destroyed by Crystal Wing, purely so a polar god would sit in the Graveyard in a "destroyed" state, letting him trigger its revival effect again at the End Phase.
"I set 2 more cards. Turn end!"
"Then, at the End Phase, Thor, Lord of the Aesir's effect in the Graveyard activates: on the End Phase of the turn it was destroyed, it Special Summons itself from the Graveyard, and deals you 800 points of damage."
"Not happening on your field, Emperor! Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon's effect, activate!"
[Once per turn, activate when a monster effect other than this card's own is about to activate. Negate that activation and destroy it. If this effect destroys a monster this way, this card's ATK increases, until the End Phase, by that monster's original ATK.]
"I negate Thor, Lord of the Aesir's revival effect!"
Crystal Wing's effect could respond to a monster effect activating from the Graveyard too, though in this particular case, it wouldn't gain any ATK from it.
[Thor, Lord of the Aesir's activation, negated]
With Crystal Wing's rock-solid single negation locked in, one of the three polar gods' revivals was fully shut down.
At the End Phase, Amano Rei kept the effects coming. "Of course, all I said was that it wasn't reviving on your field! Kurikara Divincarnate's effect, activate!"
[During your End Phase, activate by targeting 1 monster in your opponent's Graveyard. Special Summon that monster to your field.]
"I target Thor, Lord of the Aesir in your Graveyard, and Special Summon it onto my own field!"
[Thor, Lord of the Aesir] [ATK: 3500]
Amano Rei's field now stood at a full six monsters once again, and two of them were none other than the polar gods Loki and Thor.
Fiore said, excitedly, "Nicely poached!"
Sis, given your own history, I feel like "poached" might carry a whole other meaning for you right now.
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