"Locking Special Summons, huh…"
Among the crowd, many Duelists wore the same stunned expression.
Yamaguchi stared at his locked face-down cards, then glanced at his own arms.
Only after Hikaru explained it did he realize it: both he and Hikaru were wrapped in glowing purple puppet strings, the kind that extended from El Shaddoll Winda. His Duel Disk's monster zone glowed—cards sealed tight—and a cold sweat broke down his back.
What... what now?!
His thoughts were spinning. No answers. No air.
"Special Summon lockdown," Bastion Misawa murmured. Then, with dawning clarity, "So that's it… That's the answer Hikaru's been building toward!"
"Huh?" Even Chazz Princeton looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you remember? That Duel in Tsutono City—when Hikaru faced off against that interdimensional guy, Haruto Kunigawa."
Chazz paused, remembering, then clapped his fist into his palm. "Oh! Right! That Duel where the guy used Rescue Rabbit and brought out those Rank 4 monsters!"
Exactly.
Back then, Haruto had summoned two Level 4 monsters using just one card, and from there performed an incomprehensible Xyz Summon. But the key—was it the Xyz Monster? Rescue Rabbit?
No.
The real crux was assembling monsters of the same Level.
And doing that relied heavily on Special Summons. If you blocked that mechanic—even Rank monsters that didn't require Fusion became unusable.
"Not just that…" Bastion added, eyes narrowing. "Synchro Monsters need a solid board to summon too… and Hikaru, he's figured all this out before any of us!"
"That Falcon," he murmured, "it's a Tuner Spellcaster… probably something he earned in that magical forest."
Whispers spread through the watching students.
"Only one Special Summon per turn? That's not even hard to work around for a Fusion deck. Winda only has 2200 ATK!"
"Exactly! Just summon a Fusion monster stronger than that and she's done! But Xyz Summon? That's a no-go!"
"No way to build materials!"
"That's Hikaru for you—doing what none of us could!"
"While we're all freaking out, Hikaru already has a strategy!"
"That's our Fusion Club president for you!"
"Fusion's Final Answer—Hikaru Amagi!!"
The crowd erupted, cheering his name.
Yamaguchi twitched. He could hear them. All of them. Talking about Xyz, Synchro, Rituals—and none of them spared a thought for Gladiator Beasts.
What about his cards?
He looked at his hand and sighed.
"…I end my turn."
"Heh… My turn. Draw." Hikaru drew without pause. One glance.
"Battle. Winda attacks Gladiator Beast Darius!"
Winda raised her staff. The dragon beside her twitched once—then lashed out.
BOOM.
Darius shattered in an instant.
Yamaguchi LP: 4000 → 3300
"This is a nightmare…" Yamaguchi whispered.
"I set one card. End turn." Hikaru slid his card into place casually.
"M-my turn." Yamaguchi swallowed hard.
Why?
Why did a 2200 ATK Fusion monster feel so heavy—so oppressive!?
He looked at his hand. His earlier spell—Gladiator Beast's Battle Gladius—was already used to destroy Archfiend's Manifestation. He couldn't overpower Winda directly.
Then—
"I Normal Summon—Gladiator Beast Hoplomus!"
A massive saber-toothed tiger, clad in shield and blade, appeared with a snarl.
Gladiator Beast Hoplomus – Level 3 / EARTH / Beast-Type / 1600 ATK
"A Level 3 with 1600 ATK?"
"Not bad—but Winda's still on the field."
Yamaguchi wiped sweat from his forehead, clenched his fists, and shouted: "Don't underestimate Gladiator Beasts! Hoplomus attacks your face-down monster!"
Hikaru didn't even flinch.
Falcon flipped up. ATK 600. DEF 1400. It didn't stand a chance against Hoplomus' shield-bash. Shaddoll Falcon was smashed to pieces and sent back to the Graveyard.
But the Shaddoll archetype thrived in the Graveyard. Returning there wasn't a loss—it was home.
Hikaru shielded his face from the impact but didn't seem fazed.
"End of Battle Phase—Hoplomus returns to the Deck, and I Special Summon—Gladiator Beast Murmillo!"
A fish leapt onto the field, fins flaring and trident at the ready.
Gladiator Beast Murmillo – Level 3 / WATER / Fish-Type / 800 ATK
"Murmillo's effect! When Special Summoned by a Gladiator Beast's effect, destroy one face-up monster on the field—I destroy El Shaddoll Winda!"
Murmillo raised a spiraled shell horn and let out a thunderous cry—but before the sound could even reach Winda, her dragon mount casually smacked the wave aside with a claw.
"W-What!?"
"Sorry," Hikaru said, shrugging, "Winda can't be destroyed by your card effects."
Gasp.
The crowd murmured in shock.
"She can't be destroyed—even by effects?!"
"She already limits Special Summons and still has that kind of protection!?"
Bastion's brow furrowed, gears turning rapidly. "Don't forget—Core of Shadowy Shaddoll and Shaddoll Falcon both had retrieval effects. They returned Spell and Trap cards to the hand…"
"This… this is alchemical recycling," he muttered. "Destruction and reconstruction. Winda must have inherited that power as well."
Chazz grit his teeth. "If I had to fight her with my VWXYZ deck… I'd be dead. Even my Armed Dragons couldn't beat her unless I draw perfectly."
"She looks cute, but she's deadly…"
"She's a monster crafted with terrifying precision."
Jaden Yuki whispered, "Hikaru's the student most admired by Professor Banner. Still studies alchemy, still uses it. This Winda… it's probably the result of that pursuit."
He smiled faintly.
"So cool… Hikaru… that monster's awesome…"
Probably only Jaden would call a terrifying magical construct "cool."
Next to him, Tiella was nodding proudly. "Mm! This human really gets it."
She had rebuilt Winda with her own hands. Designed the new body. Improved its structure. Of course she was proud of it.
If she could return to her own body, she would—but until then, this one would do.
"All right," Hikaru said casually, "any more plays?"
Yamaguchi didn't respond. He stared at his hand, sweating bullets, racking his memory, scraping the bottom of every tactic he'd ever learned.
How do you deal with Winda?
He could draw another Gladiator Beast's Battle Gladius, sure—but what were the odds? And if he lost monsters in the meantime?
Maybe he could summon something with more than 2200 ATK directly—but Falcon was gone now. No more risk-free flips.
Even if Professor Akaba had given him this upgraded deck, most of the cards were lower-level monsters for ease of use.
Wait… Book of Moon! Or maybe De-Fusion?
Yeah, De-Fusion would work—it would return Winda to Hikaru's Extra Deck.
…Except he hadn't included De-Fusion. This deck wasn't built for that.
Outside, it was cold, but his forehead wouldn't stop sweating.
Trying to solve Winda felt like a puzzle, an impossible labyrinth. But for the first time in three years…
He felt alive.
He felt the rush of Dueling.
The real question—would Hikaru give him enough time to solve it?
"Ha…" Hikaru chuckled. He saw the struggle on Yamaguchi's face and couldn't help but smile.
"You're thinking really hard, huh, senpai?"
Yamaguchi looked up, stunned. "What? Are you… mocking me?"
"No," Hikaru said gently. "I'm saying—you're trying. You're thinking. And that's good."
!!
Yamaguchi's eyes widened.
"Facing something new—something unknown—and testing, learning, experimenting, adapting… that's what a real Duelist does."
Hikaru held a card in his hand. "We're here at Duel Academy to grow. So why would we stop growing just because the game itself evolves?"
"Fusion Summons aren't the only summoning method. We've got Tribute Summons, Rituals, Gemini monsters. If we want to claim that Fusion is the noblest, we can't shut out everything else."
"Fusion is noble not because it excludes. It's noble because it embraces. Whether Synchro, Xyz, or Ritual—we can use them too."
"They can all become part of the Fusion. They can become Fusion Materials."
"Now then…" Hikaru raised his voice. "Let's end this. Trap Card—Fusion Reserve!"
"I reveal Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, then add one Thunder Dragon from my Deck to my hand. And then, activate its effect—add two more Thunder Dragons."
"Finally…"
He slowly flipped the leftmost card in his hand.
"Normal Spell—Polymerization."
The crowd gasped.
The original. The purest form. The one that started it all.
"Fusion…?" Yamaguchi whispered.
He closed his eyes.
He had lost.
Utterly and completely.
In cards. In understanding. In dueling. In belief. In character.
There wasn't a single area where he matched up.
His mind flashed through the past three years—his mistakes, his cowardice, the cruelty he'd justified under the name of Fusion. As a senior. As an Obelisk Blue student.
He had no right to go back.
When he opened his eyes, he saw only one thing:
A Duelist.
Calling forth Thunder Dragons.
Unafraid of change.
Embracing all of Fusion.
So this… this was Fusion.
That terrifying, blasphemous thought flashed through Yamaguchi's mind—
—and even he couldn't deny it.
Hikaru Amagi… was more of a Fusion Duelist than any of them.