"My turn! Draw!"
Hikaru Amagi drew a card and flicked his gaze across it.
"'Crush you completely'?" Morishima chuckled, the sound harsh and mocking, as if Hikaru had just told him the funniest joke on earth.
"Do you even understand what that means?"
He thrust a finger toward the towering figure beside him — the monstrous Hamon.
"Hamon is one of the strongest Monster Cards ever created!
Its power subjugates all spirits.
Here in the Dimensional Gearworks, not a single machine could ever hope to challenge it!"
"You're saying you can do what an entire dimension's worth of machines couldn't?"
Hikaru smiled faintly.
Machines?
Those broken-down robots?
He could already picture it:
Morishima must have simply rampaged through them, wielding Hamon like a butcher's knife.
For ordinary Duel Spirits, the Sacred Beasts were overwhelming.
Against them, this dimension's robots never stood a chance.
But that didn't mean they were bad duelists.
If Hikaru had cards like ABC-Dragon Buster, VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon...
He could crush Hamon without even trying.
Spirit power was one thing.
Duel power was another.
"And besides," Morishima continued, arms crossed smugly,
"your so-called strongest monster — what is it, Ancient Gear Ultimate Golem?
ATK 4400?
How will you possibly defeat me?"
How?
Hikaru's grin widened.
"He's kinda right, Hikaru,"
Tiara floated next to him, fretting.
"Your hand's all green — all Spells. It doesn't look great."
"Hard?"
Hikaru chuckled, lifting his Duel Disk.
"Far from it."
"I activate Light and Darkness Unity's Graveyard effect!" he roared.
"During my Main Phase:
I banish this card from my Graveyard.
Then I target 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster in my Graveyard, shuffle them into the Deck — and draw 1 card!"
His Duel Disk spun.
Cards flickered — highlighted.
"I shuffle Elemental HERO Prisma and El Shaddoll Winda back into the Deck!
Then — I draw one card!"
He drew sharply.
The card flashed gold.
Perfect.
His chance had come!
Returning Winda —
he could hear Morishima scoff.
"Not Fusing?
Heh. Smart choice."
Despite half his body corrupted by Hamon's energy, Morishima stayed calculating, lucid.
Hikaru shrugged casually.
"Next,
I activate the Continuous Spell — Brilliant Fusion!"
"Brilliant Fusion?"
Morishima narrowed his eyes.
"You don't even have Gem-Knight monsters!
How do you plan to use it?"
"I don't need that,"
Hikaru said, voice razor-sharp.
"I'll prove it — pure, unfiltered power —
directly crushing my enemy head-on!"
"I send Gem-Knight Crystal and Gem-Knight Emerald from my Deck to the Graveyard!"
"Fusion Material Requirement:
1 Gem-Knight monster + 1 Rock-Type monster."
"O gentle serenity of emerald!
O unbreakable unity of diamond!
Now merge —
and ascend into a new form!"
"Fusion Summon!"
"Gem-Knight Zirconia!"
From an explosion of stone and crystal,
Captain Whitecrystal reappeared, larger, armored anew, sparkling with embedded emeralds.
Gem-Knight Zirconia, Level 8, EARTH, Rock-Type, ATK 2900.
Due to Brilliant Fusion's effect:
ATK becomes 0.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Morishima bellowed, pointing mockingly.
"Summoning a monster in Attack Position with 0 Attack!?
Hikaru — you really have gone insane!"
"How can a 0-ATK monster possibly defeat Hamon!?"
Hikaru only smiled deeper.
He turned, gazing beyond the walls of the Gearworks —
as if seeing a different duel happening at the far end of the dimension.
"Over there...
Another Obelisk Blue student — a friend —
is challenging the Duel Spirits."
"Only using monsters with under 500 Attack Points."
"Maybe even 0 ATK monsters."
"Hah?"
Morishima blinked, genuinely confused.
"Impossible.
There's no way."
"I believe he can do it."
Morishima sneered.
Typical naive nonsense.
No way 0-ATK monsters could win a real duel against full-powered spirits.
"No matter,"
Morishima scoffed,
"you and that idiot will both fall miserably!"
"Will we?"
Hikaru whispered.
"And next —"
"I discard Evil HERO Malicious Edge from my hand to activate its effect!"
"Search my Deck for a Dark Fusion or a card that lists it!"
Hikaru discarded.
This card —
a memento from a battle fought shoulder-to-shoulder with Jaden Yuki —
had slept in his Deck ever since.
"Add Dark Calling to my hand!"
A swirl of black lightning flickered through the bright laboratory, clinging to Hikaru's hand.
"Wait... Dark Calling?!"
Tiara blinked.
"But — you don't have the materials for Malicious Fiend!"
"Fusion Materials —
a Fiend-Type monster and a Rock-Type monster!"
Hikaru's Duel Disk blazed with energy.
"I activate Dark Calling!
Banish Gem-Knight Crystal and Evil HERO Malicious Edge from my Graveyard —
Fusion Summon!"
The battlefield ruptured.
Stone shards and black mist hurled upward — reality twisting inside out.
"Now witness — the birth of a twisted hero, born from the evil within!"
"Fusion Summon!"
"Evil HERO Dark Gaia!!"
From the swirling maelstrom, a massive demon emerged —
encased in rocky armor, sprouting black bat wings, a grotesque mirror of Hamon's skeletal majesty.
Evil HERO Dark Gaia, Level 8, EARTH, Fiend-Type, ATK: ??
"Dark Gaia's ATK equals the combined original ATK of its Fusion Materials.
Which means —"
ATK 4550!!
"F-Four thousand five hundred fifty!?"
Morishima staggered back.
"That's... stronger than Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"
"Nothing's impossible,"
Hikaru said coldly.
"This is the strength of our Academy —
new students —
a new future."
"Tch..."
Morishima grit his teeth.
"Even so — even if your Gem-Knight recovers to 2900 ATK,
I still have enough Life Points to survive!"
He crunched the numbers quickly, mentally calculating.
"No!"
Hikaru's voice slammed down like a thunderclap.
"My plan was for this exact moment!"
His Duel Disk pulsed red —
his eyes burning.
"I equip Evil HERO Dark Gaia with the Equip Spell — Phantom of Chaos!!"
Morishima's face twisted in horror.
"NO!
You can't —
you CAN'T defeat Hamon like this —!"
Phantom of Chaos —
equip only to a Fiend-Type or Zombie-Type Fusion Monster.
When it attacks —
it reduces the opponent's monster's ATK by an amount equal to its own!
4550 points!
"It's too late!!"
Hikaru shouted.
"Battle!
Dark Gaia — liberate them all!!"
Dark Gaia lunged,
wreathed in black smoke.
Chains of dark energy wrapped around Hamon —
the golden beast screamed in pain.
Its ATK plummeted violently to zero.
Brilliant white lights exploded outward —
souls released —
drifting upward, to freedom.
"Thank you!"
"Bless you!"
"You saved us!"
The cries of the freed spirits filled the laboratory —
some even vanishing into different dimensions beyond.
The damaged machine spirits revived,
their broken bodies mending instantly —
gleaming like they were new-built!
"No...
No, you can't!!"
Morishima screamed, running toward Hamon.
This was his collection —
the culmination of countless stolen souls!
"TOO LATE!"
Hamon —
stripped of its power —
willingly hurled itself at Dark Gaia,
grinning like a madman in its final act.
Morishima — LP: 1800 → 0!
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
The entire lab shook.
Morishima was swallowed by the eruption.
Hikaru clenched his fist tightly.
Victory wasn't his goal.
Liberation was.
He hadn't forced Morishima to summon Hamon just for a flashy duel.
He had done it —
to free them all.
And now,
he had succeeded —
even beyond his wildest hopes.