RUMBLE—
As Hamon's massive form crashed down, the Sacred Beast crushed Morishima underneath, snuffing out what little life force he still clung to.
Hikaru Amagi stepped forward through the smoke, lazily waving his hand to clear the dust.
"How... How could this happen?! Even the General lost?!"
The Allied Doctor's face turned ghost-white.
He collapsed backward, flailing helplessly.
In his mind, Morishima was unbeatable —
an invincible force, no matter the enemy.
He scrambled back to his feet, panic flaring.
Around him, the mechanical Duel Spirits that had been lying dormant…
began to stir again.
His gut clenched.
Because when Hamon's ATK dropped to zero —
all the energy it had absorbed,
all the stolen life force from these machine spirits —
had been returned to their rightful owners.
He still didn't understand them.
They were machines, weren't they?
He had disassembled them with his own hands!
And yet —
when their life force returned —
even shattered gears, broken shells, snapped axles —
regrew, reassembled, renewed.
The machines revived —
fresh, gleaming like brand new.
No—
Now's not the time to think about that!
The Doctor's face twisted.
He had ripped these spirits apart for his experiments —
and now they would surely turn on him.
He had to escape!
He scrambled forward, reaching desperately for a lever on the wall.
If he could pull it, maybe he could activate the emergency teleporter—!
But—
No matter how hard he pulled,
even when he threw his entire weight onto it,
the lever wouldn't budge.
He blinked—and noticed:
The lever was wrapped in faint, barely-there puppet strings, glowing with a purple gleam.
They seemed flimsy —
yet no matter what strength he used,
they wouldn't snap.
It was the doing of that spirit —
the one always hovering at Hikaru's side.
Panic overwhelmed him.
Meanwhile, Hikaru calmly walked through the rubble to Morishima's body.
No…
He knelt, checked briefly.
"He's not unconscious," Tiara said, glancing over coldly.
"His life was completely devoured by Hamon."
Her tone was almost mechanical.
"The arrival of a Sacred Beast demands a sacrifice.
Morishima only lasted this long because he was feeding off the life of the machine spirits around him."
"And so did the ordinary soldiers," she added, glancing at the other fallen troops.
Hikaru followed her gaze.
He sighed and shook his head.
It wasn't true death.
Their souls were trapped — still digesting inside Hamon.
As long as their bodies didn't rot,
and if someone someday retrieved their souls from Hamon...
they might be revived.
Maybe.
But Hikaru didn't feel particularly compelled to help.
Morishima wasn't some innocent pawn.
He hadn't been brainwashed.
He was calculating.
Cold.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
Using Sacred Beast cards to enslave Duel Spirits —
not caring about the cost —
just to climb the ladder, to become a "master" who ruled spirits and humans alike.
Someone like that—
Hikaru had no sympathy to spare.
He reached down, unclipping Morishima's Duel Disk, carefully gathering the scattered cards.
Quickly, Hikaru sorted through the deck, the monsters, and the spells and traps.
Different from the last time.
When he'd defeated Shinrin You, that assassin, the cards had all turned to worthless paper, nothing but fake copies.
But this time—
Morishima's deck was real.
Every card had true spirit energy.
Even Hamon —
though it was a replica —
was a genuine card, not a disposable experiment.
He could feel it.
The real Hamon's presence had already departed the card —
but because this replica was made so carefully,
it could still call forth Hamon's full power, if only briefly.
Just like Hikaru's own Flame Swordsman could resonate across different copies.
The quality—
Was perfect.
"This Sacred Beast was surprisingly cooperative,"
Tiara mused, nodding thoughtfully.
"Even a fragment would've been enough — but having a whole, intact card saves us a lot of trouble."
Hikaru nodded.
He was about to pocket it when—
His chest grew warm.
His arm tingled, burning faintly.
In his hand, the card—
Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder—
began to shine with a brilliant electric light.
!?
At the same time—
His spare card case at his waist—
flared up with a surge of red light.
"What—"
Before Hikaru could react, a card burst out of his spare deck,
trailing flames like a dragon.
The Hamon card floated upward from his hand.
Three cards—
Forming a triangle in midair—
rotating faster and faster.
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames.
Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder.
And...
Fusion Devourer - DARK?
"No— wait!!"
Hikaru felt a terrible sense of déjà vu.
A year ago—
he had watched helplessly as his machines had fused into Ancient Gear Ultimate Golem.
And now—
"W-wow…"
Tiara floated up, stunned.
"So the Sacred Beasts… can combine?"
She had never seen anything like this.
"In that case, the third one must be DARK Attribute,"
Hikaru muttered.
He already knew.
The third Sacred Beast—
the true king—
Raviel, Lord of Phantasms.
A DARK Fiend-Type Sacred Beast.
And the three could combine—
into the ultimate entity—
Armityle the Chaos Phantom!
He had suspected this might happen someday…
But he thought it would only happen if he got his hands on Raviel first!
He rubbed his forehead.
Never thought it'd happen this early...
The spinning triangle stopped.
Three cards fused together.
Hikaru reached up.
It wasn't fully complete —
the card was still rough, shimmering with unstable purple light —
even cruder than his early El Shaddoll Winda.
"But it's enough,"
he said quietly.
It would take time—
a long time—
for the card to mature.
But—
Armityle the Chaos Phantom!
Once complete,
he would never again fear the Sacred Beasts.
Because—
He would be their king.