"The turn continues. Before I end, I activate the Continuous Spell, [Future Fusion]."
Hikaru didn't pass the turn; he kept pushing. "I reveal a Fusion Monster in my Extra Deck, then send its listed Fusion Materials from my Deck to the GY. The monster Special Summoned by Future Fusion can't attack the turn it's Summoned."
"Oh… that card." Zane knew its power, he'd run it himself.
For a duelist who lives and breathes Fusion, nothing is more convenient than this Spell.
"From my Deck, I send [Shaddoll Beast] and [Shaddoll Squamata] to the GY."
At those names, plenty of spectators realized what was coming.
Hikaru clenched his fist, then raised his hand. "It's time."
A surge of violet radiance unfurled behind him, a brief amethyst gleam flashing in his eyes. At his side, Tierra lifted her hand, and countless puppet strings spooled out.
"Listen," Hikaru said, setting an Extra Deck card onto his Duel Disk. "Hear the will of the heavens… analyze this decree!"
"Fusion Summon! Descend-[El Shaddoll Winda]!"
Violet smoke boiled up. A marionette was yanked from the dreamlike plane by strings and rose onto the airship.
[El Shaddoll Winda] — Level 5 | DARK | Spellcaster | 2200 ATK / 800 DEF.
"It's Winda!"
"That lock piece!"
"Hikaru's partner…"
Even if he didn't play her every duel, everyone close to Hikaru knew: this spirit was the ally he trusted most. Even his enemies knew Winda appeared at his side almost daily.
"And you haven't forgotten the Shaddoll triggers, right?" Hikaru continued. "Shaddoll monsters activate when they're sent to the GY by a card effect.
Shaddoll Beast lets me draw 1 card, and Shaddoll Squamata sends 1 'Shaddoll' card from my Deck to the GY."
"I send [Shaddoll Fusion] to the GY, then I draw 1."
"I Set one card. Turn end."
In front of the TV, Jaden sat cross-legged, hands braced on the floor as he swayed. "A-Hikaru's really serious, he brought out that setup right away."
"Eh?" His two underclassmen blinked.
As strong as the start looked, a 2500 ATK Fusion and a 2200 ATK lockdown weren't insurmountable at this level. Most finalists had lines to break that field.
"What a position," Jim murmured. "Winda limits Special Summons, each player can only Special Summon once per turn while she's face-up. Predaplant Chimerafflesia can shrink the opponent's monsters and bulk itself; and unless you get up around 4500 ATK, it doesn't go down to battle by normal means.
The Dreamland field supports all this, if Kaiser removes a monster with a card effect, Hikaru replaces the card advantage by drawing. And when Winda hits the GY, she retrieves a 'Shaddoll' Spell/Trap, like Shaddoll Fusion, for next turn."
Misawa nodded. "Even ignoring the Set, just Winda plus the Fusion body, the field, and those GY effects are a headache. If Zane tries to make something stronger by Fusing, he has to answer Winda first to unlock more Special Summons, costing him tempo. That's one of Cyber Dragon's biggest constraints."
Of course, some viewers with half the story were thinking, 'Can't Zane just use Power Bond for Cyber End Dragon and swing over Winda?'
But Misawa still saw the same problem: Hikaru had a Set card, and the position was layered.
"To open like this… very you, Hikaru." Zane smiled. "Good. It makes things more exciting."
Not settling it back at Duel Academy had been Zane's regret. Half a year later, they were finally facing off at the summit.
The airship drifted forward.
Zane looked down at his hand, then lifted his gaze. "If my opponent controls a monster and I control none, I can Special Summon this, come forth, [Cyber Dragon]!"
Bzzzzt
A silver-white Machine flashed into being.
[Cyber Dragon] — Level 5 | LIGHT | Machine | 2100 ATK / 1600 DEF.
With that summon, a skein of violet strings whipped across the airship toward Zane's side, coiling around his Duel Disk, Winda's invisible warning that he had used his one Special Summon for the turn.
Many in the crowd understood: Kaiser couldn't Special Summon again this turn.
"Then I play the Spell, [Evolution Burst]!"
"Evolution Burst…" someone whispered. "It destroys a card if you control Cyber Dragon, but that won't touch Winda, right? She can't be destroyed by an opponent's card effects."
Zane's smile didn't fade. "I don't need to destroy Winda. I'm destroying Future Fusion."
He pointed. "When Future Fusion leaves the field, the monster it brought out is destroyed right along with it. Even Winda can't escape that, its destruction comes from Hikaru's own card."
"Go, Cyber Dragon!"
The silver Machine twisted, spitting a lance of light at the Continuous Spell in Hikaru's back row.
Future Fusion shattered and vanished.
"But then Winda and Dreamland both trigger, I add Shaddoll Fusion back from my GY to my hand, and Dreamland lets me draw 1."
Hikaru glanced at the card he drew.
Keeper of Dragon Magic.
There it was.
He looked back across the field.
"With Winda dealt with… how do you answer Chimerafflesia?"
"If my opponent controls a monster, activate effect! Cyber Jormungardr, Special Summon!"
A strange, serpentine Machine spiraled into view, circling the airship in time with its forward glide, sleek plating, violet conduits, a coiling frame built for constriction rather than brute force.
"Cyber Jormungardr—Level 5, LIGHT — Machine.
With its effect, it can Special Summon 1 'Cyber Dragon' from the Deck and equip it. For the rest of this turn, I can't Special Summon monsters except Machines."
A silver-white dragon of circuits streaked from Zane's Deck and locked to the serpent's chassis as a living power coil.
"There are three Level 5s!"
"Is it coming?"
An Xyz Summon, Zane's Xyz, felt imminent.
"Before that, Normal Summon, [Cyber Dragon Core]." Zane casually placed another card.
A small violet unit hopped from the Duel Disk, landed on the serpent's back, and rode the wind in tight arcs.
[Cyber Dragon Core] — Level 2 | LIGHT | Machine | 400 ATK / 1500 DEF.
"Core's on-summon effect: add 1 'Cyber' Spell/Trap from my Deck."
Zane riffled his Deck; the gale threatening to shear cards away never bothered him. He plucked one with surgical precision.
"I add [Cyberdark Invasion] to my hand."
"Next, Cyber Jormungardr again, return [Cyber Dragon Core] (treated as 'Cyber Dragon' on the field) to my hand, then add 1 'Fusion' card from my Deck."
He snapped a card free, eyes glinting.
"And finally…" Zane looked left, toward Hikaru. "I'll answer your Fusion with mine, Continuous Spell, [Future Fusion]."
"The same card!"
"Figures, Kaiser would have it too."
Hikaru didn't so much as blink. For Zane, this choice was textbook.
"Future Fusion sends materials from my Deck to the GY." Zane's voice deepened. "I send [Cyberdark Claw], [Cyberdark Cannon], [Cyberdark Edge], [Cyberdark Horn], and [Cyberdark Keel]!"
"Fusion Summon!"
His aura shifted; the sky itself seemed to dim. Blue currents crackled overhead like veins of lightning.
"Whoaaa..." Watching from his hospital room, Atticus smiled through the static flecks on his TV. "That's it…"
"Witness it, my struggle, my pride, my Duel! Mind and machine as one, become absolute!"
"Fusion Summon!"
A colossal, wicked Machine tore down from the clouds, claws and cannons gleaming as it let out a metallic roar.
"Level 10!"
"Cyberdarkness Dragon!"
"Oh! It's Cyberdarkness Dragon!" Seeing the monster up close, Misawa finally understood how Atticus had felt when he'd faced it at point-blank range.
"This monster showed up in Alexis Rhodes's Duel, but Kaiser didn't use it in the last one…" Chazz watched the rampaging Machine and muttered, "All I caught then was that it equips Dragon or Machine monsters from the GY and gains ATK. Beyond that, I know nothing…"
He fixed his eyes on the field. He hadn't dueled yet, but his goal was the championship; that meant learning the aces on both sides.
[Cyberdarkness Dragon] — Level 10 | DARK | Machine | 2000 ATK.
"Cyberdarkness Dragon, when this card is Special Summoned: equip 1 Dragon or Machine from my GY to it," Zane said. "I equip [Cyberdark Cannon]!"
Zane's smile sharpened. "It gains ATK equal to the equipped monster's original ATK."
Cyberdarkness Dragon: 2000 → 3600 ATK.
"3600…?"
"Normally that beats Predaplant Chimerafflesia, but," someone in the crowd hissed, "Chimerafflesia can crater a Special Summoned monster's ATK in battle and stack that onto itself. Unless you break 4500, you won't win by combat the usual way."
A few soldiers in the Fusion Army scoffed. "Heh. Waste of Future Fusion. Hikaru won't lose to that."
"Oh, really?" Yuri turned toward the voice with a lazy smile. The soldier went rigid, head dipping fast. "You're amusing. Keep analyzing," Yuri said, listening like a statue while the man babbled options Zane "should" take.
"It's time," Zane said.
White light rolled off him. His black coat bled into pure white, and even his eyes seemed to shift shade.
"It's here!"
"The X-Dimension's photonization!"
The stands erupted.
"I overlay the Level 5 Cyber Dragon and Level 5 Cyber Jormungard, build the Xyz Network!"
The two Machines became twin motes and sank into a black vortex. From it rose a steel dragon with jet-black wings and a radiant reactor core.
"Xyz Summon! Rank 5 — [Cyber Dragon Nova]!"
Another ace crashed down in a surge of light.
[Cyber Dragon Nova] — Rank 5 | LIGHT | Machine | 2100 ATK | Materials: 2.
"Nova's effect, banish 1 'Cyber Dragon' from my hand or face-up field; this card gains 2100 ATK until the end of this turn!"
Cyber Dragon Nova: 2100 → 4200 ATK.
He glanced at Predaplant Chimerafflesia, a smile tugging at his lips. "Battle Phase, Cyber Dragon Nova attacks Chimerafflesia!"
"Huh?"
"That's not right!"
"Even with +2100, it still can't beat Chimerafflesia!"
They weren't wrong.
Most people knew Chimerafflesia specialized in punishing raw-ATK beaters; in the right window it could even tangle with a 4500-ATK threat. Nova could jump to 4200 ATK, sure, but trying to brawl into Chimerafflesia still felt reckless.
"What's my brother thinking?" Syrus scratched his head, baffled. Why would Zane do something so suicidal?
Zane kept that small, persistent smile and sent his monster forward. Hikaru frowned, thought it through, then shook his head. "I won't activate Chimerafflesia's effect."
"What!?"
"Why!" Chazz and Bastion blurted in unison.
Across the Xyz Dimension, on Earth, among Duel Spirits, even inside the Fusion Army, almost everyone erupted with the same question.
Why? On the surface, Hikaru had the advantage.
"Hahaha...a wise choice!" Zane laughed. "In a Duel, it's not enough to seize advantage, you have to know what to give up."
He praised Hikaru, impressed by the read, and thought to himself:
'He saw it. As expected of Hikaru, the Absolute Fusion user. He knows the replay rule, and how my board punishes the wrong timing.'
Cyber Dragon Nova skimmed the air, wings vibrating as the airship drifted on. With a cross-slash of those reactors, it cleaved the flower-beast cleanly in two.
Hikaru — LP: 4000 → 2300.
"I set 2 and end my turn."
"My turn, draw!" Hikaru's card snapped into his fingers. "Standby Phase, Predaplant Chimerafflesia. If this card was sent to the GY, during the next Standby Phase: add 1 Spell/Trap with 'Fusion' in its name from your Deck. I add [Instant Fusion] to my hand."
"Then, since you control a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, I activate [Shaddoll Fusion] and use monsters from my Deck as Fusion Materials!"
"Don't even think about it, Cyberdarkness Dragon!" Zane's voice cracked like a whip. "When your opponent activates a Spell/Trap or monster effect: send 1 Equip Card you control to the GY; negate that activation, and if you do, destroy it!"
"Ah!?"
"Hsss"
"Wh-what a terrifying effect!"
The cannon on Cyberdarkness Dragon's back swiveled toward Hikaru's Spell, gathered a knot of black current, and fired, shattering Shaddoll Fusion into glittering fragments.
"Oh my…" Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Even Bastion swallowed hard. That omni-negate hit like a brick.
And then it clicked. A cold sweat ran down more than a few necks as they realized what would have happened.
If Hikaru had used Chimerafflesia's battle-window effect last turn, Cyberdarkness Dragon would have just sent its Equip to negate and destroy it. With the number of Hikaru's monsters on the field changing mid-attack, the attack would have replayed, letting Cyber Dragon Nova immediately retarget and attack directly.
A 4200-point direct hit? That would have been lethal on the spot.
Hikaru had even played around a card that existed on the field for only a moment.
"As expected of the Absolute Fusion user…" someone breathed. "He even prepared for that."
Fusion Army soldiers stared, mouths open, finally grasping how oppressive Zane's Future Fusion line into Cyberdarkness Dragon had been, and how correct Hikaru's restraint was.
Belatedly, many understood: not pressing Chimerafflesia last turn wasn't timidity; it was high-level discipline.
It was the right call.