The Synchro Summon that shook sky and earth burst forth in crimson.
Unfurling demonic wings, the Synchro effects flared in searing dark red as Red Dragon Archfiend, with 3000 Attack, raised its head and roared in arrogance; it was as if a distant volcano detonated, pillars of flame sweeping the sky.
Stardust's eyes shot open: "That monster—!"
"What is it, Stardust?"
"My DNA's tingling, Miles!"
"Don't engrave weird stuff into your DNA. Errr, though since we're up against Red Dragon Archfiend, that's… not that weird, I guess."
With Red Dragon Archfiend successfully Synchro Summoned, the dark-red glow bathed Lost, who crossed her arms; her swagger doubled with the flames.
"Well? Aisha Carlos—this is my soul-monster, the ultimate Synchro devil-dragon: Red Dragon Archfiend!"
"Now this is getting interesting. And I'll be borrowing your Tuner while I'm at it!"
The instant Lost completed her Synchro Summon, the condition was met; a set card in Miles's back row flipped face-up.
"—Trap Card, [Tuner Capture]!"
[When your opponent successfully Synchro Summons a Synchro Monster: Target 1 Tuner monster that was used for that Synchro Summon in your opponent's Graveyard; Special Summon it to your field.]
"Since you Synchro Summoned [Red Dragon Archfiend], the Tuner you used—[Chain Resonator] in your Graveyard—gets Special Summoned to my field!"
From the surface of the flipped Trap, a claw like one from a prize crane reached into Lost's Graveyard, pinched the tiny Resonator, and plopped it onto Miles's field.
[Chain Resonator] LV 1│Tuner│100 DEF
If your own Tuner isn't enough, borrow the opponent's.
This Trap—nothing more than D-rank back at Fusion Academy—can only activate when the opponent performs a Synchro Summon. Over there, nobody ever uses it.
Which is exactly why Miles forged it before departing—Spellwork tailor-made to counter Synchron Academy.
"Planning to use my Tuner as a wall? Too naïve, Aisha Carlos!"
Lost thrust an arm up toward the roaring Red Dragon Archfiend, declaring its annihilation effect with brash certainty.
"I told you—I'll smash every one of your Defense Position monsters in one go, no matter how many! That's Red Dragon Archfiend's effect!"
[After damage calculation, if this card attacked a Defense Position monster: Destroy all Defense Position monsters your opponent controls.]
One strike to make the entire defensive line collapse.
This was why Lost had played [Earthquake] to force every monster on the field into Defense Position.
No matter how many defenders you've got, they're nothing before Red Dragon Archfiend.
"And my final finisher—go click-click!"
Before declaring the Battle Phase, the hot-blooded delinquent flipped her last set Trap as well.
"—Trap Card, [Lineage of Destruction]! This turn, when your opponent's Defense Position monsters are destroyed by effect, your Level 8 monster gains additional attacks equal to the number of monsters destroyed!"
"Additional attacks equal to the number of destroyed defenders?!" Ren sucked in a breath.
Miles currently had 4 monsters in Defense Position. If Red Dragon Archfiend's attack triggered its field-wiping effect, it would gain 4 extra attacks this turn.
4 × 3000 = a horrifying 12,000 damage—enough to OTK three whole Life Point bars.
"So this is the destructive power of a Synchro Dragon… that's brutal!"
Even as the opponent, Lishia couldn't help but gasp at the power Lost had just unleashed.
Synchron Academy's standard really was high. Winning the Spirit Sanctuary Ranking War hadn't been luck.
"Then I'll use my spirit, burning to the limit, to utterly crush you! Fight and roar—Red Dragon Archfiend!"
Half-turned, hand slicing forward, Lost entered the Battle Phase and declared Red Dragon Archfiend's world-ending finisher.
"First, your Defense Position monsters… shred that Defense Position Mokey Mokey!"
That target choice clearly had some personal feelings mixed in.
Even if she was about to make a comeback with Red Dragon Archfiend, the humiliation of being decked by Mokey Punch last turn was something Lost needed to vent.
Aoyao: "Such a child's temper, Lost."
She's a delinquent already—how mature can you expect her to be?
At best, she's king of the kids.
"As long as I win, that's what matters!" Lost roared in unison with Red Dragon Archfiend as it dove: "Bellow—'Absolute Authority Suppression'!!"
"Rooaar!"
Claws wreathed in blazing flame ripped through the air, lunging for the tofu block wearing a ( -_-? ) face.
Facing those demonic talons, Miles shouted back, "Your burning spirit, huh! Then it's time for me to gather the will of my weak monsters!"
"What!" Lost's pupils blew wide with shock.
The Mokey Mokey that Red Dragon Archfiend's claws should have torn apart was now bathed in a radiance of hope that stood toe-to-toe with the dragon's flames.
That light blazing on Miles's field, standing against Red Dragon Archfiend—no Synchron student could mistake it.
Lost & Aoyao shouted: "It's… a Synchro Summon?!"
Spoken in perfect unison—probably the loudest Aoyao's voice had ever gotten.
Because it was simply too shocking.
In Lost's turn, the light of a Synchro Summon shone—not on Synchron Academy's field, but on Fusion Academy's Aisha Carlos's.
"—Trap Card, [Urgent Tuning], activate!"
Miles flipped his final set—unsurprisingly, another Trap built to facilitate a Synchro Summon.
[Can only be activated during the Battle Phase of either player. Perform a Synchro Summon using monsters you control.]
A Trap that lets you, at Spell Speed 2, Synchro Summon a monster during either player's Battle Phase. It's basically [Instant Fusion] for Synchros.
"I'll be borrowing your Tuner, Lost!"
To perform a Synchro Summon, Miles needed a Tuner on his field.
And the only one there was the [Chain Resonator] he'd snatched from Lost's Graveyard.
"A Synchro Summon? No way! Aisha Carlos—you're from Fusion Academy!"
Playing Xyz in the nation of Synchro was already something—but now he was even using the very emblem of Synchron: a Synchro Summon.
Miles said, "Synchro Summoning is the hope born when weak monsters gather together. How does that not fit me?"
Aisha nodded vigorously, "Mhmm, super fits!"
With [Urgent Tuning] activated, the three monsters with Levels on Miles's field glowed with starlight, their radiance clashing with Red Dragon Archfiend's oppressive flames.
"I tune the Level 1 Tuner [Chain Resonator] with the Level 1 [Mokey Mokey] and the Level 6 [Summoned Skull]—Synchro!"
1★ + 1★ + 6★ = 8★
Their total Levels equaled 8. Eight stars circled, linking the blazing firmament to the Dragon of Hope in Miles's Extra Deck.
"Finally, my turn—let's go!"
"Let our gathered wishes become a newborn shining star, the path of light! Synchro Summon! Take wing—Stardust Dragon!"
[Stardust Dragon] Level 8│WIND│Dragon│2500 ATK / 2000 DEF
[Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters]
In a spiral of starry light, Stardust Dragon spread its wings in a dazzling arc; its arrival split the battlefield Red Dragon Archfiend had dyed crimson into two—
one half flame, one half starlight.
The onlookers of Axet erupted.
"It really is a Synchro!"
"I must be dreaming—Fusion Academy students can Synchro Summon too?"
"So Fusion Academy isn't specialized in Fusion after all—they've got every summoning method?"
"Also, this energy is insane. I've never seen a duel this intense! Uh-oh, my magic crystal gauge is about to explode!"
As a Synchron student piloting Red Dragon Archfiend, Lost felt an unprecedented shock upon seeing Stardust Dragon's summoning.
Despite that, what hit her hardest wasn't the Synchro itself—it was Stardust Dragon.
Lost's voice trembled: "Stardust… Why?! Why do you have Stardust too? How is that even possible!"
Aoyao muttered, "The world is full of wonders. This exchange program might get lively. Sigh…"
She didn't hate lively, but the thought of facing even more strangers made the withdrawn Aoyao shrink further into the car.
"If my opponent is also Stardust, then I absolutely can't lose! Oooooh!"
Recovering fast from shock, Lost clenched her fists. Devil-dragon and Stardust faced off like riven fate, stoking her fighting spirit even hotter.
[Stardust Dragon DEF: 2000]
Since Stardust Dragon's Attack didn't match Red Dragon Archfiend's, Miles Synchro Summoned it in Defense Position.
A Stardust in Defense also gave Lost a reason to meet it head-on.
"Change target, Red Dragon Archfiend! Burn Stardust to ash with your crimson flames!—Absolute Authority Suppression!!"
The dragon's talons, wreathed once more in fire, crashed forward. The heatwave and absolute force collided, blasting Stardust Dragon from Miles's field and out beyond the town's edge.
"My soul-dragon—Red Dragon Archfiend's power is unshakable! After it destroys a monster by battle, its effect will then wipe out every Defense Position monster you control."
Miles still had 1 monster in Defense Position: [Number 29: Mannequin Cat]. If it got blown up by Red Dragon Archfiend's effect, [Lineage of Destruction] would grant Red Dragon Archfiend an extra attack.
And Miles's remaining Life Points happened to be exactly Red Dragon Archfiend's 3000 Attack.
[Miles, LP: 3000]
"In the end, I still win, Aisha Carlos! As expected, Synchro Summons are stronger in our Synchron Academy!"
"Says who! It's not over yet—Stardust Dragon!"
"Rooaar!!"
At Miles's defiant command, the Stardust Dragon that had been blasted away suddenly beat its wings and surged back onto the field.
Its comeback spanned the town, a comet-tail of Stardust carving a shining arc across the sky.
"Stardust Dragon… wasn't destroyed by my soul's Red Dragon Archfiend?!"
Miles's last set had been [Urgent Tuning]. With that gone, Stardust Dragon had still survived Red Dragon Archfiend's blast.
"It wasn't destroyed in battle because the wishes of the weak have all gathered upon Stardust Dragon!"
Miles pulled a card from the Graveyard and showed it to Lost.
[Relinkuriboh]
Lost's eyes shook. "It's… that very first fodder monster!"
"When a monster I control would be destroyed by battle, I can banish [Relinkuriboh] from my Graveyard instead. Linked ring to ring, supporting one another—that's how weak monsters fight alongside Stardust Dragon!"
Draped in Kuriboh's final prayer, Stardust Dragon roared and swept its claws up to meet Red Dragon Archfiend's shredding talons. Power met power in perfect parity, exploding upward into the sky.
Lost shouted, "Even if Stardust Dragon wasn't destroyed by battle—after Red Dragon Archfiend's battle, its effect to destroy all Defense Position monsters still activates!"
"That's exactly what I was waiting for—your field-wiping effect!"
Miles drove a fist forward as he seized the timing—his Stardust outshone crimson in that instant.
Red Dragon Archfiend's effect is mandatory; even if Lost wanted to stop it, she couldn't.
"To take in all destruction, all ruin, all rage—that is Stardust Dragon's effect!"
[When a Spell/Trap/Monster effect is activated that would destroy a card(s) on the field: You can Tribute this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.]
"—Victim Sanctuary!!"
The sanctuary of sacrifice blossomed wide. Particles of stardust flooded the field, enveloping both Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend.
"I Tribute Stardust Dragon to negate and destroy Red Dragon Archfiend!"
In that final moment, starlight and crimson fire intertwined and then scattered into the heavens together.
That day, the power unleashed by this duel filled the town's magic-crystal reserves to levels never seen before.
Lost stared, dazed, up at the empty sky. "Red Dragon Archfiend and Stardust Dragon… both vanished? This Stardust Dragon's effect—it's different!"
With only a single Resonator Tuner in hand and nothing she could Summon, Lost, her Red Dragon Archfiend gone, she could only end her turn in frustration.
"They vanished together—but the one who wins in the end is still Stardust Dragon!"
"N-no way!"
Miles pointed skyward—to the Stardust gathering anew in the firmament.
[During the End Phase, if this effect was activated this turn: You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard that was Tributed to activate its effect.]
"Return at the End Phase—Stardust Dragon!"
"Rooaar—!"
[Stardust Dragon ATK: 2500]
Revived by its own effect, Stardust Dragon had bested destiny itself; the starlight on its wings shone all the brighter.
"These are the wishes gathered here—my Synchro Summon wins! Time for the finishing direct attack!"
As Miles declared the Battle Phase, Stardust Dragon gathered stellar energy in its maw.
"One more, Stardust Dragon!"
"—Shooting Sonic!!"
[Lost, LP: 2100 → 0]
"Aaaaaaaaah!"
Drowned in the blinding brilliance of Shooting Sonic, Synchron Academy's Red Dragon Archfiend finally fell to Fusion Academy's Dragon of Hope.
What was meant to be a show of force against Fusion Academy backfired into a stinging slap across Synchron Academy's face.
Fusion Academy's students could not only use Synchro Summons… they were stronger at it than Synchron Academy.
Just as Aoyao had foreseen, this exchange program was going to be livelier than anyone expected.
And with two Stardusts in play, fate was bound to be even more intertwined than that between Red Dragon Archfiend and Stardust Dragon.
...
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