Morgan looked at the card she drew and immediately smiled. To unfold her plays smoothly, she had to be wary of her opponent's Xyz Monster's effect. With one material still attached, Teardrop's Tribute effect could still be used once more. Fortunately, her hand had plenty of starters—enough to bait out Snowdrop's effect.
Morgan glanced over her hand and quickly decided on her chain.
"I activate Shaddoll Schism!"
"I banish El Shaddoll Construct and Dogmatika Fleurdelis from my Graveyard as Fusion Materials!"
"Fusion Summon! Another El Shaddoll Construct!"
As the core Fusion of Shaddolls, Morgan naturally ran three copies of Construct. Even if one went to the Graveyard, its LIGHT attribute and Shaddoll archetype made summoning another easy, and Constructs in the Graveyard could also serve as material for Invoked Mechaba.
'Another Construct?'
Luli grew tense. She glanced at Shaddoll Schism still on the field—so long as it remained, Morgan could keep Fusion Summoning again and again. Next turn, she would have to find a way to destroy it.
Abruptly, then she remembered: Shaddoll Fusion Monsters all had effects to retrieve a Spell/Trap when sent to the Graveyard. That meant if she destroyed Shaddoll Schism after Tributing Construct, Morgan would just recover it again.
She'd have to be careful with the order. Best to Tribute Construct first, then destroy Schism, cutting Morgan off from recovery and preventing her from easily Fusion Summoning.
But that was for the next turn. For now, it was still Morgan's move.
Upon Fusion Summon, Construct's effect activated.
"On Special Summon—El Shaddoll Construct's effect activates!"
"I send one Shaddoll card from my Deck to the Graveyard!"
"I send Shaddoll Squamata!"
Morgan pulled the card from her Deck and sent it to the Graveyard. Like other low-level Shaddolls, Squamata had a flip/Graveyard effect. When sent to the Graveyard, it could send another Shaddoll card there.
She chose it because her previous Fusion had already banished too many resources. For now, she couldn't retrieve banished monsters, so she needed to load her Graveyard with more Fusion materials.
And she already knew which card to send next.
"I activate Shaddoll Squamata's effect!"
"When this card is sent to the Graveyard by an effect, I can send one Shaddoll card other than Squamata from my Deck to the Graveyard."
"I send Shaddoll Hedgehog!"
Hedgehog could search a Shaddoll monster from the Deck. With Shaddoll Fusion in hand, she couldn't use Graveyard resources for it, so replenishing her hand was vital.
"I activate Shaddoll Hedgehog's effect!"
"When this card is sent to the Graveyard by an effect, I can add one Shaddoll monster other than Hedgehog from my Deck to my hand."
"I add Shaddoll Hound!"
Seeing Morgan chaining effect after effect to refill her resources, Luli grew anxious. Any Duelist could see that Morgan was building momentum. She still had Shaddoll Schism, Shaddoll Fusion, and Aleister the Invoker in hand—but all Luli had to counter it was Teardrop's Tribute effect.
She needed the perfect timing to maximize it.
Morgan's preparation also made the spectators nervous. In the short span of this match, many had already become Luli's fans, and now they desperately cheered her on. Their noise angered Morgan's supporters, and soon the two sides were shouting at each other.
"How long has it been? You've already switched sides? Weren't you supporting Morgan just now?"
"We've seen the light—Lady Luli is my one true idol now! I'll support her forever!"
"Morgan's won so many matches already. So what if she loses one?"
"Ha! You've lived long enough—what's one day less?"
Morgan and Luli paid no attention to the quarrel. Both were fully focused on the duel. After summoning Construct, Morgan still had her Normal Summon. She instantly played the card in her hand.
"I Normal Summon Aleister the Invoker in Attack Position!"
The white-robed mage appeared once again.
From the earlier battles, Luli knew this monster was key—it was the dedicated material for Fusion Summons of Invoked monsters. On Summon, it searched its Fusion Spell, Invocation. With Aleister in hand, Morgan could Fusion Summon endlessly.
Just like with Shaddoll Schism.
Should she Tribute it?
Aleister could only recycle itself when banished. If she Tributed it, Morgan would lose it.
But Luli quickly shook her head. No… that wouldn't work. On Summon, Aleister would already have searched Invocation, which could use monsters from either side of the field or Graveyard. Even if Aleister was Tributed, it would go to the Graveyard, so it wouldn't matter.
That meant her only real option was to Tribute Construct. By Tributing it before destroying Schism, she could cut off Morgan's recycling—just as she had planned.
As Luli prepared to act, Morgan surprised her by activating a Spell Card—but not Invocation or Shaddoll Fusion.
It was the card she had just drawn.
"I activate the Equip Spell—Nephe Shaddoll Fusion!"
"I equip it to Construct and declare an Attribute. The equipped monster's Attribute becomes the declared Attribute."
"Then, during my Main Phase, I can send the equipped monster and monsters from my hand or field to the Graveyard as Fusion Material to Special Summon a Fusion Monster!"
Hearing this, Luli panicked. She couldn't afford to wait any longer. She immediately activated her Queen's effect.
"At this moment, I activate Teardrop the Rikka Queen's effect!"
...
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