Rumble... Rumble...
As the Phantasm fell, Morishima was crushed beneath its massive weight, and his already battered body slipped into complete unconsciousness.
Tenjo Hikari waved away the smoke and continued walking forward in the ruins.
"H-how is this possible? Even the Captain lost!" Dr. Union's face turned ghostly pale. He fell to the ground, panic-stricken, flailing his arms and legs in a confused frenzy.
In his mind, no matter what enemy he faced, Captain Morishima was always able to emerge victorious effortlessly...
As he scrambled to his feet in a fluster, he noticed that the surrounding mechanical Spirits were starting to come back online slowly.
His heart was filled with alarm.
Since Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder's ATK had been reduced to 0, the strength and life force absorbed from those Spirits were returned to their original masters.
He still couldn't understand what was going on with these robotic Card Spirits.
Clearly mechanical, clearly dismantled by himself, yet they possessed "life." When life force returned to them, even broken shells and gear of a gyro could automatically regenerate and refurbish themselves, transforming into brand new machines as if fresh from the factory!
No—
This was not the time to ponder these matters!
Dr. Union's expression shifted.
These mechanical Spirits, which he dismantled, now had their life force restored and would surely be trouble for him.
This won't do—
He still had further research to conduct!
With this in mind, he hurriedly scrambled to his feet, reaching to pull the nearby lever.
However, as soon as he placed his hand on it, he realized that no matter how much strength he exerted, even if he used both hands and jumped to press down, he couldn't move it.
He looked at the lever, which was entangled by Purple Puppet Strings. Although it appeared to be lightly wrapped and easily breakable, he couldn't pull it apart, no matter how hard he tried.
This thing belonged to that Spirit beside Tenjo Hikari!
He instantly sensed something was wrong.
Meanwhile, Tenjo Hikari had made his way through the debris and arrived at the unconscious Morishima.
No...
It seemed he wasn't truly unconscious.
"His life was absorbed by the Phantasm." Tierra only needed a glance to determine the answer, given her mastery over Reincarnation. She said to Tenjo Hikari, "The summoning of a Phantasm demands a price. Before, he could sustain using the Phantasm cards, but it actually came at the cost of the Spirits' lives in this lab for the summoning."
Tierra glanced back and added, "The ordinary Fusion soldiers as well."
Is that so?
Following her words, Tenjo Hikari took a look, then shook his head.
This wasn't true death.
They were merely temporarily absorbed by the Phantasm's Spirits. As long as their bodies didn't decay, if someday the Phantasm returned their "souls," they could be reborn.
Of course, that would require a person of good heart.
Though not all of them might be rife with evil, from Morishima's actions, it seemed he certainly wasn't merely brainwashed.
After all, Morishima was calm, clear, and rational. He clearly knew what he was doing and clearly understood how his use of the Phantasm cards absorbed Spirits, but he didn't mind, for what he wanted was to climb through the ranks using the cards, becoming a General, a "superior being" who could enslave Spirits and humans alike.
Such a person, Tenjo Hikari had no reason to help out of goodwill.
He walked over to Morishima, fanned away the air again, bent down, and removed Morishima's Duel Disk from his arm, carefully picking up the cards scattered on the ground.
He disassembled the Deck, Monster, and Spell/Trap zones from the Duel Disk, grouped them together, and glanced through them quickly.
It was different from Kambayashi Kaname's case before.
Kambayashi was prepared for an "assassination," so after his duel failure, the cards in his deck turned to scraps of paper, easily recognizable as hastily made copies, especially the Lord of Searing Flames, which shattered after one use.
But this was different.
Morishima's deck comprised cards forcibly controlled from this dimension's Spirits, with each card being genuine. Although Hamon wasn't the original, unlike the copy given to Kambayashi for mere testing, it looked like a legitimate card.
Yet, Tenjo Hikari could feel that Hamon's presence had left this card.
Due to the higher level of copying, the card could summon Hamon quickly—even mayor appearances in different Flame Swordsman cards—and as a Phantasm, could appear, despite being a copy.
That's not too important, though.
The Phantasm's original body would be hard to command. His goal was to liberate the Spirits within Hamon, and he could sense its "preference." Rather than consuming happily, inefficiently absorbing Spirits from the Fusion Army, it preferred not to recklessly yield its power.
Thus, this card was preserved quite perfectly!
"This Phantasm is quite sensible," Tierra nodded to one side. "Even if it were shattered, it wouldn't matter, but an intact card saves considerable effort."
Tenjo Hikari nodded in agreement. Just as he was thinking, he suddenly felt a warmth in his chest, and his arm started to heat up.
The Hamon in his hand suddenly burst into a bright electric light.
?
Simultaneously, a red light emerged from the spare card box at his waist.
What's going on?
Before Tenjo Hikari could figure it out, a card sprang out from his deck, while a burst of flame erupted from the spare deck box like a Fire Dragon.
He loosened his grip slightly, and Hamon flew into the air.
The three cards formed a triangle, spinning ceaselessly in the air.
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder...
The Dark - Hex-Sealed Fusion???
"No, wait, don't!"
Tenjo Hikari felt deja vu, as if a year had passed, a year when he witnessed the fusion of his mechanical giant and two other cards into the Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem.
"Wow... such potent power." Tierra beside him couldn't help but be spellbound. "Turns out these three Archfiends aren't so feeble…"
As an individual God, she'd never seen a "fusion of divine-level beings" before now, and it intrigued her.
"So, the third Phantasm seems to be a Dark Attribute Archfiend, right?"
Tenjo Hikari shrugged, nodded, and said, "It should be."
Tenjo Hikari knew what the third Phantasm was.
The strongest Phantasm, Raviel, Lord of Phantasms. A card formed from the Phantasm King was a Dark Attribute Fiend-Type Monster.
Moreover, the three Phantasms could fuse!
That would be the genuine "original form" of the Three Phantasm - the ultimate Phantasm: Armityle the Chaos Phantasm!
He'd wondered if the Phantasms he possessed would transform under Super Polymerization into Armityle, but he assumed acquiring the Phantasm King would be necessary first.
Unbelievable!
Tenjo Hikari rubbed his head.
After spinning around, the three cards descended. He caught them, finding the three cards had become a single card, yet it merely glowed a faint purple, similar to Midrash before…if not even simpler.
"Well, this card will likely require quite a long time."
Though he lost the Hex-Sealed, it was a scenario Tenjo Hikari had prepared for.
On the contrary—
Armityle the Chaos Phantasm!
With this card, he would never have to worry about any Phantasm again!
For he would be the boss!