"I reveal Cyber Twin Dragon from my Extra Deck. Thanks to Fusion Deployment, I can Special Summon one of its listed materials directly from my Deck.
Special Summon, Cyber Dragon."
Shoom
The familiar Cyber Dragon appeared on the field.
[Cyber Dragon] Level 5 | LIGHT | Machine | 2100 ATK
"Impressive. Even under restrictions, you can casually draw exactly what you need to handle a dangerous situation."
"Dangerous?" Hikaru scratched his chin, confused. "Sure, I don't have many LIGHT-Attribute Fusion Monsters... but this isn't exactly dangerous, is it?
After all, Barrier Statue of the Heavens only has 1000 Defense."
Placing the Monster Card on the Duel Disk, Hikaru added with a puzzled tone, "Even with a Normal Summon, it wouldn't be hard to bring out a monster with more than 1000 Attack. Why would you think this could stop me?"
Talk about wishful thinking.
"Besides, even if I hadn't drawn this card, I had other ways." Hikaru glanced at his hand. "I activate the effect of Thunder Dragon in my hand. By discarding it, I add another Thunder Dragon from my Deck to my hand. Then I activate the second Thunder Dragon's effect to grab the third one."
Hikaru added all three Thunder Dragons to his hand, one after the other.
Normally, he'd prioritize fusing into Thunder Dragon Titan...
But in this situation, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon was the obvious choice.
"I activate the Spell Card, Thunder Dragon Fusion." Hikaru played the Spell. "By returning Fusion Materials from my field, Graveyard, or Banished Zone to the Deck, I Fusion Summon a Thunder monster."
Hikaru returned two cards from the Graveyard and shuffled.
"Fusion Summon, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!"
Gash!
The long-absent abstract-style Thunder Dragon appeared!
[Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon] Level 7 | LIGHT | Thunder | 2800 ATK
Now he even had a play lined up for the next turn.
"Battle! Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon attacks Alchemist!"
[Haruki, LP: 4000 → 2500]
The Alchemist was destroyed, shattering into fragments.
"I banish Alchemist."
[Haruki, LP: 2500 → 3800]
Haruki didn't seem fazed by losing his monster. Instead, he curiously asked, "Hikaru, this is the first time I've seen you fight using a non-Fusion monster through Special Summon."
"If necessary, I'll use whatever summoning method it takes." Hikaru wasn't thrown by the comment. "As long as it breaks what's stopping me and lets me get back to Fusion, that's all that matters."
"Cyber Dragon attacks Barrier Statue of the Heavens."
"I banish the Barrier Statue."
[Haruki, LP: 3800 → 4800]
"End of Battle Phase. I discard Thunder Dragon to add two more from my Deck to my hand. Then I Tribute Cyber Dragon for a Tribute Summon, Thunder Dragon."
"And now you're setting up for your Titan, huh?"
Obviously, Holding onto a Cyber Dragon was nowhere near as useful as prepping for Thunder Dragon Titan.
"Exactly, sending Thunder Dragon to the Graveyard! Come forth, my second Thunder Dragon!"
"Thunder Dragon Colossus!"
"Gaaah~" The small Colossus appeared on the field, full of energy today since it was a direct summon.
[Thunder Dragon Colossus] Level 8 | DARK | Thunder | 2600 ATK
"I set one card and end my turn."
"You're really something," Haruki said admiringly.
"Strange..." Nearby Duelists murmured in surprise. "He seems like a completely different person from earlier. Like he's three or four times weaker now."
"Yeah, I got steamrolled in seconds just earlier," another student agreed.
Haruki's current performance was nothing like what they'd experienced before.
"For as long as I can remember, people have said my Deck has problems. That I only became Obelisk Blue thanks to luck from being a Middle School Division student. That my builds are unreasonable, and one day, luck would run out." Haruki spoke as if to himself. "But that day... I saw a guy whose entire Deck was nothing but Fusions win against a Duelist using a senior's Deck."
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
'Oh... so it was him.'
That first Duel against the Polymerization Club, or rather, the entrance test duel.
So he'd been there.
"A Deck filled with Fusion Spells... and it still won?
"And now... your Deck has strong monsters, control options, recursion Spells, and even repeated Fusion capabilities.
"You even have defensive tools.
"I'm jealous of you, Hikaru."
"You've achieved everything I ever wanted to." Haruki said with a hollow laugh.
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
So that's it.
"I see. Earlier... that was your real Deck. Not a Society of Light build?"
"Yeah."
That explained it.
Otherwise, with the Death Card in play, summoning that previous ace monster would've been too easy.
"But envy alone won't get you anywhere," Hikaru said, shaking his head. "Dimension-themed Decks have their own build philosophy. No need to rely on the Death Card."
"With just luck, I could never pull off the combos and plays I want every time!" Haruki's eyes went wide. "And now, I don't want a better Deck anymore! I want to offer my life to Master Sartorius, and more than that, I want to prove to you that your ridiculous build is meaningless!"
Hikaru frowned.
Definitely brainwashed by Sartorius. But his love for his own Deck was still buried deep inside, which was why he insisted on using it for this duel against Hikaru's equally "absurd" Deck.
"My turn! Death Card, lend me your power!"
A literal "helping hand" as black mist surged from his right arm.
After drawing, Haruki glanced at the card and grinned: "Of course... just the card I wanted, Spell Card, Pot of Greed!"
Great. Hikaru wished he could draw Pot of Greed whenever he wanted to.
"And next... Hehehe... I got it! I got it!"
"Spell Card, Lullaby of Obedience!"
"What?!"
"Huh?!"
The surrounding students gasped.
'Why would you want to grab a card from Hikaru's Deck?'
'What could you even do with it?'
"I pay 2000 Life Points and declare a Monster Card name. You reveal your Deck, and if that card exists inside, I can resolve this Spell's effect."
[Haruki, LP: 4800 → 2800]
"I declare, Shaddoll Falco.
You do have that, right?"
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
Of course he did.
His Deck auto-opened. Hikaru pulled the card out with a furrowed brow, puzzled.
"Hehehehehe." Holding the card in hand, Haruki let out a creepy laugh.
"Oh boy..." Tierra said beside Hikaru. "Looks like something interesting is about to happen."
It sure did.
"Spell Card, Polymerization!"
"I fuse Shaddoll Falco from my hand with Guardian Angel Joan, also in my hand!"
"Huh?!" Celina gasped instinctively.
"Shaddoll Fusion?!" Bastion's jaw dropped. "No way!!" The nearby students were equally shocked.
"Bear witness!"
"The LIGHT-Attribute Shaddoll!"
"El Shaddoll Construct!"