Two days later.
Hikaru lightly held a card, gazing at its colors with eyes that nearly sparkled from excitement.
Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!
After all this time, under the power of Super Polymerization, he had finally acquired the complete form of this card!
A dragon with "Fusion" in its name!
Not only that, as a Fusion Monster, its effect was excellent. While the summoning condition was a bit demanding for him, the "versatility" it offered in return was tremendous.
Because it required "two DARK monsters on the field, excluding Tokens" as materials—whether it was Aleister, Winda, or any assortment of other Fusion Monsters or low-level monsters, they could all be used.
What resulted was a powerful high-level monster that could instantly gain a massive Attack boost and copy the effect of an opponent's monster. The only limitation for Hikaru was the difficulty of fielding that many monsters, so its success rate was uncertain.
After all, Fusion Monsters already required card investment, and using them to summon another Fusion Dragon cost even more.
Even more so, as a "regular" Fusion Monster, if it was destroyed, it could wipe out all Special Summoned monsters on the opponent's field.
Aggressive, defensive, all-around solid—to Hikaru, it was an excellent card.
It had its pros and cons compared to Chimerafflesia!
At least to Hikaru, aside from Flame Swordsman, the most useful card at the moment was Chimerafflesia.
Once that was sorted, Hikaru packed up his cards.
He tidied his things, adjusted his Deck, and made sure all the cards prepared to counter Sartorius were properly placed.
Then...
He fell into careful contemplation.
In the original, Sartorius had an outrageous "control" over fate—which translated to being able to flip coins to heads or tails at will.
Pretty ridiculous.
Because in Yu-Gi-Oh!, there were quite a few cards that looked like pure luck, but once used, were completely broken.
Take the famous "Cup of Ace," for instance: if you flip heads, you draw two cards; if tails, your opponent does.
As for Sartorius... in the original, his Cup of Ace never landed tails.
That meant every Cup of Ace he used was basically Pot of Greed!
Likewise, his whole Deck was full of similar gamble-based cards—risky, but with absurd payoffs.
And among them, none more infamous than "Arcana Force XXI - The World."
In its upright position, it skipped the opponent's turn—a "time stop"-level broken effect!
And the combo known as "World Lock Infinite LOOP," using The World, had long been a hot topic among Yu-Gi-Oh! players.
And that was just Sartorius himself and his cards.
Beyond that, Sartorius was also the host of the Light Force. In the final arc of the original, he was even possessed by Darkness, becoming the vessel most favored by the final boss—a being of terrifying strength.
In summary:
Sartorius had talent; he had psychic powers; in terms of mysticism, his sister used witchcraft while he himself mastered astrology. As for cards, he had no shortage of powerful ones. And in terms of backing, the Light of Destruction was a cosmic-level native entity in this universe, the source of all conflict.
'This kind of opponent…'
Hikaru stood inside his room, right hand on the doorknob, pausing for a moment.
'Since that's the case…'
A moment later.
Hikaru left his room and saw Celina outside, looking quite bored. She had had a few Duels recently, so her mood had improved considerably.
"Master!" She greeted Hikaru enthusiastically.
After calling out, she tilted her head, puzzled as she cast a look at him. She felt like something was a bit different today.
Something about his outfit?
However, she quickly stopped thinking about it. After all, she had something to do today!
Something rare… Master had asked her for help!
"Master, Master, that Silver Meteor guy has been constantly ferrying students back from other sites. Around this time, he should be heading out again!" Celina said, raising her hand excitedly.
"Got it," Hikaru nodded.
Today, Hikaru had brought Celina not to form a team to fight Sartorius's group.
Since he had already decided to go after Sartorius, Hikaru naturally wanted to know what he had been up to recently.
Though the Society of Light was Sartorius's faction, it was really just him brainwashing and controlling the members to do his bidding. There was no way he was looking after and protecting so many students out of kindness. He clearly had other motives.
Whether it was to use them as threats or something else, the bottom line was, Hikaru had to stop him before it was too late.
So this time, Hikaru and Celina had come to intercept Silver Meteor.
While Silver Meteor and Princess Rose weren't as omnipotent as Chazz was when brainwashed in the original, they were still key figures in the Society of Light at the Critical Nexus. Without the two of them, no one else would be able to manage things.
He wasn't going to wait until Sartorius finished his business to confront him. That wasn't going to happen. No way.
Hikaru followed Celina to the Society's hovercraft, where Silver Meteor was organizing the student transport. The moment he saw Hikaru, his expression changed.
Even if he had been brainwashed, his mind could still process things.
The moment he saw Hikaru, he knew exactly why he was here.
He immediately readied his Duel Disk and said, "Hikaru-senpai, as head of the Fusion Club and the Academy's top student, have you come here to stop us from rescuing more suffering classmates?
"Don't forget, you're a second-year. Even if I bring other students, we might not beat you, but at a time like this, is this really appropriate…"
Hikaru couldn't help but only smile at that.
Instead, he pointed to the side with his thumb.
Next to him, Celina perked up, pulling her ponytail higher to look more energetic. She quickly equipped her Duel Disk and shouted:
"Silver Meteor! Do you know where my father is!? Tell me right now!"
Silver Meteor twitched, his fingers instinctively fluttering like a frantic bee.
'Seriously... that excuse?'
Hikaru thought, shaking his head.
Celina was also a first-year student, and although she was the top of her year, she was a year younger than most freshmen, making her smaller in stature.
Normally, she just followed Hikaru around like a sidekick, so he had totally forgotten she could use that excuse.
While he stood frozen in awkward silence, Celina had already finished equipping everything.
To back down now would be unworthy of a Duelist!
"...Then I'll defeat you and complete Sartorius-sama's mission!" Silver Meteor shouted, equipping his Duel Disk fast. "And I'll prove to Sartorius-sama that I am the top first-year!"
"Duel!"
The two of them raised their Duel Disks, beginning the Duel in earnest!
Hikaru gave Celina a few words of encouragement, then didn't linger. He turned and headed directly for the Society of Light headquarters.