Midnight.
Tenjo Hikari walked on the way back to his dormitory, and behind him, a figure in yellow clothes was stealthily hiding in the woods, secretly stalking him.
Kagurazaka, who had just lost to Tenjo Hikari a few days ago, started pondering on continuing to mimic Tenjo Hikari. Previously, when mimicking Tenjo Hikari, he always felt it wasn't good enough, so now he decided to directly follow Tenjo Hikari, starting with mimicking the details.
Tierra glanced at him, without turning her head to speak to Tenjo Hikari.
This mortal, she wasn't interested.
She was more curious about another person.
"You've been following me for such a long time. Isn't it time for you to show yourself?" Tenjo Hikari suddenly turned around, startling Kagurazaka in the shadows, almost making him jump out ready to apologize.
But just as he was preparing to emerge from the woods, he suddenly discovered a figure slowly materializing from the air, accompanied by a crimson glow and dim black mist, gradually coming into view.
Only then did Kagurazaka realize—he wasn't being talked to.
Suddenly, he was filled with immense fear.
What is this?
What's going on?
He felt he was recognizing this world for the first time.
"Tenjo Hikari, all along, you have been a great enemy to our Fusion Army," dense black mist emanated from the person, more intense than the previous Crystal appeared, "Today, I wonder if you have the guts to accept my duel?"
Tenjo Hikari raised an eyebrow: "Although I knew you were coming for me, I didn't expect you to be so straightforward."
"How about it? You've always adhered to orthodox dueling concepts, haven't you?" the masked Fusion Army student smirked, "Faced with my simplest and most direct duel, do you have the courage to accept!"
Tenjo Hikari didn't waste words and directly activated his Duel Disk.
"If you lose, then tell me what you all have been up to recently."
"Hehe, of course."
Walking to such a deserted place was precisely for a duel, wasn't it?
Compared to investigation and exploration, direct dueling in this world is simplest and most straightforward. He's not even worried about the other party cheating and not revealing the truth after losing, as he always has the ability to make the opponent unable to defy the duel's agreement.
"Duel!" ×2.
Tenjo Hikari LP: 4000.
Masked man's LP: 4000.
With the shouts of both, scorching red-black mist emanated from the Fusion Army student, enveloping the surrounding woods with a layer of thin fog, as if suddenly entering another world. The whole world became gray and dim, like a scene after the end of the world.
Tenjo Hikari stared, feeling a sense of familiarity.
"Tenjo Hikari," Tierra glanced twice and commented casually, "It seems to be some sort of barrier, isolating people within the range from real space, so even if it's a Darkness Duel it shouldn't harm innocent civilians."
Tenjo Hikari nodded.
Unexpectedly, this masked man was quite discreet.
"My turn!" The masked man pulled out a card, glanced at it, and chuckled, "Set three cards, end turn."
Set three cards?
Tenjo Hikari seemed to realize something, but was still somewhat skeptical, drawing a card: "Draw, hmm..."
"At this moment, I activate Continuous Trap Card, Anti-Spell Fragrance!"
Beside the masked man, a giant boiler appeared, emitting a lingering fragrance.
"As long as this card remains on the field, Spell Cards from both sides cannot be activated unless Set! They cannot be activated until the next turn after being Set!"
Observing from the side, Kagurazaka's face turned aghast upon seeing this Trap Card.
Uh-oh, most Polymerizations are Spell Cards!
If there's no way to use Spell Cards, even if they can be used in the next turn, it's a huge suppression for Tenjo-san!
"Interesting," Tierra glanced once, pointing to his hand card, "So you cannot use that card?"
Tenjo Hikari nodded.
"However, I chain your Continuous Trap activation to use Quick-Play Spell, Scapegoat!" Tenjo Hikari immediately activated the card in his hand, "According to its effect, I Special Summon 4 Sheep Tokens to the field."
According to duel rules, the last activated card does not need to be concerned about earlier effects, and can thus use Quick-Play normally.
"Next, I set another card and end my turn."
"Heh heh heh, as expected, even you are powerless against this card, right?" The Fusion Army member laughed loudly, "You're only using this card to barely cling on."
"Shut up!" On the other side, despite seemingly being suppressed, Tenjo Hikari showed no signs of backing down and instead shouted back, "As a user of Polymerization, always proclaiming that it is the noblest form of summoning, yet in a duel, your priority is to restrict your opponent's fusion!
Someone like you, saying all sorts of nonsense, go ahead and bring out all your tricks!"
The masked man's mouth twitched fiercely under the mask, angrily drawing a card: "Hmph, I'm going to shut that mouth of yours right now!"
He looked at the cards in his hand and suddenly burst into wild laughter: "Hoo hoo hoo... Hahahahaha, Tenjo Hikari, let me show you the powerful strength I have obtained!
Activate set card, Continuous Trap Weakness Mist, activate set card, Continuous Trap Royal Prison!"
Ah, this... as expected.
Seeing these three cards, Tenjo Hikari roughly understood what his opponent intended to do.
Nonetheless... he couldn't quite comprehend it.
"I will use the three Continuous Traps on the field as Sacrifices to send to the Graveyard! Special Summon!"
The three Traps ignited into intense flames, the fierce fire shot into the sky like a pillar, illuminating the grayish space with a fiery red glow.
At the same time, the masked man shrieked loudly: "Aaaaaaaah!!"
His body started burning fiercely; in no time, he appeared lifeless, like a zombie, with dangling limbs, as an entirely crimson, winged and clawed Flying Dragon descended into the grayish world.
Its entire body was covered in crimson scales, its enormous mouth filled with sharp teeth, its eyes slowly lighting up, the golden ferocity like a sharp blade frightening Kagurazaka in the woods to stumble and scramble back a considerable distance.
The temperature of the entire world seemed to suddenly escalate by several magnitudes, making Tenjo Hikari involuntarily frown.
"Uria, Lord of Searing Flames!"
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, LV 10, Fire Attribute, Pyro-Type, ATK?
"The ATK of Uria is the number of Trap Cards in the Graveyard times 1000 points!" The masked man stiffly manipulated his body, seemingly alive but like a zombie, making various mechanical moves.
Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, ATK: 3000!
"Hmm... interesting." Tierra suddenly tilted her head and said curiously, "Tenjo Hikari, its status is quite decent."
"However, it seems, heh, even more pitiful than me." She couldn't help raising her hand, saying, "Not only split out, it seems even this portion is incomplete, right?"
That egghead can really make a mess, huh?
Tenjo Hikari looked at one of the Three Phantasm, Uria, and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Now he could confirm that Kagemaru was definitely killed by Akaba Leo.
He glanced at the masked man, his body burned to half its size, becoming skin and bones.
Looking like this, it's uncertain if he'll survive after the duel ends, right?
"Then, at this moment, I activate the Trap Card, Flame Swordsdance! Special Summon Flame Swordsman in Defense Position from Extra Deck to cover your Uria, Lord of Searing Flames."
"Haha. It's useless. Uria, Lord of Searing Flames is unaffected by Trap Cards."
"Trap destruction."
The masked man said in fits and starts.
Uria opened its mouth, issuing a fierce sound wave, piercing and unpleasant.
The flames from the Flame Swordsdance, aimed at Uria, left not even a spark on its body.
This surprised Tenjo Hikari.
The Special Summon with a Continuous Trap is the OCG version of Uria, whereas in the original, any Trap Card would suffice; similarly, the real-life OCG version doesn't have Trap immunity and the Magic effect only lasts one turn.
This is why he tried to use Flame Swordsdance to cover it.
Unexpectedly, it had resistance. Viewing it this way, isn't it rather strange?
"Next, Uria attacks Flame Swordsman, High-Energy Absorption!"
Flame Sword just tried to speak, seeing the incoming searing flames, his expression changed dramatically, hurriedly using his Greatsword to fend off, preventing further damage, melting in the flames.
"Hahahaha. Do you see, Tenjo Hikari? This is our Fusion Army's new power." He croaked with a lifeless voice, "Today, I will definitely make you endure the pain I've endured."
"New power, huh..."
"Hmph, indeed, I said it, neither do you respect fusion nor the duel itself! Now, you don't even care about the Duelist, right!"
"Fine, let me shatter your foolish and vain thoughts!"