"Seal Special Summon..."
Many duelists watching showed expressions of surprise.
Yamaguchi struggled to look at the cards he couldn't unlock, and glanced down at his own body.
Only after Tenjo Hikari's explanation did he notice that both he and Tenjo Hikari were entangled by purple puppet strings, especially the cards locked tight on the Duel Disk. He was drenched in cold sweat.
This... What should I do!?
His mind was blank.
"Lock Special Summon!" Not far away, Mitsuzawa Daichi first paused, then realized, "I see, this is Hikari's answer to us!"
"What?" Even Manjome didn't quite get it, "What do you mean?"
"Manjome, do you remember? Back when Hikari was in Domino City, dueling with that Otherworldly person named Kunikawa Haruto."
Manjome paused, remembered, and then clapped his hands together, realizing: "Ah, I see, it's using this method to lock other summoning methods!"
The reasoning is very simple!
Back then, Kunikawa Haruto used Rescue Rabbit to Special Summon two LV4 Monsters, and then performed an "Xyz Summon" that they couldn't understand. Throughout the process, the most important thing was not the Xyz Monster or Rescue Rabbit.
No, neither!
The most important thing was gathering "monsters of the same Level"!
And to gather these materials, you'd inevitably use "Special Summon". If you seal that, then even Xyz Monsters that don't require fusion for Special Summon would be hindered.
"Not only that, it seems that Synchro Monsters also require a field strong enough for a Special Summon from the Extra Deck..." Mitsuzawa Daichi marveled, "Hikari, he's once again ahead of me!
That Falcon is a Spellcaster-Type Tuner Monster, it must have been obtained in the Secret Village of the Spellcasters!"
Listening to their discussion, other onlookers began to relay and discuss it enthusiastically.
"If you can only Special Summon once, it's easier to deal with regarding Fusions, as it's just 2200 ATK after all."
"Yes! Just Fusion Summon a monster with more than 2200 ATK to handle it, but Xyz seems unable to!"
"That's right!"
"As expected from Tenjo Hikari, easily accomplishing what we cannot!"
"Haha, while others are frightened, Brother Hikari has already figured out how to fight!"
"This is our Fusion Department's leader!"
"The Fusion solution Tenjo Hikari!"
The students watching excitedly shouted.
Yamaguchi's mouth twitched amidst the Duel.
You folks keep thinking about other summoning methods, have you considered it's really not that easy at all!?
What should I do with my Gladiator Beasts!
He glanced at his hand cards: "Sigh, anyway, end turn."
"Heh... My turn, draw card." Tenjo Hikari drew a card, glanced at it, "Battle! Attack Gladiator Beast Bestiari with Winda!"
Winda raised the Magic Staff in her hand, and the dragon beside her writhed before viciously lunging at Bestiari.
Bang—
Bestiari shattered upon impact.
Yamaguchi LP: 4000→3300.
"This is terrible." Yamaguchi felt his head buzzing.
"Heh, I set a card, end turn." Tenjo Hikari casually set a card and ended his turn.
"I... My turn." Yamaguchi swallowed hard.
For some reason.
Even though that Fusion Monster named Winda only had 2200 ATK, he felt immense pressure from it!
He glanced at his hand cards.
The Indomitable Gladiator Beast was used to destroy Dark Balter the Terrible earlier, now there's no way to surpass Winda in terms of ATK, so...
"I Normal Summon, Gladiator Beast Samnite!"
Samnite was a saber-toothed tiger wielding a sword in the right hand and a shield in the left hand, looking immensely fierce.
Gladiator Beast Samnite, LV3, Earth Attribute, Beast-Type, ATK 1600.
"A LV3 with as much as 1600 ATK."
"A strong monster, but in front of El Shaddoll Winda, it's probably useless!"
Listening to them, Yamaguchi wiped his sweat, summoned his courage, and shouted: "Don't underestimate Gladiator Beasts! I attack your Set Monster with Samnite!"
Tenjo Hikari crossed his arms, unbothered by his action, revealing the Falcon that got hit by the saber-toothed tiger's shield, couldn't withstand its 1400 DEF, and returned to the Graveyard.
However, the hallmark of the Shaddoll Series is the retrieval and regeneration of monsters on the field and spells and traps in the Graveyard, so entering the Graveyard is almost like going home.
Tenjo Hikari shielded himself slightly from the wind, didn't mind anymore.
"End Battle Phase, activate Samnite's effect, return it to the Deck, then..." he hurriedly searched for a monster, "Got it—I Special Summon, Gladiator Beast Murmillo!"
Murmillo is a fish.
Gladiator Beast Murmillo, LV3, Water Attribute, Fish-Type, ATK 800.
"Murmillo's effect, when this card is Special Summoned by the effect of a Gladiator Beast monster, I can destroy one face-up monster on the field, I destroy El Shaddoll Winda!"
Murmillo raised a giant conch and blew at Winda, but Winda didn't move, the dragon beside her swiped its claws, dispersing the water wave.
"What!?" Yamaguchi was stunned.
"Sorry." Tenjo Hikari shrugged, "Midrash on the field cannot be destroyed by opponent's effects!"
Yamaguchi gasped.
Even effect destruction doesn't work!
The spectators below looked at each other in amazement and couldn't help but exclaim.
"So...so strong, I thought that such a cute monster would have average effects..."
"Even though it can already limit Special Summons, it also has the special ability to not be destroyed by effects?"
Mitsuzawa Daichi frowned, and being quick to draw inferences, he thought of deeper possibilities and couldn't help but marvel, "Don't forget, the Shaddoll Core and that Shaddoll Falco both have effects to recycle to the Graveyard.
This...should be the crushing and reconstruction of Alchemy...
That Midrash probably has a similar effect!"
Manjome looked troubled, "If I have to face this monster, all my VWXYZ Series cards are useless, I can only bet on Armed Dragon level-ups or Light and Darkness... No, Sacrifices are hard to gather too!"
This seemingly small and cute monster is actually far more fierce and terrifying than her appearance suggests!
"Hikari is Teacher Daitokuji's most appreciated student, and even now he's still learning the Alchemy left behind by Teacher Daitokuji. This is probably a card obtained through his understanding of Alchemy!" Judai thought of Daitokuji, feeling somewhat melancholic and also excited for Tenjo Hikari, "So strong, Hikari, this monster is so cool!"
He's probably the only one who would use "cool" to praise a female monster.
However, Tierra next to Tenjo Hikari kept nodding, "Mm mm mm, this human has quite the vision!"
As a puppet she personally resurrected, rebuilt, and controlled, Tierra was extremely fond of the "shell" that was Midrash.
Of course, if she could, she would definitely prefer to use her own body, but since she doesn't have one, she's completely fine with temporarily residing in this body.
"Alright, do you have any more moves?"
Tenjo Hikari asked.
Yamaguchi didn't respond, beads of sweat on his forehead, focusing intently on his hand cards and quickly recalling his Deck.
Is there any method left to deal with Midrash?
The simplest method, of course, is to draw another "Indomitable Gladiator Beast," but that's not easy to draw, and during this process, my monsters will only decrease.
The next method is to directly Special Summon a monster with over 2200 ATK from the Deck using the Gladiator Beasts.
But the Set Falco has already fallen, and my chance for a safe attack is gone! Moreover, even though I applied for this Deck from the professor, the professor only gave the more convenient low-level monsters.
Ah, right, Book of Moon, and Book of Moon, if I can draw a Book of Moon; or De-Fusion? Yes, yes, De-Fusion should be able to directly send her back to Tenjo Hikari's Extra Deck.
No, I didn't place De-Fusion into the Deck, this Gladiator Beast Deck doesn't even need that card...
The weather is nearly cold, yet sweat continued to drip down from his forehead.
How to resolve Midrash was making his brain spin rapidly, his body becoming hot, and it revitalized the "passion" for dueling that hadn't burned in him for three years!
Most importantly, will Tenjo Hikari give him this time to come up with another solution!
"Ha..." Tenjo Hikari, seeing him continuously thinking, couldn't help but chuckle.
Hearing Tenjo Hikari laugh, Yamaguchi looked up, "What are you laughing at! Are you trying to mock me?"
"No, I mean to say, senpai, aren't you seriously thinking right now?"
!!
Yamaguchi widened his eyes.
"Facing the new, fresh, unknown, experimenting, learning, trying, challenging, that's what it means to be a Duelist. Otherwise, why did we ever take these Duelist Academy exams?" Tenjo Hikari glanced at a card in his hand, "If you can manage trying and effort against Fusion Monsters, then why can't it be done against other summoning methods?
Fusion isn't unique. In this world, there are Tribute Summons, Ritual Summons, and Gemini Summons. If you insist on the belief that Fusion is the most noble, how can you reject other summoning methods!
Fusion is the most noble summoning method!
Its nobility lies in its inclusiveness, whether it be Synchro, Xyz, or Ritual Monsters, we should accept them all!
They can always become Fusion material! Become part of Fusion!"
"Senpai, it looks like it's over, Trap Card, Fusion Reserve!"
"Reveal Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, and add a Thunder Dragon to the hand card, then immediately activate its effect, adding the remaining two Thunder Dragons from the Deck to the hand card.
Then..."
Tenjo Hikari slowly flipped over the card on the far left that he had initially drawn: "Normal Spell, Polymerization!"
"It's... Polymerization?"
The initial, most pure form of Fusion!
Yamaguchi closed his eyes.
Defeated, utterly defeated.
From cards to understanding to dueling to belief to personality...
There's no comparison!
In his mind, it seemed like the past three years of his various actions flashed before him. As a senior student, as a student of Blue Academy, he clearly knew how many heinous things he had done in these three years. There's absolutely no going back for him, because he doesn't have that qualification.
He opened his eyes and saw a user of Fusion Summons, calling the Thunder Dragon, unafraid of any challenge.
This is Fusion!
Yamaguchi had a fleeting thought flash in his mind.
He was startled by this "blasphemous" idea.
But...
Upon careful reflection, he had to admit as the representative of the Integration Department in the academy.
Tenjo Hikari is more of a fusion than those so-called "Fusion Army."