It's all a chance!
"Hehehehe..."
Seeing that Judai was unable to do anything and ended the turn, more ominous shadows began to appear among the images floating in the sky.
This time it's... Paris.
Countless people struggled bitterly in the darkness, their screams shrill as if blaring into students' ears, causing cold sweat to instinctively bead on Judai's forehead.
Final Countdown: 2.
Until now, Judai hadn't suffered any injuries, but the pressure Darkness exerted on him was far more terrifying than any duel he had faced before!
Every turn ends with the "disappearance" of a city, a country, or even multiple countries and their inhabitants!
A duel like this... a duel like this he had never experienced.
Not to mention so many people, even in the past, he had never accepted a duel where a friend's life was at stake!
He looked at Tenjo Hikari, wanting to ask him, as in his view, Hikari was someone absolutely unaffected by outside influence, but was surprised to see Hikari also taking deep breaths, though tense, forcing himself to focus on the opponent.
Indeed—
He suddenly understood.
He suddenly laughed.
They carried the fate of all humanity; they could only duel, must duel, and must defeat Darkness!
This duel, which left them no choice, was destined from the start; they had actually made up their minds before coming.
Bring back everyone's hope!
"My turn, draw." A Darkness clone drew a card from the deck, then silently summoned a monster.
"Normal Summon, LV 4, Amano-Iwato."
Crack—
Rumble!
The mountains of the Academy world split open, and a massive rock taller than the mountain slowly appeared in this world.
Amano-Iwato, LV 4, Earth Attribute, Rock-Type, ATK 1900, Spirit.
"Amano-Iwato?" Manjome's face showed slight color change upon hearing the name.
"What's wrong?" John asked curiously.
"Amano-Iwato is something from our country's mythology...a cave made of rocks. Legend has it that Amaterasu got very angry at her brother's mischief and hid in Amano-Iwato without coming out, leaving the world without sunlight, thus plunging into darkness and doom..."
"Oh—" John roughly understood.
"But what's more important is its effect." On the other side, Ed, uninterested in such myths, talked about the card's effect, "Amano-Iwato's effect is, as long as it's in the Monster Zone, neither side can activate effects other than Spirit Monster Effects."
"Couldn't activate anyway, doesn't matter at all." Serena spread her hands.
"No, more importantly, it's a [Spirit] Monster." Jim's face showed a grave expression, "Spirit Monsters are quite rare. Their common trait is that they activate during the end phase of the summon or flip, returning to the owner's hand card.
This will...lead to many problems."
Many problems?
Serena and Ruri became puzzled.
What does this mean.
"Battle, Amano-Iwato attacks Death Prison Hexer."
"Activate the Trap Card, Mirror Force!"
"ATK only higher than Death Prison Hexer by 200 points, must you use this effect!?" Kenzan was shocked when he saw this and asked hurriedly.
"Must activate." Manjome said solemnly.
Why?
The three first-year freshmen didn't understand.
They weren't sure why their seniors looked so serious at this monster with only 1900 ATK.
"Judai this turn, is destined to not keep the [same number of monsters for both sides]..." Ed said, "If it is an attack nullifying type of card, Amano-Iwato will directly return to the hand card. At that time, the Chief and Judai's field monsters would still be more than the opponents. If possible, prioritizing destroying Amano-Iwato is the best choice under the circumstances."
"Hehehe, Mirror Force, huh? Indeed, it is the best choice under this situation." Darkness looked on with a laugh, "However, it won't be that easy."
His clone seemed to receive instruction, pressed a button, which flipped a trap card automatically—a Counter Trap!
"Counter Trap, Red Reboot!"
Shutdown!
Tenjo Hikari's brows twitched furiously.
"Activate when the opponent activates a Trap Card. The activation is negated, and that card is set. After that, the opponent can set 1 Trap Card from their deck in their Magic & Trap Zone. After the activation of this card, until the end of the turn, the opponent cannot activate Trap Cards."
"Huh?"
Just as Mirror Force was rising, a big hand pressed the switch directly, covering the card again.
"Ugh, what a bother." Yubel frowned deeply.
"...Hikari, what do you want?" Judai asked Tenjo Hikari when he found the Mirror Force's usage impossible, and directly set down.
"Do we have Metaverse?"
"So, I understand—then I'll set Metaverse!" Judai took a glance at the deck, selected a card, and swiftly set it on the field.
At the same time, the light of Amano-Iwato also shined onto Death Prison Hexer's body.
The black sunlight instantly destroyed it, and the light shone on Judai who groaned, his head spinning.
"Judai!"
"Big Brother!"
Several spirits and classmates exclaimed simultaneously.
"Still, still fine—"
Sweat on Judai's forehead flowed even more.
Humanity, LP: 8000→7800.
"But with this, Darkness now has more monsters than Master and the others, Darkness himself also cannot use monster effects." Serena spoke.
"Can't activate monster effects? Eh—" Ruri's face gradually turned pale.
"What's wrong, Ruri?" Serena asked.
"Not good, Serena, Amano-Iwato can't activate its effect!"
Amano-Iwato can't activate its effect?
Amano-Iwato's effect is...returning to hand card at the end phase...
Ah!
Serena instantly understood.
Due to Mystic Mine's effect, Amano-Iwato itself cannot activate its effect, thus cannot return to the hand card. As a result, even if Mystic Mine is handled, Tenjo Hikari will still be unable to use monster effects!
"It's not over yet, Tenjo Hikari." Darkness continued.
"Next turn is your turn, so you won't be enjoying any advantages.
Activate Trap Card. Final Countdown."
The clone took out a card from the hand: "Banish 1 card from the hand and activate. Both sides in this duel cannot activate cards banished for this card's effect and cards with the same name.
Unfortunately for you, Tenjo Hikari, I happened to draw this, Future Fusion."
He took out one Continuous Spell version of Future Fusion, tossed it into the air.
The end is near, the knight of doomsday raised the sword toward endless void and apocalypse.
The fusion symbolizing the future was severed, where does humanity's future lead?
Rather than Darkness using it for a Five-Headed Dragon, isn't it better to banish it so Tenjo Hikari can't use it?
"Set two cards, end the turn."
"Due to Mystic Mine's effect, my clone cannot activate monster effects, so Amano-Iwato cannot return to my hand."
The end-devouring doomsday rockstone seems to mock everyone, emitting warm "sunlight."
"And also—don't forget this."
Darkness clapped lightly.
Final Countdown: 3.
On Earth, another cloud began to press down.
More wails, more destruction, more haunting silence!!
This is... Darkness!