He casually gathered all the cards in his left hand, holding them by his side: "Mirage of Nightmare's effect. During your Standby Phase, randomly discard a number of cards from your hand equal to the number of cards drawn by its effect.
Last turn, Judai drew 4 cards, so I randomly discard 4 cards!"
"Why?" Manjome was confused, "Among the cards Judai set down, there must be Extraordinary Food!"
"There's no need!" Tenjo Hikari spoke up, "A true Duelist understands that discarding is inevitable—even my fusion doesn't care about such side effects!"
"Oh ho…" Darkness was astonished.
With Tenjo Hikari's action, all four cards flew out from his hand.
Whoosh whoosh…
Field Spell Card, Fusion Recycling Plant; Equip Spell Card, Future Fusion; Monster Card, Shaddoll Hedgehog; Normal Spell Card, Metalfoes Fusion!
Tenjo Hikari's eyes were firm: "Activate card effect! Shaddoll Hedgehog's effect, activate when this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect. Add a Shaddoll Monster other than Shaddoll Hedgehog from the Deck to the hand—Shaddoll Falco!"
"Link another chain—I activate Metalfoes Fusion's effect, return to the Deck, shuffle, and draw a card!"
After drawing the card, Tenjo Hikari raised the card drawn: "Activate Spenta, the Magistus Sealer's effect, discard from the hand, and add another Great Sage from the Deck to the hand. Add Talented Great Sage Crowley to the hand.
Crowley's effect, activate when this card is added to the hand by a method other than drawing. Special Summon. Also, its effect activates when Normal·Special Summoned. Use a Monster from your hand·field as Fusion Material to Fusion Summon a Great Sage Fusion Monster!
I will fuse Talented Great Sage Crowley on the field and Shaddoll Falco in my hand!"
"A new realm of Summoning Arts, get ready, merge into the storm and descend."
"Fusion Summon!"
"Level 8, Aiwass, the Magistus Spell Spirit!"
Iron rose from the ground, combining into a whirlwind demon.
Aiwass, the Magistus Spell Spirit, Level 8, Wind Attribute, Fiend-Type, ATK 2000.
"Only 2000 ATK?"
"Isn't that useless?"
"It's over, all over—that Monster isn't affected by activated effects!"
"With such low ATK, how can you fight!"
Chaotic voices buzzed around Tenjo Hikari's ears.
These were the negative emotions of the humans trapped in this world, and now, these voices were tormenting Tenjo Hikari frantically, rendering him unable to move easily.
"Naive!"
"Watch my Fusion—the effect of Shaddoll Falco in the Graveyard, activate when sent to the Graveyard by an effect, Special Summons in face-down Defense Position."
Tierra casually summoned several Puppet Strings, draping a cluster of purple gemstones onto the field.
"Hehehe, it's useless, Tenjo Hikari!"
Darkness also regained confidence: "As it stands, you have no cards in hand, and the ATK of your Monster on the field is only 2000, whereas my Psychic End Punisher isn't affected by your activated effects and far surpasses your ATK.
It seems you fused the wrong Monster."
"Is that really so?"
Tenjo Hikari replied.
"What?"
"Activate Aiwass's effect. During yours or your opponent's Main Phase, target one face-up Monster on the field other than this card to activate. Equip this card to that Monster as an Equip Card. If this effect equips it to an opponent's Monster, that Monster's effects cannot be activated, and gain its control."
Tenjo Hikari pointed at Psychic End Punisher, and then Aiwass spread its wings, transforming into a storm, and flew in front of Artificial Demon.
"Hahaha, Tenjo Hikari, didn't I say? You've also seen, Psychic End Punisher isn't affected by opposing activated effects."
"That's not certain, take a look at your field."
?
Darkness looked at his field, only to see that Aiwass had already encased its metal body around Artificial Psychic Demon, which merely resisted for a moment before spreading its wings and flying to Tenjo Hikari's field.
"What!? Why—"
"Simple, Darkness! Because, this isn't an [activated] effect, Aiwass's effect as an Equip Card continues to exist." Tenjo Hikari squinted, smiling, "I thought you specialized in studying the traits and characteristics of Monsters, you'd surely know such details?
But it seems you merely strip Monsters of [characteristics], retaining only continuous effects, without understanding at all—
A Monster equipped with Aiwass increases ATK and Defense Power by 1000!"
Psychic End Punisher, ATK: 3500→4500.
"Beautiful!"
"Perfect!"
"As expected of the master!"
"The ATK matches the level of Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, fantastic!"
"Unfortunately, Judai's Life Points are higher than Darkness, otherwise Punisher could ignore the effects of cards activated by Darkness."
Tenjo Hikari chuckled.
"Battle, attack directly with Psychic End Punisher!"
"Wait, activate Trap Card, Threatening Roar! You cannot declare attacks this turn. This is the effect on the Duelist."
The attack failed again.
But—
Anyone with a bit of insight knows.
Darkness, who was always confident and steadily dueling, finally panicked!