Chapter 19: How Heroes Fight
"Win—win this duel for me?" Finesse's mouth opened in shock.
What was he saying?
Finesse simply couldn't comprehend.
Did he even understand how dangerous the current situation was?
She'd already told him he'd get paid—why this pointless stubborn persistence?
And what did he mean by 'win this duel for you'?
As an unwanted illegitimate daughter within the Wein family, no matter what Finesse did, nobody had ever truly stood up to support her.
Suddenly, someone was unwaveringly "taking her side"—this action touched something within Finesse she'd never felt before.
And this "taking sides" required Amano to risk his life in battle.
Lutz roared angrily: "Even if you surrender, I won't accept it! You're dying here today, Amano Rei!"
Arm sweeping horizontally, Lutz's rough palm gestured across his three massive demon gods on field.
"Combine! Display the strongest demon god form and obliterate all elemental matter!"
Combination—not Fusion.
Receiving Lutz's command, the three demon gods stacked atop each other in thunder, wind, water order from top to bottom. Simultaneously, Lutz slammed his final hand card onto the Duel Disk.
"Come forth, inheriting the three demon gods' effects—Gate Guardian!"
[Gate Guardian] [Level 11 DARK]
[Warrior] [ATK: 3750] [DEF: 3400]
In this moment, the Sharia Corporation side's atmosphere reached boiling point.
"There it is—bounty hunter Lutz's strongest ace!"
"ATK surpassing even the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
"Lutz is seriously pissed—that kid's dead!"
Any single one of the three demon gods had sufficient ATK to clear Amano's remaining Life Points.
Yet Lutz still chose to combine the three demons into Gate Guardian.
Only under Eden Tower's Overkill rule environment did this strategy maximize profit.
If one strike would kill, then raise that strike's power to the absolute limit.
Or rather—more than Overkill rules, Lutz genuinely wanted to kill Amano.
"Even if you got lucky dodging Sanga's attack, you can't escape the three demon gods' combined assault, Amano Rei!"
Entering Battle Phase, the thunder-wind-water three-attribute demon gods' combined attack violently bombarded empty-fielded Amano.
Lutz: "Lady Luck won't favor you a second time!"
Amano Rei: "This time I don't need Lady Luck's favor."
Pressing his Duel Disk's activation key, Amano flipped his set back-row card.
"This time I'll block this strike with pure skill! Trap Card—Precise Defense, activate!"
Facing the three demon gods' strongest combined assault, Amano's Duel Disk erupted with surging flame special effects from the Graveyard.
The sexy female Hero revived from flames turned sideways, raised her arm, palm forward—single-handedly withstanding the three great demon gods' attack without showing the slightest sign of being shaken.
"Precise Defense's effect—when opponent attacks, I revive one Level 4 or lower monster from my Graveyard in Defense Position!"
Many Trap Cards could revive monsters, but Traps that could only revive Level 4 or lower monsters seemed specially designed to synergize with weak monsters exactly like those in Amano's deck.
The monster Amano chose to revive this turn was the 3-star monster destroyed last turn—Elemental HERO Burstinatrix.
[Elemental HERO Burstinatrix] [DEF: 800]
Lutz's face filled with shock. "Impossible! An 800 DEF monster wasn't destroyed by the demon god's attack?!"
"A bounty hunter specializing in rare high-Level monsters naturally wouldn't notice Traps specifically designed to work with trash monsters~"
Amano flipped the Trap Card, displaying it forward.
"Monsters revived by Precise Defense cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn."
Using a Trap to grant Burstinatrix destruction immunity.
So this turn, whether Lutz combined the three demon gods or chose to attack sequentially with all three separately, he couldn't break through Amano's hidden [Trash Wall].
"Which means someone already lost~"
Speaking these words, Amano's gaze clearly looked toward the topmost VIP box.
Karl Wein, who'd bet on Amano losing by round six, had obviously lost his wager.
"Not only blocked Gate Guardian's attack but also made second brother lose his bet!" Shock mixed with pleasant surprise in Finesse's voice.
Despite being family, Karl losing money could make his sister this happy. Shows how twisted these wealthy family relationships were.
"Tch!" Karl in the box clicked his tongue lightly.
One hundred thousand was pocket change to him, but the displeasure of losing a bet—plus Amano reviving a Hero again—genuinely felt like a slap to the face.
On the sofa, Kaiba Chiha had somehow moved to stand beside the luxury box's floor-to-ceiling windows, smirking mischievously at Karl.
"This duel is more interesting than expected, isn't it?"
"Interesting?" Karl snorted coldly. "Nothing's more disgusting than watching weaklings desperately cling to survival."
In Karl's view, Amano was specifically dragging things out just to make him lose the bet.
Karl even suspected he'd been set up by capitalists.
Though he himself was capital.
Karl's assessment wasn't entirely unreasonable—Amano's dueling style did look like desperate stalling.
Reviving a Hero with zero combat power couldn't change the battle situation whatsoever.
"My turn! End!"
Having his offensive this turn blocked, hand depleted, Lutz could only grit his teeth in frustration and declare turn end word by word.
"My turn, draw!"
Amano's draw after crossing death's threshold—illuminated by Hero flames not yet extinguished—displayed an unwavering confident back.
Confidence that unconsciously made Finesse place her expectant gaze on the boy's back once again.
However, just like he'd said—Lady Luck's favor was no longer needed.
The victory puzzle had already been unexpectedly assembled last turn in desperate circumstances.
When Morphing Jar activated, forcing Amano to replace his 5-card hand, it transformed his previously useless starting hand into a path for reversing absolute ATK advantage.
"I Normal Summon Elemental HERO Avian in Attack Position!"
[Elemental HERO Avian] [Level 3 WIND]
[Warrior] [ATK: 1000] [DEF: 1000]
Wings spreading as he descended to arena center, Avian stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Burstinatrix.
"Another Hero." Finesse blinked her silver-gray eyes.
Another Hero with very low ATK—even lower than Burstinatrix.
These kinds of Heroes, these kinds of monsters—could they really...
"Win victory!" Amano pulled a Spell from his hand. "Using how Heroes fight!"
Finesse: "How Heroes fight?"
"Spell Card—Double Spell, activate! After discarding one Spell Card from my hand, I can use one Spell Card from opponent's Graveyard!"
"Choose a Spell Card from my Graveyard?" Lutz frowned in confusion, glancing at his Duel Disk's Graveyard zone.
Before Lutz could react, the next second Amano reached forward, precisely catching the Spell Card that shot out at high speed from Lutz's Duel Disk Graveyard.
The boy's distinct knuckles flipped the card in his hand, displaying this Spell Card to everyone present.
This was the Spell Card Lutz had used at this duel's very beginning.
"I choose the Spell Card from your Graveyard—Polymerization!"
What came next was how Heroes fight.