Chapter 128: Crimson Nova vs. Stardust: The Destined Ride
VIP Box, Court A --
The Emperor had just wrapped up his own match. He'd barely made it back to the box to rest when the second duel of the night started up on the same track.
"Interesting." He watched through the floor-to-ceiling transparent wall, a faint smile on his face. "Stepping onto the track right after me. Can you two hold the attention of ten thousand people still buzzing from what they just saw?"
It was part of why so few duelists wanted to use the same court immediately after him.
Once a crowd had watched a God Card Synchro Summon. Once they'd seen something divine enough to fill the entire arena, it became very hard to feel anything close to that intensity again. A follow-up duel would have to do something genuinely spectacular just to hold the room.
The only people who'd stay fully engaged regardless were the gamblers. For them, a lopsided set of odds was its own kind of excitement.
"1:15. Amano Rei. Never heard of him. First-timer with nothing to lose. That's the type."
The Emperor glanced at the other name on the board.
Rin Seiya.
That one he recognized, vaguely.
"Roger. Pull up her records."
"Yes, sir."
Rin Seiya's record at the venue: ten Riding Duels, eight wins. A very solid win rate.
The secondary data filled in from a web search. Fourth-year student at Synchro Academy. Overall academy city ranking: third. Within Synchro Academy: first.
"Synchro Academy's top duelist." The Emperor gave a small nod.
In the academy circuit, that was a genuinely impressive credential. A name worth knowing.
But in this venue, on this track --
"Roger. When did you graduate?"
"About twelve years ago."
"What was your ranking?"
"First in the academy. Naturally."
The Emperor smiled. "Heroes are everywhere. But in a real arena, where real duelists fight. Being first in an academy, being a prodigy? in an academy, being a prodigy? It's nothing more than the starting line."
Yuyu: destroyed.
Rin Seiya: "Aww, so Yuyu can't fly. Cute. I set one card face-down. Turn end."
"My turn. Draw."
Amano pulled his card from the D-Wheel.
Speed Counters: 1 to 2.
Entering the third turn, the Speed Counters had finally reached the critical threshold of two. That was exactly why winning the opening sprint mattered. Two Speed Counters unlocked one of the most useful Speed Spells in the format, a key piece for building momentum early.
"I activate Speed Spell: Angel Baton."
Speed Spell: Angel Baton
[Can only be activated while you have 2 or more Speed Counters. Draw 2 cards, then send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard.]
Effectively a smaller Graceful Charity. Draw two, discard one, free advantage and Graveyard setup, available the moment you hit two Speed Counters. No additional cost., If Graceful Charity was a luxury item, Angel Baton was the Riding Duel standard that every duelist ran at three.
"I draw two cards."
The card he pulled was one he'd only just added to the deck, a face he recognized and didn't, all at once. He made the call quickly.
"I send Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice to the Graveyard."
By now, a portion of the crowd had noticed. Amano was running Normal Monsters. Pure vanilla, no effects, low stats. Unheard of at a Riding Duel venue.
The bets on Rin Seiya were looking smarter by the second.
"Next, I activate the effect of Star Junk Synchron from my hand."
"What?"
In the VIP box, the Emperor's relaxed expression shifted for the first time.
"Why does he have that card? Fioré. Did you actually..."
[When this card is in the hand: target 1 Level 2 or lower monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon this card, then Special Summon that target with its effects negated.]
"I target Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice in my Graveyard. Star Junk Synchron: Special Summon. Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice: Special Summon."
Star Junk Synchron [DARK / Level 3 / Warrior-Type / Tuner / Effect]
ATK: 1300 / DEF: 500
The monster burst onto the track trailing a cascade of starlight. It was short, round, cheerful-looking, a squat yellow figure with a white scarf that streamed behind it in the wind of the D-Wheel's speed. Though calling it wind was generous. Star Junk Synchron was actually hovering on a thruster mounted behind it, skimming above the track.
Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice [WATER / Level 2
The real Eve materialized alongside it, gliding on a cushion of magical energy.
Amano was honestly a little disappointed. He'd had a passing curiosity about what Eve would look like sprinting full-speed down a Riding Duel track. That apparently wasn't happening.
Eve: "Ha. I can fly, obviously."
With enough Levels assembled on the field, Amano extended his arm out past the D-Wheel and let his palm channel the burst of Synchro energy.
"I tune Level 3 Tuner Star Junk Synchron with Level 2 Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice."
The little yellow arms pulled the thruster engine and launched Star Junk Synchron into the Synchro light, where it dissolved into three glowing rings that passed cleanly through Eve's flat, featureless form.
3 + 2 = 5.
"In the name of the Ib, tune the radiance of the stars. Ride the wind of the high-speed world--"
"Synchro Summon. Level 5. Ib the World Chalice Justiciar."
Ib the World Chalice Justiciar [WATER / Level 5 / Spellcaster-Type / Tuner / Synchro / Effect]
ATK: 1800 / DEF: 2100
Rin Seiya called out approvingly: "That's the one that beat Kaiba Chiha in the entrance duel, the Synchro without a Tuner. But this time you actually used one. Both ways work. Flexible."
Ib entered the high-speed battlefield under the spread of her shining crystalline wings, moving with complete ease on the track. The massive crystal axe in her hands carved the air in wide, decisive arcs.
Eve: "Axe Raider attack power. The enemy only has 600. Stand back, I'm avenging Yuyu."
Getting you Synchro Summoned was not an invitation to start swinging, Amano thought.
The Synchro starlight from the summon still hadn't fully faded around his D-Wheel.
The key difference between Star Junk Synchron and standard Junk Synchron was that Star Junk's summon was a Special Summon, which meant Amano still had his Normal Summon available this turn.
"I Normal Summon Charcoal Inpachi in Attack Position."
Charcoal Inpachi [DARK / Level 3 / Spellcaster-Type / Normal Monster]
ATK: 600 / DEF: 1500
It finally ran on its own legs. The jester-like monster took off across the Riding Duel track at a full sprint, leaving the kind of blurred afterimage trail that only showed up in animations.
Charcoal Inpachi was low stats and no effects. Pure vanilla. But it was a monster that had appeared in Kaiba Seto's own deck. After obtaining Card of Demise, Amano had found he could pull it directly from the Eva system.
Rin Seiya's eyes lit up watching Amano's field fill out. "It's finally coming, isn't it. You've got enough Levels. Jack Atlas."
Amano really wished she'd stop calling him that.
Though she was right about the Levels.
"I tune Level 5 Tuner Ib the World Chalice Justiciar with Level 3 Charcoal Inpachi."
A Synchro into another Synchro. Ib detonated her own five rings of Synchro light mid-sprint, the rings passing through Charcoal Inpachi in full gallop.
5 + 3 = 8.
"YES. This is it. This is exactly what I wanted to see." Rin Seiya's grip on the handlebars was shaking.
If she'd built up to this moment, the least Amano could do was give it to her properly. And this particular monster was the right call for this turn regardless.
"The king's roar. Let it be heard. Feel the power that shakes heaven and earth."
"My soul. Wa ga tamashii!"
All Yusei's chant so far. What came next was Amano's own.
"The ultimate flame dragon that splits the sky. Set the high-speed track ablaze with your fury."
"Synchro Summon. Crimson Nova the Dark Cubic Lord--"
Crimson Nova the Dark Cubic Lord [DARK / Level 8 / Dragon-Type / Synchro / Effect]
ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500
Fiona: "A Synchro monster with attack power on par with Blue-Eyes White Dragon--!"
"ROAR--!!"
The dragon's cry tore out from the Synchro flames like an explosion, shaking the entire circuit.
Sharing its frame with Red Dragon Archfiend but unmistakably distinct. Where Red Dragon Archfiend was crimson and composed, Crimson Nova's red-black body was wreathed in burning soul-fire, an inferno that moved with it like a living thing.
"When Ib the World Chalice Justiciar is sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon one World Chalice monster from my deck."
The benefit of routing through Ib. One more body on the field, pulled straight from the deck.
Amano caught the card as it ejected from the D-Wheel, slamming it onto the Duel Disk without breaking speed.
"I Special Summon World Chalice Guardragon in Attack Position."
World Chalice Guardragon [EARTH / Level 4 / Warrior-Type / Normal Monster]
ATK: 1800 / DEF: 0
It materialized on the track clutching a star-lance, a Level 4 Normal Monster packing 1800 attack points, and immediately dropped into a full-speed sprint alongside the D-Wheel.
Eve: "Look at him. Running on the track like an idiot."
As if it heard her, the scarf wrapped around World Chalice Guardragon's face shifted, and beneath it, just barely visible, the corner of its mouth curved upward.
Fiona's voice came through the earpiece, surprised: "Speed Counters at 2 and you're already pushing attack power this high? Amano, you're something else."
Amano's field: Crimson Nova the Dark Cubic Lord at 3000 attack, World Chalice Guardragon at 1800.
Rin Seiya's field: Speed Warrior at 600, set on the previous turn.
In other words, Rin Seiya was already within lethal range.
"Battle." The word came as Amano's D-Wheel surged forward, Crimson Nova and World Chalice Guardragon running alongside him.
Fiona: "D-Wheels are in great shape. You might close this out fast, Amano."
"Crimson Nova, attack Speed Warrior."
"Absolute Authority Burst--!!"
The dragon condensed a torrent of soul-fire into its claws and drove them straight down toward Rin Seiya's side of the track.
"Not so fast. The duel's barely started."
Rin Seiya raised one arm and flipped the face-down card that had been trailing her D-Wheel.
"Trap Card: Justi-Break."
Justi-Break: Trap Card: [This turn, your monsters cannot be destroyed by battle, and any battle damage you take becomes 0.]
A soft wave of light washed across Rin Seiya's field, absorbing Crimson Nova's flames entirely.
With Justi-Break active for the turn, Amano's combined 4800 attack couldn't touch her.
Amano: "I end my turn."
Rin Seiya: "My turn. Draw."
Speed Counters: 2 to 3.
As turns cycled and counters climbed, the D-Wheels were moving noticeably faster. The wind rush that Amano remembered from the test ride was starting to build again at the edges of his helmet.
And this was only three counters. It would keep accelerating.
"Here we go. Speed's finally picking up."
Rin Seiya looked at the Speed Spells in her hand, and the smile under her helmet sharpened.
"I activate Speed Spell: Angel Baton. Draw 2, then send Level 2 Speed Warrior to the Graveyard."
After running the same filter draw, Rin Seiya looked at what she'd pulled.
"This really is fate, Jack. The same cards, two different paths. This is where our roads diverge."
"I Normal Summon Junk Synchron."
Junk Synchron [DARK / Level 3 / Warrior-Type / Tuner / Effect]
ATK: 1300 / DEF: 500
The same monster Amano had used last turn. Same silhouette, same stats. Without the Star prefix, Junk Synchron needed a Normal Summon to trigger its effect.
"When Junk Synchron is Normal Summoned, I Special Summon Level 2 Speed Warrior from my Graveyard."
Speed Warrior [WIND / Level 2.
Back on its skates, bridging the final gap in Rin Seiya's Level count.
"My road to destiny is paved."
Rin Seiya swept her arm across the field, lighting up all three monster cards on her D-Wheel's Duel Disk simultaneously.
"Level 3 Tuner Junk Synchron, tune with Level 2 Speed Warrior and Level 3 Speed Warrior."
3 + 2 + 3 = 8.
The rings of Synchro light expanded from Junk Synchron, sweeping both skating warriors into the cascade at once, starlight spreading until it wrapped completely around Rin Seiya's D-Wheel.
"The gathered wishes become a new shining star. Let it light the way forward."
"Synchro Summon. Fly, Stardust Dragon."
Stardust Dragon [WIND / Level 8 / Dragon-Type / Synchro / Effect]
ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000
Stardust Dragon erupted from the Synchro light, wings catching the air of the high-speed world in a single magnificent sweep, scattering particles of starlight across the track alongside Rin Seiya's D-Wheel.
Crimson Nova. Stardust Dragon. Face to face on the same track, in the same moment.
It looked exactly like a scene pulled straight from 5D's.
Under her helmet, Rin Seiya's face was flushed. "Yes. This. This is what I wanted. This is exactly what I came here for."
Her enthusiasm was completely genuine. Amano couldn't help but acknowledge it.
She's fully living in this, isn't she.
The ultimate fan experience, performed at full speed, on a real track, with real monsters.
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