"Let the deathly mist of the sea rise! I Special Summon — Heroic Spirit – Jack the Ripper!"
[Heroic Spirit – Jack the Ripper ★★★★★★ (Level 6)][DARK][Zombie/Effect][ATK 800/DEF 1000]
[This card is also treated as a "Lily" card by game rules.]
The corrosive death mist spreading over the sea further reduced visibility, shrouding the battlefield after the giant planet's impact and plunging everything into a blurred white haze.
"So it's super-sized Jack!" Akasha said excitedly. "Hoshino-nee is planning to cut down the monsters on the opponent's field first, then launch a full assault!"
By rights, Jack should have been a Heroic Spirit monster Special Summoned in giant form through the Duel Disk. But as an Assassin accustomed to hiding in the mist to carry out assassinations, even after being Summoned, her true form still couldn't be seen at first glance.
"Then I'll activate Jack the Ripper's effect right away —"
[Once per turn: Target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; change it to face-down Defense Position.]
"I'll change Nibiru, the Primal Being on your field from Attack Position to face-down Defense Position. Then, when Jack battles a Defense Position monster, she can destroy it without damage calculation!"
"Can I kill it, Mom?" Jack's faint voice drifted out from the mist blanketing the sea.
"It's just a rock over there. Rather than 'kill,' 'smash' is more appropriate~"
Inside the cockpit, Hoshino raised her hand and pointed toward the misty, completely unreadable monitor screen ahead as the Battle Phase for this turn began.
"Attack, Jack! Smash the Nibiru, the Primal Being on the opponent's field!"
"— From this point on, this is hell! 'We' are fire, rain, and power!"
"Ugh, so annoying!" The Dwarf King, who could hear only Jack's chanting from within the mist and could see nothing else, finally lost patience and slammed the control panel. "It's a bit off, but if I switch to night-vision mode, I should be able to see at least something!"
The monitor's display changed. The moment night vision was activated and the mist was pierced through, the blurred outline of giant Jack and the mist-shrouded Nibiru intersected before everyone's eyes.
Knife gleams flashed. Countless slashes tore through the body of Nibiru. Through the night-vision monitor, one could clearly see stone fragments shattered by Jack falling into the sea.
[Nibiru, the Primal Being] destroyed
With the face-down Defense Position monster shattered, the mist covering the sea immediately dispersed as well. The giant Jack leapt back to Hoshino's field, standing side by side with Swimsuit Illya.
"Now it's direct attack time! A full-power strike from Magical Girl – Swimsuit Illya!"
"Hyah —!"
Raising Ruby in gun mode, she aimed at King Utgarda before her.
Well, with a body that huge, she honestly didn't even need to aim.
"A full-power strike with 1000 ATK, huh." Minazuki's mouth twitched. "That really is just a water gun…"
[King Utgarda LP 20400 → 19400]
"At that level, it can probably only wash some mud off King Utgarda's surface~" Akasha said with a helpless shrug.
"You're expecting way too much from a grade schooler playing by the water!" Illya shot back, blushing.
Even Illya herself seemed to feel that the water splashes fired from Ruby in gun mode were not only weak and powerless, but also split apart midair. It really didn't look like a proper attack at all.
"The first one was just a warm-up to set the mood! This next one is the real thing! A direct attack from the Primal Being Token!"
Hidden within the seawater, the indescribable Primal Being Token responded to Hoshino's attack declaration by extending its thick, gigantic tentacles and whipping them toward King Utgarda's stone body.
"Go, go! This is damage from a monster with massive ATK! Even King Utgarda should be feeling this!" Eve cheered.
However, just before the thick tentacles could reach King Utgarda's massive body, a wave-absorbing shield unfolded, cutting off the Primal Being Token's tentacles from their target.
Hoshino froze as the one stone tablet card left face-down from the previous turn was flipped over, revealing a stone slab card engraved with an absorption-shield pattern.
[Draining Shield Trap Card Effect: When your opponent declares an attack, you can target 1 attacking monster; negate that attack, and you gain Life Points equal to that monster's ATK.]
[King Utgarda LP 19400 → 36000]
Hoshino smiled bitterly. "So you Set a Draining Shield face-down — that's why you so openly gave me the Primal Being Token with its measly ATK."
If Hoshino had distributed her ATK the same way as before, the Life Points that Draining Shield could negate and recover would have been limited.
But once the Primal Being Token was born and gathered the ATK of all the monsters on the field, having this attack negated combined with Draining Shield's recovery sent King Utgarda's Life Points shooting into the sky.
["Also, its Life Points recovered to a nice round number. It feels like it's mocking us,"] Hoshino Alter said. ["Could it be that from the very beginning, the setup and battle were all part of King Utgarda's calculations?"]
"You mean playing foolish while hiding its true hand?" Hoshino said. "It hasn't said a word, yet King Utgarda turned everything in the Duel into factors favorable to itself. What a troublesome opponent."
Not only had its Life Points soared by more than ten thousand from Draining Shield, but after Magical Girl – Medusa Miyu was sent to the Graveyard by the impact of Nibiru, the Primal Being, the plan Hoshino had initially intended to use — sealing King's Proof through the Mystic Eyes — had also completely fallen apart.
"No need to worry too much, Hoshino," Yugi said optimistically. "The Battle Phase isn't over yet. No matter how high the opponent's Life Points are, as long as our Life Points aren't reduced to zero, hope still exists!"
"That's right, Yugi. Even if it's one hundred versus ten thousand, at least we can't lose in spirit."
Drawing two cards and Setting them on the Duel Disk, Hoshino decisively brought this long turn — one that had been struck by a meteor — to a close.
"I Set two cards and end my turn! It's up to you now!"
[Hoshino: 1 Hand Card | 3 Set Cards]
The moment the turn ended, with Magical Girl – Medusa Miyu having left the field, the sealed King's Proof was released once more. It recalculated the Rock monsters on both players' fields and in the Graveyards, causing King Utgarda's Life Points to surge even higher.
[King Utgarda LP 36000 → 45000]
"(°Д°) Its remaining Life Points are 10 times Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's!"
Akasha stared at the inexplicably dragged-in Blue-Eyes comment, but Kaiba said nothing. He only shot her a silent glare.
"Compared to that, the Life Points on Hoshino Academy's side are basically... mamma mia!"
Eve: "(°ヘ°) Mamma mia?"
[Hoshino & Yugi LP 1500]
"If it's only 1500 points, it'll be wiped out by the slightest scratch!" the Dwarf King complained. "In such a dangerous situation, Hoshino, you actually placed monsters with 1000 ATK and 800 ATK in Attack Position?"
With the turn passing over, King Utgarda replenished its hand back to two cards. It was clear that one of them was Megalith, returned from the Graveyard to the hand by the Field Spell Megalith Portal.
"Shut up! They're just Life Points—now watch us turn things around, Illya!"
The moment King Utgarda drew a card and began its turn, Hoshino activated the effect of the Xyz Monster on the field, Magical Girl – Swimsuit Illya.
[During your opponent's turn: You can Xyz Summon 1 "Magical Girl – Swimsuit Illya Rank 5" from your Extra Deck by overlaying it on this card.]
The radiance of a Rank-Up Xyz Summon enveloped Illya's swimsuit card. Unlike the costume change brought about by a Fusion Summon, Illya's Xyz Rank-Up was closer to an evolution that completely transformed her equipment.
Hoshino slammed the card she had drawn from the Extra Deck directly on top of the Illya card already placed in the Monster Zone of her Duel Disk. Every one of these Swimsuit Illya Xyz cards represented the 120 Saint Quartz Hoshino had been tricked out of by Da Vinci just a few days earlier.
"Overlay Xyz Summon—Magical Girl – Swimsuit Illya Rank 5!"
[Magical Girl – Swimsuit Illya ☆☆☆☆☆ (Rank 5)][WATER][Spellcaster/Xyz/Effect][ATK 1000/DEF 1000]
Having taken off the pink hood she originally wore and now truly dressed in a swimsuit, Illya's smooth, delicate skin—fair as that of a grade-schooler—was so flawless that even under the night sky, it seemed to reflect the moonlight.
"Ugh, this is a little embarrassing. So I draped a towel over my shoulders. That way I won't be showing too much," Illya said bashfully.
Ruby: "The more half-covered you are, the sexier it is. Illya really does know what she's doing~"
"The ATK and DEF haven't changed at all. Hoshino, were you just trying to show off your new card?" Eve complained.
"Be quiet and watch!" Hoshino declared as she activated Rank 5's effect. At the same time, within the Graveyard Zone of the Savior Duel Disk, the starlight of Fusion burst free from its restraints and projected itself across the sea.
[When Magical Girl – Swimsuit Illya Rank 5 is Xyz Summoned: You can banish the Fusion Materials named by 1 "Magical Girl" Fusion Monster from your Graveyard, then Fusion Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck.]
Flipping over the two material cards displayed in the Duel Disk's Graveyard Zone, Hoshino declared:
"The cards I banish as Fusion Materials are Magical Girl – Miyu and Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon lily! Based on Rank 5's effect, I Fusion Summon the corresponding Fusion Monster!"
A magnificent Fusion effect formed a spiraling vortex across the field. As the two cards were absorbed into it, a brand-new Magical Girl was born through the effect of Illya's swimsuit transformation.
"—Swimsuit Summon! Magical Girl – Artoria lily Miyu!"
[Magical Girl – Artoria lily Miyu ★★★★★★★★ (Rank 8)][LIGHT][Warrior/Fusion/Effect][ATK 2500/DEF 1000]
["Magical Girl – Miyu" + "Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon · lily"]
Lightly tapping the surface of the sea, Miyu—now clad in Saber Lily's pure-white attire—held the Golden Sword in her hands as she materialized between Illya and Jack.
"Illya's swimsuit is really cute~"
"Miyu is cute too!"
"No one's going to praise Jack?" Looking at Illya and Miyu's outfits, Jack said enviously. "That's nice and all, but I want that kind of ability too—the kind where your equipment goes whoosh! and changes all at once."
Placing the Fusion Summoned Artoria lily Miyu card onto the Duel Disk, Hoshino pointed toward the other monster on her field and activated its effect.
"When the Fusion Summon succeeds, the effect of Magical Girl – Artoria lily Miyu activates—"
[Target 1 monster on the field; you gain LP equal to that monster's ATK.]
The Dwarf King's mouth fell open in surprise. "Recovering Life Points equal to a monster's ATK, huh? The monster on Hoshino's field with the highest ATK is..."
"It's this one! The Primal Being Token!"
The moment Hoshino gave the command to activate the effect, the Golden Sword in Artoria lily Miyu's hands pierced the sea, drawing forth the roar of the indescribable Primal Being hidden beneath the water.
"In response to the call of the Holy Sword, spread the power of life throughout this sea! — 'Golden Victory Sword'!"
"According to the effect of Magical Girl – Artoria · lily · Miyu, if I target the Primal Being Token, I gain Life Points equal to its ATK!"
Triggered by the Golden Victory Sword, the immense life force contained within the Primal Being surged out from the sea and poured into the Savior Mecha.
[Hoshino & Yugi LP 1500 → 18100]
"It's only a matter of skyrocketing Life Points—I can do that too, you know!" Hoshino declared confidently. "With Life Points this high, who still dares say a mere scratch is enough to take us down?"
"Eighteen thousand Life Points against forty-five thousand Life Points!!"
Perhaps because the restored Life Points had gradually shifted the duel in their favor, the Dwarf King's youthful, adorable cheeks were flushed with unmistakable excitement.
"I can feel it! This is how it should be..." Her slender arm gripping the control lever trembled slightly with excitement as the Dwarf King cried out:
"A clash of massive Life Points from both sides. This is what a true super-giant versus super-giant duel should be—the full extent of the Gurren Lagann Operation, a giant war that shakes heaven, earth, and the universe!"