Chapter 253: The Hidden Blade! Sky Striker, Drawn
"Yes! It's an autograph from Yukihime-san herself!"
Amano Shio's eyes were shining as she held the cardstock up and examined it from every angle.
On the cardstock, in Nanki'in Yukihime's own handwriting: [Yukihime, to my most devoted little fan, Amano Shio!]
"This is going to be my greatest treasure for life!"
"You are being very dramatic, Shio."
Shio was so genuinely endearing that Nanki'in Yukihime's maternal instincts had clearly been completely overwhelmed, and she pulled Shio into her arms without restraint.
"I wish I could have a daughter this adorable."
"Me?" Nanki'in Sakuya pointed to herself with a faint look of confusion. Am I not your adorable daughter?
Nanki'in Yukihime pinched the expressively animated cheeks of the small girl in her arms and sighed.
"Sadly, my daughter spends most of her time in a blank expression. A complete inheritance from her deadbeat father: she gets by entirely on looks."
Amano leaned toward Nanki'in Sakuya and kept his voice low. "Has Sakuya ever actually met your father?"
Sakuya shook her head plainly. "Not once."
Whatever "dealt with him" meant, it appears to have been quite thorough.
Far from objecting to being held, Shio looked completely comfortable, and pushed her luck immediately. "Yukihime-san, can you tell me stories from when you competed professionally?"
"Of course! If you want to hear them, there's quite a lot worth telling."
Watching the warm and easy scene in front of her, Nanki'in Sakuya felt an unexpected twinge.
Not because she had just found out things about her mother she had never known. That aspect did not bother her at all.
What Sakuya felt was that she had been the one who wanted to build a better relationship with Shio, and she had been the one to invite her tonight for exactly that reason. Somehow, between arriving and now, it had transformed into her mother and Shio becoming friends at her expense.
She had been here first.
Nanki'in Yukihime raised the subject without warning. "If Amano Rei ends up marrying into the Nanki'in family, then Shio would eventually be my child too."
"Really? I can be your child, Yukihime-san?" Shio turned to Amano. "Then Brother, hurry up and marry Sakuya-nee-san!"
This was the power of a childhood idol. One meeting and Shio had immediately and unconditionally committed to the Nanki'in side.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Muramasa's face had arranged itself into pure satisfaction. He threw his head back with a full laugh. "What a lively household that would be! This old man is very much looking forward to it."
A soft knock at the door.
"Sir. Head of family. Young miss. The Farewell Banquet is about to begin."
The word "Farewell Banquet" extinguished the warm atmosphere in the room in an instant.
"Well. The time has come. Let us proceed, Yukihime, Sakuya." Muramasa rose slowly and gestured to the two Nanki'in women.
"As for our young Amano guests, please stay in the banquet hall and help yourselves to everything. The Heavenly Chalice Dragon Pavilion does not serve synthesized food. Every ingredient is one hundred percent natural: something worth savoring even by mid-level standards."
The three Nanki'in departed toward the back of the banquet hall. The Amano siblings looked at each other.
"Well then. What do we do, little sister?"
"Obviously we eat everything, big brother!"
The last visit to this venue had been too stressful for the food to register. This time was going to be compensation in full.
A family banquet that took over an entire hotel was always a buffet. The Amano siblings could operate without any restraint whatsoever.
However. When Amano was just lifting something that looked like a chocolate mousse onto his plate, he ran into the last two people he expected.
The Jinguuji sisters. Ryoushuu and Masayo.
With both families present in one hall, crossing paths at the dessert table was not unreasonable.
"After you, please."
Amano stepped aside with genuine courtesy to let the Jinguuji sisters reach the dessert first.
The moment they registered who had stepped back for them, both sisters' expressions shifted at once.
"Hmph!" Jinguuji Ryoushuu let out a sharp, pointed sound of contempt and turned away without a word, already walking off at speed.
Having been completely dismantled by Amano at the Academy Challenge Tournament, Ryoushuu's standing at both the Academy and within her own family had taken a significant hit. The man standing in front of her was the direct cause of that. A cold reception was understandable.
Jinguuji Masayo did not react with the same extreme hostility, but the expression on her face was still complicated.
No matter how much effort Masayo had put in, the Jinguuji family had still ended up falling out with Nanki'in. Being caught between the two sides had made the recent period genuinely difficult for her. She had not visited the Nanki'in estate in quite some time, unable to make her way to the person she most wanted to see.
In the end, after what was visibly an internal struggle, Jinguuji Masayo spoke.
"Amano. The person going on stage to duel Father today. Is it really Sakuya?"
"Yes, that's right."
"What... what's going to happen..."
The chocolate mousse Masayo had put on her plate went untouched. She had started biting her thumbnail instead, her expression drawn with anxiety.
"Nothing to be nervous about," Amano said. "It's an exhibition match. Purely ceremonial."
The Farewell Banquet duel had no material stakes. It was a tradition carried over from older generations of family organizations: a parting match with nothing riding on the result.
As Ryuuma had put it: the only consequence was family reputation at most.
And practically speaking, Jinguuji Domitsu, as current family head, would gain very little face from defeating someone who had not yet formally taken over the Nanki'in leadership.
Jinguuji Masayo shook her head hard. "No. It's not like that. I don't know how to explain it, but Father has been acting very strange lately."
"Strange how?"
His father was a separate question. Looking at Masayo herself, something was clearly wrong with her. She had dressed up for the banquet occasion, but underneath the makeup, she looked exhausted in a way that could not quite be hidden.
Before Amano could ask further, the banquet hall's main lighting shifted. The spotlight converged on the central dueling stage, the same stage where Amano and Karl had once faced each other, and both duelists stepped out under its beam simultaneously.
"There's Sakuya!" The sight of Nanki'in Sakuya on stage pulled Masayo's fading energy back immediately.
No wonder Masayo's cheeks had flushed.
During the time Sakuya had been absent, she had clearly gone backstage to change. The Synchro Academy uniform was gone. In its place: a black-and-white layered top, and the combination Amano remembered from their very first duel, the over-the-knee socks reaching her thighs paired with a black skirt. The tachi hanging at her waist completed the picture.
The Nanki'in Sakuya standing on that stage was, by any honest assessment, a striking presence.
"Sakuya-nee-san looks so cool!" Even Shio, who had been deeply focused on fried rice, stopped to comment.
Shio, of all the options at this buffet, why are you eating plain fried rice? We are never bringing you to one of these again.
"Young miss, you look incredible!"
"Go get them, young miss!"
"We'll follow you anywhere!"
The Nanki'in side had established visual and emotional dominance before a single card was played.
The contrast with Nanki'in Sakuya was stark. On the other side of the stage stood Jinguuji Domitsu: a thoroughly standard middle-aged man. Age had threaded obvious white through his black hair, the contrast catching the stage lighting in a way that was almost harsh. He walked to the center of the stage with measured steps, arms folded inside wide robe sleeves, a faint and unreadable smile at the corners of his mouth.
"Show them what we're made of, Domitsu-dono!"
"Let Nanki'in see what real resolve looks like!"
"Don't hold back, Domitsu-dono!"
"They'll regret this!"
Cheering for one's own duelist was routine. But something in the texture of those chants was not routine.
Don't hold back. They'll regret it.
This was supposed to be an exhibition match. A ceremonial send-off.
And what Jinguuji Masayo had said: Domitsu had been acting strange.
From the elevated viewing section, Nanki'in Muramasa and Yukihime sat on the Nanki'in side, with the former Jinguuji head across from them.
Muramasa's gaze went to the stage. "Jinguuji Domitsu. I recall him being a duelist of no particular strength."
Yukihime agreed. "Less capable than his own daughter, if I remember."
The Jinguuji family had historically been a subsidiary of the Nanki'in family. Their duelists' records were not secret to either Muramasa or Yukihime.
Looking at the new generation, Jinguuji Ryoushuu had shown genuine dueling potential. But a subsidiary family deciding to break away on the strength of that one factor alone was difficult to explain.
Muramasa found himself with a question he could not answer. "What is Jinguuji Domitsu actually after?"
On stage, the two duelists faced each other.
Nanki'in Sakuya spoke first. "Then let's begin, Domitsu-ojisan."
Jinguuji Domitsu gave a small nod in response. "If there is nothing more to be said, then let this duel serve as our parting."
[Eva: Duel recognized]
[Duelist - Nanki'in Sakuya]
[Duelist - Jinguuji Domitsu]
[Data network access, duel field generated]
[Duel Type: Farewell Banquet]
[Proud duelists, let victory and defeat be the scales that weigh your souls!]
[Duel!]
Domitsu drew his arm from the wide sleeve and deployed his Duel Disk.
Nanki'in Sakuya drew her tachi, merged it with the Eva Terminal, and snapped her own Duel Disk open in a motion that suited the weapon.
"I'll take the first turn. My turn! Draw!"
Jinguuji Domitsu drew his opening card, then opened a hidden field zone within the red Duel Disk.
"And this game of mine is already close to checkmate. Field Spell Card! Branded Misery - Despair Death Prison Realm, activate!"
A Field Spell card as his opening play. The entire dueling stage shook the moment it resolved.
[Branded Misery - Despair Death Prison Realm]
[Field Spell]
[Once per turn, during your Main Phase: Fusion Summon 1 Level 8 or higher Fusion Monster using monsters from your hand and/or field as materials. When a non-Fusion Angel monster you control is removed from the field by the opponent's effect or destroyed by battle, target 1 of your own Level 8 or higher Fusion Monsters in the GY: Special Summon that monster.]
"What is that card?" Up in the viewing area, Nanki'in Yukihime's expression shifted. "That is not Jinguuji Domitsu's deck."
For years, Domitsu's dueling strategy had been a moderately powered Zombie and Fire King revival build. Nothing remarkable.
But this Field Spell belonged to a completely different system.
Like something punching through the ceiling of dimensional space, a massive red-and-black Branded city materialized over the dueling stage.
"Wait. That card. This duel." Nanki'in Muramasa's mechanical prosthetic eye locked onto something and would not let go.
Then the veins in the old man's forehead stood out sharply, and his fist came down on the railing as he bellowed toward the stage.
"Domitsu! You dare to do this?!"
A Dark Game.
Jinguuji Domitsu had opened a Dark Game in front of everyone, against Muramasa's own granddaughter.
The so-called family severance. The so-called Farewell Banquet parting duel. Every bit of it had been Domitsu's staging: a setup to pull Nanki'in Sakuya into a Dark Game here, in front of witnesses.
"Ha ha ha ha! Nobody move!" Against Muramasa's fury, and the various Nanki'in family members who had not quite processed the situation but were clearly ready to react violently, Jinguuji Domitsu's voice cut through everything.
"The dark performance has already begun. If you do not want your young miss, Nanki'in Sakuya, to have her soul shatter mid-duel, then wait until this is finished!"
The hall went chaotic.
The threat about Sakuya's soul may or may not have been real, but no one in the Nanki'in family was willing to test it with Sakuya's safety on the line.
"This was supposed to be a ceremonial exhibition duel. How did this become a Dark Game?" Amano looked toward Jinguuji Masayo. "Did you know? From the beginning?"
Jinguuji Masayo shook her head with the force of someone trying to shake their head off their shoulders. "No. I did not know. How could I possibly know something like this. I have never even heard of a Dark Game before!"
From around him, the voices of the card spirits reached Amano.
Ecclesia: "Domitsu opened a Dark Game in public like this. Has he lost his mind? No. No, I should have seen this coming. He is no longer mentally sound."
Amano: "Can you tell what type of Dark Game this is?"
Dark Games came in categories. Amano had experienced enough of them by now: ones that threatened life, ones that threatened the mind, and ones he would prefer never to think about again.
Mana, sensing the dark energy around them: "Whatever it is, it is not going to be mild like Kuroshio Nagi's session. As for whether interrupting mid-duel actually causes soul disintegration the way he claimed, do you want to gamble on that?"
The person on stage was the class president. Amano was not going to gamble on that.
Eve: "So it's time for that move again."
In full public view, with Shio present, activating the background spirit state openly was not ideal.
"Shio. Stay here and do not move. I'll be right back."
"Oh. Yes, understood." Shio nodded obediently.
Amano moved at speed toward the Nanki'in family's private rest area, the innermost room that Muramasa and the others had been using.
When he arrived, he found Ryuuma already waiting outside the door.
"The head of the family just gave me the order: if you came here, I was to let you in alone and stand guard at the door. I do not know the specifics, but if this is the command, I will follow it one hundred percent and ask no questions."
"Thank you, Ryuuma."
"I should be the one thanking you. Young master."
Inside the room, Amano activated the skill immediately.
"Hacker Invasion!"
Through the deep blue soul corridor that represented Nanki'in Sakuya's inner world, Amano arrived inside her mind room.
Because Sakuya had not lost consciousness, there was no visible presence in the mind room at the moment.
Just like when he had entered Rin Seiya's mind during the Riding Duel. Rather than immediately taking over the body, Amano stayed briefly in the background spirit state to make contact and assess the situation.
"Are you alright, Sakuya?"
"Amano? Why are you using background spirit right now?"
Of everyone who knew about the background spirit ability, Nanki'in Sakuya had spent the most time experiencing it firsthand.
Muramasa's original proposal of background spirit tutoring sessions had left its mark: Sakuya had completely normalized Amano's soul entering her body without warning. Not a trace of resistance remained.
"Domitsu pulled you into a Dark Game. You haven't been feeling any discomfort?"
"Oh, so that's what Branded Misery means here. Dark performance, Dark Game. I was wondering why my head felt a little heavy."
Outside, everything was on the edge of chaos. She had not yet registered that she was in a Dark Game. Amano had initially attributed Nanki'in Sakuya's calmness to exceptional composure. The actual explanation was that the class president had simply not noticed.
"In any case, let me take over for now. Whatever this Dark Game's effects are, two people bearing them is better than one."
"Alright. I'll follow your lead."
With the soul exchange complete, Amano opened his eyes inside Sakuya's slim form.
At the same moment, Muramasa's prosthetic eye registered the soul exchange and something in the old man's posture finally eased.
"Sakuya is in your hands now, young friend Amano. I owe you again."
Apparently completely unaware that the duelist he was facing had changed, Jinguuji Domitsu proceeded to activate the Field Spell's built-in effect.
[Once per turn, during your Main Phase: Fusion Summon 1 Level 8 or higher Fusion Monster using monsters from your hand and/or field as materials.]
"Using the effect of Branded Misery - Despair Death Prison Realm, I fuse the Grand Director Death God from my hand with the Tragedy of Death Prison from my hand!"
The Field Spell substituted for a standard Fusion Spell. Cards from Domitsu's fingertips flew into the dimensional crack overhead, calling forth a dark Fusion dragon.
"Scorching roar, take the stage in your disguise and deliver the lethal performance!"
"Fusion Summon! Albion the Branded Dragon!!"
[Albion the Branded Dragon]
[Level 8 DARK]
[Dragon / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000]
[Death Prison Realm monster + LIGHT or DARK monster]
The Fusion dragon with a body that moved like a stage-prop creature in disguise erupted from inside the Branded city.
"And I activate the effect of the Fusion material, Grand Director Death God!"
[When this card becomes Fusion material and is sent to the GY or banished, you can Special Summon this card.]
"From the GY, Special Summon! The Grand Director Death God returns!"
[Grand Director Death God]
[Level 8 DARK]
[Angel / Effect]
[ATK: 3000 / DEF: 1500]
A white-masked high priest spread a set of deeply unsettling angel wings and materialized alongside Albion the Branded Dragon.
Amano Shio stared from the audience. "That thing's ATK is the same as Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Two Level 8 monsters from the opening play, with one of them at Blue-Eyes White Dragon's ATK. The message was clear to everyone watching: the Jinguuji Domitsu on that stage was nothing like the man who had walked into this room.
"Let me also explain Albion the Branded Dragon's effect!"
[As long as this Fusion-Summoned card remains in the Monster Zone, your opponent cannot activate card effects without paying 600 LP.]
No once-per-turn restriction. Unlimited trigger. Every time the opponent wanted to use a card effect, they paid 600 Life Points first.
At a standard 4000 LP, with Albion the Branded Dragon on the field, an opponent at full health could only activate a card effect six times before running out of Life Points to pay the cost.
"I said my game was already close to checkmate! And the final condition for that checkmate is your defeat, Nanki'in girl!"
Confident in his position, Jinguuji Domitsu drove one more card into the red Duel Disk.
"I set one card face-down. Turn end. With Nanki'in's outdated deck framework, there is absolutely no way to match this power from a new era."
The turn passed. The second turn belonged to Sakuya.
"Ha ha ha. You call this a new era?" Amano laughed despite himself. "Then let me show you what real new-era power looks like."
He had been in Nanki'in Sakuya's body before, but this was technically the first time he had ever run a complete duel in it from start to finish. The Dark Game against Onikiri had lasted only one turn before the Millennium Key had forcibly separated his soul and turned the situation into a one-against-three.
Up in the viewing area, Nanki'in Yukihime looked at the expression on her daughter's face and tilted her head with a puzzled look.
"Saya, that child, was she capable of smiling like that? It looks unusual, but unexpectedly... rather charming. My daughter's looks are clearly versatile enough to carry any expression. What can I say, she takes after me."
"Yukihime, your composure is as impressive as always," Muramasa sighed.
[System Skill: Limited Link Zone, activating!]
The prerequisite for this skill was a Special Duel.
A Dark Game, it turned out, satisfied that condition.
The moment the skill activated, both Duel Disks on stage, shaped from each duelist's Eva Terminal, expanded as though loading a new addition: two new monster zones, clearly marked as Extra Deck summon zones, appeared on both fields.
"What is this?" Jinguuji Domitsu looked at his own Duel Disk with open shock.
"This is what real new-era power looks like." With the Extra Deck Zone open, Amano drew the starting card for the turn.
"My turn! Draw! I activate Spell Card, Reinforcement of the Army!"
"Do not forget: you must pay 600 LP to activate any effect in front of Albion the Branded Dragon!"
Nanki'in Sakuya LP: 4000 to 3400.
[Reinforcement of the Army]
[Spell Card]
[Add 1 Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from your Deck to your hand.]
"A Warrior-Type monster?" Jinguuji Domitsu's composure cracked for a moment.
He was not the only one. The Jinguuji faction and the Nanki'in family members both registered visible surprise.
A Warrior-Type. Not the signature Zombie-Type Shiranui that everyone associated with the Nanki'in family.
Nanki'in Sakuya had not known this duel was going to be a Dark Game. She had awakened her own power and come here simply to show the Nanki'in family's new possibilities at the Farewell Banquet.
And the young woman's decision to face her own dueling destiny without flinching had, without her knowing it, saved herself.
With Shiranui alone, this would not be winnable.
But now: the blade the Nanki'in family had kept hidden, sharper than any cursed sword in their history, was finally being drawn.
"I add Sky Striker Ace - Raye to my hand from my Deck!"
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