Chapter 260: The Ultimate Fusion Power! Fallen of Albaz
[Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous] [Level 4 / LIGHT]
[Spellcaster / Tuner / Effect]
[ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1500]
The silver-haired Blazing Cartesia floated down to Amano's field with both arms spread wide, her crimson gown sweeping behind her as she landed.
"A Virtuous!" Albaz's eyes went wide for a moment. "You actually have a Virtuous card, Amano Rei?"
He was supposed to have two, actually. But thanks to the presence of a certain food-obsessed Virtuous standing in the spectator crowd, one of them had been removed from the deck under the parallel exclusion rule.
In the crowd, the moment Ecclesia caught sight of the Blazing Cartesia that had just been summoned, her expression shifted into something deeply uncomfortable.
"What's wrong?" Kit noticed. "You look sick."
"Looking at that Virtuous just gives me a really bad feeling..." Ecclesia started, and then her eyes and the Blazing Cartesia's made brief contact. "She's staring at me!"
Amano privately thought the food-obsessive was reading too much into it. The Blazing Cartesia he had pulled from the occupation system was clearly a card without a spirit inhabiting it. She was in the deck purely because she was a useful card.
"During my Main Phase, I activate the effect of Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous!"
[During your Main Phase (Quick Effect): You can use monsters from your hand and/or field as Fusion Materials to Fusion Summon 1 Level 8 or higher Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck.]
She could substitute for a Polymerization, functioning as a living Fusion Spell. Blazing Cartesia pressed both hands together at her chest and recited the fusion incantation, the spiral Fusion effect manifesting above her head.
Amano pulled two cards from his hand and held them overhead, letting the Fusion spiral above draw them in.
"I Fusion Summon using Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice and Elemental HERO Burstinatrix from my hand! The fusion of a hero and a priestess, of fire and water, of large and small!"
Eve: "You had better explain right now what you mean by 'large and small.'"
The temperature around the village plummeted toward zero. The hero's blazing force met Eve's water attribute and locked into ice in the same instant, the ground beneath their feet crystallizing.
"The hero's soul, the resolution of ice! Even this can become the winter that guards the world!"
"Fusion Summon! Elemental HERO Absolute Zero!"
[Elemental HERO Absolute Zero] [Level 8 / WATER]
[Warrior / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000]
[1 "HERO" monster + 1 WATER monster]
The ice hero arrived in a pure-white cape that flowed in the cold air pouring off the frozen ground.
The moment the Fusion monster appeared, the spirit crowd around them erupted.
"A HERO! That's a HERO monster!"
"Who is this person?"
"He's supposed to be friends with the Supreme King. And he's using HERO monsters. That's terrifying!"
The archetype that had once symbolized heroism and justice had become, thanks to the Supreme King's existence, a symbol of danger in the Fusion spirit world. It was a genuinely strange feeling.
"I set two cards face-down. Turn end."
Turn change. Albaz drew his opening card.
"My turn. Draw."
Albaz spoke without looking away from the field. "A Fusion hero. That makes me believe you more, actually. But if you really want to beat the Supreme King, more than this is going to be needed."
How did Albaz have such a specific read on the Supreme King's power level?
Ecclesia, reading the question in Amano's face, quietly explained from behind him: "Albaz used to be the strongest Duelist in the Fusion world. He lost to the Supreme King. That's why he's carrying it around."
Lost to the Supreme King? That was more than just embarrassing. "How is he still alive?"
"He has a special constitution. Even so, he was half-dead when he made it back from the Supreme King's castle. So he probably knows the Supreme King's terrifying power better than anyone in this world."
While the explanation continued in hushed tones, Albaz had already lowered a card into his Duel Disk.
"I Normal Summon Springans Kitt in Attack Position!"
The Kit who had been watching from the crowd broke into an expression of pure exasperation. "He's just going to summon me out of nowhere again, is he? Fine, I'll be right back." And then she dissolved into particles of light, vanishing from the spectator area and reappearing in card form on the field, fully armed.
[Springans Kitt] [Level 4 / DARK]
[Beast / Effect]
[ATK: 1700 / DEF: 1000]
The transition from village resident to Duel Monster card and back was apparently something that happened here without anyone particularly remarking on it.
The fully armed Springans Kitt raised one mechanical fist skyward and fired a shot into the air.
Albaz declared: "Springans Kitt's effect activates on summon!"
[When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: Add to your hand 1 of your "Branded" Spells/Traps that is banished or in your Deck or GY, then place 1 card from your hand on the bottom of the Deck.]
"I add Branded Fusion to my hand, then return 1 card to the bottom of the Deck. And I immediately activate Branded Fusion!"
[Branded Fusion]
[Spell Card: Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster that mentions "Fallen of Albaz" as material from your Extra Deck, using 2 monsters from your hand, Deck, or field as Fusion Materials.]
A Deck Fusion. And the Duelist himself was stepping up to play his card. Albaz sent himself from the Deck to the Graveyard as Fusion Material.
"From my Deck, I send Fallen of Albaz and Tri-Brigade Springans Kitt as Fusion Materials to the Graveyard!"
"Steel bones locked into perfect mesh, machine and wild nature forged together into something new! Roar, born of the beast's rampage and the iron in its blood!"
"Fusion Summon! Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon!"
[Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon] [Level 8 / DARK]
[Winged Beast / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000]
["Fallen of Albaz" + 1 Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged Beast monster]
The description of it as a Fusion monster was pushing the definition considerably. What had appeared was a mechanical ironclad dragon with the white-haired Albaz seated on one of its claws, Kit in the cockpit operating the controls.
Though thinking back, there were Fusion monsters in the game like the Dark Magician pair, where two figures standing together constituted the material for a Fusion. The current scene was at least in the same tradition.
"And now I activate the GY effect of Tri-Brigade Springans Kitt! When this card is sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon Fallen of Albaz from the Graveyard!"
That was the cue.
I am summoning myself.
[Fallen of Albaz] [Level 4 / DARK]
[Dragon / Effect]
[ATK: 1800 / DEF: 0]
The white-haired boy materialized on the field in his own card form, separate from the dragon, landing almost before the Fusion had finished resolving. And the moment he hit the field, a different kind of Fusion energy detonated around him.
This was what Ecclesia had described: the ultimate fusion power Albaz carried.
"The effect of Fallen of Albaz activates!"
[When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can discard 1 card; Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster using monsters from either field, but you cannot use other monsters you control as material.]
Using the opponent's field monsters as Fusion Material. An ability that came close to the power claimed by Super Polymerization, close enough to be called its near equal.
"I discard Blighted Dragon from my hand! The Fallen of Albaz on my field and the Elemental HERO Absolute Zero on yours become the materials for the ultimate Fusion!"
A spiral greater than any Fusion that had come before expanded to swallow both fields. Absolute Zero's ice-cold breath poured into the spiral against its will, drawn into the ultimate fusion vortex across the gap.
"The eternal frozen mirror reflects the dragon's soul, and ice crystals are forged in this moment into a blade that cuts through what is real and what is illusion!"
"Fusion Summon! Come forth, the dragon of absolute cold that passes between reality and phantom!"
"Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon!"
[Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon] [Level 8 / DARK]
[Wyrm / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500]
["Fallen of Albaz" + 1 Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link Monster]
The dragon that had just shattered the Supreme King's army commander in the earlier duel stood on the field again, and Absolute Zero had been its material. Because Absolute Zero was a Fusion monster, it qualified as valid material.
The chill radiating from the dragon's feet spread across the ground as it landed, doubling the cold in the air from what Absolute Zero alone had produced.
Amano immediately countered: "I activate the effect of Elemental HERO Absolute Zero, which was just used as Fusion Material!"
[When this card leaves the field: Destroy all monsters your opponent controls.]
Absolute Zero leaving the field was supposed to wipe out everything Albaz had. A single card doing exactly what it was designed to do in a situation designed for it: the reason Amano had placed Absolute Zero on the field first.
"That won't work!" Albaz was already calling his own counter. "When a Fusion monster activates its effect, Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon negates it!"
[When a Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link Monster's effect is activated (Quick Effect): You can negate that effect, then you can return 1 monster from the field to the hand.]
The iron dragon piloted by Kit brought both its heavy cannons to bear, blue electric arcs discharging between the barrels.
Kit: "Mode switch! Signal Jam Cannon!"
[Elemental HERO Absolute Zero's effect negated]
"After that, I return Blazing Cartesia, the Virtuous to your hand."
By activating Absolute Zero's table-flip effect, Amano had actually cleared his own field instead. Albaz was now pressing the attack with both Fusion dragons and the fully armed Springans Kitt.
3000 plus 2500 plus 1700: total direct damage, 7200 points.
"Face-down card, activate!" Amano flipped his set card. "Trap Card, Damage Diet! All damage I take this turn is halved!"
Even with the damage cut in half, Mirrorjade, Rindbrumm, and Kitt hitting simultaneously launched him off his feet. The numbers on the Life Point counter dropped like a stone.
Amano LP: 4000 -> 400
"Barely alive. I set two cards and end my turn."
"It's completely one-sided, isn't it," Ecclesia said with genuine concern. "Are you actually all right, Amano?"
The spectating spirits, Ecclesia included, had not been especially surprised by the result of the exchange.
Albaz had been the strongest Duelist in the Fusion world for years. That was public knowledge. A mysterious outsider who had only just arrived was not expected to be giving him a real fight.
Except for Albaz himself, apparently.
Amano climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off with some minor grumbling. He would admit it: Albaz was genuinely formidable, even by competitive standards from his previous life. The card efficiency visible in the field alone was striking.
Mirrorjade could banish one monster per turn during either player's turn. Rindbrumm could negate one Extra Deck monster effect and bounce one monster from the field. Two Fusion dragons with built-in disruption was a different kind of pressure from anything inside Eden.
"My turn. Draw!"
The card he had just drawn was one he had been working toward for a long time: 200,000 Academy credits, obtained after defeating Chiaki in the Academy Challenge Tournament.
"I activate the Spell Card, Pot of Greed!"
After watching other people activate it every other duel, now it was finally his turn.
When the professor-face appeared on his field and shattered to give him two more draws, Amano might have felt something close to emotion.
"I then activate Dark Factory of Mass Production! I recover two Normal Monsters from my Graveyard: Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice and Elemental HERO Burstinatrix."
Then, the last face-down card on the field. "I activate the Trap Card, Common Charity! I banish 1 Normal Monster from my hand and draw 2 cards!"
[Elemental HERO Burstinatrix banished]
After the Normal Monster chain activated, Amano picked up the next key card.
Albaz's Branded archetype was genuinely high-efficiency cards. But Amano was holding certain anime-version effect cards too, and efficiency cuts both ways.
"Let's fight Fusion with Fusion, Albaz! I activate the Equip Spell, Future Fusion!"
He dropped the GX anime version of Future Fusion into the Duel Disk.
"Future Fusion's effect: I designate the Fusion Materials from my Deck, and Fusion Summon 1 Fusion monster. However, the monster Fusion Summoned this way cannot attack the turn it arrives."
In the GX era, where Fusion was king, the Branded archetype was not the only deck capable of sending Fusion Materials from the Deck.
Amano picked out the Fusion Materials from his Deck. At the same moment, the system skill Fusion Mastery activated.
"I send Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Aleister the Invoker, Ancient Spell Rabbit, and Left Arm of the Forbidden One to the Graveyard as Fusion Materials. Five-way Fusion!"
Even Ecclesia's mouth formed a surprised O. "A Fusion using five monsters?"
Five-monster Fusions were extraordinary even in the Fusion world.
And for Amano to run a Fusion requiring five Spellcasters, there was only one card it could be.
"Five souls resonating as one! Guide forth the supreme master who has reached the ultimate principle of all things!"
"Future Fusion Summon! Quintet Magician!"
[Quintet Magician] [Level 12 / DARK]
[Spellcaster / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 4500 / DEF: 4500]
[5 Spellcaster monsters]
Quintet Magician could not be destroyed by effects, and could not be used as Fusion Material. The Ultimate Fusion, Super Polymerization, had no hold over it.
"When Quintet Magician is Fusion Summoned using five different Spellcaster type materials, I activate its effect: destroy all cards on your field!"
Five overlapping golden spell circles appeared on Amano's field, the sheer force of the combined magical output crashing down toward Albaz's side like a meteor.
"Useless!" Albaz countered immediately. "When a Fusion monster activates its effect, Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon's effect can negate it, once per turn!"
Kit drove the iron dragon's twin barrels to maximum output and blasted back the entire force of Quintet Magician's field sweep.
[Quintet Magician's effect negated]
"And after that, I return 1 monster to the Extra Deck. Quintet Magician returns to yours."
Neither destruction-proof nor immune to bounce effects. One card to one counter: Quintet Magician, which had never eaten a loss against Chiaki, evaporated from the field in an instant.
Eve: "The undefeatable Quintet just got one-shot!"
The Level 12 Fusion monster that had not lost a single exchange even against Chiaki, removed in one pass by Albaz's counter.
Eve: "Is this what the strongest Duelist in the Fusion world actually looks like? He's terrifying. If we beat him, does he actually join the party?"
This was not a traditional RPG adventure story. Amano was not assembling a party to defeat a demon lord.
"But while Quintet Magician might be gone, the resources created by the Quintet process are not just Quintet itself."
Five Spellcaster materials were sitting in the Graveyard. Time to build the counterattack.
"I still have ammunition left! From my Graveyard, I banish Ancient Spell Rabbit as a LIGHT monster and Aleister the Invoker as a DARK monster, and Special Summon the chaos force in my hand!"
Amano held the great Chaos card overhead as he had countless times before, the converging energies of light and dark gathering at his fingertips.
"Where the vortex of light and dark meets, summoned from a world before creation and division, the blade that cleaved heaven from earth itself!"
"Special Summon! Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning!"
[Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning] [Level 8 / LIGHT]
[Warrior / Special Summon / Effect]
[ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500]
[Cannot be Normal Summoned. Can be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your GY.]
Ecclesia gasped: "That's the legendary warrior said to match the power of Blue-Eyes White Dragon! You have that card, Amano?"
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning had the name recognition in the spirit world to match Blue-Eyes White Dragon. A genuine celebrity of the card game.
"That you could summon a counter like that from this position, I'll admit you're better than I expected, Amano Rei."
Albaz had been waiting with his last face-down card. A third Fusion wave arrived on his field.
"Trap Card, Necro Fusion! From my Graveyard, I banish Blighted Dragon, which I discarded as a cost earlier, and the Albion the Sanctifire Dragon I just sent to the Graveyard with Mirrorjade, all face-down, to Fusion Summon!"
An unusual Fusion Summon, this one: the first time in the entire duel that Albaz had Fusion Summoned without using Fallen of Albaz as material.
"The shaman's banner soaked in blood rises, and cursed scales are offered as sacrifice to seal the ancient fury! Shattering dragon's curse and forbidden incantation combine!"
"Fusion Summon! Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime!"
[Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime] [Level 8 / DARK]
[Dragon / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500]
[1 Dragon Fusion Monster + 1 Level 7 or higher Dragon monster]
A dragon-woman in flowing robes descended from the shattered Fusion effect of Necro Fusion, her form precise and severe.
"Block the Chaos blade! Now, Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime, effect activate!"
[During your or your opponent's Main Phase (Quick Effect): Target 1 card on the field or in the GY; banish it. If you banished a card from the field, return 1 Dragon monster you control to the hand.]
Another Quick Effect interruption. The crystal energy gathered in the dragon-woman's hands surged toward Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning.
"I banish Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning! Forbidden Dragon Dance!"
Because a card was banished from the field, Albaz was also required to return 1 of his own Dragon monsters to hand.
Looking at Albaz's field, though: while Mirrorjade and Rindbrumm both had "Dragon" in their names, Mirrorjade was a Wyrm-type and Rindbrumm was Winged Beast. The only actual Dragon on his field was Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime, the one that had just activated its effect.
The Fusion returning to hand from the Extra Deck was the equivalent of going back to the Extra Deck. A one-for-one trade: Black Luster Soldier gone, Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime back to hand.
[Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning banished]
Then Albaz flipped his last face-down. "Continuous Trap Card, DNA Surgery, activate!"
[DNA Surgery]
[Continuous Trap Card: When this card is activated, declare 1 Type. All face-up monsters on the field become that Type.]
"I declare: Dragon! Every monster on the field becomes Dragon-type."
Was that card in the deck to make bouncing himself easier? With all monsters now Dragon-type, including his own Springans Kitt, Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime's effect could return the Kit to hand as a Dragon rather than a Beast, making it a live resource for next turn.
"After Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime banishes Black Luster Soldier, I return the now-Dragon-type Springans Kitt to hand!"
[Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning banished]
[Springans Kitt returned to hand]
Because Springans Kitt was not an Extra Deck monster, returning it to hand meant returning it to the actual hand, available as a resource next turn.
Now Albaz's field held three Fusion dragons, and Amano was an empty field again.
Three counters in a row had eaten Amano's Fusion monsters. What remained in hand was limited. The Priestess was the only obvious call, and she was already revealed.
"I Normal Summon Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice in Defense Position."
[Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice] [DEF: 2100]
"Is that all you have?" Albaz surveyed the field. Even he could see the position. "If you were the Supreme King, even from here you could break through using ultimate fusion. If you cannot do that, do not throw your life away."
"What are you talking about, Albaz?" Amano's voice was steady. "I've been putting you in the corner step by step this whole time."
"The corner? Me?" Albaz froze for a beat. The watching spirits looked equally puzzled. If anyone was in a corner by the numbers on the field, it looked like Amano.
"Who said I can't break through?" Amano had the card in his hand, the one that had been the hidden final answer through all the resource trading.
"Not only can I break through, I'm going to burn your entire board to fuel my finishing blow."
He raised the card in a sweep of heat.
"Your turn, Kurigalzu!"
And in that moment, an Eastern-style fire dragon erupted with a roar. A massive obsidian great-sword fell from above, descending like a meteor onto the center of the field.
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