Chapter 261: Devour Everything! Kurigalzu
"Your turn, Kurigalzu!"
Every step Amano had taken through this duel had been a step toward this moment: grinding down every single counter on Albaz's field until none remained, saving the final move for last.
The massive obsidian great-sword had fallen from the sky and buried itself at the center of the field. The Eastern fire dragon coiled around the blade opened its terrible jaws and roared toward Albaz's side of the field.
"This is Kurigalzu's effect!"
[This card cannot be Normal Summoned. This card can be Special Summoned by Tributing all face-up monsters on the field, on both sides, that activated their effects in the opponent's Monster Zone this turn.]
[Fairy / Special Summon / Effect]
"Albaz, every monster on your field this turn has activated its effects: Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon, Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon, and Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime, all three!"
"I Tribute all of your monsters!"
The Eastern fire dragon wheeled and swept the field. The great maw opened wide, swallowing everything Albaz had built.
[Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon: Tributed]
[Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon: Tributed]
[Fiendish Dragon Forbade-Hime: Tributed]
With every monster consumed, the card at Amano's fingertip burned brighter and brighter, the devouring force feeding back into it as pure energy.
The charge built to its peak, and Amano drove the card into his Duel Disk.
"Transform into the dragon, burn with the Immovable One's flame! Call forth the fire-sword of wisdom from beyond, swallow breath and release it as ten trillion thunderbolts!"
The ancient Sanskrit resonance of Kurigalzu's true name. The pink-haired, barefoot girl materialized in physical form, ghostly flames wrapped around her pale feet as she stepped onto the hilt of the obsidian great-sword.
"Special Summon! Kurigalzu!"
[Kurigalzu] [Level 1]
[Fairy / Special Summon / Effect]
[ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1500]
"Well done, Amano Rei!"
Kurigalzu stood on the sword's hilt, barefoot on the flames, and she did not hold back on the praise.
"This is the first time I've fed this well right from my very first appearance. As a reward, I'll end this duel myself."
The fire dragon returned to its place coiled around the blade. Kurigalzu drew the sword. The obsidian great-sword, wreathed in dragon fire, lifted slowly from the ground and settled into her hand.
Tribute and summon had happened almost in the same instant. Albaz, who had not fully processed what had just occurred, looked up to find himself on an empty field.
"You broke through Albaz's board like that!" Ecclesia stared with her mouth open. "You really are something, Amano!"
"I did tell you all. You just didn't believe me."
Albaz recovered himself a moment later and looked toward his Graveyard.
"Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon's effect activates on leaving the field!"
[If this Fusion Summoned card in its owner's control leaves the field by an opponent's card: During the End Phase of this turn, destroy all monsters your opponent controls.]
The same ice. The same table-clearing board wipe on departure that Absolute Zero carried. The difference was that Mirrorjade's board-wipe was delayed: it would not fire until End Phase.
That one turn of delay changed everything about how the game ended.
"Did you think you'd still be alive to see End Phase, Albaz?"
Amano raised his hand and pointed to Kurigalzu, standing on her sword on his field.
"Kurigalzu gains ATK for every monster Tributed for her summon!"
[This card's ATK increases by 1500 for each monster Tributed for its Special Summon.]
"Three monsters Tributed. That's a 4500-point ATK boost!"
Ecclesia's voice went to a different register entirely. "She gained the ATK of an entire Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon?"
Add the base 1500 Kurigalzu started with:
[Kurigalzu] [ATK: 1500 -> 6000]
The obsidian great-sword in the pink-haired girl's hands seemed to say, in its own way, that there was nothing in existence it could not cut.
"Six thousand ATK?" Even Albaz stepped back under the pressure radiating from Kurigalzu's burning stance. "That's not possible ATK for a Level 1 monster!"
The star rating on the card practically felt like a formality. Kurigalzu on her card face was a Level 1 monster. Right now she exceeded the attack power of almost every high-star ace monster in the game.
"Battle phase! Attack, Kurigalzu!"
With Albaz's field completely devoured and empty, Amano called the Battle Phase.
"The duel isn't over, I haven't lost yet!" Albaz dug in and shouted: "Right now I activate the GY effect of Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon!"
[During your opponent's turn, while this card is in your GY (Quick Effect): You can target 1 "Fallen of Albaz" in your GY; Special Summon either that monster or this card, and banish the other.]
"I banish Rindbrumm the Striking Dragon and Special Summon Fallen of Albaz from my GY!"
Even from a dead-empty field, he found a way back. The iron dragon, piloted by Kit, ejected the Albaz on its claw back onto the field in the instant before the dragon fully came apart.
[Fallen of Albaz] [ATK: 1800]
The moment Fallen of Albaz hit the field after being Special Summoned, the Fusion storm that represented the ultimate power surged again across both fields.
[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.]
"Final strike of the ultimate fusion! I discard Springans Kitt, which I just recovered to hand! I activate Fallen of Albaz's effect! Fallen of Albaz fuses with every monster on your field!"
Because the Continuous Trap DNA Surgery was still active, every monster on Amano's field was Dragon-type.
And among all of Albaz's many Fusion forms, one of them took Dragon monsters as its specific material.
Alba-Lenatus the Abyss Dragon. Fusion condition: Fallen of Albaz plus one or more Dragon monsters.
With DNA Surgery in effect, every monster on Amano's field was valid material. Albaz could consume all of them.
The Fusion storm building around Amano's field, with Kurigalzu and Eve both caught inside it, was unlike anything that had come before.
Standing inside the ungovernable vortex of the ultimate fusion, Albaz threw his head back and shouted: "This is the ultimate fusion power!"
"No. It isn't, Albaz."
Facing down a Fusion storm that was trying to swallow even his own monsters, Amano looked as though he had seen this coming from the beginning. He threw his last remaining card.
The essential difference between what Albaz could do and the true ultimate force, Super Polymerization, was simple:
"I chain your effect! I activate a Quick-Play Spell!"
Super Polymerization could not be chained against. It had no counter. Albaz's Fusion effect, on the other hand, could be.
Anticipating from the very start that Albaz would save his ultimate fusion as the final counter, Amano had made sure to Normal Summon Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice in the moment before Kurigalzu arrived. That had been the reason.
"Quick-Play Spell, Assault Command!"
[Assault Command]
[Quick-Play Spell: Target 1 non-Token Normal Monster you control; Tribute that monster and destroy 1 monster your opponent controls.]
"I Tribute the Normal Monster Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice, and destroy Fallen of Albaz!"
And with that, Amano launched Eve at Albaz directly.
"Go cut down the false ultimate power, Eve!"
The Priestess, moving like a bullet, cocked her right fist and carried all the momentum of her speed into the impact when she hit Albaz square in the face and sent him flying off the field.
Eve: "ORA!"
[Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice: Tributed]
[Fallen of Albaz: Destroyed]
Amano had chained against Fallen of Albaz's Fusion effect, Tributed Eve, and destroyed Albaz before the Fusion could resolve. The result was that only one monster remained on either field: Kurigalzu.
Fusion, by definition, requires at least two monsters as material.
With only one monster left, could the Fusion still proceed? It could not.
Albaz's Fusion effect failed to resolve. Nothing changed.
"Field cleared! This duel is ours!"
Amano stepped forward, and the dragon fire coiled around the great-sword ignited again in a surge.
"Direct attack, Kurigalzu!"
Kurigalzu, who had consumed three Fusion dragons, gripped the sword hilt in one hand and lifted the 6000-ATK obsidian great-sword overhead. She lined it up with Albaz's position and brought it down.
"Six Thousand Worlds: Dragon-Flame Sword Strike!!!"
The massive blade roared through the air as if tearing the sky apart, the fire dragon howling along the edge, and it fell on the now-empty Albaz.
The entire spirit crowd watched in speechless disbelief as Amano, who had appeared to be on the back foot for the entire duel, reversed the outcome with a single final swing and one-shotted Albaz from full Life Points.
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Albaz LP: 4000 -> 0
The duel ended. The blow sent Albaz rolling across the village ground for quite some distance, trailing flames, until Kit's outstretched foot finally stopped him.
This duel was not supposed to be lethal. Even so, alternate-world duels were still a different order of dangerous from what Amano was used to inside Eden.
Kit stood over the battered, fire-charred Albaz with her hands on her hips. "See where trying to act cool gets you? 'If you want to beat the Supreme King, you have to step over my body first,' you said. Look at you now."
"No. Even getting beaten this badly, this is exactly what I wanted."
Albaz, no longer bothering to maintain appearances, climbed back to his feet with his eyes fixed on Amano.
"I've finally found what I've been waiting for. A chance to defeat the Supreme King. A chance to save the Fusion spirit world!"
Albaz extended his hand and gripped Amano's. "Amano Rei. As I promised before the duel, you beat me, so I'm coming with you to challenge the Supreme King. This time, I will not lose again!"
"With me?" Amano started to ask whether that meant a team or taking turns, but before he could finish the question, Albaz dissolved into particles of light and vanished.
In his place, the card Fallen of Albaz appeared in Amano's hand.
So that was what "coming with me" meant.
Eve: "Ba-dum-tss! Albaz joins the party!"
You even did a fanfare.
Kit sighed. "If Albaz has already made up his mind, then I've got no choice but to go too."
The next instant, Springans Kitt also resolved into glowing particles and appeared in Amano's hand.
Eve: "Ba-dum-tss! Kitt joins the party!"
Ecclesia immediately followed. "I don't know how much use I'll be, but if there's food involved, I'm in!"
Eve: "Ba-dum-tss! Ecclesia is back!"
Amano looked at the three cards that had suddenly multiplied in his hand. He had to admit it: this felt genuinely like those old RPGs, assembling a party in a village before setting out to conquer the final castle.
The hero's party is complete!
Target: the Supreme King's Castle.
Amano, Albaz, Kitt, Ecclesia: "Move out!"
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