Chapter 265: A Blow of Dignity! Illusory Summoned God vs. Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord
Amon's mind went back to a scene from the welcome dinner for the transfer students.
Jaden Yuki: "Johan, listen, the person I know who uses Fusion best in the world is even better than me! If you meet him, you two would definitely hit it off."
"Austin, it's a shame you transfer students didn't get to meet Rei. His Fusion is something to see. He always manages to turn things around at the critical moment."
"Jim, your Fossil Fusion is incredible. But Rei's Fusion is even more incredible. He can fuse anything, like there's no limit to what he can do."
"Amon, you'll understand once you meet Rei. That Fusion Summon overflowing with infinite possibilities: it feels like a miracle that can shatter any despair!"
Amon: "A miracle? Jaden, I know how much you miss your friend. But isn't that an exaggeration?"
Jaden: "Not even a little! Because we've all witnessed it many times. That dazzling, awe-inspiring miracle!"
Amano Rei: "Phantom divine force and Exodia's sealed power resonate as one, breaking the chains of a thousand years with this one moment!"
"Five bodies unite, call forth the name of the god! Fusion Summon!"
"Illusory Summoned God - Exodia!"
[Illusory Summoned God - Exodia] [Level 10 / DARK]
[Spellcaster / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: ? / DEF: 0]
[5 "Forbidden One" monsters]
A possibility created in the middle of the impossible. From the phantom Fusion of all five Forbidden One pieces, a Fusion form of Exodia that even Amon had never seen before arrived on the field.
The pillar of fire from a magical god's birth tore through the alternate world's sky. The golden form, freed from a thousand years of sealing, ignited the barren ground beneath in an instant.
The Fusion Material requirement: five Forbidden One monsters.
Because of the system skill Fusion Mastery, this Fusion monster had always existed somewhere in Amano's deck. But because Amano had only ever had four Forbidden One pieces, he had never been able to summon it.
This time, facing Amon and his Dark Magician archetype deck, Amano had finally been able to pull off the Illusory Summoned God - Exodia Fusion.
Fusing five Forbidden One pieces together with a standard Polymerization was admittedly wasteful in the same way that stacking two Level 12 monsters to Xyz Summon Numero 1: Infection Buzzking would be. You were spending enormous resources for the result.
But as the ultimate endgame monster of its archetype, its combat strength was beyond question.
Finesse: "It looks incredibly powerful!"
The small village girl chimed in: "Boyfriend-kun's summon was so cool! It looked way cooler than the one on the other side!"
Children were always the most honest. Their words reflected the truth most directly.
The gold-footed Fusion god's steps cracked the burning ground. In sheer presence, the Illusory Summoned God - Exodia had already completely surpassed Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord.
"The god duel resumes, Amon!"
Amano, having unlocked through Fusion the seal on all five Dark Magician pieces, led the enormous Illusory Summoned God - Exodia that seemed to scrape the sky above into the Battle Phase.
"Attack, Illusory Summoned God - Exodia!"
The signature stance of the Dark Magician: golden palms pressed together, and between them, the magical energy compressed to a sun-level of intensity, a nuclear payload on the edge of detonation.
"A monster with ATK '?'..."
Facing an Exodia monster he had never seen before, Amon naturally did not know the Illusory Summoned God - Exodia's effects.
But not knowing the effects was not what mattered: as a Duelist's instinct, and honestly not even just as a Duelist, even a child in the alternate world with no card knowledge could read the terror of the monster now bearing down on them.
The pressure on Amon spiked. He was sweating.
This attack had to be stopped somehow. Every instinct from a career of high-stakes dueling was saying so.
Amon threw up his last set card: "You will not get a chance to attack! Continuous Trap Card, Fiend's Chain!"
[Fiend's Chain]
[Continuous Trap Card: Target 1 Effect Monster on the field; while this card is in the Spell/Trap Zone, the targeted face-up monster cannot attack and its effects are negated. When the targeted monster is destroyed, destroy this card.]
From the flipped trap card, black chains erupted outward, reaching to bind the Dark Magician god in place once more.
"As if Exodia could be stopped by something like that. You're underestimating it, Amon!"
The instant the chains coiled around the Illusory Summoned God - Exodia's massive golden body, the enormous limbs tore free with barely any resistance.
Amano pointed toward his god: "I activate the effect of Illusory Summoned God - Exodia!"
[Once per turn, when a Spell/Trap Card effect activates: Negate that activation.]
Its built-in one-per-turn Spell/Trap negate brought Amon's Fiend's Chain down immediately.
"Take this!"
"'Phantom Magical God Flame Cannon'!!"
Amon had ultimately failed to stop the attack. The nuclear flame assembled in the Dark Magician's palms erupted forward, the force carrying enough to swallow the sky, bearing down on the same-family god Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord.
"When battle damage is calculated, the effect of Illusory Summoned God - Exodia activates!"
[Once per turn, during damage calculation involving this card (Quick Effect): This card's ATK increases by your current LP amount.]
Legendary Sacred Beasts contained Slifer the Sky Dragon, which could convert the player's Life Points into ATK. The Illusory Summoned God - Exodia's effect went a step further. It did not require the player to pay Life Points down to 1: it simply elevated its ATK to equal however many Life Points currently remained.
Amano LP: 8000
[Illusory Summoned God - Exodia] [ATK: ? -> 8000]
Finesse: "Eight thousand ATK! That's incredible! That's two Obelisk the Tormentors added together!"
In the anime's 4000 LP ruleset, a single 8000-point hit was genuinely difficult to reach. But it was worth remembering: last turn's Rainbow Life, exploiting Amon's single-mindedness toward the win condition, had done the heavy lifting of inflating Amano's Life Points to this number.
His life had become the flame that was now burning across the landscape. An 8000-point hit landing on Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord at 4000 ATK would deliver 4000 points of lethal damage.
The wave of fire swept over and consumed Exodius, and what came behind it reached Amon himself.
Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord was invincible. But Amon the Duelist was not, and Amon's remaining Life Points were finite.
In the moment of being launched off his feet, Amon flipped his very last set card.
"Trap Card, Nutrient Z!"
[Nutrient Z]
[Trap Card: During damage calculation, when you are about to take 2000 or more battle damage: Gain 4000 LP first.]
"AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Amon LP: 3600 -> 7600 -> 3600
The 4000 Life Points recovered by emergency Trap exactly canceled out the 4000 damage from the Illusory Summoned God's hit.
The impact still sent Amon rolling across the burning alternate-world ground. When he pushed himself up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his fist was clenched.
"But as long as I survived that attack, I win from here."
This turn, because of Ritual of the Ultimate Forbidden Lord's protection clause, the Exodia the Forbidden One piece that Amano had used as Fusion Material had not gone to the Graveyard; it had returned to Amon's Deck.
Now Amon had survived the hit. On the next turn, all he needed was for Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord to make one attack: it would send the head piece to the Graveyard as the fifth Forbidden One piece and trigger the win condition.
On paper, sending a 4000-ATK Exodius to attack an 8000-ATK Illusory Summoned God looked like a death wish. But the specifics of the card text made it possible: as long as Exodius declared the attack, the Forbidden One piece would be sent to the Graveyard before damage calculation, and once five pieces were in the Graveyard, the win condition fired before damage was ever resolved.
The win condition came before the battle resolution.
Amon rose from the ground, set his stance, and pointed forward: "I will claim victory before you can stop me, Amano Rei!"
And Amano looked at the one card remaining in his hand.
"Then let's fight, Amon. I set one card. Turn end."
With the last card pushed face-down into the Duel Disk, Amano announced the end of his turn.
"My turn. Draw!"
It was almost ironic. Amon, who had loaded his deck with every draw engine available for an Exodia strategy, drew Pot of Greed on the turn when he had nothing else to work with.
Pot of Greed in a desperate situation should have been cause for celebration. But the only card Amon could currently use, Pot of Greed, would be negated by the Illusory Summoned God - Exodia's one-per-turn Spell/Trap negate.
"No matter," Amon made no move to activate the Spell, and made no unnecessary actions at all. He moved directly to the Battle Phase.
"Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord will bring me victory this turn! This is the final battle of the gods, Amano Rei!"
Exodius took the offensive, the ultimate magical flame massing in its palms, prepared to meet the Illusory Summoned God head-on.
"Final strike! 'ULTIMATE MAGICAL GOD FLAME CANNON'!"
"It's over, Amon." Amano said calmly.
When the only card Amon had drawn on his final turn was a Pot of Greed he could not activate, the duel had already ended.
Because Amano's last set card was:
"I activate Continuous Trap Card, Call of the Haunted!"
[Call of the Haunted]
[Continuous Trap Card: Target 1 monster in your GY; Special Summon it in Attack Position. When this card leaves the field, destroy that monster. When that monster is destroyed, destroy this card.]
And as coincidences went: this card had been a gift from Chiaki when Amano collapsed from overwork during that dark duel and she had come to visit him in recovery.
Now it turned out even this card was carrying Chiaki's will to avenge herself against Exodia.
"Even if you revive a monster, it cannot stop Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord..." Amon began, and then went quiet.
"Of course it can. Did you forget what Fusion monster is sleeping in my Graveyard, Amon?"
Light of revival blazed. The sacred white dragon soared back down onto Amano's field.
"I Special Summon Albion the Sanctifire Dragon from my Graveyard!"
[Albion the Sanctifire Dragon] [ATK: 3000]
What it had done once, it could do again.
Kit: "The three of us are absolutely incredible!"
Amano waved toward the revived Albion the Sanctifire Dragon and declared its effect.
[During your opponent's turn (Quick Effect): Target 2 monsters in any GY(s) (1 from each); Special Summon both, 1 to each player's field.]
"Albion the Sanctifire Dragon's effect: I target Left Leg of the Forbidden One and Right Leg of the Forbidden One from your Graveyard, and Special Summon both in Defense Position, one to each field!"
This time, both Forbidden One pieces Amano selected came entirely from Amon's Graveyard.
"'Sanctifire Rebirth Light'!"
With that, Amon's Graveyard no longer held four Forbidden One pieces. It did not even hold three.
[Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord] [ATK: 4000 -> 2000]
Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord remained invincible. But the duel was over.
Even if Amano had Special Summoned a new monster during the attack declaration and changed the number of monsters on the field, allowing Amon to pull back the attack: next turn, Amon could not survive the counterattack from the Illusory Summoned God - Exodia.
Together, two Fusion monsters had sealed off every path to Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord's victory.
Back in Amon's mind, like a final reel passing through: Jaden's words at the welcome dinner that night.
Was this it? The Fusion overflowing with possibility, capable of reversing the situation at any critical moment, a miracle?
This man, Amano Rei: exactly as Jaden had described him.
Something in Amon's eyes resolved into a decision. The arm holding his cards rose and pointed forward.
"Fight on, Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord!"
Without choosing to pull back, facing a position that was already lost, Amon chose the most dignified way to play it out.
"The final battle of the gods! Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord attacks Illusory Summoned God - Exodia!"
"With this one blow, show me everything you have, Amano Rei!"
"Then come, Amon!"
Amon: "'ULTIMATE MAGICAL GOD FLAME CANNON'!"
"And when Exodius attacks, I send Exodia the Forbidden One from my Deck to the Graveyard, and Exodius gains 1000 ATK!"
[Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord] [ATK: 2000 -> 3000]
Amano: "'PHANTOM MAGICAL GOD FLAME CANNON'!"
"During damage calculation, I activate Illusory Summoned God - Exodia's effect: ATK increases by my current Life Points!"
[Illusory Summoned God - Exodia] [ATK: 8000 -> 16000]
"Sixteen thousand ATK?!"
Finesse and the village children stared.
Eight thousand on the first hit had already been staggering. Sixteen thousand on the second, stacked on top, pushed the magical flame into something that felt like it was eating the entire sky.
The spectators were stunned. Amon, standing directly in front of it, felt it as a living physical force.
There was no question about which fire was larger between the two Dark Magician-form gods. The flames from Exodius were simply swallowed by what came back.
"How strong. This is your Fusion power, Amano Rei!"
He had sacrificed the person he loved to obtain the complete king's power. And in the end, he had lost to someone working with an incomplete set of cards.
Amon held eye contact with the approaching magical flame until the rebound energy from the impact fully consumed him.
Amon Garam LP: 3600 -> 0
In an alternate-world life-or-death duel, when Life Points reached zero, Amon's body, scorched by the flame, began dissolving into particles of light.
"Amano Rei!" In the moment before he fully disappeared, Amon pulled a card from his Duel Disk and threw it.
"Go and defeat the Supreme King. Bring Jaden Yuki back. Pull the Jaden who has been waiting for you out of the darkness! You can do it!"
Amano caught the card. When he looked up again, Amon Garam's body had fully dissolved into the burning alternate-world landscape.
[Guardian God - Exodia]
[Spellcaster / Effect]
[ATK: ? / DEF: ?]
[Cannot be Special Summoned.
Effect 1: This card can be Tribute Summoned by Tributing 5 monsters.
Effect 2: This card's ATK and DEF become the combined original ATK and DEF, respectively, of the monsters Tributed for its Summon.
When this card Tribute Summoned this way destroys an opponent's Fiend-type or DARK monster by battle: You win the Duel.]