The sudden appearance of Bracchio-raidus left the surrounding students utterly stunned.
They were still stuck in the mindset of playing monsters one by one, then waiting until they'd gathered enough Fusion Materials in hand to perform a Fusion Summon.
But Hikaru Amagi, with just a single card triggering a Fusion Summon… this was unheard of!
"Monsters Special Summoned with Instant Fusion can't attack, and are destroyed during the End Phase," Hikaru added casually.
Hearing that, Yulong breathed a sigh of relief."Ha! For a second, I thought that was something dangerous. If it's going to get destroyed at the end of the turn anyway, even 2200 ATK is no big deal!"
He wasn't wrong.No effect, no attack, and only there for show?Even the strongest monster would be useless like that.
"Don't get too comfortable," Hikaru said, raising the rest of his hand. "I've still got five more cards."
"Huh?!" Yulong's expression turned pale. "Don't tell me—!"
"That's right. They're all… Fusion."
A manic grin stretched across Hikaru's face. As the crowd watched, stunned and silent, he pulled out another card:
"I activate the Normal Spell—Metamorphosis!I tribute a monster on my field, then Special Summon from my Extra Deck a Fusion Monster with the same Level!"
"I tribute Bracchio-raidus—To Special Summon… Gold Mammoth!"
"Aaaaaooooonnnnn—"
The metallic screech echoed as the blue dinosaur vanished, and in its place appeared a creature like an evolved beast—an ancient woolly mammoth sculpted from pure gold.
Gold Mammoth – Level 6, DARK, Zombie, 2200 ATK. Fusion Monster.
"Another Fusion Monster summoned without any Fusion Materials?!" Jaden Yuki jumped to his feet, eyes sparkling. "That's so cool!"
"Mamma mia…! Special Summoning a Fusion Monster directly from the Extra Deck just by matching the Level?" Professor Crowler, who had merely been shocked by Instant Fusion, was now horrified by Metamorphosis.
As a veteran Duelist who taught dueling theory, he realized immediately:
This card was far more broken than it looked.
And rightly so.
Hikaru glanced at the summoned golden mammoth, remembering Metamorphosis.
In his old world, that card was banned. And not just recently—it had been on the Forbidden List for over a decade.
Even as a long-time player, he'd rarely had the chance to use it.
And now, in this world of solid holograms and real duels, playing it felt damn good.
Shame, though—if he could, he'd much rather have used it to bring out Cyber Twin Dragon, Cyber End Dragon, or Elemental Hero Chaos Neos or something cooler. That would've made a stronger impression than a gold-colored mammoth.
But unfortunately…
His Extra Deck didn't have those cards.
As mentioned earlier, the original deck left behind by this body's previous owner had been completely turned into Fusion by Super Polymerization. While Hikaru had modified the Main Deck a little and added some monsters, with a 40-card requirement, it was still mostly Spells.
The good news? The Fusion Spells he had were top-tier.Instant Fusion, Metamorphosis—classics straight from the Forbidden & Limited List.
He hadn't drawn Ready Fusion this turn, but Instant Fusion had already counted as a "monster" in this deck.
The bad news? His Extra Deck was pitiful.
Bracchio-raidus, Gold Mammoth—normally, trying to Fusion Summon those would be a net loss. Using up three cards to summon a 2200 ATK vanilla? Might as well put Goblin Attack Force in the deck instead.
But what could he do? Super Poly hadn't transformed any stronger Extra Deck monsters.
Still—even vanilla Fusion monsters have their uses!
"I activate the Equip Spell—Necro Fusion Echo!" Hikaru wasn't here to stall. He wanted to get into the Fusion Army as fast as possible, so he continued smoothly.
"An Equip Spell? That counts as Fusion?"Though Yulong was already shocked by Hikaru's nonstop Fusion plays, he couldn't resist arguing."You dare say this is 'only using Fusion'?!"
"I said not to rush," Hikaru sighed, lifting the Equip Spell and explaining,"Necro Fusion Echo can only be equipped to Level 5 or higher Fiend- or Zombie-type monsters.
While equipped, it allows one Fusion Summon per turn, using monsters from the hand or field as materials."
"Equip Spells can Fusion Summon too?!" Jaden was practically jumping off the bleachers, desperate to get a look at the card.
"Big bro, that's for Fiends and Zombies only…"Beside him, Syrus Truesdale adjusted his glasses, sounding hesitant.
"Even so—it's awesome!"
"Also," Hikaru continued, "You can choose its second effect:Special Summon a Doppler Token with the same Type, Attribute, and ATK as the equipped monster."
"Come out—Doppler Token!"
A black mist oozed out from the golden mammoth, swirling and taking form as it drifted away—twisting and warping into a second, even darker elephant.
Doppler Token – Level 5, DARK, Zombie, 2200 ATK. Token.
"Again!?" Yulong could no longer speak coherently. He had only one thought left in his head:
*Damn it. Doesn't matter.If I can survive until next turn and draw my materials—I can Fusion Summon my 2400 ATK Labyrinth Tank!"
"There is no next turn!" Hikaru's eyes flared.He raised his hand. "Battle Phase!"
"Gold Mammoth attacks Ancient Gear Knight!At the same time, I activate the effect of Necro Fusion Echo!When the equipped monster declares an attack, reduce the opponent's monster's ATK by the amount equal to the equipped monster's ATK!"
A black haze engulfed the mechanical warrior.Its steel corroded, its frame crumbled.
Ancient Gear Knight – 1800 → 0 ATK.
Game over.
Yulong stared at his crumbling monster.Dead inside.
I lost… to someone using only Fusion Spells?
Wait… wait…
The golden mammoth thundered forward, goring the robot—and slamming Yulong backward across the stage.
Is this… how Fusion is meant to be played?!
A few beats later.
Boom—
Yulong lay flat on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling, as if doubting the laws of the world itself.
"Good duel. Looking forward to our next one," Hikaru said instinctively.
Strangely, as he won, he felt a strange power surge through his body.
A slight increase in strength, as if something deep inside had awakened.
"I… lost?"
"Even with the deck we gave him…"
"Can a person really win using nothing but Fusion?"
"Is this… even allowed?"
The students exchanged bewildered glances.
Even the Fusion Club members looked confused.
They believed "Fusion is the noblest form of summoning"—but this… this was too extreme, right?
"That was a beautiful victory! What an awesome duel!"Jaden stood and clapped, cheering loudly for Hikaru.
He felt like he'd learned something huge today.
Metamorphosis… he had to get one!
"Hmm… not bad. Even if he's from Ra Yellow, if he wants to use the Ancient Gear deck, I suppose I could accept that," Crowler muttered, nodding.
Besides, Hikaru had said things like "Fusion is the noblest summoning method," and "everything outside Fusion is unnecessary." In Crowler's eyes, that made him almost like family.
"Mamma mia… he's got taste!"
Crowler was always lenient with students who weren't Slifer slackers.
The duel had been quick.Hikaru's core dueling philosophy had always been simple:
If you can go for game, go for game. No wasted motion.
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt the card box on his hip grow hot.He quickly opened it—and found a glowing purple card shining among his backup cards.
"?"
"!"
Super Polymerization… really is printing me cards now?!