How Do You Stop Winda?

"Sealing Special Summons?"

Among the watching Duelists, many showed expressions of shock.

Yamaguchi struggled, staring at his sealed face-down card. Only after Hikaru's explanation did he notice the purple puppet strings entwined around both himself and Hikaru, particularly the Duel Disk, where the locked-down cards made him break into a cold sweat.

'Wh-what now?!'

His mind went blank.

"Sealed Special Summons!" Bastion blinked, then suddenly understood. "So that's the answer Hikaru gave us!"

"Huh?" Even Chazz looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Chazz, remember? When Hikaru dueled that dimension traveler Haruto Kunigawa in Neo Domino City."

Chazz froze, then smacked his fist into his palm. "Ah, right! So that's how he shut down other summoning methods!"

It was simple!

Back then, Haruto had used Rescue Rabbit to Special Summon two Level 4 monsters and performed the unfamiliar "Xyz Summon." The real issue wasn't the Xyz Monster, or even the Rescue Rabbit.

It was matching monsters of the same level!

And to do that, Special Summons were inevitable, so if that got sealed, then even Xyz Monsters, which normally didn't need Fusion, couldn't come out.

"And not just that, Synchros probably need enough field presence to be summoned from the Extra Deck too," Bastion muttered. "Hikaru... he's once again ahead of me."

"That Falco was a Spellcaster-Type Tuner, he probably got it from the Village of Spellcasters."

As they talked, other students began to murmur, excitement rippling through the crowd.

"Only one Special Summon per turn? That's easier for Fusion users to handle. It only has 2200 ATK."

"Yeah, as long as you Fusion something stronger, it's manageable, but Xyz decks can't cope!"

"Exactly!"

"Hikaru did what we couldn't!"

"Hahaha! While we were still panicking, he had already found a counterplay!"

"That's our Fusion Club President!"

"Fusion's Answer, Amagi Hikaru!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

Yamaguchi twitched.

'You're all focused on the other summonings, but have you considered how hard this is for me?! What about my Gladiator Beasts!?'

He glanced at his hand. "Sigh, anyway. Turn end."

"Heh. My turn. Draw." Hikaru glanced at his drawn card. "Battle! Winda, attack Gladiator Beast Darius!"

Winda raised her staff, and her dragon mount twitched, then lunged with a ferocious strike. 

Darius was destroyed.

[Yamaguchi, LP: 4000 → 3300]

"Ugh, this is terrible." Yamaguchi's mind buzzed.

"I set one card. Turn end." Hikaru casually set a card.

"M-my turn." Yamaguchi swallowed.

He wasn't sure why Winda only had 2200 ATK, but it felt like she was exerting immense pressure.

Yamaguchi looked at his hand.

He'd already used Indomitable Gladiator Beast to beat Dark Balter the Terrible. Therefore, he couldn't brute-force through Winda now.

So...

"I Normal Summon Gladiator Beast Samnite!"

A saber-toothed tiger wielding a sword and shield leapt forth.

[Gladiator Beast Samnite] Level 3 | EARTH | Beast | 1600 ATK

"A Level 3 with 1600 ATK, not bad."

"But against El Shaddoll Winda, it might not help!"

Yamaguchi wiped his forehead and shouted, "Don't underestimate Gladiator Beasts! Samnite, attack the set monster!"

Hikaru stayed still, arms folded. Falco flipped and was smashed by the shield. With only 1400 DEF, it couldn't hold up.

But Shaddolls were all about recycling Spells/Traps from the Graveyard, so sending it there was practically like going home.

Hikaru merely raised a hand to shield himself from the breeze.

"End of Battle Phase, Samnite returns to the Deck. I Special Summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo!"

Murmillo was a fish.

[Gladiator Beast Murmillo] Level 3 | WATER | Fish | 800 ATK

"Murmillo's effect! When Special Summoned by a Gladiator Beast effect, I destroy a face-up monster on the field, I target El Shaddoll Winda!"

Murmillo lifted a giant conch and blasted a wave at Winda, yet Winda didn't even flinch.

Her dragon casually slapped the wave away.

"What!?"

"Sorry." Hikaru shrugged. "Winda can't be destroyed by your card effects."

Yamaguchi gasped. Not even effect destruction!

The audience exchanged stunned looks.

"S-so strong! I thought such a cute monster would be average."

"It already limits Special Summons and can't be destroyed by effects?!"

Bastion frowned. "Don't forget Shaddoll Core and Falco both have graveyard recursion effects. This. must be alchemy's shattering and reconstruction. Winda probably has a similar trait."

Chazz looked pained. "If I had to face her, my VWXYZ cards would all be useless. I'd have to rely on Armed Dragon LV up or Light and Darkness Dragon, no, even tributes are hard to set up!"

She looked small and cute, while being terrifyingly strong!

"Hikaru was Professor Banner's favorite student, and he's still studying the alchemy he left behind," Jaden said, both wistful and excited. "This monster, it's amazing!"

Only he could call a female monster "amazing" with such admiration.

Tierra, beside Hikaru, nodded proudly. "Mhm, this human has good taste!"

As the one who revived, rebuilt, and puppeteered Winda, Tierra loved the body.

Of course, she'd prefer her own body, but she was perfectly fine using this one for now.

"So, any more plays?" Hikaru asked.

Yamaguchi said nothing. He was sweating bullets, staring at his hand, and desperately reviewing his deck.

'How do I beat Winda?'

The easiest would be drawing another Indomitable, but that was unlikely. And his monsters would just keep dwindling. Second option: use Gladiator effects to summon a monster with more than 2200 ATK.

But Falco was gone, no more safe attacks. Plus, though he'd received this deck from the professor, it mostly had easy-to-use low-level monsters.

Wait, Book of Moon! Or De-Fusion? Yeah, that could send her back to the Extra Deck!

No. I didn't include De-Fusion. This Gladiator deck doesn't need it.

Despite the chilly day, he was drenched in sweat.

Finding a solution to Winda ignited his brain, as something woke up, a long-lost flame of Duel passion, the real question was: would Hikaru give him enough time to find an answer?

"Hah..." Hikaru chuckled as he watched Yamaguchi deep in thought.

Hearing it, Yamaguchi looked up. "What?! Are you mocking me?!"

"No. I meant, you're thinking really hard, senpai."

Yamaguchi blinked.

"When faced with something new, something unknown, we experiment, learn, try, challenge. That's what Duelists do. Otherwise, why did we enroll in this academy?" Hikaru looked at a card in his hand. "If we try hard when facing Fusion Monsters, why can't we do the same for other summoning types?

Fusion was never the most unique. There's Tribute, Ritual, Gemini. If you truly believe Fusion is the noblest, how can you reject the others?

Fusion is the noblest summoning method, because it embraces all others! Synchro, Xyz, Rituals, we should accept them all!

They can all become Fusion and Fusion Materials!

"Senpai, looks like this is the end. Trap Card, Fusion Reserve!"

"I reveal Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon and add one Thunder Dragon to hand, then activate its effect to add the other two Thunder Dragons from my Deck to hand.

And then."

Hikaru flipped the card he'd drawn first.

"Normal Spell, Polymerization!"

"Polymerization... of course."

The purest form of Fusion.

Yamaguchi closed his eyes.

He had lost. Completely.

In cards. In understanding. In Dueling. In belief. In character. Not a single area he could compare.

In his mind, three years of his own actions flashed by. As an upperclassman, a Blue dorm rep, he knew just how many awful things he had done, which he couldn't go back on. He didn't deserve to.

He opened his eyes.

And saw before him a Fusion user who summoned Thunder Dragons without fear.

That was Fusion.

A single thought crossed his mind, so blasphemous it startled even him.

But he couldn't deny it:

'Amagi Hikaru… was more Fusion than any of us who call ourselves the "Fusion Army."'