This Strong?!

"If this attack lands, that duelist over there will be left with just 700 Life Points!"

"As expected of our company's symbol, a legendary duelist! Even losing a bit of Life Points in the first turn is nothing to worry about!"

"Amazing, Mr. Rex!"

The clueless onlookers began to cheer for Rex Raptor.

"Hang in there, kid!!" A few others, unaware of who Hikaru was, just cheered for him out of goodwill.

"Super-Ancient Dinobeast, attack Ancient Gear Howitzer!"

The silver-blue dinosaur moved forward, clamping its claw on the mechanical monster before tearing into it with a massive bite, reducing it to scrap.

"Then next, direct att—"

"Hold on! Now, Ancient Gear Howitzer's effect activates!" Hikaru shouted. "When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon 1 Ancient Gear monster from my Deck, ignoring Summoning conditions!"

"I Special Summon Ancient Gear Golem in Defense Position from my Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions!"

[Ancient Gear Golem] Level 8│EARTH│Machine│3000 DEF

"Oh?" Rex paused slightly, then smiled.

"Whoa, 3000 Defense! Not even Blue-Eyes White Dragon can break through that! And it was summoned just like that?"

"Still, even with 3000 Defense, it still can't stop Super Conductor Tyranno!"

"That's right! That's our pride and joy, Mr. Rex!"

Rex laughed in response to the crowd and yelled, "Battle! Super Conductor Tyranno, crush that tin can!"

Even though Tyranno itself was part machine, he still roared to the command. The massive dinosaur charged and demolished the golem.

"I set 1 card and end my turn!"

With a swift movement, he set a card and concluded his turn.

"He's kind of impressive," Tierra commented with mild surprise. "I thought all those so-called legends and pros were just hype."

Hikaru drew a card and pondered his next move, while Tierra tilted her head again and added, "Now that I get a better look… Hikaru, the guy in front of you, doesn't seem normal."

"Not normal?" Hikaru finally responded, lowering his voice. "What do you mean? He looks like a regular human to me."

"But he's anything but regular, if anything, he's a disaster." Tierra carefully chose her words. "Hikaru, his spirit compatibility might be in the negatives."

'Eh???'

"What do you mean??" Hikaru looked at his hand, thinking aloud.

"Spirit compatibility, as per KaibaCorp's standard, measures how well a human can endure duels with spirit-empowered monsters without dying from Life Point loss. You're a 5-star. Even if you lose 4000 LP in a duel with a 5-star Duel Spirit, unless it's a Shadow Duel, you won't die."

"Meanwhile, that guy's compatibility is negative."

She tilted her head. "Even the average human should be at least 1-star, yet this one's like, drained. Not normal at all."

"I see. That clears things up."

Looked like this world had already gone through the Doma incident. 

Makes sense. After all, if Dark Magician Girl handed him a Dragon Knight version of herself, they must've been through it.

In the original anime, Doma was a storyline involving an ancient being named Dartz using the power of Orichalcos. The three dragons sought a duelist to help defeat him.

During that arc, Rex Raptor was betrayed by his buddy Weevil Underwood and joined Doma, receiving powerful cards and the Seal of Orichalcos. He lost to Joey and got sealed into the Orichalcos, used as fuel until Yugi Muto defeated Dartz and freed everyone.

So this world did go through that.

Since Hikaru wasn't sure about Seto Kaiba's state in this world, he had assumed this was the movie version of Kaiba; however, now, maybe not.

Hikaru glanced at his hand.

'Hmm.'

The monsters on the field were a little too strong.

Their Attack Points were too high!

Even though they didn't have protection effects, with 2700 and even 3300 ATK monsters present, they weren't easy to deal with.

First off, that Super-Ancient Dinobeast had to go.

The more revival cards Rex used, the fewer resources he'd lose. That couldn't be allowed.

In that case...

"I discard Thunder Dragon from my hand to activate its effect, adding another Thunder Dragon from my Deck to hand. Then I activate the effect again to add a second one."

"Huh? What a weird move."

"Yeah, Thunder Dragon can just add two copies at once, can't it?"

"Haha, maybe he's rattled by Mr. Rex and messing up."

Rex Raptor stared at Hikaru, eyes sharp.

He remembered this combo.

"Then, I activate the Spell Card, Thunder Dragon Fusion! I return two Thunder Dragons from my Graveyard to the Deck to Fusion Summon a Thunder Fusion Monster!"

"I Fusion Summon, Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!"

[Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon] Level 7│LIGHT│Thunder│2800 ATK

"Whoa, so that's what he was doing!"

"Wait, this technique, it looks familiar. Isn't he that guy?! The student who dueled a cross-dimensional duelist on that live stream!"

"That's Amagi Hikaru, the Fusion Hermit!"

'Ah? Fusion Hermit??'

"Pffft, Fusion Hermit, Amagi Hikaru! Hahahaha!" Tierra burst into laughter.

"Not only did he conserve resources, he pulled off a Fusion, too. Clean execution! But if he thinks putting up a wall will help him survive, he's mistaken!"

"Mistaken, huh—" Tierra glanced at Hikaru's hand. "Hey, Hikaru, use that next turn and pound that guy!"

"Hmm, not sure it'll work," Hikaru replied, doubtful.

"Battle. Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, Attack Super-Ancient Dinobeast!"

The bizarre twin-headed dragon charged the winged dinosaur. The latter fired a laser in defense, but didn't expect the monster to have two heads. One snapped down and bit its body to pieces.

[Rex Raptor, LP: 2400 → 2300]

"I discard a Thunder Dragon from my hand to add the two returned copies back to hand. Then I set 1 card and end my turn."

"Man, this is intense! Monsters over 2500 ATK just keep showing up!"

"So exciting! It's even better than watching it on TV!"

"Seeing it up close is such a thrill!"

"So, why is Amagi Hikaru even here anyway?"

Some staff overheard and tried to defuse the crowd, but Rex Raptor had already picked up on it. He laughed loudly and proclaimed:

"Isn't it obvious?! We're about to welcome a new duelist, a powerful one who champions Fusion!"

"Kid, don't think it's over. The duel's only just begun!"

"My turn. Draw! I activate the Normal Spell, Double Evolution Pill! I banish 1 Dinosaur monster and 1 non-Dinosaur from my hand or Graveyard to Special Summon a Level 7 or higher Dinosaur from hand or Deck, ignoring Summoning conditions!"

"Huh?!" Tierra exclaimed.

"Whoa!!" The crowd gasped.

Even Hikaru was stunned. 'Rex Raptor, was this strong?!'

"I banish Jurrac Brachis from my hand and Armored Lizard from the Graveyard."

"Behold the mighty power of dinosaurs! My pride, my newest ultra-rare card!"

"Hahahah!!"

"I Special Summon, Jurrac Titano!"

BOOM!

Rex roared with all his might, and the air suddenly turned scorching. The already warm temperature spiked to near-unbearable levels, warping the air itself as a dinosaur with sharp fangs, blazing skin like magma, and bristling spikes bellowed onto the field.

[Jurrac Titano] Level 9│FIRE│Dinosaur│3000 ATK