For many Yu-Gi-Oh! players, going first is everything.
While there are decks designed to go second, even then, breaking through an established board isn't always guaranteed. Letting your opponent go first might become the root of your downfall.
Of course, in this world, card rarity, completion rates, and card power are all factors to consider. Hikaru couldn't pull off a five-to-six negate opening like he could before crossing over, and just wait for the opponent to scoop.
Still, he had methods, techniques.
Resource cycling. Fast hand refreshes.
Right now, his hand allowed for things he couldn't do before.
"I activate the Spell Card, Polymerization! Fusing two Thunder Dragons in my hand to Fusion Summon, Thunder Dragon Colossus!"
Once again, the shadowy dragon emerged, still in Attack Position!
[Thunder Dragon Colossus] Level 8│DARK│Thunder│2600 ATK
"Again in Attack Position?" Skull Knight shook his head, bones creaking.
Hikaru smiled confidently.
Though always using Fusion, that didn't mean he wouldn't counter. Ever since arriving in this world, he'd prepared two strategies, each aimed at exploiting this world from different angles.
He hadn't drawn them last time. This time, he had.
"Next, I activate the Spell Card, Shaddoll Fusion!"
"A new Fusion, hmm?" Skull Knight grinned, sensing its power. "A DARK-attribute Fusion, is it?"
"If my opponent controls a monster summoned from the Extra Deck, I can send Fusion Materials from my Deck to the Graveyard!
"I send Shaddoll Falco and Elemental HERO Avian to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon!
"El Shaddoll Wendigo!"
[El Shaddoll Wendigo] Level 6│WIND│Psychic│2800 DEF
"2800 Defense? Good wall, I admit. Regardless, that won't stop my Dragonecro!"
"Fusion has only just begun!"
"I activate Falco's effect, when sent to the Graveyard by a card effect, it Special Summons itself face-down."
With a snap, puppet strings dragged the monster back onto the field.
"Wendigo's effect: Once per turn, I can choose a monster to make it immune to battle destruction by Special Summoned monsters this turn. I grant that to Thunder Dragon Colossus!
"Now, attack! Colossus, Target the Dark Soul token!
"Shatter the fake!"
Colossus charged, smashing the phantom.
Skull Knight didn't flinch.
"Only a soul fragment destroyed. No matter. Next turn, Dragonecro will devour another soul. Your defense is meaningless."
"Is it?" Hikaru grinned. "I set one card and end my turn.
"At the End Phase, Fusion Recycling Plant activates, I retrieve a Thunder Dragon from the Graveyard."
He held the card aloft, then added it to his hand.
Skull Knight stared.
'A 2800 DEF monster, a 2600 ATK monster, a face-down weakling. What's so impressive?'
'Why is he so confident?'
He didn't get it. Nonetheless, he felt something stirring.
This thrill, it was familiar… The joy he once knew.
His name was Roman Goodwin.
The former Duelist, brother to Security Director Rex Goodwin, risen from the dead, no, perhaps not even that.
He was merely the shell of Roman. A remnant.
Roman had been "chosen" by both light and darkness, entrusted with both powers. By his own will, he chose the path of the Earthbound Gods, cutting off his Crimson Dragon arm and giving it to his brother.
He wanted Rex to gather the Signers and defeat him.
So justice would prevail. So the world would keep turning. Maybe not perfect, but at least free from tyranny.
But Rex lost faith in humanity.
Endless cycles of war between Earthbounds and the Crimson Dragon. Human greed. The cruelty of the elite. He didn't want to gather the Signers. He wanted to abandon the Crimson Dragon. Let the interdimensional invaders take it.
Thus, he summoned the legend: Skull Knight.
Though not the real Roman, though obeying "his brother," Skull Knight didn't want to give his power away so easily. Therefore, he'd been watching Hikaru in the shadows.
His bonds. His understanding of Fusion.
And most of all, his darkness in battle.
If that's all there is, then better to die now, before the Crimson Dragon takes notice.
"My turn. Draw!
"Right now, I activate my Trap, Shaddoll Core!"
A white crystal head materialized, accompanied by wailing spirits.
Ever since absorbing spirit pain, this card's sorrow became tangible.
Seeing another card of darkness, Skull Knight's soul-fire flared.
"This card becomes a Level 9 DARK Spellcaster Effect Monster while on the field! 1450 ATK, 1950 DEF.
"And it can substitute for any Attribute when used for a Shaddoll Fusion Monster."
At that moment, victory was sealed.
Skull Knight blinked.
He checked his hand, chuckled, and revealed a monster:
"I Normal Summon, Ghost Wyvern, the Underworld Dragon!"
[Ghost Wyvern] Level 4│DARK│Zombie│1700 ATK
"When summoned, I can add 1 Ghost Fusion from my Deck to hand, wait... what?"
Nothing happened.
It didn't resolve.
He wasn't using a Duel Disk, but an ancient priest's Duel system. This should be flawless!
"Sorry, Thunder Dragon Colossus is on the field. Your Deck can't add cards to hand by effects other than drawing."
"A lock effect? Impressive," he muttered, reevaluating the monster.
No wonder Hikaru kept reviving it.
"No matter. Once Dragonecro attacks, your candle-like LP will be gone."
He grinned, revealing another card:
"I activate Spell Card, Book of Life: Banish 1 Thunder Dragon from your Graveyard, Special Summon Ghost Lancer!"
He had piercing damage. Even if Hikaru had traps, this would end it!
"At this moment, I activate my Trap! Continuous Trap, Shaddoll Schism!
"It lets me banish Fusion Materials listed on a Shaddoll Fusion Monster from the field or Graveyard to Fusion Summon!"
"From field and Graveyard..."
Hikaru only had field materials.
"I banish Shaddoll Core and Shaddoll Falco!"
Strings of puppetry whirled from the void, weaving the path for a forbidden entity.
"Hear me!" Hikaru declared, placing a card from his Extra Deck. "Voice of the divine, word of the god, interpret this command!
"Fusion Summon!
"Descend!
"El Shaddoll Winda!"
A green-haired puppet master landed with a crash. Ten strings extended from her fingers, controlling the phantom dragon, the blonde girl, and even a dolphin nearby.
[El Shaddoll Winda] Level 5│DARK│Spellcaster│2200 ATK
Meanwhile, Ghost Lancer returned to Skull Knight's field.
[Ghost Lancer] Level 5│DARK│Zombie│2000 ATK
"Winda... so that's its name?" He felt the depth of her darkness.
Her level was low, yet the aura rivaled Dragonecro.
'Still, only 2200 Attack…'
"Shaddoll Schism continues, I now send 1 monster on your field with the same Attribute as the summoned monster to the Graveyard!
"To the underworld with you, Dragonecro!"
"!!!"
The death dragon roared, struggling. However, strings bound it, dragging it back to the beyond.
Soon, the unwilling dragon was banished to the Graveyard.
"So... that's its effect," Skull Knight muttered.
He stared at his field, then at his hand, and froze.
He couldn't play anything.
No card responded.
He couldn't act!
'Why!?'
Then he saw it, Winda. And Colossus.
"El Shaddoll Winda's effect: while she's on the field, each player can only Special Summon once per turn."
The divine hates cluttered stage scripts.
For Synchro decks, Winda was a death sentence.
Skull Knight stared, dumbfounded.
To Duelists from another world, using these cards was natural once they understood this world, while to him, Winda represented more than that:
Summon restriction. Revival lock. Search lock—Darkness. Puppetry. Machines. Death.
The man before him was a worthy inheritor of his past…
A Fusion Duelist in a world of Synchros.
Nevertheless, it wasn't enough!
He looked at his face-down: a trap usable only when taking direct damage.
It let him reveal a Level 1 monster from hand to Special Summon another from Deck.
He still had two monsters. Breaking the seal wouldn't be easy. If Hikaru failed, next turn, he could revive Dragonecro and win.
'So, what will you do, Hikaru?'
"My turn. Draw!"
Skull Knight tensed. Nervous, yet thrilled.
Would this shadowy Duelist, wielder of death and puppets, play it safe?
"Didn't expect this."
Hikaru checked the card. What did this mean?
Duels reveal a Duelist's heart.
To draw the same card now as in Turn 1—was that fate?
"Normal Summon, Elemental HERO Prisma!"
[Elemental HERO Prisma] Level 4│LIGHT│Warrior│1700 ATK
Skull Knight sagged slightly.
'So… he chose immediate victory.'
"I activate Prisma's effect: I reveal Flame Wingman from my Extra Deck and send Burstinatrix from Deck to Graveyard."
Light shimmered from Prisma. A woman in red armor appeared faintly.
Skull Knight saw something in her—Reflected in Prisma's glow—his hollow self.
He was long dead. Not even Roman. Just a dream's husk.
And yet, for a moment, he saw the real him…
"I activate Miracle Fusion! I banish Avian and Burstinatrix to Fusion Summon!"
From death once more—
Every motion proved Hikaru's devotion to Fusion.
"Fusion Summon!
"Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!"
[Elemental HERO Flame Wingman] Level 6│WIND│Warrior│2100 ATK
Skull Knight knew it. Rarely seen, low ATK, strict materials. Yet he recognized it—Its effect mirrored Dragonecro's.
"Battle! Flame Wingman—Attack Ghost Wyvern!"
[Skull Knight, LP: 4000 → 3600]
"Flame Wingman's effect: inflict damage equal to the destroyed monster's ATK!"
Flames engulfed the knight as he swayed in the saddle.
[Skull Knight, LP: 3600 → 1900]
"Winda, Attack Ghost Lancer!"
[Skull Knight, LP: 1900 → 1800]
"Finally, Thunder Dragon Colossus, direct attack!"
Hikaru had no idea what the set card was. Still, no reason to hold back now!
Colossus gathered thunder, soared into the sky, and rained down lightning!
The strike hit!
Hikaru blinked in surprise.
Sparks lit Skull Knight's body… He began to fade.
[Skull Knight, LP: 1800 → 0]
...
Bonus Chapter