Tachibana Shingo glanced at his empty field, then at the face-down card in his back row.
Sakuretsu Armor.
At least he still had one card left.
"I end my turn."
It was Yūki's turn.
He placed his hand on his Deck.
He had no monsters on the field and no face-down cards in his back row.
His hand held two copies of Polymerization, one Miracle Fusion, one Swords of Revealing Light, and one Elemental HERO Neos.
In theory, his hand was still horribly bricked.
But the card at the very top of his Deck seemed to have heard his earlier complaint.
Yūki drew.
"My turn! I draw!"
The card slid into his hand.
When Yūki saw its name, his fingers froze.
[Elemental HERO Stratos].
Looking at that card, he felt his chest loosen all at once.
Heaven had some conscience after all.
No, wait.
That meant he really could be a HERO too!
"I Normal Summon Elemental HERO Stratos!"
He slapped the card into a Monster Zone.
A gale swept up from the edge of the duel platform, blue and white currents swirling around the field.
A figure in dark HERO armor descended through the wind. His red goggles lit up, and the propulsion wings on his back spread.
Stratos hovered in front of Yūki, the wind blade on his right arm humming.
[Elemental HERO Stratos, ATK 1800]
The stands went quiet for a moment.
Then an uproar broke out.
"HEROes?"
"Fujiwara Yūki is using an Elemental HERO Deck this time?"
"He can even Fusion Summon?"
"Deck destruction, hand destruction, burn damage, and now he's pulling out HEROes?"
The male commentator looked up at the big screen, even checking the card's name again.
"Elemental HERO Stratos!"
"In the Championship Match, Fujiwara has actually abandoned every Deck he used before and brought out a HERO strategy!"
The female commentator sounded a little dazed as she picked up.
"This is already his fourth Deck."
"Most duelists struggle to master even one Deck after spending years refining it, yet Fujiwara has fought his way to the Championship Match with four completely different Decks."
"Just how many Decks has he prepared?"
Tachibana Shingo stared at Stratos.
He had thought he already understood Yūki's tricks.
Needle Worm deck destruction.
Hand destruction.
Lava Golem burn damage.
All three strategies targeted resources and tempo.
But Elemental HEROes?
That was one of the most common Fusion Decks.
Many students just learning to duel would buy a set of Avian, Burstinatrix, and Flame Wingman, imagining themselves fusing and transforming on the field.
Its power?
In Tachibana Shingo's eyes, HERO fusion consumed huge numbers of cards from the hand, and the ATK was nothing special.
He could accept losing to a burn strategy specifically designed to counter Dinosaurs.
He could also accept Yūki winning with cards he had never seen, exploiting the information gap.
But HEROes?
Yūki had brought a HERO Deck to the Championship Match?
Tachibana Shingo stared at him.
"Why are you using a HERO Deck?"
"How strong could a Deck like that possibly be?"
"You think I'm only worth using a Deck like this against?"
Yūki looked up at him.
Why was this guy getting worked up again?
He really wasn't looking down on him.
This HERO Deck had nearly bricked him to death on the spot just now.
Yūki announced Stratos's effect.
"I activate Stratos's effect."
"When this card is successfully Summoned, I can add one HERO monster from my Deck to my hand."
The propulsion wings on Stratos's back blasted out currents of air, lifting him into the sky.
A column of wind swept out of Yūki's Deck, cards fluttering inside it.
Yūki pulled out one of them.
"I add Elemental HERO Necroshade to my hand."
A black HERO card landed in his palm.
Tachibana Shingo's gaze shifted slightly.
Stratos could replenish resources as soon as he was successfully Summoned.
This seemed a little different from the card-draining fusion he knew.
Yūki pulled out a Spell Card.
"I activate the Spell Card Polymerization."
A ring of golden light spread across Yūki's field.
"I use Elemental HERO Necroshade and Elemental HERO Neos in my hand as Fusion Materials."
Necroshade's phantom emerged from his hand.
Black armor covered his entire body, and a dark purple cape trailed behind him.
On the other side, Neos stepped out of his card's projection.
Silver armor, blue chest armor, and a red cape.
The two HEROes stood at opposite ends of the fusion ring.
Necroshade raised his hand, and Neos extended his fist.
Golden light swallowed both their figures.
In the audience, Jaden had already risen to his feet.
"Fusion Summon!"
He was even more excited than Yūki.
"Here it comes! A HERO fusion!"
Yūki raised his hand.
"Fusion Summon."
"Come forth, Elemental HERO Sunrise!"
The ring burst outward.
A golden sun rose above the duel platform.
Sunlight pierced the clouds and spilled over the center of the field.
A figure wearing red armor and a blue cape descended from the sun. His cape billowed behind him, and the energy blades on his hands traced two brilliant trails.
As Sunrise landed, a layer of red light spread beneath his feet.
He raised both arms.
Stratos on the field was also illuminated by the sun's light.
[Elemental HERO Sunrise, ATK 2500]
The male commentator stared at the monster's data, stunned for half a second.
"Sunrise?"
"The database actually doesn't have complete information on this Fusion Monster!"
The female commentator looked at Sunrise's ATK.
"Twenty-five hundred ATK."
"And Fujiwara just searched for materials with Stratos, then completed the Summon with Polymerization. This HERO Deck gets going faster than we imagined!"
Tachibana Shingo stared at Sunrise.
Twenty-five hundred ATK.
That was already a respectable number.
He suddenly had a bad feeling.
Yūki raised a card.
"When Sunrise is successfully Special Summoned, his effect activates."
"I add one Miracle Fusion from my Deck to my hand."
The solar halo behind Sunrise rotated.
A golden beam flew into Yūki's Deck.
Another [Miracle Fusion] slid into Yūki's hand.
Yūki glanced at his hand.
The two copies of Polymerization and one Miracle Fusion that had originally bricked his hand were now actually starting to look like ample resources.
Once a HERO Deck got moving, it really did look pretty decent.
"Sunrise has another effect."
"Monsters on my field gain ATK equal to the number of different Attributes among monsters on my field, multiplied by two hundred."
"I have the WIND monster Stratos and the LIGHT monster Sunrise on my field."
"Two Attributes."
"Sunrise and Stratos each gain four hundred ATK."
The solar halo behind Sunrise expanded outward.
Golden light fell over Stratos and Sunrise.
[Elemental HERO Stratos, ATK 1800 → 2200] [Elemental HERO Sunrise, ATK 2500 → 2900]
The numbers on the big screen changed.
In City First Middle School's spectator section, the male contestant's mouth fell open.
"Stratos has twenty-two hundred?"
"Sunrise has twenty-nine hundred?"
A low-level monster with twenty-two hundred ATK.
A Fusion Monster with twenty-nine hundred ATK.
Tachibana Shingo's field was empty, and his LP remained at four thousand.
In a single turn, the situation had already reversed.
Before you continue