The turn came to E-Ra's hand once more.
She slightly surveyed Yusei's field.
T.G. Hyper Librarian with 2400 ATK, Stardust Dragon with 2000 DEF, Satellite Warrior with 4500 ATK, and Nitro Synchron with only 100 DEF.
Four monsters, four Set cards, and plenty of hand cards.
Her Life Points were still at 11950. The human side had only 4200 left.
Though Yusei Fudo had solved all her monsters by continuously Synchro Summoning, as the price, he'd also had to endure Ravenous Tarantula's effect of "so long as this card with Xyz Material exists in the Monster Zone, each opponent Special Summon inflicts 600 damage to the opponent."
Her Life Points had only lost a small 50.
But these guys had little life remaining.
Just facing a relatively weaker deck of hers had cost this many cards and life. If she used a stronger deck this turn, there was every chance of inflicting 4200 damage, directly winning the duel.
By then she would obtain emissaries stronger than any from past moments!
Three powerful souls from different dimensions, even Super Polymerization's power!
By then, even Crimson Dragon she wouldn't fear!
To achieve this goal...
She looked at her hand.
Heh.
"Normal Summon Level 4, Heraldic Beast Stad Whale."
"Heraldic!" Yusei instantly grew wary.
"Damned thing..." Quattro cursed softly.
Kite furrowed his brow.
That E-Ra had taken all of Throne's cards after all.
"Stad Whale's special effect. When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, discard 1 card from my hand to activate. Add two Heraldry Spell or Trap Cards from my Deck to my hand."
"Taking two directly!?"
"Able to search two at once??"
Although discarding a card was required, searching 2 for 1 was extremely powerful.
"Precisely. This is exactly the qualitative gap between you and me!
I add Advanced Heraldry Art and Heraldry Reborn from my Deck to my hand."
"Activate Heraldry Reborn's effect, revive Heraldic Beast Gryphon in the Graveyard."
"Eh? Why?" Yuma, seeing E-Ra's operation, instinctively grew puzzled. "Strange, Gryphon has the effect of sending a monster from the Deck to the Graveyard and Special Summoning itself."
Completely no need to waste Heraldry Reborn reviving it, right?
Just jumping it from the hand directly would do.
"To avoid the self-restraint." Hikaru couldn't help shaking his head and smiling. "On the turn Heraldic Beast Gryphon activates its effect, until the end of the turn, if I don't Xyz Summon using only monsters whose original card name mentions Heraldic Beast or Number as materials, I cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck.
Though Gryphon can directly self-jump, it seems E-Ra doesn't want to use that effect."
"Doesn't want to use that effect?" Yuma scratched his head. "I see..."
Was this kind of thing easy to understand?
Of course it was understandable.
Tactics were tactics. Strategy was strategy.
In dueling, everything served the duel.
But how to put it.
Self-restraint, though appearing to be a self-limitation and influence, wasn't really an issue for those who truly held to their convictions.
Yuma would enter Xyz Summon self-restraint right from the start. Yusei also unhesitatingly used Synchro Summon self-restraint. Because they firmly believed in their companions, their wisdom, and trusted their decks.
But E-Ra clearly wasn't like that.
"Two materials assembled."
"Also, I remember that Gryphon can be treated as 2 materials for Xyz Summoning, right?"
Quattro's face grew dark.
The next step should be using father's card.
"No." Hikaru narrowed his eyes. "It's that card."
Which card?
"Heheh, Hikaru, that's right. It's exactly that card." E-Ra slowly revealed a savage smile. "Back then, in your world, Darkness had wanted to use it but was stopped by Jaden Yuki. That card that made you fear, that made you dread!"
A card that made Hikaru fear and dread!?
The audience couldn't believe it.
What they found even more unbelievable was that Hikaru hadn't refuted it.
"Now, let me show you the power of this strongest, most direct card in the world!"
E-Ra opened her mouth, flipping her hand card: "Spell Card, Numbers Eveil!"
"What?" Beside them, Astral, seeing this card, was first stunned, then suddenly understood.
This was his memory!
No, it should be a subconscious memory reaction portion?
For a moment he couldn't judge.
"This is a very simple Spell Card."
E-Ra held the card, speaking to everyone: "If monsters Special Summoned from the Extra Deck only exist on the opponent's field, activate. Choose 4 Number Xyz Monsters from my Extra Deck, at most 1 of the same Rank. Special Summon 1 Number Xyz Monster from my Extra Deck whose Number value equals the sum of those 4 Numbers' values. All chosen monsters become that monster's Xyz Materials.
So long as the monster Special Summoned by this effect exists face-up on my field, I can only Special Summon Number Xyz Monsters."
"Uh..." Yuma's pupils shrank.
"That effect, could it be!" Jack also understood.
"Heheh, exactly as you think!"
E-Ra lightly spread her hands. 4 cards flew from her Deck.
Numbers of different colors emerged in the air, flashing with light simultaneously.
"Rank 10, Number 9, CNo.9 Chaos Dyson Sphere!"
"Rank 9, Number 9, Number 9: Dyson Sphere!"
"Rank 8, Number 40, Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings!"
"Rank 7, Number 28, Number 28: Titanic Moth!"
Four Number monsters of different colors, 3 numbers of different colors, combined in the air, finally becoming a bright figure.
"Rank 4!"
"Behold this despairing figure!"
"Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad!"
The monster everyone was familiar with walked out from the pitch-black shadows!
Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad. Rank 4, DARK Attribute, Warrior-Type. ATK 3000. Xyz Materials: 4.
"Rhongomyniad!" Jack's and Crow's faces changed.
This powerful, invincible monster had left them with a very deep impression. The suffering Akiza had taken from this card was still fresh in their memory.
"28." Kite gritted his teeth.
"Big bro's and my cards..." Quattro's fingernails were practically carving into his palm.
If it had only been his own Gimmick Puppet of Strings, he wouldn't have been that upset. But seeing big brother's Dyson Sphere being so arbitrarily used by E-Ra, he truly couldn't bear it.
"E-Ra, you wouldn't be deliberately making trouble for Trey's family, would you..." Yuma, who had a particularly close relationship with Trey, seeing these familiar cards, suddenly understood some things he hadn't thought about before.
"Just fate's choice." E-Ra didn't hide her malice.
Yuma took a deep breath.
There was no more need to say things like "I absolutely won't let you off."
In this duel, everything had to end completely!
"A 4-material Rhongomyniad. There's no way to Summon or Special Summon anymore..." Crow pinched his brow, feeling his shoulders suddenly heavy.
Very bad.
Extremely bad.
"Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad..." Yusei looked at this invincible monster. There was no fear on his face, only seriousness.
"How about it, afraid? Yusei Fudo." E-Ra laughed heheh.
"Afraid... no." Yusei looked at the giant warrior. Only calm showed on his face.
But beneath this calm, wave-like fury was rising: "I just feel satisfied."
Sa, satisfied?
E-Ra was slightly stunned.
Yuma and the others also felt surprise.
That seemingly placid, extremely calm Yusei Fudo. How could he say "satisfied" at this kind of moment?
Only Jack and Crow, who'd grown up with Yusei since childhood, understood best why Yusei would say this.
Yusei truly looked forward to it. Looked forward to seeing Rhongomyniad.
"E-Ra, you deliberately guided Akiza, made Akiza suffer, and even used Rhongomyniad to torment Akiza. I won't forgive you."
"Won't forgive? Truly laughable, Yusei Fudo. The current you, what can you do?" E-Ra waved her hand. "Rhongomyniad is an invincible monster. Even if you have a card like Share the Pain, you can't activate it now. After all, that card is a Normal Spell."
"So even if you Set Share the Pain, at most you can only let Hikaru activate it next turn."
"But it's not that simple."
"Because on my field, there isn't just one monster."
Taking the lesson from Gossip Shadow before, this time E-Ra was being very cautious.
"Using the two monsters on the field, overlay. Gryphon can be treated as 2 Xyz Materials, conducting overlays requiring 3 or more monster materials."
"Number 69, Heraldry Crest!"
E-Ra laughed, commanding the monsters to overlay. She had them two rapidly overlay, summoning out an equally powerful beast.
Number 69: Heraldry Crest. Rank 4, LIGHT Attribute, Psychic-Type. ATK 2600.
"So long as this card is on the field, other monsters' effects are negated. Then Heraldry Crest gains their effects. Of course, Rhongomyniad isn't affected by other cards' effects, so it won't be interfered with!"
"Terrible..." Quattro felt nauseous, sick, but still cold-faced, saying: "It was already tough that we couldn't Summon or Special Summon. Now even if we try to use a Flip-Summoned monster's effect, we can't activate it either..."
"But this still isn't enough." E-Ra heard Quattro's words. She just sneered, flipping another hand card. "Despair isn't enough yet! This turn, before Hikaru's turn arrives, I'll end this laughable duel!"
"Spell Card, Lightning Vortex. Destroy all monsters on the opponent's field!"
"..." Yusei was silent, not activating monster effects, letting the dark thunder blast his field's monsters into pieces.
Whether Stardust Dragon, Satellite Warrior, or T.G. Hyper Librarian, all vanished from the field in just an instant.
"Truly a headache, Rhongomyniad." Crow grew tense, pinched his chin, gritted his teeth. "If not for Rhongomyniad, when Satellite Warrior is destroyed, I could revive up to 3 Level 8 or lower Stardust, Warrior, or Synchron Synchro Monsters from the Graveyard..."
"ATK 3000 and 2600." Tori Meadows nervously clenched her fists.
Wh, what to do?
Yuma and the others' Life Points couldn't withstand 5600 damage!
And Rhongomyniad was unaffected by effects. Cards like Mirror Force couldn't stop it either.
"Battle Phase." E-Ra laughed. "Accept your defeat. Accept your fate.
The current you can't even revive monsters as shields like last turn. Because Rhongomyniad is invincible."
"Perhaps." Yusei calmly spoke.
?
Even at this point still so calm?
E-Ra was slightly puzzled.
Facing her two invincible monsters, he was actually this calm?
Could he have accepted his fated death?
"Rhongomyniad, Heraldry Crest. Indeed both are extremely powerful, even to some extent invincible monsters." Yusei spoke slowly, expressionless. "Originally, according to plan, at least one of these two monsters was supposed to be my responsibility."
?
"Because of my oversight, Akiza encountered Rhongomyniad and even suffered verbal harassment." Yusei slowly raised his fist and pointed at E-Ra. "Now, being able to face both monsters at once, I'm truly satisfied."
"You guy wouldn't have gone mad?!"
"No. You underestimate me, and you underestimate Hikaru too much!" Yusei widened his eyes. "Behold the connection and fusion between me and Hikaru!"
"Open Set card!"
Set card?
At this time?
"Trap Card, Forbidden Apocrypha!"
A card slowly flipped open.
Pages flew out from the card. Countless formulas, countless cards, countless eyes, filled the entire world.
"This is..." E-Ra looked around at everything, startled.
"This card must declare a type of monster card to activate.
That is, one of Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz."
E-Ra's gaze returned from the surrounding strangeness, looking at Yusei, puzzled.
"A strange card. This doesn't seem to be yours?"
"Of course..." Yusei's expression stayed normal. "This is a special card I got from Hikaru today before coming to Team Despair."
A special card?
"Because Hikaru's deck focuses on Fusion, and his searching and filtering methods aren't high enough, so I thought this card would be more convenient if used by me."
"What are you trying to say?!"
"I mean, declare Xyz Monster!"
"What do you mean exactly!" E-Ra demanded furiously.
"If 2 or more face-up monsters of the declared type exist on the field, both duelists must send all monsters of that type on the field to the Graveyard."
!!!
E-Ra was stunned on the spot.
"Ah!??" Yuma was greatly shocked.
Actually!?
Kite and Quattro had absolutely not expected this kind of situation to occur!
"It's an effect on the duelist!" Crow shouted the answer loudly!
"On, on the duelist!" E-Ra's face paled in an instant.
Although Rhongomyniad was an invincible full-immunity monster, it didn't mean Rhongomyniad was truly undefeatable.
Like the "Overlay Chain Overlap" Yuma had once used, or the "Share the Pain" Akiza used, these were cards of this type.
Because one was a "material effect," the other was a "player effect."
Rhongomyniad wasn't invincible.
But in 99% of cases, Rhongomyniad was indeed the undefeatable monster of the world, because almost no one would put several such cards in their deck.
Even more, these cards were all extremely rare. Share the Pain was perhaps more common. But Overlay Chain Overlap, even in the Xyz Dimension, was almost impossible to find.
Similarly, Forbidden Apocrypha was also this kind of card.
Before today, E-Ra had never even seen or heard of this card.
"From the first moment I saw you, I sensed it." Beside them, Hikaru also spoke up at the right moment. "On you, there's a familiar, beyond-human-understanding sense of artistry."
"Sense of artistry?" Jack was somewhat baffled.
"Mental destruction, thought destruction, that power is on you."
Accompanying Hikaru's words falling, in this pitch-black world's sky, a crack suddenly opened. The crack split from the middle, then revealed a giant round eyeball, slowly watching E-Ra.
Accompanying the eye's appearance, Forbidden Apocrypha's effect officially began resolving.
The two Xyz Monsters refusing to move, not wanting to leave, under the gaze of countless stars, slowly dispersed and merged into the Graveyard.
"Beautiful!"
"Perfect handling!"
One card solved two super-strong Xyz Monsters, and handled it during the Battle Phase. This way, Yusei's team wouldn't take damage this turn either!
"..." E-Ra was silent for a while, looking at the dispersed monsters, then glanced at Hikaru, and looked back at the giant eye in the sky.
"Heheh..." E-Ra sneered.
"Fine, since you want so badly to challenge me, then come."
"Hikaru, you asked whether I have that card? Of course. Powerful power, dark power, death's power, naturally the more the better."
Her eyes burned, crimson-red eyes glowing with red light: "Even if you all come at me together, so what!"
"Yuma Tsukumo, Yusei Fudo, Hikaru, daring to anger me, I'll grant you the most terrifying death!"
Her clothes moved without wind, looking like a giant butterfly. Accompanying her roar, her body expanded further, grew larger. Finally, her graceful figure, her shapely body, and her absolute territory with thigh-highs all transformed into bubbles.
A crimson-red giant skeleton roared at everyone.
Forces from all directions, the observing eye in the sky, under her roar, also seemed to lose much presence.
This giant skeleton completely made everyone realize the thing before them was absolutely not human. It also firmed their resolve to defeat E-Ra.
"Activate Continuous Spell Card, Contract with Don Thousand!"
!?
Hikaru was startled.
"As this card's activation effect, both players lose 1000 Life Points, and each draws 1 card from their Deck."
Yusei furrowed his brow, not understanding, but still drew a card. At the same time, E-Ra also directly, rapidly drew a card from her Deck.
"So long as this card is on the field, both players continuously reveal cards drawn while this card is in the Spell and Trap Zone, and cards drawn by this card's effect."
"This effect makes the player with a Spell Card revealed in hand unable to Normal Summon."
Endless purple electric wires covered this world.
Yusei drew a card from his Deck, glanced at it, flipped it over and placed it in his hand, displayed it.
Starlight Junktion, huh...
Yusei thought inwardly.
Seemed up until now, he still had many unfinished things.
On the other side, the card E-Ra drew was Pot of Greed!
E-Ra, LP: 11950 → 10950.
Hope side, LP: 4200 → 3200.
"Tch... realizing battle damage can't defeat Yusei, so starting to grind health?"
"And drew a card like Pot of Greed. As expected, that thing has hunted in every world..." Kite looked at the tombstones across the land.
Among them should also be Fusion Dimension duelists E-Ra had targeted during this period.
Truly loathsome.
But E-Ra didn't care about the disdain and hatred of those around her.
Things had come to this. Standing on ceremony while dueling was impossible and inappropriate.
Each of these three guys actually wasn't easy to deal with. None could be resolved in one or two turns.
And in this situation, Yusei and Hikaru had actually calculated her mentality and strategy in advance before the duel.
Originally, Yusei could have chained Forbidden Apocrypha when she activated Lightning Vortex to protect Satellite Warrior's effect. But just in case, he activated the Trap in the Battle Phase, ensuring they wouldn't take damage this turn.
Bastard. Just playing clever tricks.
"Spell Card, Pot of Greed, draw two cards. Oh, Pot of Desires, banish 10 cards from the top of my Deck face-down, draw two cards." She drew two from her Deck, then couldn't help bursting into laughter.
"Seems in this critical moment, the Astral World can't save you either."
"First, Spell Card, Advanced Heraldry Art. Revive two Heraldic Beasts in the Graveyard, then use them to conduct an Xyz Summon."
"Revive Stad Whale and Gryphon. Using the two monsters, overlay for an Xyz Summon."
The number 8 flickered.
"Number 8, Heraldic King Genom-Heritage!"
Number 8: Heraldic King Genom-Heritage. Rank 4, LIGHT Attribute, Psychic-Type. DEF 1800.
"Then, discard 1 hand card, activate Equip Spell Card, D.D.R. - Different Dimension Reincarnation."
"Special Summon the banished Ravenous Tarantula!"
Black spider webs again covered the entire dueling arena. A giant spider crawled out from within, observing everyone with its blood-red compound eyes.
"Tch, that troublesome monster again..." Jack furrowed his brow.
"Each Special Summon loses 600 Life Points." Quattro furrowed his brow. "Their Life Points only have 3200 left. At most they can Special Summon 5 times."
"But that's fine." Kite thought, speaking to Quattro. "The tactic Hikaru uses is Fusion. So he doesn't need continuous Special Summons. One or two Spell Cards might complete the summon."
This was indeed also an issue.
Because Antitopia and Utopic Dark Infinity no longer existed, the means to protect Ravenous Tarantula had decreased.
But even so, there was still a seven-to-eight-thousand gap. Enough to grow her monster's ATK.
But...
Different from Yusei Fudo.
Hikaru was devoted to Fusion, but not devoted to protection. Hikaru's Fusion Monsters were full of plenty of destruction, banish, bounce-type cards. ATK might actually be of no use.
Conversely, what Hikaru used should be more of Spells!
He'd use plenty of Fusion Spells to battle.
So...
"Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force."
"Eh!?"
"The card Gossip Shadow stole from me!" Astral rarely grew angry.
"Target 1 Xyz Monster with the highest Rank on my field to activate. Special Summon 1 Xyz Monster whose Rank is 1 or 2 higher than the targeted monster from my Extra Deck by overlaying onto the targeted monster, treated as an Xyz Summon."
"Evolve, my vile beast!"
The spider crawled into its nest, swelled under pitch-black power. In short order, it transformed into a brand-new form and crawled out from the grave.
"Rank-Up Xyz Summon, Rank 11, Number 84: Pain Gainer."
Number 84: Pain Gainer. Rank 11, DARK Attribute, Insect-Type. DEF 0 → 3000.
"Pain Gainer's DEF increases by 200 times the combined Rank of Xyz Monsters on my field. I have 15 total Ranks on my field, so DEF is 3000."
"Set one card. End turn."
Though she'd forcibly drawn new cards, this turn E-Ra still focused on 86.
She was still indignant about it in her heart.
If this turn she hadn't activated Numbers Eveil but simply used Heraldic Beast Gryphon's effect, she might have had more options this turn and could have preserved more Xyz Monsters.
But...
If given another chance without the memory, she'd probably still unhesitatingly use Numbers Eveil.
"Goddess of Despair E-Ra..." Crow seriously reviewed each past turn. "Though very annoying, I have to admit this thing's dueling ability is far stronger than those gods in my impression."
Crow himself had only met two Earthbound Immortals, but because he occasionally received information and knowledge from Wiraqocha Rasca, he actually understood many Earthbound Immortals' dueling levels.
Most gods dueling was like having some insurmountable technical singularity. No matter how they learned, when actually dueling, they couldn't bring out their theoretical knowledge.
Like Tierra's displayed knowledge reserves, rule understanding, and on-the-spot reaction almost on par with some excellent duelists, in Crow's view, was already extremely powerful.
And E-Ra, in the duel, under having endured one Forbidden Apocrypha, could still Special Summon an effect-negated monster, a monster with high probability of continuously reducing Life Points, and one Set card. This was already quite remarkable.
Yes, those present could basically confirm Pain Gainer certainly had an effect similar to Ravenous Tarantula. Otherwise, E-Ra had no need to choose the lower-DEF Pain Gainer.
Also, there was still a problem.
That was, regardless, Number monsters could only be solved by Number monsters.
In the case of a single negation and 3200 Life Points...
Could they really get past this process?