"Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon?!"
"What's going on? That's a card Hikaru's never used before!"
In an underground research lab, a duel under a blood-red filter played out on the main monitor.
"Damn it, that data wasn't uploaded into that One-Eyed Bear's brain!"
"Hikaru's deck is always changing, no one knows what Fusion Monster he'll pull out next. That's not on you." A researcher stepped forward, coughed, and calmed the room. "Besides, it's just a plain Fusion Monster without effects. What's there to fear?"
"Andal is the pinnacle of our spirit enhancement program! No normal person could possibly defeat it!"
With the director's words, the staff breathed a little easier. While they watched nervously, a girl with a yellow bandana and a long purple ponytail peeked into the room, curiously eyeing the screen.
'Dueling, huh?'
She leaned against the doorframe, watching intently.
"Battle. Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon, Attack."
"Trap Card, Messenger of Peace!" Andal flipped a set card without hesitation. "Too naive, human!"
"Messenger of Peace makes me take no battle damage this turn, and my monsters can't be destroyed by battle."
"Oh," Hikaru shrugged. "Main Phase Two."
"Now, Hoplomus' effect activates!" The rhino let out a roar and shimmered, "At the end of a Battle Phase in which it battled, return it to the Deck to Special Summon 1 Gladiator Beast from the Deck, except Hoplomus!"
"I Special Summon, Gladiator Beast Bestiari!"
"Screee!"
A green armored bird of prey swooped down from the sky.
[Gladiator Beast Bestiari] Level 4│WIND│Winged Beast│1500 ATK
"Nice! That means next turn, he can Fusion Summon Gyzarus!"
"Heh, let that ignorant Hikaru learn what true Fusion really is!"
'Hikaru?'
The purple-haired girl tilted her head. So, was the duelist on the left Amaki Hikaru?
"He replaced a 2100 DEF monster with a 1500 ATK one? Hikaru, I think there's a trap coming." After days of systemic beatings...errrm, training, Haruto had picked up a thing or two, so seeing Bestiari, he got a bad feeling.
"Haha, sharp as ever, Haruto." Hikaru nodded. "You're right. From what I know, Gladiator Beast Gyzarus is a Fusion Monster that doesn't need a Polymerization spell. As long as you have Bestiari and one other Gladiator Beast on the field, you can return them to the Deck to Fusion Summon it from the Extra Deck.
When it's Special Summoned, it can destroy up to two cards on the field. It's truly powerful."
"...…"
The research room fell into dead silence, thick and still as death.
"H-How does he know about Gladiator Beasts?!" someone cried out.
"T-That's impossible! Only duelists from the professor's barracks have access to those cards!"
"They're nothing like the useless Ancient Gear stuff on the surface! These are powerful cards reserved for barracks trainees! How does he know?!"
The Gladiator Beast archetype wasn't publicly released, and Leo Akaba had discovered it on his own, it was strictly an internal weapon of the Fusion Army!
"Everyone, calm down! Even if he knows, so what!?" the director snapped. "He's still going to die!"
He glared at the screen, eyes locked on Hikaru.
"Hikaru, how'd you know what it does?" Haruto said.
"I'm a duelist pursuing the pinnacle of Fusion. There's no Fusion I don't know." Hikaru chuckled and spread his hands, brimming with confidence.
'Pinnacle of Fusion?'
The purple-haired girl nodded slightly.
'Mhm. Impressive.'
"My turn continues. Main Phase Two, I Normal Summon Gem-Knight Amber."
"Fusion materials- Gem-Knight and Thunder-Type. I activate the Spell, Fusion Substitute!" Hikaru revealed a new card.
"Fusion Substitute?" Another unfamiliar name.
"It's treated as 'Polymerization' by effect. So, between it and actual Polymerization, you can only run three copies total in a Deck. But that's not important.
Fusion Substitute only lets you fuse using monsters on the field.
I fuse Gem-Knight Amber and Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!"
"Ready, Captain!"
"I Fusion Summon! Gem-Knight Prismaura!"
The dazzling, radiant knight returned!
[Gem-Knight Prismaura] Level 7│EARTH│Thunder│2450 ATK
"Using a Fusion Monster as Fusion Material..." Haruto gulped. He figured the day he could Xyz Summon using Xyz Monsters as materials would be the day he caught up to Hikaru's summoning mastery.
"Next, I activate Fusion Substitute's Graveyard effect. Banish it to target a Fusion Monster in my Graveyard, return it to the Extra Deck, and draw a card."
Hikaru returned Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon and drew one card.
"Now, Prismaura's effect. I send a 'Gem-Knight' Fusion from my hand to the Graveyard to target one face-up card on the field, destroy it. Targeting Bestiari, of course!"
"Grrr..." Andal growled.
"I'm not done. I activate Thunder Dragon's effect in my hand, discard to add two copies from the Deck to hand."
"Whoa..." One researcher gasped. "He's come full circle, back to his original setup."
"And he swapped in a different Fusion Monster..."
"S-So strong..."
"Ahem!" The director coughed.
The awestruck researchers quickly fell silent.
"I set one card. Turn end." Hikaru spread his arms to finish.
The director took a deep breath.
"Increase the dosage, raise the voltage, amplify the shadow influence, failure is NOT an option! This is a direct order from the Professor!!"
"Yes, sir!"
'A direct order from the Professor?'
The purple-haired girl was even more intrigued.
She tiptoed inside the lab, sat cross-legged in a chair, and stared intently at the screen.
Who was this guy that even the Professor was targeting personally? She had to see.
"Aaaarrgh-oooorrrgghhh!!" Andal's body sparked with electricity. The black mist and parasitic worms writhed wildly. After a shriek of pain, his crimson eyes gleamed with a terrifying light.
"AaaAAHHHH!!"
"I HAVE TO WIN!!!" he howled.
Hikaru's face darkened.
'Disgusting…'
He placed a hand on the card at his chest, narrowing his eyes.