At first gnce, the current situation didn't seem favorable for Hikaru.

  Jaden's hand had four cards, and he had a monster on the field with 2400 ATK.

  Hikaru had five cards in hand, but only some leftover derivatives and a face-down card on the field.

  But all of this changed after Hikaru activated a Spell Card!

  Bzing fmes surrounded Hikaru, and everyone who knew this card and had seen Hikaru use it cheered.

  It seemed the long "wait" was finally over, and the counterattack moment had arrived!

  "Continuous Spell Card, Fme Swordsrealm's effect allows me to send a monster in face-up attack position from my hand or field to the Graveyard, then Special Summon one Fme Swordsman from my Extra Deck as Fusion Summon," Hikaru revealed a monster from his hand. "I'll send Giga-Tech Wolf to the Graveyard and perform Fusion Summon!"

  Here it comes—Fme Swordsman!

  Boom!

  The fire intensified, and a heroic warrior stepped through the fmes!

  "Haha, finally my turn to appear!"

  [Fme Swordsman] Level 5│FIRE│Warrior│1800 ATK

  "No need for Fusion Materials, Fusion Summon can be performed directly... here it is—"

  "Hikaru's Fusion Deck!"

  The Fusion group began to cheer.

  "It's not over yet. Next, I immediately activate another Continuous Spell Card, Over Future Fusion!"

  Hikaru quickly revealed another card from his hand.

  "This card's two effects can each be used once per turn! Following its effect, I'll first show the Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck, Labyrinth Tank. Then, I'll send Cannon Soldier from my Deck to the Graveyard! This turn, I can't Special Summon Cannon Soldier or use its effect!"

  "Then, I immediately activate the second effect of Over Future Fusion!"

  "Once per turn, I can banish monsters from my Graveyard as Fusion Materials to Fusion Summon a Dark Attribute Machine-type Fusion Monster!"

  "I'll banish Cannon Soldier and Giga-Tech Wolf from the Graveyard and Fusion Summon—Labyrinth Tank!"

  Back again!

  A handy little tank!

  [Labyrinth Tank] Level 7│DARK│Machine│2400 ATK

  "Ohhhh!"

  "Now its ATK is equal to Thunder Giant's!"

  Hikaru looked at his face-down card.

  The card he set st turn was the Samandra with Chain, which if activated now, could boost the Fme Swordsman's ATK and deal more damage.

  However, he didn't pn on doing that.

  Dueling is an interactive strategy, and even though his hand didn't contain any monsters earlier, he wasn't in a rush to use his cards. Gradually dismantling the opponent's strategy, step by step, was what he thought was the best tactic in this world.

  There was no other choice—if this were his deck in his world, he would have already gone through various Fusion Summons and used them all up, since there's no limit to the number of cards, he would simply overpower and win much more easily.

  But there was a challenge in this world since Over Future Fusion only gave him "Fusion" and "Fusion Monsters," not Destiny Heroes or lower-level Fusion monsters. These powerful Fusions couldn't even be used.

  So, slowly dismantling the opponent's field, using existing cards, and forcing the opponent to make moves was his best option against Jaden.

  "Now, battle!"

  "The ATK is the same!" Jaden said fearlessly, "Are you going to activate your face-down?"

  "No need! I attack with Labyrinth Tank, and simultaneously, I activate Fme Swordsrealm's first effect! Once per turn, when a monster decres an attack, I can activate it. I'll target one Warrior-type monster on my field; until the end of the turn, that monster's ATK decreases by 1000, while all other monsters on my field gain 1000 ATK!"

  [Fme Swordsman, ATK: 1800 → 800]

  [Labyrinth Tank, ATK: 2400 → 3400]

  "Now it exceeds Thunder Giant's!"

  Jaden braced himself with his hand, trying to block the barrage.

  "Now, I attack with Fme Swordsman!"

  [Jaden, LP: 5000 → 4000 → 3200]

  "A steady counterattack." On the stands, Zane nodded gently after watching Hikaru's counterattack.

  As the strongest duelist of the school year's storyline, and someone who had once defeated Jaden, Hikaru knew Jaden's dueling style very well. He was passionate and always went all in, yet he could chain together moves beautifully. At first gnce, it might seem reckless, but in reality, every action was well thought out and prepared.

  When dueling Jaden, you must never be deceived by his seemingly carefree demeanor, thinking he will act impulsively or lose his cool.

  The best strategy is to gradually pressure Jaden, forcing him to struggle with dismantling the opponent's field, and then strike decisively when the moment arrives—just like he was doing now!

  Especially because… it seemed like Jaden had become significantly stronger since then…

  Hikaru wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  He felt a long-lost excitement, the pure joy of pying cards again.

  In his world, pying cards was truly just a pastime—either pying against an opponent with no hand traps, continuously making moves or surrendering immediately when the opponent made their pys.

  He hadn't experienced such a pure, straightforward battle in a long time, particurly with images around him almost seeming tangible, making his heart race.

  Is this the pure joy of the game?

  And to think, the current Jaden was still far from his "final form"!

  "The turn is over, the two monsters' ATK return to normal."

  Jaden seemed to be affected as well. He drew a card, looking at the picture on it, his face lighted up with excitement: "As expected, when dueling you, I have to use this card!"

  "Oh?"

  "Back when we were dueling in the alternate dimension, we won thanks to you pulling out this card. That's when I realized you think ahead more than I do." Jaden smiled brightly. "Now, I finally have the chance to face you head-on! I activate the Spell Card, Miracle Fusion!"

  "Miracle Fusion?"

  "Seems like he got the idea from Hikaru?"

  Hikaru was surprised as well. "Where did you get that from?"

  "I pulled it from a pack at Tome-san's shop, and just happened to get it."

  'So rich, so lucky, so damn lucky…'

  While Hikaru was about to run out of money for bread.

  "Then, based on Miracle Fusion's effect, I'll banish Avian and Wildheart from the Graveyard to perform a Fusion Summon!"

  "Graveyard Fusion!"

  "Seems like he learned it from Hikaru!"

  "I Fusion Summon, Elemental HERO Wild Wingman!"

  [Elemental HERO Wild Wingman] Level 8│EARTH│Warrior│1900 ATK

  "Avian... that was the card discarded by Thunder Giant st turn," Hikaru had previously checked Jaden's Graveyard, so this didn't surprise him.

  "According to Wild Wingman's effect, I discard one card from my hand and destroy one Spell or Trap Card on the field! I choose your face-down card!"

  Hearing this, Hikaru immediately flipped over his Trap: "Then, I activate my face-down, Samandra with Chain, equipping it to Fme Swordsman. Based on its effect, it boosts Fme Swordsman's ATK, and then I'll change one of your Effect Monsters to face-down defense. I'll cover Wild Wingman!"

  "No problem!" Jaden didn't mind at all, "Go, Wild Wingman!"

  The chain covered in fmes wrapped around Wild Wingman, and he howled as he shot countless feathers, colliding with the chains.

  In the end, Wild Wingman was covered, the chain shattered by the feathers.

  "So, it was that face-down card." Jaden was not at all surprised when he saw it. "You gave up on dealing more damage to me because you didn't want to waste the powerful effect of your face-down card! Just like how you stopped me from using Sakuretsu Armor before!"

  "Heh, that's right, Jaden. You learn fast." Hikaru said with a smile.

  "And now, you have no protective cards left on the field!" Jaden's eyes lit up, and next to him, the bck-winged hero floating in the air nodded in agreement.

  "Then, I activate the Field Spell, Fusion Gate!" Jaden pced the card into the duel disk's field slot, and immediately, the entire duel arena began to change colors, gradually turning into a pure bck sky, with only some green grids showing any color.

  "The materials for the Fusion are... Elemental Hero and Wind Attribute monster—Even a face-down monster can be used as material! This is Fusion!" Jaden shouted excitedly. "I activate the effect of Fusion Gate, and fuse the Elemental Hero Wild Wingman on the field, and this... second Avian in my hand!"

  The second Avian.

  The dark-colored, fierce, and fully unheroic sprite flew out of the card under Hikaru's gaze and fused with the monster on the field.

  "I Fusion Summon—Come forth, my old friend, Elemental HERO Great Tornado!"

  A roaring gale swept through!

  A massive tornado engulfed the entire duel arena.

  Many students started holding onto nearby objects to keep themselves grounded, while some standing girls struggled to shield their skirts, letting out surprised shrieks.

  Within the howling wind, a battle-worn warrior slowly revealed himself, tossing his cloak aside and gring coldly at his opponent.

  [Elemental HERO Great Tornado] Level 8│WIND│Warrior│2800 ATK!

  "The effect of Great Tornado—when this card is Fusion Summoned, all monsters on the opponent's field have their ATK and DEF reduced by half!"

  [Fme Swordsman, ATK: 1800 → 900]

  [Labyrinth Tank, ATK: 2400 → 1200]

  "Wow! What a powerful monster!"

  "Goodness, even 5000 Life Points would have to bow down before him, right?"

  "Battle, Great Tornado, attack Fme Swordsman!"

  The gale sucked and blew. Fme Swordsman struggled for a moment, but was kicked to pieces by Great Tornado. However, afterward, Great Tornado gnced at Hikaru, casually waved his hand, and didn't direct the attack at him.

  [Hikaru, LP: 4000 → 2100]

  "Heh, end turn!"

  Hikaru rubbed his shoulder. Avian had talked tough, but even so, it wasn't too bad. It hadn't really dealt any heavy blows, so it didn't hurt in the least.

  In turn, Hikaru's competitive spirit had been thoroughly ignited!

  He drew a card from his deck, gnced at it, and couldn't help but burst into ughter.

  "Jaden, I admit, you've become even stronger since then!"

  "But on the road of Fusion, I will never lose!"

  "Final turn!"