"Draw."
"Yes! Here it comes! Hikaru!" Tierra's tense heart finally relaxed as she saw the card Hikaru drew. "Alright, alright, hurry up and smash that Sacred Beast to pieces!"
Hikaru looked at the card in his hand.
Then at his opponent.
"At our main campus of Duel Academy, there are two Professors."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?" Borg scratched the back of his neck.
"Professor Leo Akaba, and the current acting principal, Professor Crowler, right?" Borg recalled after a moment. "Hmm, that Crowler guy seems to be nobility or something, but who cares? Once Professor Akaba's grand project succeeds, I'll be a noble too."
"That's all you care about?"
Hikaru shook his head. "Listen, Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, has an effect that lets it devour monsters on the field to increase its Attack, right?"
Borg jolted, eyes wide. "How do you know that!?"
"How do I know? How could I not?" Hikaru continued, "I'm a student at Duel Academy's main campus."
"Besides, my pursuit is ultimate Fusion. I make it my business to study everything in detail—you should know that by now."
Grrr—Borg frowned deeply.
But it didn't matter.
After all, Hikaru's current hand shouldn't allow him to solve this board.
"I even spent time in Professor Akaba's club room. The atmosphere was awful. Bullying all day long. Professor Leo Akaba's educational methods were abysmal—never cared about students' mental well-being, only his own goals."
"But Professor Crowler is different. He knows the circumstances of every student in the Academy. Even Hayato Maeda, who sleeps all day in Slifer Red, Professor Crowler knows him well."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying—I'll use the card Professor Crowler gave me... to show you what it means to be a true 'teacher!'"
"I discard Polymerization from my hand and activate the Spell Card—Chaos Ancient Gear Fusion!"
'What kind of card is that!?'
Borg's face paled.
A card he'd never seen before!
"This is a card Professor Crowler gave me. It's a unique card entrusted to him by the Ancient Gear archetype itself!" Hikaru looked at the teacher's card, finally feeling a little better.
"Chaos Ancient Gear Fusion! By discarding a Polymerization from my hand and revealing an Ancient Gear Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck, I can activate it!
"I discard Polymerization... and reveal Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem from my Extra Deck!"
"Then, according to its effect, I banish all Fusion Monsters from my Graveyard!"
Hikaru opened his Graveyard: "Fullmetalfoes Alkahest, Superalloy Beast Raptinus, Dragonecro Nethersoul Dragon! All three, banished!"
Three different monsters appeared in phantom form on Hikaru's field, silently staring at the opponent.
"What... what is this..."
Borg suddenly felt uneasy. The cold stares from those three monsters sent a chill down his spine.
"After banishing Fusion Monsters, I can Special Summon the specific Fusion Materials for the revealed monster from my Deck, Extra Deck, or Graveyard, ignoring Summoning conditions!"
"First, Ancient Gear Golem!"
The Fullmetalfoes Alkahest raised its staff, unleashing a beam of light. Its figure faded, replaced by a massive mechanical titan under its glow.
[Ancient Gear Golem] Level 8│EARTH│Machine│3000 ATK
"Second, Ancient Gear Howitzer!"
Dragonecro roared as the gates of the underworld opened, and a mechanical demon slowly descended from the underworld.
[Ancient Gear Howitzer] Level 8│EARTH│Machine│1000 ATK
"Third—Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon!"
Clank clank—pieces of Superalloy Beast Raptinus began to fall apart, revealing a massive, part-laden, ancient mechanical dragon in its place! This was also one of the Ancient Gear monsters Professor Crowler had recently given him.
[Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon] Level 8│EARTH│Machine│3000 ATK
"He... he actually Special Summoned three Ancient Gear monsters in one go!?" Borg swallowed hard.
"Monsters summoned this way have their effects negated and will be sent to the Graveyard for an Ancient Gear Fusion Summon!"
'...An Ancient Gear Fusion Summon?'
'Wait a second—no way!'
Borg turned towards the nearby, leisurely spectating Dark Summoning Beast.
"No!"
"Looks like you finally get it." Hikaru took a deep breath, then raised both hands and clapped them together.
"God of Destruction! Steel Dragon! Now, merge your bodies with the ancient giant to become the ultimate machine!
"Fusion Summon—Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!"
The three massive Ancient Gear monsters began to disassemble. Countless parts reassembled, gradually forming a towering mechanical titan even larger and more powerful than Raviel!
[Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem] Level 10│EARTH│Machine│4400 ATK
"No—no way!" Borg staggered back, then quickly glanced at his soldiers. They understood at once and fled from the battlefield.
"Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem has piercing damage! You know that much, right?"
"Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, attack Dark Summoning Beast!"
The colossal golem slowly raised its right arm. Steam blasted from its mechanical fittings as it pulled its fist back, locking onto the Dark Summoning Beast with its crimson targeting scope.
"Wait, Hikaru! If you've got guts, fight my Sacred Beast head-on!"
"What a joke. Bullying the weak is your favorite pastime, isn't it?" Hikaru shot back casually. "Why refuse now?"
"You—!"
"Besides, I never miss my mark!
"Attack!"
"Ultimate Ancient Gear Smash!"
The towering Golem drove its fist at the small demon. The entire process was swift and merciless. In an instant, the Dark Summoning Beast was pulverized into dust, and simultaneously, Borg let out a gut-wrenching scream.
"Aaaaaaah!!"
That punch hit him as well, causing his Life Points to plummet. Steam hissed from his body, and he lost consciousness within moments.
He collapsed to the ground with a thud. The image of the Sacred Beast began to fade. As Borg gradually regained consciousness, he snarled weakly: "Heh... I lost, but... Amaki Hikaru... don't think that just because I lost... you..."
"You secretly tried to move the machine away, didn't you?"
'!?'
"Foolish. Ignorant. Arrogant." Hikaru said coldly. "Why do you think I oppose you people? Just for show? To play the hero?"
"It's precisely because I understand you... that I choose to stand against you."
As he spoke, Tierra casually snapped her fingers. In Borg's wide eyes, he saw Tierra's puppet strings dragging something from the void—a machine, along with the soldiers who had tried to sneak it away.
"Amaki Hikaru!!!" Borg gritted his teeth, stood up, pulled out a detonator from under his clothes, and ripped open his shirt to reveal a bomb strapped to his chest. "You must die here!!!"
This was enough explosive to obliterate the entire Fractured Dimension. He was going to detonate it right here and now.
However—"I told you already. I know you people all too well!"
At some point, Hikaru had raised two fingers, holding a single card between them before him.
Even before the Duel began, he had anticipated this exact situation!
Borg's eyes went wide.
"Witness... the ultimate Fusion power!!"
"Don't blink. This is the kind of spectacle you only get to see once in a lifetime!"
As Hikaru murmured, clouds far darker and denser than those from Raviel's earlier summoning gathered over the entire dimension.
Hikaru stood unmoving, pupils glowing with brilliant violet light. Everything within the dimension seemed to lose all support, beginning to lift skyward in reverse.
Everything began to merge... falling into the dark clouds.
Borg was dumbfounded.
Because this was truly something he couldn't imagine, couldn't understand, couldn't believe.
It felt like the entire world... was becoming material for a single card.
Even the Sacred Beasts couldn't achieve this. Even the Sacred Beasts... could only bow in submission!
He realized—
There was no stopping Amaki Hikaru now!
'That voice... that card…'
Hikaru raised the card high and shouted:
"Unleash Ultimate Power!"