"Brilliant Fusion is a Continuous Spell that lets you send Fusion Materials from your Deck to the Graveyard to perform a Fusion Summon," Kagurazaka narrated proudly, arms crossed like a tour guide. "However, the monster summoned by this card has its ATK reduced to zero."
"You've got a good memory," Hikaru Amagi smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Anyway—I send Gem-Knight Tourmaline and Gem-Knight Peridot from my Deck to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon…"
"Gem-Knight Sapphire!"
A blue-armored knight wielding a shimmering sword and shield appeared at Hikaru's call, his crystalline armor gleaming.
Gem-Knight Sapphire, Level 6, EARTH, Aqua-Type, DEF 0.
"Ooooh! A new Gem-Knight?! So cool!" Jaden Yuki leaned over the railing, cheering.
"A brand new one, huh? Wonder what it can do."
Hikaru glanced at Sapphire's card. He'd discovered it after his duel with Professor Banner—a new fusion born from Tourmaline and another gem. With Tierra's help, he'd reconstructed Tourmaline afterward.
Though she hadn't been thrilled—she hated White Crystal, and Hikaru knew it.
"Next, I activate Thunder Dragon Fusion! I return Gem-Knight Peridot and Tourmaline from my Graveyard back into the Deck to Fusion Summon—Gem-Knight Prism Aura!"
"Prism Aura has a quick effect," Kagurazaka nodded confidently. "Discard a Gem-Knight card to destroy one face-up card on the field. Naturally, I know all this as a true fusionist."
"Quick-Play Spell—Book of Moon! Before you can activate Prism Aura's effect—Captain White Crystal, go dark!"
With a dramatic flair, Kagurazaka slammed down the card. Prism Aura flipped face-down, its glowing edges dimming into shadow.
"Hey, Hikaru," Tierra materialized beside him, expression deadpan. "Can I kill this guy? He's really pissing me off."
Hikaru twitched. "No."
Kagurazaka's dueling style was always like this—copying others. Only this time, due to his incomplete personal collection, he'd filled in gaps with cards from other duelists.
He even managed to mimic the Fusion Division students' arrogance. Honestly, some kind of talent.
"Hikaru's dueling style combines intel warfare with psychological warfare," Bastion Misawa said from the stands. "He knows every fusion-related card—even the obscure ones. And he's scarily good at predicting his opponent's state of mind."
"But Kagurazaka can mirror those thought patterns. He even used Hikaru's nickname—'Captain White Crystal'. This duel's not going to be easy."
Everyone nodded.
The worst counter to psychological warfare… was someone who knew exactly how you think.
Right now, Kagurazaka was effectively dueling as Hikaru. That meant he knew what Hikaru was likely to do, what he feared, what he'd bluff.
"But that Sapphire card's new, right?" Jaden asked.
"So that might be the turning point?" Alexis suggested.
"Or Hikaru could use that female spirit's cards," Chazz added casually. "I don't think he's ever played them in public."
"Huh, you're right," Jaden nodded, glancing toward Tierra. "Could be."
Hikaru glanced at his hand and set a card in his back row. "Set one. End turn."
"My turn—draw!" Kagurazaka scanned his hand. "I know exactly what you're thinking. You're betting I'll hesitate because of your set cards or your monsters, aren't you? Naive! I activate Instant Fusion!"
"Instant Fusion!?"
"Kagurazaka got his hands on that too?!"
Students murmured excitedly. He was even using Hikaru's most dependable spells. Was this the day a counterfeit outperformed the original?
"I pay 1000 Life Points to summon a Level 5 or lower Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck!"
"And I'm sure you all know what I'm summoning!"
"Fusion Summon—Thousand-Eyes Restrict!"
Level 1. DARK. Spellcaster. ATK 0.
"Of course!" Upperclassmen from the Fusion Division jumped to their feet. "He's gonna absorb that Sapphire Knight and find out its effect!"
"Exactly!" Kagurazaka beamed. "Go, Devourer—consume the knight!"
A swirl of violet light consumed the field. Thousand-Eyes Restrict absorbed Sapphire in a whirl of distortion.
ATK: 0 → 1400.
Kagurazaka smirked and leaned in to read the card's text. A second later, his grin froze.
"What's wrong?"
"What's the effect?"
"He doesn't look so confident now…"
A bead of sweat rolled down Kagurazaka's forehead. He coughed, composing himself. "I Tribute Thousand-Eyes Restrict… to Tribute Summon! Ancient Gear Beast!"
"Huh? Why sacrifice the monster you just absorbed?"
"Instant Fusion monsters can't attack, and they're destroyed at End Phase," Bastion explained. "And with Thousand-Eyes Restrict on the field, your other monsters can't attack either."
"So he had no choice…"
"But why does he look so panicked?"
"Monster effect—Gem-Knight Sapphire!" Hikaru raised his fist. "When sent from field to Graveyard, target one card your opponent controls—return it to the hand!"
"I choose—Labyrinth Tank! And since it's an Extra Deck monster, it returns to the Extra Deck!"
Sapphire glowed in the Graveyard, raised his shield, and bashed the red tank—sending it flying back into Kagurazaka's Extra Deck.
"Dammit…" Kagurazaka stiffened.
"Kagurazaka!" Hikaru shouted, pointing at him. "It's an honor to be someone worth copying. But you've misunderstood me."
"If your only purpose is to bait effects and drop Ancient Gear Beast, then you should've used Instant Fusion on something else! Ancient Gear Beast's effect negates activated monster effects during battle—that's your real win condition!"
Kagurazaka's face turned red.
Hikaru had seen right through him.
"Wait—Ancient Gear Beast has that effect?"
"But if so, why summon Thousand-Eyes Restrict first?"
"He probably wanted more damage," someone said.
The others shook their heads.
"Hikaru would never go for greed," Jaden said.
"Exactly," Bastion agreed. "He builds combo paths for one-turn kills. His goal is clean victory through interaction and mind games."
In other words—Kagurazaka didn't fuse well enough.
"No matter!" Kagurazaka shouted, a little rattled. "Ancient Gear Beast—attack! While it attacks, you can't activate Spell or Trap Cards!"
Hikaru shrugged.
Prism Aura flipped face-up—just in time to be chewed up by the metal beast. Its 1400 DEF meant nothing. It was obliterated instantly.
"...End turn."
"Then I'll activate this." Hikaru flipped his Set card. "Trap—Fusion Reserve!"
"I reveal a Fusion Monster in my Extra Deck. Then I add one of its listed Fusion Materials from my Deck to my hand."
"I reveal—Chimeratech Fortress Dragon."
"Chimeratech…? Oh no!" Kagurazaka paled.
"Cyber Dragon?" Jaden leaned forward as Hikaru added the card to hand. "Ah. Got it. Hikaru's won."
"What? Isn't that a little soon to say?" Syrus blinked. "Cyber Dragon's strong, sure, but—"
"No," Chazz interrupted, arms folded. "Look at Kagurazaka's face. He knows he's already lost."
Syrus peeked over.
Kagurazaka looked defeated. Deflated.
"But… why?"
"It's simple," Bastion said. "Hikaru knows himself better than Kagurazaka does."
"When he saw Labyrinth Tank and used Fusion Recycling, he committed to only using Gem-Knights afterward. He deliberately held back."
"He knew Kagurazaka's deck might resemble his. Even a partial match could be dangerous."
"But once he confirmed Kagurazaka didn't summon a Cyber Dragon-related Fusion…"
"Well. That changed everything."
As confused students whispered, Hikaru drew a card and raised his voice.
"Your field has a monster. Mine doesn't. I Special Summon—Cyber Dragon! Then Normal Summon—Ancient Gear Knight!"
Two monsters appeared on his field.
"Ah!"
Kagurazaka's eyes shut in despair. He knew what was coming.
"I send your Ancient Gear Beast, along with my two monsters, to the Graveyard—Fusion Summon!"
"Come forth—Chimeratech Fortress Dragon!"
Wheels erupted from the ground. Machinery absorbed the three monsters and twisted together—forming a giant multi-headed mechanical dragon.
"Whoa!" Tierra exclaimed, clapping. "That design's not bad at all!"
"Chimeratech Fortress Dragon gains 1000 ATK per Fusion Material—so that's 3000."
Chimeratech Fortress Dragon — Level 8. DARK. Machine. ATK 3000.
This is over.
Kagurazaka could only think bitterly.
"Battle—Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, direct attack!"
WHAAAAM!
Kagurazaka was flung backward.
Kagurazaka LP: 3000 → 0.
"…Honestly, dueling my own AI at KaibaCorp was more interesting than this," Chazz muttered.
"Nice work, Hikaru! That was a great duel!" Jaden shouted.
"Urgh… lost again…" Kagurazaka knelt on the ground, supporting himself with trembling arms.
His deck did include Cyber Dragon. He even had his own version of Chimeratech Fortress Dragon. He remembered Hikaru's card effects well.
He just hadn't expected Hikaru to pull Fusion Reserve and get to Cyber Dragon directly.
Without the event involving Yugi's deck theft, he'd spent the summer studying the "top student"—Hikaru Amagi. His research had paid off. His win rate had gone up. His talent wasn't flashy, but once he picked up a deck, even the weirdest ones played smooth in his hands.
But today, facing the original… he hadn't even landed a single point of damage.
As he stared at the floor, Hikaru approached and offered a hand. Kagurazaka blinked, then scrambled to his feet and shook it.
As a fellow Yellow Dorm student, Hikaru was his class rep—the guy who'd gone to duel in other dimensions. Kagurazaka respected him deeply.
"H-Hikaru… nice to meet you!"
"Haha, Kagurazaka, that was a fun duel," Hikaru said with a grin. "Didn't think I'd run into a deck so close to mine. I'm looking forward to our rematch."
Even though he'd used Bottomless Trap Hole and Book of Moon, Hikaru recognized those as echoes of Flame Sword Dance-type effects. In fact, he had cards like that in his own deck that were fused from Book of Moon.
"R-Really?!" Kagurazaka stammered, voice trembling.
"But next time, try bringing a bit more of yourself. Something about this duel felt… off."
Hikaru chuckled as they shook hands. With the duel over, Kagurazaka felt way less intense. Like he'd shed that aggressive Fusion Division aura.
In the end, Kagurazaka was never a true villain. More of a background character. In this world, he hadn't joined the Fusion Army either. So Hikaru didn't see him as an enemy.
If anything, he was curious—what kind of card would he get after dueling against a reflection of his own deck?
Meanwhile, Kagurazaka's thoughts were entirely different—
As expected from Yellow Dorm's pride—Hikaru Amagi!
Next time, I'll copy him perfectly!