"I'll take the first move!"
Serena was slightly excited.
To others her excitement looked to be for no reason, but some people who knew her knew why she was excited: she could finally compete on the same stage as her "master."
Beyond these people, quite a few others were paying attention to this duel.
"Huh, isn't that Zuzu..." Masumi Kotsu, having spent a long time reviewing her earlier duel with Hikaru, had developed a longing for "true Fusion." Now seeing Hikaru take the field again, she was naturally curious. But she hadn't expected another new "Zuzu" to appear.
Hearing her voice, the others naturally looked over, all showing shock.
Especially Zuzu Boyle.
When she saw the "self" on the screen and recalled the earlier several "selves," the sense of foreboding in her heart grew ever clearer.
She had an inexplicable feeling that this tournament, which looked like it had nothing to do with them and was only about joining in the fun, might become the starting point of a change in her and Yuya's lives.
But whatever the case, this duel had already begun.
"Master, I've been waiting for this day for so long!"
The excitement on her face was hard to put into words. It was this line that let those spectators understand why she was so happy.
"Ha, Serena, if you haven't grown enough, then coming was for nothing." Hikaru replied with a smile.
Serena tossed her head with great confidence.
Ever since she'd first seen Hikaru's duel, seen his Fusion, Serena had always taken "strongest Fusion user" as her goal.
At first, she'd only wanted to complete her "father's" goal.
But as time went on, as she made contact with more people and things, as she was guided and taught by the seniors at Duel Academy, she gradually understood that her life had gone wrong. She gradually came to know that the Fusion army's righteousness wasn't righteousness, and her own father wasn't a good person either.
What was left with her was only her master and Fusion.
And precisely because of this, she loved Fusion even more, wanted to learn even more things, wanted to evolve.
And now, the chance had finally come.
Both self-validation and gratitude to her master!
"Normal Summon, Lunalight Golden Lion."
Oh?
Hikaru raised an eyebrow.
Truly a main-character-tier character. It was actually a new card.
Hikaru casually pressed the Lunalight Golden Lion card image on his Duel Disk. Beside him, a phantom image slowly unfolded, revealing its effect and card art.
Eh. Alchemy. Eh, Boss A.
Under the crescent moon, an energetic-looking blonde lion-girl twirled in a dance step, landed on the ground, then quickly ran forward alongside Serena.
Lunalight Golden Lion. Level 4, DARK Attribute, Beast-Warrior-Type. ATK 600.
"Lunalight Golden Lion, activated only when Summoned or Special Summoned. Add 1 Lunalight monster other than Golden Lion from my Deck to my hand. After that, choose 1 card from my hand and discard it."
"I add Lunalight White Rabbit from my Deck to my hand, then discard Lunalight White Rabbit."
"Eh? Discarding the card just added to hand? Isn't that redundant?" Someone raised the question.
"Who knows. Maybe it has some other use."
Hikaru checked the card's effect and lightly raised an eyebrow.
Pretty impressive, these two low-level monsters.
"Alchemy is a technique of repeated performance. First shatter, then recover, and finally perform Fusion's sublimation. I activate Lunalight White Rabbit's effect, activated only when this card is sent to the Graveyard by a card effect. Special Summon 1 Lunalight monster from my Deck other than Lunalight White Rabbit. As long as the monster Special Summoned by this effect exists face-up on my field, I cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck non-Lunalight monsters."
"From my Deck, I Special Summon Lunalight Kaleido Chick!"
Lunalight Kaleido Chick. Level 4, DARK Attribute, Beast-Warrior-Type. ATK 1400.
"So she Special Summoned a monster this way? Smart." Zuzu thought it over and felt this was quite a good tactic.
"But what does she mean by alchemy?" Masumi Kotsu looked at a loss.
She'd heard that this Serena was Hikaru's disciple and was quite curious. Since they were all the same age, she felt she might be able to learn something from Serena too.
But what was alchemy?
"Lunalight Kaleido Chick's effect. Once per turn, send 1 Lunalight monster from my Deck or Extra Deck to the Graveyard to activate. This turn, when this face-up card is used as Fusion Material, it can be treated as having the same name as the monster sent to the Graveyard as its Fusion Material.
I send Lunalight Cat Dancer to the Graveyard."
"Oh!" Masumi Kotsu understood this time. "It's another way of utilizing the Extra Deck for Fusion. So it really is Extra Fusion!"
But actually, Serena had other ideas for sending the Extra Deck monster to the Graveyard.
"I'm not done!
I discard Lunalight Black Sheep from my hand. According to its effect, add 1 Polymerization from the Deck to my hand."
Polymerization too!
Even audience members who'd come late to watch, by now, had already learned from other spectators that Serena was Hikaru's disciple. So the appearance of Polymerization wasn't strange.
"I activate Lunalight Golden Lion's effect. While this card exists in my Monster Zone, when a Lunalight monster is sent to the Graveyard, target one of those monsters to activate. That monster is added to the hand.
I add Lunalight Black Sheep to my hand."
"Eh!?"
"Not only searched Polymerization, but also took back the discarded card itself?"
Before these people studying Fusion could even express their surprise, the hot-tempered Serena went ahead and activated Polymerization.
"I activate Spell Card, Polymerization!"
"I use Lunalight Golden Lion and Lunalight Kaleido Chick on my field and Lunalight Black Sheep in my hand as Fusion Materials for a Fusion Summon!"
Accompanying her call, above the track, a crescent moon slowly rose. She pressed her palms together and began to Fuse.
"Let the vortex drawn by the moon's gravity give rebirth as new power!"
"Fusion Summon!"
"Come forth, Lunalight Sabre Dancer!"
Beneath the crescent moon, a female warrior in gold armor with golden hair, wielding a curved blade in each hand, gave a light hop, spun as she landed, and waved to the surrounding cameras.
Lunalight Sabre Dancer. Level 9, DARK Attribute, Beast-Warrior-Type. ATK 3000.
"I activate Lunalight Black Sheep and Lunalight Kaleido Chick's effects. Lunalight Black Sheep, activated only when sent to the Graveyard as Fusion Material. Add 1 Lunalight monster from my face-up Extra Deck or Graveyard to my hand. Lunalight Kaleido Chick's effect, activated when this card is sent to the Graveyard by an effect. Target 1 'Polymerization' in my Graveyard to activate. That card is added to my hand.
I add Polymerization from my Graveyard and Lunalight Golden Lion from my Graveyard to my hand."
She picked up those two cards, displayed them, then placed them onto the D-Wheel's hand-card slot.
"Beyond that, Lunalight Sabre Dancer's ATK increases by 200 for each Beast-Warrior-Type monster in both Graveyards and banished. That's 800 points."
Lunalight Sabre Dancer, ATK: 3000 → 3800.
"Whoa... not only performed a Fusion, but simultaneously recovered the Polymerization Spell and a monster card. Next turn, just Normal Summon Golden Lion, search White Rabbit, and she can Fuse again!" Zuzu lightly pressed her palms together and let out a soft gasp.
"So this is re-Fusion after shattering and breaking down? Fusion through discard and recovery..." Masumi Kotsu watched with repeated exclamations, gradually seeming to understand something.
"Serena's gotten this strong?" Jaden watched the field and broke into a grin. "Amazing, Serena. She might actually give Hikaru a tough time!"
"Tch, it's just recycling. Jaden, using my cards, you could just as easily recycle." Yubel snorted a couple of times, wanting Jaden to pay more attention to her.
Of course, even so, she hadn't said recycling was bad.
This kind of cyclical Fusion tactic was perfectly suited to Fusion decks that needed Fusion Spell Cards. Alchemy really was an important subdivision of Fusion. Even Jaden himself could actually use some special "alchemy." There was no way she'd be talking nonsense.
And even for people who didn't specifically study Fusion, watching this opening, they could tell Serena's first turn hadn't lost anything. She'd even summoned a high-Level Fusion Monster. An excellent tactic.
But was merely a high-ATK monster truly strong enough in this WRGP tournament?
"I activate Spell Card, Lunar Eclipse." Serena took a card from her hand and displayed it. "This is a specialized Spell Card that can only be activated when I have a Lunalight monster on my field. Until the end of the next opponent's turn, Lunalight monsters on my field cannot be targeted by the opponent's Spell or Trap Card effects and are unaffected by Spell or Trap Card effects."
"I Set two cards. End turn."
Was that really the end?
Because it was Hikaru's duel, Sophia had begun watching from the very start. Seeing his opponent, his disciple, simply summon a high-ATK Fusion Monster and end on her first turn left her a bit surprised.
But actually this was also one of the standard tactics.
Some decks excelled at creating disruptions, some excelled at resource trading, and some burst out numerous monsters all at once. For Serena, her personally most proficient tactic was actually "big boss on the field," summoning only one sufficiently strong monster, then giving it sufficiently high protection to leave the opponent "unable to find an opening."
"How's that, Master! My alchemy!" Her face held excitement, self-pride, and a trace of anticipation.
"Well done, Serena!" Hikaru replied with a hearty laugh, meeting her anticipation.
At first Hikaru hadn't really wanted to be this "master." After all, there wasn't much age difference between them. Being called master always made him feel like he'd gotten old. But as time went on, as various events happened, Hikaru had gradually accepted his role, and gradually devoted himself to teaching Serena.
Not only dueling, but alchemy, and even some special knowledge that only Tierra would know, Hikaru had taught to Serena.
Perhaps because of this, she'd actually "refined" a brand-new monster of her very own.
"Then, I ought to show something new myself. Not only ordinary Fusion, but Fusion taken a step further." Hikaru responded. "My turn, draw."
He looked at the drawn card and displayed it directly: "Spell Card, Shaddoll Fusion. When the opponent's field has a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, this card can use Deck monsters as Fusion Materials. Serena, you should know this card's effect quite well, right?"
Shaddoll Fusion.
This was a card that, once resolved, was extremely bad news for the opponent.
Although it looked like Fusing just one monster, because most Shaddoll monsters' effects were triggered when sent to the Graveyard by effects, things would become very complicated.
For example, Shaddoll Dragon and Shaddoll Beast. If he Fusion Summoned El Shaddoll Construct, he could even ignore ATK values to destroy a Special Summoned monster, and on top of that send another monster to the Graveyard.
That wouldn't do.
"I activate the effect of Lunalight White Rabbit in the Graveyard. When a Spell or Trap Card's effect is activated on the field, banish this card and 1 Lunalight Fusion Monster from my Graveyard to activate. That activation is negated.
I banish Lunalight White Rabbit and Lunalight Cat Dancer."
Sizzle.
A silver-white Beast-Warrior with a crescent-shaped tail leapt out of the Graveyard and, with one claw, shattered Shaddoll Fusion, preventing the Fusion from proceeding.
With this, without Shaddoll Fusion, Master would have to use hand cards to Fuse.
"An effect from the Graveyard, amazing."
"And it's an effect that negates Spell and Traps! So strong!"
Graveyard effects were the hardest to manage, and they didn't need to occupy a field position, so they wouldn't be affected by cards like Skill Drain.
Of course, this card had another issue.
Serena watched her master, who was driving alongside, tensely calculating in her heart.
Because Lunalight White Rabbit's effect negated the "activation," if Master's hand was good enough and he had two copies of Shaddoll Fusion, she'd have no way to handle the second one.
These kinds of "details" she wouldn't have paid much attention to in the past. Most duelists probably wouldn't care too much about such subtle differences either. Serena herself wasn't the detail-oriented type, so she'd easily miss things. But even as someone with average academic grades, in a duel, she was different.
Serena had studied and watched a great many duels alongside Hikaru. She clearly understood that every tiny difference in a duel had to be treated with caution. Only then could one become an excellent, strong enough duelist.
The good news was that although she'd banished two Beast-Warriors from the Graveyard, because banished cards also boosted Sabre Dancer's ATK, it wasn't too big a loss.
Only, although the ATK was higher than most monsters, she still needed to be careful.
Fortunately, she'd actually also Set a "Safe Zone" that could protect Lunalight Sabre Dancer at a necessary moment. The reason she hadn't activated it was because Master hadn't used any effect-destruction cards yet. Since that was the case, holding it was the better choice.
"I recall that Lunalight monsters inherently cannot be targeted by the opponent's effects. Add in high ATK and immunity to Spell and Trap Card effects, and in the vast majority of situations, that's already enough to hold the field.
Well done, Serena."
Hearing Hikaru's evaluation, a blush appeared on Serena's face, and she let out a somewhat bashful "haha" twice.
Many people also agreed with Hikaru's evaluation.
High ATK, untargetable, unaffected by Spell and Trap effects. Before the vast majority of duelists, that would already be extremely hard to deal with.
"But it's still missing one crucial point."
"Eh, what is it?" Serena asked curiously.
"Monster effects, of course." Hikaru said calmly.
"But Master, Lunalight Sabre Dancer can't be targeted by the opponent's effects. The vast majority of monsters shouldn't be able to handle it that easily!"
"You said it yourself, the vast majority. And outside this vast majority, the so-called minority, in the total count of Duel Monsters, is still not small!
Dueling is ever-changing. All right, Serena, time to show you. And it just so happens, this is a chance to show you a higher evolution of Fusion.
Spell Card, Fusion Deployment!"
Fusion Deployment!