"Magic Card 'Fusion Birth'!"
Beside the galloping horse of Skeleton Knight, the image of a Magic Card appeared, and the Magic Power released from that card formed a gigantic vortex.
Skeleton Knight said: "I draw five cards from the top of my Card Deck, and send all five cards to the Graveyard!
If among them there appear Monster cards that just happen to fulfill the Fusion Material requirements of a Fusion Monster, then I can perform a Fusion Summon of that Fusion Monster!" (Original Card)
"Actually launching an offense with Fusion..."
Yugen was slightly surprised, but not really. Although this Dimension mainly features Synchro, that doesn't mean Fusion is nonexistent. The main cast, Yusei and Jack, have both used Fusion Monsters, and the High-speed Spells used in Riding Duels also include the Fusion-specialized Magic Card 'High-speed Fusion'.
Skeleton Knight drew five cards in one go, and under that pale bony mask, his pupils flashed with a cold, sharp light.
"Among the cards confirmed from the top of the Card Deck, there are these two.
'Master of Zombies', and 'Gluttonous Undead'!"
The images of the two Monsters were projected to either side of his charging warhorse, being pulled into the vortex of Fusion Magic.
"Fusion requirement: two Undead Monsters!
Use the Souls of two dead men to call forth the Lord of the Underworld! Tear open the gates of the Netherworld and appear——
——Netherworld Dragon - Undead Dragon!!!"
The two Undead creatures were swallowed by the vortex, turning into a pillar of Fusion light that pierced the sky above the Satellite District. As if from deep underground, the wails of countless dead echoed up, and dense gray-green fog erupted across the Duel track.
The first thing to carve its way out of the thick fog was a dragon claw wrapped in deathly Yin energy, liquid shadow flowing between its dark-silver bones. Its long skeletal tail-wings swept across the entire Field, slamming violently into the ground, as if the very foundations on which this altar stood were sinking.
[Netherworld Dragon - Undead Dragon, Attack Power 3000]
Shattered stone and rubble exploded outward, carried in a Tornado of Darkness that shot straight at Yugen's D-Wheel. But of course, before those fragments hit him they seemed to crash into some invisible barrier and vanished without a trace.
"So this corporeal Monster can still use the aftershock of its Summon to attack the opponent." Yugen kept his speed up and said calmly.
"Of course." Skeleton Knight shouted. "In the ritual of Battle Gallop, whether you lose all your life, or lose the ability to gallop, what awaits you is only the outcome of death.
This is the fate of the gallopers!"
This dragon clearly wasn't some ordinary Monster; at the very least it should be a special-capacity Elf. Vast death aura coiled around it, and the impression it gave was truly as if it had crawled out from the Netherworld, a collective mass of countless dead.
With the descent of the Netherworld Dragon, Skeleton Knight's own aura seemed to swell as well.
"Battle!" Skeleton Knight said. "Netherworld Dragon - Undead Dragon, attack 'Mobius the Frost Monarch'!"
The instant the order was given, Skeleton Knight snapped the reins, and the warhorse beneath him stomped hard with both hooves, leaping into the air!
Transparent black cyclones erupted from him and his mount, as if all the speed and kinetic force unleashed in that instant were poured into the body of the Netherworld Dragon.
The Netherworld Dragon rode that cyclone forward, lunging as it opened its massive jaws and clamped down on the Frost Monarch. A chain of crisp shattering sounds rang from Mobius's body, like ice crystals fracturing.
[Yugen, LP4100 → LP3500]
Yugen stabilized his D-Wheel in the oncoming torrent of Darkness, feeling that impact as if carried on a high-speed dark Tornado, and he understood.
"So that's it, folding the speed of the Riding Duel into part of the touch-sense, boosting the impact of the Dark Duel..."
The corner of his mouth lifted in a faint smile.
"This technique is kind of interesting."
Skeleton Knight: "..."
What is this? What's with this guy's composure...
"Hmph, you don't think Undead Dragon's attack is only this level, do you?"
As Skeleton Knight spoke, Netherworld Dragon - Undead Dragon had already pulled back from Yugen's Field. But strangely, even as it retreated, its tightly clenched jaws did not loosen.
And the Frost Monarch Mobius, who should have been destroyed by battle, did not leave the Field either; instead he staggered and remained on Yugen's side. Only, from Mobius's body a Spirit Body wreathed in icy aura was forcibly ripped out, carried in the dragon's jaws all the way back to Skeleton Knight's Field.
Then the Netherworld Dragon exhaled turbid breath; the transparent Soul it held was immediately tainted by pitch-black miasma, its form gradually reshaping, transforming into a figure identical to Mobius the Frost Monarch, except entirely black, the complete opposite of the white, holy body of the Frost Monarch.
"This is the power of the Netherworld Dragon!" Skeleton Knight said. "The Netherworld Dragon - Netherworld Dragon doesn't merely crush the opponent; it draws out the opponent's Soul, even their Soul can be polluted, made to fall into Darkness!
And the remaining empty shell is not permitted to die, becoming a puppet that has even lost the ability to fight, a fate worse than death!"
At this moment the empty shell of the Frost Monarch left by Yugen's D-Wheel really did resemble a husk whose Soul had been drawn out, its body swaying in the wind like a tattered rag.
Skeleton Knight's explanation was a bit abstract, but luckily Yugen had some impression of this dragon's effect.
Netherworld Dragon - Undead Dragon: Monsters that battle this card are not destroyed by that battle, but after battle their Attack Power becomes 0.
And afterwards, the Netherworld Dragon's controller can Special Summon one 'Dark Soul Derivative' on his own Field, with the same Level and Attack Power as the opponent's Monster.
[Dark Soul Derivative, Attack Power 2400]
[Mobius the Frost Monarch, Attack Power 0]
"Dark Soul born from the Frost Monarch's fall!" Skeleton Knight shouted. "Deliver the finishing blow to that soulless husk!"
At the same time, the warhorse beneath Skeleton Knight leapt skyward once more, dark storm winds cloaking him, and the surge of the Dark Soul Frost Monarch suddenly spiked, crashing headlong into Yugen's Frost Monarch.
The empty shell of the Frost Monarch had completely lost any ability to resist, and could only be helplessly smashed apart by the Dark Soul, his body exploding into shards of ice crystals and scattering.
[Yugen, LP3500 → LP1100]
This impact was even fiercer; Skeleton Knight practically turned all the strength of his body into the speed of his charge, merging it into that dark impact. Dark storm winds whirled together with a cyclone of cold air, and Yugen's D-Wheel was almost like a lone skiff swallowed by a tsunami, engulfed and drawn in, vanishing in an instant.
Skeleton Knight urged his mount forward while watching the billowing smoke.
With such massive damage combined with his all-out Dark touch-sense, normally most riders wouldn't be able to break free of that impact and keep galloping; they should be defeated right there.
Yet only a moment later——
The roar of a D-Wheel tore toward the heavens, an arrow ripping through the heavy smoke and shooting out.
Yugen rode his D-Wheel, immediately closing in again, and there was even a rather intrigued smile on his face.
"Tsk tsk, that last one was good. Merging galloping speed into the Dark Duel to upgrade the touch-sense—is it a burst of acceleration at the instant of attack?
No, it seems it's more than that... you also have to synchronize it with your Monster's attack. This move looks like it takes some skill."
Skeleton Knight opened his mouth, but for a moment no words came out.
This guy took my full-power Dark touch-sense head-on and not only is he fine...
...and he's actually talking with me about galloping techniques, all eager and interested?