Chapter 156: BGM, Wrath of the Gods!
"The Wicked Eraser, summon!"
This was the first time Amano Rei had summoned a true god card inside Eden in any meaningful sense. Though a question lingered at the back of his mind: was this a genuine god card, or only a counterfeit born from the Soulswindler's identity ability?
He decided it did not matter.
In a Dark Game operating beyond Eva's network monitoring, any card capable of being summoned and laying waste to the field was a real and useful god.
What puzzled him was that he had slipped the Dreadroot into Finesse's deck. The card he drew was the Eraser.
[The Wicked Eraser] [Level 10 Divine]
[Fiend / Effect]
[ATK: ? / DEF: ?]
Rolling thunder and a score that could have been lifted straight from the Wrath of the Gods track accompanied the arrival of a massive, twisted divine body as it materialized in the sky and faced off against the floating whale Earthbound God.
Finesse recognized it the instant it appeared. "That monster! Is that not the one that was reflected in the sky earlier tonight? And he just Special Summoned it directly using a HERO effect!"
Karl, in the driver's seat of his convertible, stared at the unconscious Amano slumped beside him and could not make himself believe any of this was real. "Is that actually Finesse out there?"
The Wicked Eraser had appeared once before tonight, but that had been a summon deep within the network. This was different. This was a god descending in the middle of a real-world Dark Game. The divine pressure radiating through physical space was far more terrifying than any reflection cast upward into the sky from the network's depths.
Earthbound God versus Wicked God.
The people of the mid-district, watching this unfold, had probably already given up on the world.
Just what kind of night was this? Fine. Let it all come down.
Amano Rei Speed Counters: 4 to 5
Soul Binder Speed Counters: 6
Both D-Wheels accelerated further as god faced god.
Amano pointed at the Eraser overhead and called its effect. "The Wicked Eraser's ATK increases by 1000 for each card on my opponent's field!"
At this moment the Soul Binder controlled an Earthbound God, Underground Arachnid, Bloo-D equipped as an Equip Card, and one face-down in the back row. High-Speed World, the Field Spell, also counted as a card on the opponent's field under the rules.
"Five cards total. The god's ATK is 5000."
[The Wicked Eraser] [ATK: 5000]
A 5000-point god, its terrible maw thrown open in a roar that dwarfed even the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, utterly outclassed in raw power the false god still bound beneath the earth.
The Soul Binder called back steadily: "No matter how high its ATK climbs, you cannot enter the Battle Phase while Earthbound God Chacu Challhua remains in Defense Position!"
True enough. The Battle Phase lock targeted the player directly. Even divine immunity could not override that restriction.
Amano could activate The Wicked Eraser's self-destruction effect right now and take the Earthbound Gods down with it in a mutual wipeout. But the Eraser was the only monster currently capable of matching a bound god. Sacrificing it to destroy just one of them would be a massive loss. Worse: if the Eraser destroyed itself at this moment, Underground Arachnid would still be left on the field, protected from destruction by its substitute effect.
Amano held the Eraser back.
"Speed Spell - Speed Fusion, activated from my Graveyard! The copy Diamond Dude milled into there last turn!"
[Speed Spell - Speed Fusion: Can only be activated while you have 4 or more Speed Counters. Send the Fusion Materials required for a Fusion Monster from your hand or field to the Graveyard, then Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck as a Fusion Summon.]
A Speed Spell version of Polymerization. For the Fusion Materials, Amano selected Diamond Dude and Decider, both retrieved from the Graveyard to hand.
"The double Fusion of Destiny HEROes!"
A Fusion spiral unfolded at high speed along the racing track, drawing both Destiny HERO monsters into its vortex.
"Gazing toward the promised land, I drive my fist through the bars of heaven's cage!"
"Destiny HERO Fusion Summon!"
"Destiny HERO - Dystopia!"
[Destiny HERO - Dystopia] [Level 8 DARK]
[Warrior / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 2800 / DEF: 2400]
[2 "Destiny HERO" monsters]
Clad in deep-blue armor with the capital D mask of fate on his head, Destiny HERO - Dystopia burst from the Fusion spiral and charged onto the track.
Amano slammed the card onto the D-Wheel Duel Disk and declared the effect.
"When Destiny HERO - Dystopia is Fusion Summoned, its effect activates!"
[When this card is Fusion Summoned: You can target 1 Fusion Material monster used to Fusion Summon this card; inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's ATK.]
"I target Destiny HERO - Decider as the Fusion Material. I inflict 1600 damage equal to Decider's ATK!"
"Pressure Palm!!"
Dystopia thrust out a palm of black energy toward the Soul Binder's speeding D-Wheel.
"So this is the HERO Fusion you have been waiting for? A pity. It is completely useless in front of an Earthbound God."
The Soul Binder flipped the set card.
"Counter Trap: Earthbound Rage, activate!"
[Earthbound Rage] [Counter Trap: Can only be activated while you control a monster with "Earthbound God" in its name, and when your opponent activates a monster effect. Negate that activation and destroy it.]
"Flames of hatred, reduce this hero to ash!"
The counter trap fired. The Fusion monster Amano had spent the entire duel building toward was negated and dismissed from the field the instant it arrived, the damage dealing not even a single point.
Amano looked at the three cards remaining in his hand. One was Destiny HERO - Doom Lord. The other two were Speed Spells.
"This is the turn I stake everything on speed. Speed Spell - Catch Up Charge, activate!"
[Speed Spell - Catch Up Charge: Restore LP equal to your current number of Speed Counters multiplied by 200. If your Speed Counters are fewer than your opponent's when this card is activated, take 1 of your opponent's Speed Counters and add it to your own.]
Soul Binder Speed Counters: 7 to 6
Finesse (Amano Rei) Speed Counters: 5 to 6
Finesse (Amano Rei) LP: 1000 to 2200
LP and Speed Counters both rebuilt. The gap between his D-Wheel and the Soul Binder's pitch-black machine was finally gone.
Then Amano committed every last counter he had earned to a single pair of draws.
"Speed Spell - Downshift, activate!"
[Speed Spell - Downshift: Remove 6 of your Speed Counters; draw 2 cards from your deck.]
Finesse (Amano Rei) Speed Counters: 6 to 0
Maximum speed was not always the goal in a Riding Duel. Amano weighed it and spent every remaining counter to buy himself two final draws.
He drew Destiny HERO - Malicious, and the reversal trap he had been counting on.
"I set one card face-down. Turn end."
Both HERO monsters went to his hand. The trap went face-down, and Amano ended the turn with The Wicked Eraser alone on the field as his only monster. Because the Eraser had been Special Summoned through a HERO's effect rather than through the single-use revival spell from the anime, it would not be destroyed at the End Phase.
The Soul Binder's voice came through the roar of the engines: "Even with a higher-ATK Wicked God on the field, you still cannot enter the Battle Phase. It is absolutely useless."
"My turn. Draw!"
Soul Binder Speed Counters: 6 to 7
Amano Rei Speed Counters: 0 to 1
The Soul Binder scanned the Speed Spell he drew and played it immediately.
"Speed Spell - Angel Baton. I draw 2 cards and send 1 card from my hand to the Graveyard. I send Level 9 Dark Tuner Death Submarine!"
With the draw filtered, the Soul Binder activated a monster effect.
"Underground Arachnid: once per turn, equip one of your monsters to this card as an Equip Card!"
The target was obvious. The Wicked Eraser was the only monster on Amano's field.
The dense spider-web that had once snared even Bloo-D with all its absorbed Earthbound God power closed toward the god's body. The Eraser lifted its terrifying head and roared. The webbing recoiled and fell away.
"Do not try to use a Dark Synchro's effect on a true god." Amano kept his voice level. "Gods cannot be affected by the effects of monsters with Levels lower than their own."
Absorbing a fake god like an Earthbound God was one thing. A true Wicked God was not going to be equip-absorbed by some Level negative-6 creature.
"Then I activate Earthbound God Chacu Challhua: inflict damage equal to half its DEF!"
Finesse (Amano Rei) LP: 2200 to 1000
"Still not enough, Soul Binder."
Amano had deliberately recovered his LP via Speed Counters last turn for exactly this reason: to push himself out of range of the whale Earthbound God's kill threshold. With the Wicked Eraser standing guard, the Soul Binder could not find a clean line through.
"Then perhaps this will change things! Speed Spell - Dead Man's Synchro! This card can only be activated while I have 5 or more Speed Counters. I conduct a Synchro Summon using monsters from my Graveyard!"
From the Soul Binder's Graveyard: the Level 9 Dark Tuner Death Submarine discarded moments ago, paired with Level 1 Dark Spider, pressed forward together into a lightless world.
1 minus 9 equals negative 8.
"When darkness is pushed to the absolute extreme, the road to the lightless world extends before us!"
"Absorb the lost souls of the Graveyard and descend!"
"Dark Synchro! Hundred-Eyes Dragon!"
[Hundred-Eyes Dragon] [Level Negative 8 DARK]
[Dragon / Dark Synchro / Effect]
[ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500]
[1 non-Tuner monster + 1 Dark Tuner monster]
Deeper and darker than even the Level negative-6 spider woman, the Level negative-8 Hundred-Eyes Dragon rose from below. Across its pitch-black dragon body, countless eyeballs peered into the abyss, every last one of them fixed simultaneously on Amano. The sight alone was enough to break a person's sanity.
Karl's voice came sharp from the convertible: "Another Synchro Monster with the same ATK as Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Karl did not know about The Wicked Eraser's effect. He only knew that even with a 5000-ATK Wicked God on the field, if Amano could never enter the Battle Phase, the Soul Binder would grind his LP down to zero through attrition.
The Soul Binder slammed the second Dark Synchro card onto the Duel Disk.
"Hundred-Eyes Dragon's effect: it gains the effects of all DARK monsters in my Graveyard!"
Across the pitch-black dragon's body, the countless eyes peered deep into the abyss and reflected an image from within: the colossal Earthbound God lying dormant in the Soul Binder's Graveyard.
"Hundred-Eyes Dragon inherits the effects of Earthbound God Ccapac Apu from the Graveyard!"
Finesse's voice came through their shared awareness, urgent: "This is bad, Amano! Hundred-Eyes Dragon with Ccapac Apu's effect can bypass the Wicked God and hit you directly!"
The Soul Binder gunned the throttle and charged toward a darker stretch of track ahead. "So much for your true god! All gods fall before the power of the Earthbound, brought back from the grave! I enter the Battle Phase!"
It was true: had the Earthbound God carried the genuine Divine attribute, Hundred-Eyes Dragon would have been unable to inherit its effects at all. But with the abilities of a DARK-attribute Earthbound God now absorbed from the Graveyard, the dragon gathered the wrathful energy of a thousand underground grudges into its maw and leveled it at Amano Rei.
"Hundred-Eyes Dragon! Direct attack on the duelist!"
"Right now! In the instant before you reach the attack!"
Charging headlong into the Soul Binder's finishing blow, Amano flipped the critical trap he had set face-down last turn.
"Trap Card: Necro Fusion! Using monsters in my Graveyard as Fusion Materials for a Fusion Summon!"
In a Riding Duel, fusion outside of Speed Spells was possible through trap cards as well. This was exactly what Necro Fusion was for.
"I fuse Destiny HERO - Dystopia and Destiny HERO - Dasher from my Graveyard!"
Two Destiny HERO cards ejected from Amano's Graveyard slot on the D-Wheel, both blazing with the golden light of justice.
"HERO of the dark world, HERO of the dream world, become one!"
"Lord over the twilight promised land!"
"Fusion Summon! Come forth! Destiny HERO - Dusktopia!!"
[Destiny HERO - Dusktopia] [Level 10 DARK]
[Warrior / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 3000 / DEF: 3000]
["Destiny HERO" Fusion Monster + "Destiny HERO" monster]
Golden armor blazing with the light of justice through the surrounding darkness, the Level 10 Fusion HERO that embodied the twilight promised land swept back into the Riding Duel and brought the light of hope with him.
"When Destiny HERO - Dusktopia is Fusion Summoned, its effect activates!"
[When this card is Fusion Summoned: You can Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using monsters from your hand or field as Fusion Material.]
Even after the initial Fusion Summon, Dusktopia's monster effect could immediately trigger a second Fusion.
The Soul Binder had dragged Finesse, a HERO deck user, into a Riding Duel Dark Game specifically because HERO decks struggled to Fusion Summon in the Riding Duel format without normal Spell Cards. Amano had just torn that premise apart, unleashing a full-scale Fusion storm in the high-speed world of roaring D-Wheels.
The two Destiny HERO cards still in his hand had been held back from the very start for exactly this moment.
"Because of Dusktopia's effect, I fuse Destiny HERO - Malicious and Destiny HERO - Doom Lord from my hand!"
A Level 6 or higher HERO monster, plus one additional Destiny HERO monster as the second material.
Finesse's voice came through their shared awareness, charged: "That combination of Fusion Materials, Amano! That's that card!"
The girl who bore the name of a phoenix, fusing with the undying phoenix born through a boy's soul.
Amano thrust his arm out toward the golden Fusion storm. Inside the dark Riding Duel, the fires of fate were lit by the phoenix's cry.
Undying. Indestructible.
Most beautiful. Most powerful.
"Those who see through fate shall seize the power to command it! Phoenix feathers, tear through the final curtain!"
"Fusion Summon! Destiny HERO - Destroy Phoenix Enforcer!"
[Destiny HERO - Destroy Phoenix Enforcer] [Level 8 DARK]
[Warrior / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2100]
[Level 6 or higher "HERO" monster + "Destiny HERO" monster]
Destiny's fire blazed across the ignited city. Standing at the end of Amano's Fusion storm this turn, that most beautiful, most powerful phoenix held its ground.
"Destiny HERO - Destroy Phoenix Enforcer's effect activates!"
[Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can destroy 1 card you control and 1 card on the field.]
"I choose my own Wicked Eraser and your Destiny HERO - Bloo-D to destroy!"
The targets Amano selected for Phoenix Enforcer's destruction were, remarkably, both cards on his own side of the field.
True gods could not be affected by the effects of monsters with lower Levels. But a player's own monsters could affect their own gods. This principle stretched all the way back to the Ceremonial Duel in the original Duel Monsters anime: the Sky Dragon used Thunder Force to destroy the Winged Dragon of Ra, a god that under normal circumstances should have been immune to the card's effect. Your own monsters on your own field could reach your own gods.
"Burn!"
"Phoenix Celestial Drive!!"
The phoenix impact, split into two prongs by living flame, shattered Bloo-D where it sat as an Equip Card, and The Wicked Eraser alongside it.
"A meaningless play! Even if you destroyed your own cards, Hundred-Eyes Dragon's direct attack still continues!"
"It cannot continue. Phoenix Enforcer's fires of fate have just lit the real detonator."
Amano sent the Wicked Eraser card to the D-Wheel's Graveyard slot.
"The Wicked Eraser's effect activates! When this card is destroyed, all cards on the field are destroyed!"
High overhead, the massive god let out one final agonized, screaming cry. For an instant, even the heavens and earth inside Eden Tower seemed to shudder in dread.
"Catastrophic Erasure!!"
The god's dying declaration: a bombardment of absolute evil, a tide of pitch-black darkness that swallowed and swamped the entire Riding Duel track.
Amano clenched his fist in the direction of the Soul Binder's field: "Take them all out, false gods!"
Earthbound God Chacu Challhua: destroyed.
Hundred-Eyes Dragon: destroyed.
Underground Arachnid: destroyed.
Destiny HERO - Destroy Phoenix Enforcer: destroyed.
"Finesse!!" Karl, watching the pitch-black tide swallow Finesse and the D-Wheel, called out before he could stop himself.
In the next instant, a HERO monster blazing with golden light led the D-Wheel charging out of the darkness.
Under The Wicked Eraser's total field wipe, one monster remained unbroken.
"Destiny HERO - Dusktopia's effect activates!"
[Once per turn, when an effect that would destroy a monster is activated: You can target 1 monster on the field. That monster cannot be destroyed by that effect this turn.]
"I targeted Dusktopia itself. Dusktopia is immune to destruction by effect this turn!"
"Twilight Promised Land!!"
"I have not lost yet, Finesse Wein!"
The Soul Binder, his entire field wiped clean, rode his D-Wheel out of the dark tide right behind Amano. But for the first time in this Riding Duel, Amano was one step ahead. He had finally completed the overtake, leaving the Soul Binder behind on the track.
"Hundred-Eyes Dragon's effect: when this card is destroyed, I add 1 card from my deck to my hand! I add Speed Spell - Downshift!"
Like Amano, the Soul Binder was now out of ammunition. He too pressed every remaining counter into this final stretch.
"Speed Spell - Downshift! Remove 6 Speed Counters; draw 2 cards from my deck!"
Soul Binder Speed Counters: 7 to 1
Two D-Wheels in a flat-out sprint, neither duelist willing to give an inch, locked into a final confrontation along the darkened track.
"I activate the effect of Earthbound God Scarlet Nova from my hand! Banish this card from my hand, send another Earthbound God from my hand to the Graveyard, and Special Summon an Earthbound God from my deck!"
[Earthbound God Scarlet Nova] [DARK]
[Fiend / Effect]
[Only 1 "Earthbound God" monster can be face-up on the field. Once per turn, during your Main Phase or your opponent's Main Phase: You can banish this card from your hand or Graveyard; send 1 "Earthbound God" monster or "Scar-Red" monster from your hand or field to the Graveyard. Then apply 1 of the following effects: Special Summon 1 "Earthbound God" monster from your deck or Extra Deck. Special Summon 1 "Scar-Red" monster from your Extra Deck.]
Two cards spent to call down one final god.
"Descend! Earthbound God Caraiva!"
[Earthbound God Caraiva] [Level 10 DARK]
[Reptile / Effect]
[ATK: 2800 / DEF: 1800]
[If no Field Spell Card is face-up on the field, this card's effects are negated and it is destroyed during the End Phase.
This card can attack your opponent directly.
Your opponent's monsters cannot target this card for attacks.
This card is unaffected by your opponent's Spell and Trap effects.
When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard by a method other than its own effect...]
A colossal lizard Earthbound God, burning with the last embers of a thousand-year grudge, descended onto the Riding Duel track.
"My turn ends. Your move, Finesse Wein."
Amano had nothing left in his hand either. Win or lose, everything came down to this one draw. His favorite part of any duel, the luck gamble, staking it all on the supernatural card-drawing fortune that had once won him ten consecutive district-level poker championships.
"My turn! Draw! And during my Standby Phase, I revive Destiny HERO - Destroy Phoenix Enforcer from my Graveyard!"
[If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect: During your next Standby Phase, Special Summon 1 "Destiny HERO" monster from your Graveyard.]
Finesse's voice, filled with quiet awe: "That effect, living up to its name as the undying, indestructible phoenix. Incredible."
The flames of fate collided with the flames of a thousand-year Earthbound grudge.
Amano's Moon Butterfly D-Wheel and the Soul Binder's pitch-black machine held nearly the same position on the track, separated by a razor-thin gap, locked nose to tail as they launched into the final showdown.
"Phoenix Enforcer's effect: I choose to destroy Phoenix Enforcer together with your Earthbound God!"
The hero's fires of fate consumed the grudge buried deep in the earth. Through the crumbling flame along the track, the colossal lizard Earthbound God burned and collapsed.
"When Earthbound God Caraiva is destroyed, the same effect as The Wicked Eraser triggers! All cards on the field are destroyed!"
History repeated itself across two consecutive turns. The inferno that burned across the city this time left Amano completely untouched.
"I told you: it will not be destroyed! Destiny HERO - Dusktopia continues granting itself immunity from destruction by effect this turn!"
The golden light of the twilight promised land that Dusktopia carried seemed, in this final moment of the duel, to illuminate the mid-district through all the disasters it had suffered that night.
Amano's field: Destiny HERO - Dusktopia, ATK 3000.
The Soul Binder's LP: 4000. Untouched.
Amano's draw for this turn was...
"The duel is mine. Fate's end has arrived."
"I Normal Summon Destiny HERO - Drill Guy in Attack Position!"
[Destiny HERO - Drill Guy] [Level 4 DARK]
[Warrior / Effect]
[ATK: 1600 / DEF: 1200]
[Once per turn, when this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Destiny HERO" monster with ATK less than or equal to this card's ATK from your hand. When this card attacks a Defense Position monster: Inflict piercing battle damage.]
The last hero materialized on the now-extinguished track, spinning drill raised high.
"Use this final drill to bore through the dark wall that has been hiding here until tonight, and open a crack in the armor of fate!"
The winds of fate and the light of justice would flow in through that cracked opening, because of everything that happened in this duel.
"Direct attack! Destiny HERO - Dusktopia! Destiny HERO - Drill Guy!"
"Combined Hero Strike: Twilight Promised Land Impact!!"
Both Destiny HEROes launched simultaneous direct attacks. The Soul Binder's D-Wheel, caught in the combined force of the hero union, was blasted clean off the track. It flipped end over end for dozens of rotations before the burning walls of the Dark Game circuit finally caught it and sent it up in a column of flame.
"AAHHHHHH!!"
Soul Binder LP: 4000 to 1000 to 0.
[Dark Game]
[Winner: Amano Rei]
[Professional identity detected. Recording now in progress.]
[Professional Identity: "Soul Binder"]
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