Sort Of 25: Chapter 25: A Candle in the Wind…
Sort Of “I activate Kentregina’s effect!” Jamie raised one hand.
“Once per turn, during either player’s Main Phase, I can pay half my Life Points and banish one ‘Dinomorphia’ Normal Trap from my Graveyard.
Kentregina’s effect becomes that Trap’s effect when it resolves.” Jamie pointed toward his Graveyard.
“I banish Dinomorphia Alert!” [Jamie St.
James LP: 188 → 94] [Dinomorphia Kentregina ATK: 3812 → 3906] “Come back again, Therizia!
Diplos!” The warning alarms sounded once more.
Therizia and Diplos, who had barely finished leaving the field, returned in Defense Position beside Kentregina.
If Kentregina’s effect were not limited to once per turn, Jamie could have immediately used those two freshly revived monsters as Fusion Material to bring out another Fusion Monster.
At this point, he had one large monster and two smaller ones on the field, protection against effect damage waiting in his Graveyard, another Fusion play prepared for the following turn, and five face-down cards behind everything.
Jamie genuinely had no idea how he was supposed to lose from here.
“My turn is finally over.” He gestured toward Kaiba.
“Please, continue your performance.” Then Jamie looked at his five Set cards and smiled.
“Want to guess what wonderful surprises I’ve hidden back here?” Kaiba accepted the turn with a much more serious expression than before.
Something had changed.
The moment Jamie Set those four additional Traps, Kaiba had sensed a shift in the atmosphere around him.
He could no longer dismiss every unscientific sensation as imagination.
He could feel it now.
The two Blue-Eyes White Dragons standing before him were not simply holographic projections.
There was something more to them.
And he could also sense another similar presence within the Duel.
Behind Jamie.
Kaiba could only make out a faint shape.
A skull.
“My turn.
Draw!” Kaiba drew.
“I activate Pot of Greed!” Two more cards entered his hand.
Kaiba did not even need to look at them.
The connection he felt with the two Blue-Eyes White Dragons on his field had already told him exactly what one of those cards was.
His final Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
The key to victory was now in his hand.
But first, he needed to prepare the field.
“I activate—” “Hold it!” Kaiba’s eyes narrowed.
“Before you do anything, I activate Kentregina’s effect again!” Jamie pointed toward his Graveyard.
“I pay half my Life Points and banish Dinomorphia Domain, copying its effect!” [Jamie St.
James LP: 94 → 47] [Dinomorphia Kentregina ATK: 3906 → 3953] “The Fusion Materials are one ‘Dinomorphia’ Fusion Monster and one ‘Dinomorphia’ monster.
I send Diplos and Kentregina to the Graveyard!” Jamie thrust out one hand.
“Fusion Summon!” “Appear in Attack Position—Dinomorphia Rexterm!” The futuristic city rose around them once more.
Diplos and Kentregina disappeared among its towering buildings.
Then an enormous shadow appeared overhead.
Something was falling from the sky.
BOOM!
The impact seemed to shake heaven and earth.
In fact, the earth itself genuinely split apart.
A massive tyrannosaur landed on the battlefield, its entire body encased in heavy futuristic armor.
Two enormous particle thrusters mounted along its back burned with brilliant blue light, while its colossal hind claws tore deep trenches through the ground as it landed.
[Dinomorphia Rexterm] DARK / Level 8 / Dinosaur ATK: 3000 DEF: 0 Unlike the other Dinomorphia monsters Jamie had summoned, whose Dinosaur typing contrasted with their human appearances, Rexterm was unmistakably a dinosaur.
A pure predator.
A savage beast.
The ancient tyrant that had once ruled the earth had been armed with technology from the distant future and returned to claim dominion once again.
Across from it stood Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
One was a dragon of legend.
The other was a tyrant from the ancient earth.
Two apex creatures from entirely different worlds stared each other down, each displaying a majesty unique to its own nature.
“All right,” Jamie said.
“I’m finished.
Continue your turn.” Kaiba held one card between his fingers and studied Rexterm carefully.
“You traded a monster with nearly 4000 ATK and another monster for a new monster with only 3000 ATK, yet this monster has a higher Level than the last one.” His eyes narrowed.
“What are you planning?” Jamie shrugged.
“Well, for your next Duel Disk upgrade, I strongly recommend adding a function that lets you inspect card information.
It would save you all this blind guessing.” Kaiba’s eyebrow twitched.
“Oh, and add some proper method for deciding who goes first.
Roll dice or something.
That would be much fairer.” Jamie lifted another finger.
“And while you’re at it, get rid of that stupid rule preventing Fusion Monsters from attacking on the turn they’re Fusion Summoned.
Our era uses the Master Rules, and we don’t have nonsense like that.” Kaiba’s focus immediately shifted.
“Master Rules?” “That’s right.
In our era, the highest form of organized Dueling is called Master Duel, so naturally its rules are the Master Rules.” Jamie smiled.
“As for the specifics, maybe I’ll explain them another time.” He paused.
“That includes some of the summoning methods from the future.” Kaiba went silent.
Jamie raised one hand.
“Synchro Summoning—drawing upon an endlessly turning power, accelerating again and again until you surpass even light itself.” A second finger.
“Xyz Summoning—seeking the ultimate evolution, piercing through reality and illusion as you climb an endless hierarchy toward a higher realm.” A third.
“Pendulum Summoning—turning the attraction between souls into power, causing those souls to surge and collide until even the chains of fate break and the universe itself trembles.” And finally— “Link Summoning—creating circuits that connect past and future, opening paths through an infinite world of data to discover possibilities without end.” Kaiba repeated the words slowly.
“Synchro…
Xyz…
Pendulum…
Link…” His gaze hardened.
“Summoning methods from the future.” Then realization struck.
“You mean you still haven’t shown me your full strength?” Jamie spread his hands.
“Isn’t that obvious?” He shrugged.
“You haven’t even broken through my defense.
Why would I need to go all out?” “Then I’ll break through it!” Kaiba had not realized it, but somewhere during the course of their Duel, their positions had reversed.
He had become the challenger.
“I activate the Quick-Play Spell Mystical Space Typhoon!
I target the leftmost face-down card in your Spell & Trap Zone and destroy it!” A blue-green cyclone tore across the field.
Jamie looked at the targeted card and shook his head helplessly.
Destroying a Trap did not necessarily prevent it from resolving once activated, but the timing was disappointing.
“Couldn’t you have waited a little longer?” Jamie flipped it.
“I activate End of the Line!
I can only activate this Trap while my Life Points are below 100.
I draw two cards.
If my Life Points were below 10, I’d get to draw another two.” [Jamie St.
James: Hand 2 → 4] [Achievement Unlocked: A Candle in the Wind…
Sort Of] Jamie was still lamenting the lost opportunity when something extraordinary happened outside their Duel.
Both Jamie and Kaiba suddenly turned in the same direction.
The sky had been perfectly clear.
Now enormous black clouds were gathering.
Thunder rolled through the mass of darkness above Domino City, each peal shaking the air.
Jamie stared for a moment.
The omen was unmistakable.
An Egyptian God had descended.
“Looks like things just got interesting.” Jamie turned back toward Kaiba with a smile.
“We should probably finish our Duel quickly.
If this takes too long, I’m going to miss the fun.” “Then I’ll end it as quickly as possible!” Both Blue-Eyes White Dragons spread their wings and roared.
An overwhelming pressure erupted from Kaiba at the same time.
“I activate Polymerization!” Kaiba raised the final Blue-Eyes from his hand.
“I fuse the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand with the two Blue-Eyes White Dragons on my field!” The three dragons began to merge.
“Behold the ultimate form of history’s strongest and most magnificent monster!” Kaiba threw out one hand.
“Transcend the boundaries of time and space and descend before me!” “Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!” The colossal three-headed dragon appeared in a burst of blinding white radiance.
Kaiba’s coat whipped behind him as he roared.
“Burst Stream of Destruction!” “Perfect!” “Invincible!” “Ultimate!”