"Land Watcher's effect, Special Summon Rock Sweeper from the Deck!"
As the "slaves" of the Earthbound Immortal, those two Subordinate Gods appeared on Tenjo Hikari's field.
They struggled, wailed in agony, just like the souls of all those ordinary people trapped inside Chacu Challhua.
"Are you trying to Synchro Muddy Mudragon here?" Lilos immediately thought of a possibility. "But that's impossible. Even if you fuse two Dark Attribute Monsters to Fusion Summon Starving Venom Fusion Dragon and copy the Earthbound Immortal's effect, because of Chacu Challhua's effect, Tenjo Hikari, you can't battle anyway!"
He smashed his fist in the air. "Yeah! Because Chacu Challhua is in Defense Position, you're not allowed to battle! You're done for!"
"Done for… I haven't even used Polymerization yet, why do you think I'm going to lose?" Tenjo Hikari narrowed his eyes and flipped open the card. "Where is your 'possibility', your trust in 'Fusion', General of the Fusion Army!"
"Activate Trap Card, Darklord Uprising!"
"Rise up in rebellion against your so‑called 'God'!"
"Discard Darklord Zerato from my hand to activate Darklord Uprising's effect, send Monsters from my hand and field to the Graveyard to conduct a Dark Attribute Fusion Summon!"
"W–what?" Lilos finally reacted.
That card is—
"That's right, it's exactly the card you were so afraid of… the one Professor Cronos gave me."
"Fuse the two Earthbound Servants on the field!"
"Ancient soul imprisoned in the ocean's depths!"
"Now, rebel against the source of all sin!"
"Fusion Summon!"
"LV 8, Earthbound Servant Geo Kraken!"
Boom!
Boom boom boom—
In the sea, countless tentacles rose up from the ground.
A Geo sigil of a squid, smaller than the killer whale Geo, surfaced midway between earth and sky, hunched low like a mere attendant.
An octopus wrapped head to toe in chains and restraints slowly rose from the sea surface, cowering there behind Tenjo Hikari.
Boom!
The waves roared, the beach was washed by the surf, and the security officers were so terrified they huddled together.
Earthbound Servant Geo Kraken, LV 8, Dark Attribute, Fiend-Type, Attack Power 2800.
Because of Darklord Uprising's effect, Tenjo Hikari also recovers Life Points equal to the ATK of the discarded Darklord.
Tenjo Hikari LP: 200→3000.
"Tch, isn't that just an Earthbound Servant?" At first sight Finger was a little shocked by the Monster, but after seeing its name, he completely relaxed.
It's just a slave to an Earthbound Immortal. What's the big deal?
Just like how everyone in the Lower City Area is their expendable resource.
"Heh, true, in terms of sheer attack, Geo Kraken really can't compare to your Earthbound Immortal… but even 'servants' have their own specialties."
"Effect of Earthbound Servant Geo Kraken. When this card is Special Summoned, add 1 Field Spell Card from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand."
This is an effect it possesses solely to serve the "Earthbound Immortal."
Finger wasn't particularly surprised.
"I add Earthbound Prison from my Deck to my hand."
Tenjo Hikari's Deck auto‑shuffled, and a trembling, cracked card shot out from his Deck into his hand.
The cards in Tenjo Hikari's Deck that aren't closely related to Fusion will be affected by the power of Super Polymerization and get fused into something else.
However, with Hikari's current mastery over Fusion, he can already afford to run quite a few cards that aren't directly related to Fusion in his Deck—like Magical Hats.
But for this card, Tenjo Hikari had no intention of restraining his power.
"Haven't you realized a problem yet? The Earthbound Immortal's effect requires a 'face‑up Field Spell Card' on the field to function."
!?
Only now did Finger come to his senses.
"I set Earthbound Prison in the Field Zone." Tenjo Hikari casually slid the Earthbound Prison into the Field Zone, without flipping it face‑up.
In the sky, the already unstable Geo sigil began to dissipate at once, and the Earthbound Immortal that had been rampaging so fiercely in the air gradually lost its vigor, becoming visibly fatigued.
"Damn it!" Lilos roared in anger at the side. Under the current Duel Rules, only one Field can exist on the field at a time, so setting a new Field Card replaces the previous one!
Now, Tenjo Hikari can switch Chimerafflesia and Drawhand to Attack Position, then use Chimerafflesia to destroy the Earthbound Immortal in battle, and use Geo Kraken and Drawhand to attack directly. With no Earthbound Immortal on the field, there's no way to activate Earthbound Immortal's Roar—Finger will lose on the spot!
Damn it, if he hadn't discarded Steelswarm earlier and used a different strategy, destroyed Predaplant Chimerafflesia instead—fine, Chimerafflesia would search a card with "Polymerization" in its name, but with Revoke Fusion on the field, it wouldn't have mattered even if Hikari got it!
At that point, Geo Kraken with Attack Power 2800 wouldn't stand a chance against the higher‑ATK Earthbound Immortal—because once Earthbound Immortal's Roar activated, any Monster with less ATK than the Earthbound Immortal would be destroyed the moment it declared an attack!
After that, he'd only have to stall it out, or get lucky and draw a Field Spell, and the win would have been Finger's!
Finger was slow on the uptake, but even he realized he was about to lose. He hurriedly waved his hands. "Wait, wait wait wait, this one doesn't count, this isn't a Racing Duel, so it shouldn't count toward the Dark Sign contest—"
"At this point, you still want to say that?"
Tenjo Hikari slowly raised his hand and pointed at Finger. "Switch Chimerafflesia and Drawhand from Defense Position to Attack Position—Chimerafflesia, attack Earthbound Immortal Chacu Challhua!"
With a full 5000 ATK, Chimerafflesia can even gain another 1000 ATK during battle, and without Field support, the Earthbound Immortal can't invoke its Divine Power and is simply dragged down by Chimerafflesia and destroyed right before its new partner's eyes.
The restraints on Geo Kraken's body began to crack.
Countless souls imprisoned inside Chacu Challhua began to spill outward with Geo Kraken as the center.
Tenjo Hikari continued his command. "Drawhand, fire!"
Drawhand moved with speed, firing a shot into Finger's leg just as he tried to run, instantly knocking him to the ground.
Finger LP: 4000→2400.
"And finally, Geo Kraken, I'll leave the decision to you."
Tenjo Hikari looked toward Geo Kraken.
The gigantic sea monster held still for a long time. Only when Finger scrambled into his vehicle, trying to flee, did it suddenly launch a torrent of ink, blotting out Finger's vision.
Then a tentacle as thick as a divine pillar came crashing down, slamming squarely onto Finger.
"Aaaaaarghhhh!!"
Unlike Tenjo Hikari, who had gritted his teeth and taken a direct attack from an Earthbound Immortal head‑on…
Finger, all talk and no grit, a man who never intended to suffer for real, screamed the instant he was struck by a direct attack from the Earthbound.
He passed out in the vehicle, and only after quite a while did he come to, shouting in the direction he remembered the security officers being. "What are you idiots still standing around for, hurry up and arrest this guy!"
"But, Count, you promised—"
"What promised, I didn't… aaaarghhhh!!"
Suddenly, he felt his whole body lift as if floating. Pain wracked him from head to toe. In the sky, that enormous purple whale reappeared out of nowhere, as if surfacing mid‑dive, and swallowed Finger—who still had plenty left to say—in a single gulp.
Then, under the panicked scrambling of the security officers, the killer whale plummeted from the sky toward the ground.
They had seen firsthand how terrifying the Earthbound Immortal's attacks were. If it crashed into the ground, how would any of them survive?
But their fear proved unnecessary.
As the killer whale fell, its body gradually shrank, turning into purple light, and finally into a single card, which Tenjo Hikari casually caught.
A card of an Earthbound Immortal slowly lost its glow, taking form in his hand.