Chapter 153: The Riding Duel That Burns the Earth
"Amano Rei? Amano Rei, what's wrong?!"
Karl stared at the figure in his passenger seat, who had gone completely limp the instant he landed. He assumed the jump itself had done something.
"Come on, Amano Rei, stay with me! Don't you dare die in my car!"
No amount of calling was going to get a response. Amano's soul was already back in the Dark Game Riding Duel.
"What kind of hellish twenty-four-hour training schedule is this. The Dark Game intensity is completely unreasonable."
Complaints registered and noted. He still immediately spread out Finesse's deck the moment he had control of her body.
The Field Spell High-Speed World was already active. There was no time to go through the deck carefully card by card.
The only option was quick and decisive: strip all the normal Spell Cards out of Finesse's deck.
In High-Speed World, the cost of using a normal Spell Card was too steep to justify. What he needed in their place were Speed Spells.
Amano worked both angles simultaneously, pulling normal Spells out of Finesse's deck with one hand while mentally activating a system skill.
Finesse's deck had no Speed Spells. But Amano had a skill that covered exactly that.
A skill from Rin Seiya-senpai.
ROMANCE SKILL: "CLEAR MIND STATE"
GRANTS: Top-tier D-Wheel piloting. Unlocks "Formula Synchron" in the Extra Deck. Unlocks any Speed Spell for exchange during Riding Duels.
Any Speed Spell, exchangeable during a Riding Duel.
During his previous Riding Duel, the Speed Spells had been on loan from Rin Seiya, which was exactly why he had held back from activating this skill then. The system's Speed Spell exchange rate was a flat five thousand Eva Points per card, which was steep enough that Amano had not wanted to burn through that budget unnecessarily.
But this was Finesse's body. That meant it was Finesse's money.
Amano: "Finesse, how much are you working with right now?"
Finesse: "My... savings? Not much left, actually."
He had miscalculated. He had forgotten that Finesse's financial situation was not as comfortable as her family name implied.
He had just pulled ten normal Spell Cards from the deck. If her balance was not enough to exchange for ten Speed Spells, he was going to have to put some of the normals back.
Finesse: "About eight hundred thousand, give or take."
Amano: "..."
Wealthy people and their definitions of "not much."
Eight hundred thousand Eva Points was enough to push everything he had saved to date flat onto the ground. For a family heiress it genuinely was not a large sum. Converted to card value it was roughly the cost of one Monster Reborn with a little extra. But for purchasing Speed Spells it was more than sufficient.
Amano moved through the system interface and selected nine Speed Spells, spending forty-five thousand Eva Points. Adding the one card he had already slipped in from his side box, that brought the replacement count to exactly ten, filling in every slot left by the removed normal Spells.
"That will have to do. No more time."
How to duel with a HERO deck stripped of normal Spell Cards in a Riding Duel environment was a problem for once the duel actually started.
The road ahead was curving into the first corner, which marked the formal beginning of the Dark Game Riding Duel.
"I'm taking first turn!"
The man on the opposing D-Wheel swept through the bend a fraction ahead of Amano. The Moonlight Butterfly's performance was excellent, but the opponent's machine was clearly no ordinary model either. The speed reduction from Amano's jump off the D-Wheel before the transfer had cost him ground, and with it, the first turn.
SOUL BINDER LP: 4000 / Speed Counters: 0
vs.
FINESSE LP: 4000 / Speed Counters: 0
Amano read the name on the duel interface and his brow tightened.
After the Puppeteer and the Soulswindler, now a Soul Binder?
How many different roles did this organization of dark duelists actually have? It felt like there was no end to them.
Finesse: "Six, I think."
Amano: "Six?"
Finesse: "That's what the Wein family's investigation turned up. Based on the lead you gave us, people with burn marks around their left eye within the past two weeks."
When Finesse had been investigating alone in the shadows with limited resources, progress had been painfully slow and she had hit walls everywhere she turned. But the moment the Wein family formally took ownership of the investigation and committed the full weight of their connections and intelligence network to it, the pace of progress had accelerated dramatically.
Originally, Finesse working alone had struggled to cover even the academy's student population. Tonight, with the full family behind the effort, the sweep of the entire mid-district had produced results.
Burn marks around the left eye. Two-week window. Students only.
Statistically, under normal circumstances, you would expect to find perhaps one person in several million with that specific characteristic. The probability was negligible.
Except the probability had not been normal.
Scanning the mid-district population had produced six matches.
And while all six were students, most of them were also the sons or daughters of major corporations or commercial houses.
That fact alone probably explained why the Wein family had faced interference and obstruction from multiple directions during the early phase of the investigation.
Finesse said with certainty: "We don't have definitive proof yet. But those six people are connected to the dark duelists. I'm certain of it."
Amano: "Whether they're connected or not, tonight might answer that."
According to what the Soulswindler had said, the Puppeteer's identity card appeared to be damaged. On top of that, Amano and Rin Seiya had defeated the Soulswindler tonight, and Amano had even absorbed the Soulswindler's identity into his system.
If he could defeat the Soul Binder here as well, three of the six would have lost Dark Games.
Assuming the Wein family's six identified targets were genuinely all connected to the dark duelists, none of them could realistically emerge from tonight without consequences.
Three consecutive Dark Games in a single night was not a comfortable prospect for his body or his mind. The fatigue compounded in ways that did not add neatly.
But the thought that everything he had been fighting toward across all these Dark Games might finally be producing real results was enough to push a second wind through him.
"Let's crack this thing open tonight."
"My turn, draw!" The Soul Binder pulled his opening card and immediately slammed a face-down onto his D-Wheel field. "I set one card. Turn end."
A characteristically sparse first turn in a Riding Duel. With Speed Counters at zero, the options were extremely limited.
"My turn, draw!"
Speed Counters: 0 > 1
As Amano's first turn began, his Speed Counter rose by one. Not enough to activate any Speed Spell yet. But the rising counter meant the D-Wheels were accelerating.
On a dedicated Riding Duel circuit, that acceleration was exhilarating. On densely trafficked city streets at ten in the evening, it was a significant problem.
Finesse: "Amano! Watch out, oncoming car!"
He had to play cards and navigate traffic simultaneously. The road they were on was full of vehicles driving directly toward them. How was this entire stretch running the wrong way?
Amano used Finesse's body to execute an emergency swerve around an oncoming car, then finally had a moment to scan the six cards laid out on his D-Wheel field.
Finesse's deck had picked up several new Destiny HERO monsters since he had last seen it. Some additions she had clearly made recently.
Whether she had paid to pull them or earned them through the Fusion Academy's assessment system was unclear. Either way, having stronger HEROes available was welcome news in the current situation.
Amano selected one of the new additions and sent it to the monster zone.
"I Normal Summon in Attack Position: Destiny HERO - Drawhand!"
DESTINY HERO - DRAWHAND
DARK / Level 4
Warrior / Effect
ATK: 1600 / DEF: 800
At sixteen hundred attack points, Drawhand sat among the stronger lower-level HERO monsters in terms of raw ATK. The white-suited figure materialized on the road, dark scarf trailing behind it in the wind, vaulting from rooftop to rooftop of the oncoming vehicles as it charged forward.
"Entering the Battle Phase. The opponent has no monsters. Destiny HERO - Drawhand attacks directly!"
Following the attack command, the Destiny HERO leveled a finger-gun at the black D-Wheel racing ahead and fired a D-shaped bullet of fate energy toward it.
In the instant before impact, the Soul Binder flipped his set card.
"Trap Card: Offering to the Earthbound!"
OFFERING TO THE EARTHBOUND
Trap Card: Activate when the opponent declares a direct attack. Negate that attack. Special Summon 2 "Offering Stone Tokens" (Rock / EARTH / Level 1 / ATK 0 / DEF 0) to your field. Add 1 card with "Earthbound God" in its name from your deck to your hand.
A massive black heart, pulsing with dark energy, appeared over the Riding Duel course. It absorbed the incoming bullet cleanly, and in the Soul Binder's field, two strange stone monument tokens materialized.
"And from my deck, I add Earthbound God Ccapac Apu to my hand!"
The brow of Finesse's face pulled into a frown as Amano processed the read.
Not just consecutive high-intensity Dark Games tonight. They were consecutive god battles as well.
First the Wicked Gods. Now an Earthbound God.
Earthbound Gods were not strictly in the same tier as the three Egyptian Gods, but in the permanent High-Speed World environment of a Riding Duel, their suppressive power was every bit as overwhelming. The reason was built into their nature: Earthbound Gods required a Field Spell to exist, and in a Riding Duel, High-Speed World was a permanent fixture that could never be removed. The conditions that made Earthbound Gods nearly unstoppable were baked directly into the format.
"This is going to be complicated."
On one side: a Riding Duel specialist fielding an Earthbound God. On the other: a HERO duelist who had just had all her normal Spell Cards stripped out. He could see exactly why the Soul Binder had chosen to force Finesse specifically into this Dark Game. Her investigation was a threat to the organization's existence, yes, but beyond that, the HERO archetype's toolkit was structurally compromised in a Riding Duel environment. The matchup had been chosen deliberately.
Amano set two face-down cards.
"I set two cards. Turn end."
"My turn, draw!"
The black heart over the course beat louder and harder as the Soul Binder's turn opened. Even with the constant horn noise of traffic all around them, the dark heartbeat cut through everything.
"Now let this city ignite and become our battlefield. Girl who calls herself a hero, let me see how many people you can save."
He freed the two Offering Stone Tokens from his field and offered them up.
"I offer two monsters as Tribute for an Earthbound God!"
"The god who uses the mountains as a cutting board and cities as a measuring stick, redrawing the world in darkness!"
"Hear the pulse of the earth's arteries!"
"TRIBUTE SUMMON! EARTHBOUND GOD CCAPAC APU!!"
The Earthbound God that had been retrieved by Offering to the Earthbound last turn descended at the first opportunity.
EARTHBOUND GOD CCAPAC APU
DARK / Level 10
Fiend / Effect
ATK: 3000 / DEF: 2500
If there is no face-up Field Spell on the field, this card's effects are negated and it is destroyed during the End Phase.
This card can attack the opponent directly.
The opponent cannot target this card for attacks.
This card is unaffected by the opponent's Spell and Trap effects.
When this card destroys an opponent's monster in battle, inflict damage to the opponent equal to that monster's ATK.
The pulsing black heart ascended to the highest point of the sky. From somewhere deep beneath the road, a vast dark energy surged upward and condensed into a colossal blue-black giant materializing above the Soul Binder's D-Wheel.
Finesse: "ATK 3000, DEF 2500. Those numbers are the same as..."
The Soul Binder raised one arm toward the towering figure above him.
"With a Field Spell card in play, Ccapac Apu's full effects are activated!"
In Quechua, Ccapac Apu meant great authority, the lord of the mountain summit.
As long as a Field Spell was face-up on the field, the Earthbound God's three core immunities and abilities came online in full.
This card can attack the opponent directly.
The opponent cannot target this card for attacks.
This card is unaffected by the opponent's Spell and Trap effects.
Three thousand attack points matching Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Full immunity to Spells and Traps. Direct attack access with no ability for the opponent to fight back. If only the Earthbound God remained on the Soul Binder's field, Amano could not even declare an attack.
"With the flames of the Nazca Lines, ignite Eden completely!"
In that instant, blue fire poured from the enormous black giant's body and spread outward to both sides of the road, burning the path forward into a dedicated flame circuit for the Dark Game Riding Duel.
Viewed from directly above the mid-district, the fire would have looked like a colossal drawing burning itself into the surface of the city, lines of flame etching a vast image across the streets.
Every vehicle on the road that had been running against traffic found its path suddenly blocked by walls of fire on either side. Engines stopped. Drivers had no choice but to pull over and wait.
Eden provided no dedicated course for unsanctioned Riding Duels. The Earthbound God had simply built one out of burning city streets.
"Receive judgment from the god, girl who calls herself a hero!"
Taking the Soul Binder's command, Ccapac Apu entered the Battle Phase without hesitation.
The colossal dark fist of the Earthbound God came down toward the D-Wheel carrying Amano and Finesse like a hammer aimed at something it intended to flatten completely.
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