Chapter 202: The Victory and Glory of Class 1-E
"Absolute Force Domination!!"
Red Dragon Archfiend at double ATK crashed through Ancient Sacred Wyvern with 6000 points of force.
Ancient Sacred Wyvern: destroyed.
Kirisame LP: 7000 to 6000.
"When Ancient Sacred Wyvern is destroyed by battle, I can pay 1000 LP to Special Summon it from the GY!"
Kirisame LP: 6000 to 5000.
The revival had succeeded, but between the battle damage absorbed and the LP paid as cost, Kirisame's total had fallen far enough that her gap over Amano was no longer the commanding lead it had been.
Amano LP: 4100.
The gap was now only 900 points. Ancient Sacred Wyvern's ATK adjusted accordingly.
Ancient Sacred Wyvern ATK: 2100 plus 900 equals 3000.
"Her ATK is down to a measly 3000!" Outside the virtual space, Rin Seiya's star-bright eyes had taken on a distinctly monetary quality. If Amano took the base and closed this out, the Class War would be a genuine upset victory. Every person who had bet on A-class would be transferring their credits straight into her wallet.
Think of it as her doing them a favor. She was helping them kick the gambling habit.
"I Set two cards face-down. Turn end," Amano declared.
Kirisame's near-perfect exam score had given her an exceptionally long life bar. A one-turn kill was not going to happen through straightforward means.
"My turn. Draw!"
Kirisame pulled her card and drove a new monster into the field.
"I Normal Summon Celestial Piglet!"
Celestial Piglet. Level 1. LIGHT Attribute. Angel-Type / Tuner / Effect. ATK 200 / DEF 300.
The small angel pig materialized in front of Kirisame, wings fluttering, halo glowing, waving with enormous energy.
"What a charming monster," Amano said, genuinely meaning it.
"Complimenting me still won't get you any special treatment."
I was complimenting the pig.
Ancient Sacred Wyvern at 3000 ATK could not match the doubled and effect-immune Red Dragon Archfiend that had just devastated it. Kirisame needed to climb further up the Synchro ladder.
"I tune my Level 1 Tuner, Celestial Piglet, with my Level 7 Ancient Sacred Wyvern!"
Level 1 plus Level 7 equals Level 8.
"Knight of the divine, you who hold dominion over kings, purify this crimson flame with your holy light!"
"Inherit the radiance of the ancients! Synchro Summon! Level 8, Sacred Knight Perseus!"
Sacred Knight Perseus. Level 8. LIGHT Attribute. Angel-Type / Synchro / Effect. ATK 2600 / DEF 2100.
LIGHT Tuner plus 1 or more non-Tuner LIGHT monsters.
Effect 1: Once per turn, target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; change that monster's battle position.
Effect 2: When this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing damage.
Ancient Sacred Wyvern advanced into Sacred Knight Perseus, the chain of LIGHT Synchro Summons carrying upward.
Right now, this was the only path that could potentially overturn the doubled Red Dragon Archfiend.
"Sacred Knight Perseus activates its effect!"
Once per turn, target 1 face-up opponent's monster and change its battle position.
"I switch your Red Dragon Archfiend to Defense Position!"
Red Dragon Archfiend, Special Summoned through Red Dragon King's effect, had its ATK doubled. But the Defense value remained at the original printed figure.
The radiant light bore down from above. Red Dragon Archfiend, forced from the sky, covered itself with its wings and converted to defense.
Red Dragon Archfiend Defense: 2000.
"Now your Red Dragon Archfiend is nothing but a monster sitting at 2000 Defense. Next, I activate Quick-Play Spell, Re-Armed."
Re-Armed: Quick-Play Spell. Target 1 Equip Spell in either player's GY. Set that card on your field or equip it to 1 eligible monster you control.
"I recover Premature Burial from the GY, Set it directly, and activate it to revive Ancient Sacred Wyvern from my GY!"
Kirisame LP: 5000 to 4200.
After paying the revival cost, Kirisame's LP was only 100 points above Amano's.
Ancient Sacred Wyvern ATK: 2100 plus 100 equals 2200.
"Battle!"
Ancient Sacred Wyvern's ATK gain was minimal, but both Synchro monsters on Kirisame's field still had higher ATK than the Defense Position Red Dragon Archfiend.
"Sacred Knight Perseus attacks Red Dragon Archfiend! And Perseus's effect allows piercing damage when attacking a Defense Position monster!"
The great angel swept its divine blade downward from the sky, carrying the force to pierce through defensive formations. At the same moment, Kirisame drove her last hand card into the Duel Disk.
"Quick-Play Spell, Simple Tuning!"
Simple Tuning: Quick-Play Spell. Banish 1 Tuner from your GY; target 1 face-up monster you control, and it gains ATK equal to the banished Tuner's original ATK.
"I banish Spriggan Sailorman - Rosemary from my GY, with its original 1600 ATK, and add that to Sacred Knight Perseus's holy blade!"
Sacred Knight Perseus ATK: 2600 plus 1600 equals 4200.
All resources poured into a single swing. Kirisame sent everything she had converging into light toward Amano's field.
At the same moment, A-class's duel committee member at the mid-lane front broke through the E-class stalling wall and led the thirteen survivors in a charge toward Sakuya's base.
"Amano Rei! If I win here, it's over for your class!"
"Holy Sword - Durandal!!"
The attack pierced through Red Dragon Archfiend's defensive posture with 4200 points of force behind it, delivering the piercing damage to Amano directly.
Red Dragon Archfiend: destroyed.
Amano LP: 4100 to 1900.
As Amano's LP dropped, the gap between the two duelists' totals shifted further in Kirisame's favor, and Ancient Sacred Wyvern's ATK climbed correspondingly.
Ancient Sacred Wyvern ATK: 2200 to 4400.
Word of the mid-lane breakthrough reached Amano and he was not surprised. "E-class was always going to struggle to hold off A-class with a crowd strategy."
What did catch him slightly off guard was how long Kikawayu's bottom-lane push was taking. It had been going for a while.
What Amano did not know was that Kikawayu had scraped together barely 2000 LP from exam scores. Clearing opponents one by one while keeping LP losses manageable was a slower process than simply having points to absorb.
Kirisame could feel victory reaching toward her.
What Amano had been keeping himself from saying out loud was that the thirteen A-class students pushing into E-class's base might not be enough to get through their class rep. That particular truth could wait for A-class's post-match review.
Right now, finishing Kirisame as quickly as possible was the only priority.
The instant Red Dragon Archfiend was destroyed, Amano turned over the face-down card he had been holding in reserve.
"Trap Card, Shadow Impulse!"
Shadow Impulse: When a Synchro Monster you control is destroyed by battle or card effects and sent to the GY, target that monster; Special Summon from your Extra Deck 1 Synchro Monster with the same Level and Type but a different name.
The Synchro light that had surrounded Red Dragon Archfiend did not vanish when the card was destroyed. It lingered on Amano's field, flickering like an afterimage, and ignited a new Synchro Summon.
"This farce ends here!"
From the storm rising at ground level, Amano drove another Level 8 Dragon-Type Synchro into the Duel Disk, Special Summoned through Shadow Impulse's effect.
"Sacred light gathers upon the wings. Strike down all who stand against me with that brilliant force!"
"Synchro Summon! Level 8!"
"Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!!"
Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon. Level 8. WIND Attribute. Dragon-Type / Synchro / Effect. ATK 3000 / DEF 2500.
It unfolded its wings above Amano's field and took the position Red Dragon Archfiend had occupied.
"Is that..."
The E-class students who had already been eliminated were watching from outside the virtual system, having been automatically ejected when their LP hit zero. They had a clear view of what was happening.
On one side of the battlefield, Shiranui flames burned at E-class's base under Sakuya's command. On the other, Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon's wings cut the wind above Amano.
And Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon was not a card most Synchro Academy students had forgotten.
That night, the shadow duel projecting across the sky. Crystal Wing had been the monster that stopped one of the Wicked Gods head-on. The other academies might have missed it, but Synchro Academy had been in evening study hours when the power was forced out, and nearly every Synchro student had watched the duel play out above them in real time.
"That monster!" Kirisame had been about to push into her next attack. She stopped completely.
Her assumption had been that no matter what Synchro monster Amano brought out, nothing could threaten Ancient Sacred Wyvern at 4400 ATK. Crystal Wing had made that assumption obsolete in the span of one summon.
A monster that had faced down a Wicked God. If she charged Ancient Sacred Wyvern into that, she was not going to like what happened.
"I... my turn, end!"
No matter how bitter it was, Kirisame ended her turn without attacking. Her only remaining hope was that her LP advantage would buy enough time for A-class to take down Sakuya at E-class's base.
Was this really what rank 299 looked like?
She was sitting with Sacred Knight Perseus at 4200 ATK and Ancient Sacred Wyvern at 4400 ATK, and it was not enough to do anything.
"How are things on your end?" Kirisame opened the communications channel.
"It's no good, class rep! Their class rep is also on a completely different level!"
"She Synchro Summons without even having a monster on the field!"
Kikawayu was not using Synchro Summoning at all, and Sakuya was performing Synchro Summons directly from the GY without needing to set up the field in the conventional way. War God Shiranui at 5500 ATK had swept through every A-class student who had pushed into E-class's base.
There was no winning this.
The final report came through from A-class's own duel committee member to Kirisame, delivering the most hopeless truth of the day.
Most of E-class were the bottom of the academic barrel. But the small handful of duelists among them were genuinely capable of fighting entire armies alone.
"Then I suppose we wrap this up on our end too, Kirisame Fuyuo. My turn. Draw!"
Alongside Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon, Amano threw down one more monster.
"I Normal Summon Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice in Attack Position!"
Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice. ATK 0.
Eve materialized with a self-satisfied flourish. "Ohohoho! You're letting me out even when the win is already secured, Amano? You have excellent taste!"
"No. You're delivering the finishing blow."
Amano drove his final Spell Card into the Duel Disk.
Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon alone could grind through both of Kirisame's monsters. But to finish the duel in this turn, Eve needed to be part of the equation.
"Spell Card, Natural Tune!"
Natural Tune: Select 1 Level 4 or lower Normal Monster you control; while that monster is face-up on the field, it is treated as a Tuner.
"I convert my Level 2 Normal Monster, Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice, into a Tuner. Battle Phase!"
The final stretch of wind swept across the battlefield as Eve and Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon turned together toward what remained of Kirisame's field.
"Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon attacks Sacred Knight Perseus! And during damage calculation, Crystal Wing activates its effect!"
Four thousand two hundred ATK on the archangel with its divine sword raised. Even that was not enough to outlast the storm.
When this card battles a Level 5 or higher opponent's monster, this card gains ATK equal to that monster's ATK during damage calculation.
Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon ATK: 3000 plus 4200 equals 7200.
"Gale-Force Crystal Wing Blade!!"
The crystal wings cut through Sacred Knight Perseus's divine blade like it was not there. Three thousand points of battle damage crashed into Kirisame.
Kirisame LP: 4200 to 1200.
And at that moment, Kirisame's LP fell below Amano's 1900. The gap was now 700 in Amano's favor. Ancient Sacred Wyvern's effect reversed direction.
Ancient Sacred Wyvern ATK: 4400 dropping to 1400.
The light in the great dragon's wings began fading as its own effect turned against it.
"Your LP is lower than mine now," Amano said, raising his hand toward the dimming dragon in the sky.
To finish Kirisame this turn, all Amano needed was something with more than 1400 ATK.
He turned over the last face-down card he had been holding, the one he had deliberately converted Eve into a Tuner to enable before the Battle Phase began.
"Trap Card, Emergency Synchro!"
Emergency Synchro: Can only be activated during either player's Battle Phase. Synchro Summon 1 Synchro Monster.
The glow of a Synchro Summon closed around Eve and Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon at the same moment.
"I tune my Level 2 Tuner, Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice, with my Level 8 Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon!"
Level 2 plus Level 8 equals Level 10.
In that instant, rose petals erupted outward across the entire canyon battlefield, scattered by the Synchro Summon's wind until they had reached every corner of the virtual map.
Standing at the center of the rising rose storm, Amano held the new Synchro card burning at his fingertips.
"The cold-burning crimson hellfire surrounds the world. Black rose petals, flutter toward victory!"
"Synchro Summon! Level 10!"
"Red Rose Dragon!!"
Red Rose Dragon. Level 10. FIRE Attribute. Dragon-Type / Synchro / Effect. ATK 3200 / DEF 2400.
Requires Tuner plus 1 or more non-Tuner monsters.
Effect 1: When Synchro Summoned, banish all cards in both players' GYs. Additionally, if Black Rose Dragon or a Plant-Type Synchro Monster was used as Synchro Material, destroy all other cards on the field.
Effect 2: When an opponent's card effect is activated that would destroy a card, Tribute this card to negate that activation, then Special Summon 1 Black Rose Dragon from your Extra Deck or GY.
A Level 10 Synchro that needed only a generic Tuner and non-Tuner to reach the field. The specific details of Red Rose Dragon's effects did not matter at this moment. At 3200 ATK, it was more than enough to play the final note of E-class's march toward victory.
From outside the system:
Kozuka Yoka: "We're going to win! We're actually going to beat A-class! GO, committee rep!"
Fujiwara: "For the air conditioning in our classroom!"
Sakuya: "For no more homework, ever!"
Rin Seiya: "For my monthly living expenses!"
Amano: "BURN!"
"Crimson Rose Hellfire!!"
The sea of rose petals lifted by the storm roared forward like an ocean of flame, swallowing Ancient Sacred Wyvern in an endless tide of fire and flowers.
Ancient Sacred Wyvern: destroyed.
"NOOOOOOO!!"
Kirisame Fuyuo LP: 1200 to 0.
Class 1-E had defeated Class 1-A.
The first monthly exam at Synchro Academy. The Class War that had grabbed everyone's attention. The unprecedented challenge from E-class to A-class.
It ended with an overwhelming E-class victory.
E-class's classroom was immediately upgraded across the board. A dynamic ambient temperature regulation system was installed. Automatically adjustable seating. Personal tablets for every student. A self-service snack station during break periods.
And the reward Sakuya had been dreaming about since the first moment it was mentioned.
No more homework.
Rin Seiya spent the rest of the day with a smile that would not leave her face, watching her Eva Terminal's point balance climb.
"You pulled through, little junior! That deserves a proper reward at tonight's club activities!"
With the monthly exam finally behind him, Amano waited for the Eva system to deliver its final comprehensive evaluation.
And the card reward that came with it.
Monthly Exam.
Written Test: A Plus.
Practical Duel: S.
Class War: SSS.
Comprehensive Rating: SS.
Archetype reward: Eyes of Blue Tuner.
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