Chapter 247: Beyond Infinity! The Strike That Carries a Thousand Years of History!
"Raise a shield of steel before you, open your arms wide and bring peace to the world! Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice!"
"There. Your cool summon chant."
Eve: "Amano. Every time you say that chant from now on, I'm hitting you once!"
You'd have to be able to reach me first.
Enraged Battle Ox's steel axe crashed down onto Eve's small frame, and the axe came back chipped without having broken through the defense at all.
Eve's DEF of 2100 was 400 points higher than Enraged Battle Ox's ATK.
Eve: "Don't come near me, beast. I'm a pure-love sort of spirit!"
"Because your DEF exceeds the ATK by 400 points, you take 400 points of battle damage as the attacker!" Amano pointed straight at Tenma Yako.
The magical backlash of the Star Chalice Priestess blew outward toward Tenma Yako. He did not flinch. He spread his arms wide and welcomed the hit with something resembling satisfaction.
Tenma Yako LP: infinity to infinity.
"A tickle. That's all that was, Amano Rei."
Eve: "His LP is genuinely infinite. How are we supposed to win this?"
Not just Eve. Kaiba Chiaki, still present as the background spirit, managed a faint voice through her exhaustion.
"I'm sorry, Amano. I left you with a situation that's almost impossible to win."
"Nothing to apologize for, Chiaki-senpai. You defeated the mightiest Evil God head-on. The rest of this, leave to me."
"Leave it to you? Don't tell me you can actually beat infinite LP..."
"I can win."
The Evil God had already been defeated head-on. Now that the duel was in his hands, there was no reason to even consider giving up.
"Because you're here, I can win. Chiaki-senpai."
"Be... because of me?"
From the moment this Chronicle began, Amano had possessed a skill he had never been able to use before.
The skill unlocked at 80 affection with Kaiba Chiaki: Searching Across a Thousand Years.
The reason he had never been able to read its effect before was simple. The skill description read:
[Exclusive skill for Hacker Invasion. Activates during background spirit state.]
It required the Hacker Invasion background spirit state to activate.
But when Amano entered this Chronicle already in a background spirit state, he found, to his surprise, that the skill had lit up and was ready to use.
[Searching Across a Thousand Years]
[Activatable when in a background spirit connection with "Kaiba."]
[During a duel, freely select one card each from the DM era, GX era, and 5D's era to add to your Deck.]
A background spirit skill spanning three eras. When Amano had seen the massive card pool representing each era laid out in front of him, he had been genuinely stunned.
Selecting the right cards from a pool that enormous was not a simple task.
Fortunately, in this Chronicle, Amano had been in a reversed background spirit arrangement the entire time. Kaiba Chiaki was handling all the physical action, which had left Amano's consciousness free to take its time browsing the card selection for each era.
The skill had also specified that the cards were added during the duel. In practice, that meant he could slide in cards from any era even mid-duel, like printing them on the spot.
The history was already plenty scrambled. A little more would not hurt.
Use the weight of a thousand years, all of it together, to shatter this divergent history that was never supposed to exist in any real timeline.
Searching Across a Thousand Years, activate!
Synchro Summoning was still unavailable in this era, so the 5D's selection had to be approached differently. But the two cards that could break through infinite LP had already been chosen: one from the DM era, one from the GX era. Both were already in the deck.
All that remained was waiting for one of them to reach his hand.
"I end my turn."
Tenma Yako, down to his last card in hand, ended his turn after Enraged Battle Ox's attack was blocked by Eve.
Leaning on his infinite LP cushion, Tenma Yako had become so arrogantly comfortable that he had apparently forgotten how losing worked.
"My turn! Draw!"
Amano drew the card for his turn.
This turn was the last turn of The Wicked Avatar's Spell and Trap sealing effect. The moment this turn ended, every Spell and Trap on the field and in hand would be usable again.
"I set one card face-down. Turn end."
In addition to this new set card, there was also the face-down Kaiba Chiaki had placed before the God sealed them, still locked under the seal and waiting.
Tenma Yako sneered without restraint: "Is that all you have left? Facing my infinite Life Points, have you finally lost even the will to attack?"
"Breaking through infinity takes more than courage. It takes the conviction that my deck will beat yours. Come on, Tenma Yako. Draw your last card."
Amano had a feeling. This was the final exchange.
He also had a feeling that the man who had fallen completely into the abyss's power would, in the end, be swallowed by that very abyss because of his own arrogance.
"My last draw? So even you admit you're already finished! My turn! Draw!"
Tenma Yako drew and immediately threw the monster from his hand onto the Duel Disk.
"I Normal Summon Goblin Attack Force in Attack Position!"
[Goblin Attack Force]
[Level 4 DARK]
[Beast-Warrior / Normal]
[ATK: 1900 / DEF: 1200]
A second Beast-Warrior type monster appeared on Tenma Yako's field. In the DM era, 1900 ATK in a lower-Level Normal Monster was considered an excellent attacker.
Eve: "But it's still not enough to break through my defense!"
You said it yourself. Steel plate.
"Ha ha ha! Do you still naively believe you can hold me back?"
Tenma Yako turned over his last card and held it up for everyone to see.
"Spell Card! Banner of Courage, activate!"
[Banner of Courage]
[Spell Card]
[Target any number of face-up monsters you control. If targeting 2 or more, they must all be the same Type. Each targeted monster gains 500 ATK for each monster targeted, until the end of this turn.]
"I target both my Beast-Warrior monsters, Goblin Attack Force and Enraged Battle Ox!"
"With two targets, both gain 2 x 500 = 1000 ATK each!"
Both Beast-Warriors on Tenma Yako's field stood back to back, axes raised, a unified combat line, their ATK rising together.
[Goblin Attack Force] [ATK: 1900 to 2900]
[Enraged Battle Ox] [ATK: 1700 to 2700]
"This ends here, Amano Rei! Goblin Attack Force, attack Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice!"
The axe split the air with a blow powerful enough to crack the ground and drove down toward Eve.
"Because Enraged Battle Ox is on my field," Tenma Yako added, "all Beast-Warrior attacks on Defense Position monsters deal piercing damage!"
Eve: "I... I can't hold this one!"
"Then don't." Amano flipped his face-down card. "Quick-Play Spell! Assault Mode Activate!"
[Assault Mode Activate]
[Quick-Play Spell]
[Target 1 Normal Monster you control other than a Token. Tribute that monster. Choose 1 monster your opponent controls and destroy it.]
"I fire Eve as the payload and destroy Goblin Attack Force! Go!"
Eve: "NOOO AHHHHHHH!!"
Launched by force, Eve's purple-haired head went into a full-speed dive and connected squarely with Goblin Attack Force's chest plate.
[Priestess Who Receives the Star Chalice: Tributed]
[Goblin Attack Force: destroyed]
"Ha ha ha ha! So that was your last counterattack, Amano Rei? Then I win! Direct attack, Enraged Battle Ox!"
The last monster standing on Tenma Yako's field, Enraged Battle Ox, raised its axe and charged screaming toward Amano.
"Amano, you can't wait any longer!" Kaiba Chiaki said.
"I know. Let's use the card you left behind to turn this around."
The will of one duelist handed to another. The Trap Card that had been sealed under The Wicked Avatar for two full turns was finally flipped open.
"Activate the face-down card! Let this be the card that crosses through time and cuts through history! Trap Card, Time Dimension Lodge!"
[Time Dimension Lodge]
[Trap Card]
[Shuffle your Deck. Then, reveal the top card of your Deck. If the revealed card is a monster that can be Normal Summoned, Special Summon it. If it is not, or if it cannot be Special Summoned, return the revealed card to the top or bottom of your Deck.]
As the Trap Card activated, Amano's deck began automatically high-speed shuffling inside the Duel Disk.
Mokuba's voice was tight: "This is Amano's last card. If he doesn't flip a monster, it's over."
Tenma Yako: "And even if you do flip a monster, if it can't survive Enraged Battle Ox's attack, you still lose!"
"You will be swallowed by the abyss because of your own arrogance, Tenma Yako."
Amano's gaze was steady as he watched Elemental HERO Neos and Enraged Battle Ox heading toward their collision.
"What arrogance? Impossible!"
Tenma Yako's shout broke off in shock as Elemental HERO Neos, standing in Attack Position, gathered the light of the new universe in one hand and drove a single punch that shattered the axe in Enraged Battle Ox's grip.
"You became so comfortable drowning in the safety of infinite LP that you stopped paying attention to what was on my side of the field."
The card Kaiba Chiaki had left on the field was not only Time Dimension Lodge. There was a second card, one that had been activated in plain sight, and which Tenma Yako's arrogance had caused him to completely forget about.
The Continuous Spell: Dark Burning Magic.
"When a Level 5 or higher Normal Monster I control declares an attack on your monster, Dark Burning Magic's effect activates! Elemental HERO Neos's ATK rises by the ATK of your monster!"
[Elemental HERO Neos] [ATK: 2500 to 5200]
[Enraged Battle Ox: destroyed]
"And you take 2500 points of battle damage! Go, Neos! Justice Execute!!"
Neos followed up with a second punch and drove it straight into Tenma Yako's face.
Tenma Yako LP: infinity to infinity.
"And what does it matter?" Tenma Yako turned away from the hit, teeth clenched. "My field is empty, I have no cards left. But do you have any chance of winning? Your 99 Life Points aren't even worth comparing to my infinite LP!"
"It's already over, Tenma Yako."
Amano had won the battle, but he had also just resolved the last step he needed. Facing Tenma Yako's completely empty field, Amano moved straight to forcing the end of the opponent's turn.
It was already over. The critical card, the one that traveled across eras, had already arrived in Amano's hand.
Elemental HERO Neos appeared to be the representative card of the GX era. But Neos had actually been in Amano's deck all along: it was not one of the cards Amano had specifically selected using the skill.
The card Amano had chosen to represent the GX era through Searching Across a Thousand Years had already entered his hand: drawn at the moment Neos was Special Summoned, through Dark Burning Magic's draw trigger.
[Once per turn, when you Normal or Special Summon a non-Token Normal Monster, draw 1 card.]
That draw was the card carrying the true weight of a thousand years of history, now in Amano's hand.
"Here we go, Jaden!"
Amano threw the card into the monster zone.
"I Normal Summon Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird!"
[Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird]
[Level 3 WIND]
[Winged Beast / Effect]
[ATK: 800 / DEF: 600]
[Once per turn: You can gain 500 LP for each card in your opponent's hand.]
A Neo-Spacian, the iconic support monster of Jaden Yuki in the GX era, had crossed the barrier between eras, arrived in Amano's hand, and been successfully summoned to stand beside Elemental HERO Neos.
"A monster with 800 ATK," Tenma Yako laughed. "To beat infinity, wait another thousand years!"
"No more waiting. This is where it ends."
Amano raised the Duel Disk and brought the two cards in the monster zone into contact with each other.
"I initiate a Contact Fusion between Elemental HERO Neos and Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird on my field!"
Contact Fusion: no Spell Card required. Another signature mechanic from the GX era.
On Amano's field, Neos leapt skyward at the same moment Air Hummingbird banked and crossed paths with him. Their trajectories intersected in midair.
"The light of the new universe and the wings of the open sky converge here! A hero who sweeps away the darkness of the abyss with the breath of the clear sky!"
"This is my final answer to infinity!"
"Special Summon! Elemental HERO Air Neos!!"
[Elemental HERO Air Neos]
[Level 7 WIND]
[Warrior / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK: 2500 / DEF: 2000]
[Elemental HERO Neos + Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird]
[This card can be Special Summoned from the Extra Deck by returning the above cards from your field to your Deck (no Fusion Spell required). If your LP is lower than your opponent's LP, this card's ATK increases by the difference. At the End Phase, return this card to the Extra Deck.]
Born from the light of the Contact Fusion in the new universe, wings spreading wide, burning with crimson fighting spirit, Elemental HERO Air Neos landed on Amano's field with arms folded and an entrance entirely befitting the occasion.
"Wha... what is that monster? What kind of Fusion is that?"
Tenma Yako had never seen a Contact Fusion before in his life. Neither had Kaiba Seto or Kaiba Mokuba, both of whom were staring.
At the same moment, the rooftop door burst open again. Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler, having successfully defeated all thirteen card combat specialists, arrived at the final stage.
Then they looked at Tenma Yako's infinite LP and the new force Amano had just raised against it, the storm strong enough to swallow all of Kaiba Corporation building howling around Elemental HERO Air Neos.
"Tenma Yako! To beat you, one strike is all it takes!" Amano thrust his arm forward. "This is Elemental HERO Air Neos's effect!"
[If your LP is lower than your opponent's LP, this card's ATK increases by the difference.]
Full circle.
(Tenma Yako: "Your 99 Life Points aren't even worth comparing to my infinite LP!")
Amano LP: 99
Tenma Yako LP: infinity
[Elemental HERO Air Neos] [ATK: 2500 to infinity]
"This punch carries infinity itself!!"
Amano declared the Battle Phase.
The fist carrying infinity tore open the sky, drove through history, and forced the twisted timeline back onto the track it was always supposed to run on.
"Obliterate the abyss entirely! Air Neos, direct attack!"
Wings beating with full force, Elemental HERO Air Neos drove the infinite ATK into one final surge of wind, rolling it into a tornado that connected sky and earth.
"Neo Sky Gale: Infinite Impact!!"
Air Neos's fist sent Tenma Yako flying into the storm at the edge of the sky.
The infinite Life Points the abyss had granted him were punctured by Air Neos's LP-differential effect and turned back against their source, consumed in the end by the very infinite abyss that had produced them.
"Ugh AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Tenma Yako LP: infinity to 0.
The punch split the planet's sky in two. The black storm clouds that had descended when the Evil God arrived were blasted apart by Air Neos's strike, and the clear sky that had been hidden behind all that darkness opened up again overhead.
In Amano's ears, something like Jaden Yuki's clear, bright laugh seemed to drift across from somewhere far away.
He raised his hand, two fingers pointing at the open sky above.
"That's game."
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