Hero Arrives!

"Ugh… My head…" 

The first thing that he, Cronos de Medici, dueling professor of Academia's own esteemed house of Obelisk Blue, woke up to, was a splitting headache and his ears ringing. The only time he has had a headache to this level was when he had to deal with the antics of that Napoleon, the vice-chancellor of a rival dueling academy.

His memory was quite fuzzy, but he couldn't remember exactly why it was even fuzzy in the first place. Was he perhaps intoxicated? No, he would never! He had banned himself from even touching any alcoholic beverages! It was unbefitting for someone of his position to ever be seen drinking, it would jeopardize his whole career!

He groggily propped himself up, looking around the place to where he had awoken in, a place that wasn't his room, he hadn't woken up in his bed. In fact, he had, somehow, awoken in a random hallway.

No, it wasn't simply a random hallway. He remembered this place. He remembered being dragged here, he remembered a room somewhere, a laboratory, tubes filled with strange liquid and an equally strange creat-

He winced, holding his head in his hand as he felt the headache return with a vengeance, stumbling slightly but managed to keep himself standing as he leaned on the wall beside him. 

"What-why am I…" Why was he here? What was he doing here of all places? How long has he been sleeping here? Why hadn't anyone woken him up? What exactly happened for him to end up here?

Soon enough, his senses returned to him, the headache became lighter, and the ringing in his ears became bearable. And only then, did he hear the screams that came from somewhere near him, along with the smell of burning fabric and smoke.

He ran, straining his legs and stumbling along the way to go towards the source of whatever it was that was happening. He was still in the Academia, even if his memories of the things that had happened were hazy, but he still remembered what was important.

He was a teacher, a professor in the art of dueling, and the safety of his students was number one.

And he arrived at the source of the commotion, finding a group of Obelisk Force attempting to put down the spreading fire, all while the screams and sobs of a familiar voice resounded through the speakers.

He wasted no time to go and assist them. He was quite sure that they were at a secluded part of the Academia, but the mere chance of the fire spreading towards the residential area, the dorms of hopeful students.

Some gave him glances as he started to bark orders, but as expected of the Obelisk Force, they were effective as they worked together, helping one another as they eventually managed to quell the fire.

He did find it curious as he found out that the Obelisk Force who helped him in dousing the spreading fire were… relatively small in number. The place that they were in was secluded, yes, but surely there should have been some staff members near wherever here exactly was to help them.

And as he looked around the area where they had finished dousing the fire, his whole body stopped as clarity entered his mind, and a piece of memory returned to him.

"You-Cronos?! So you have regained consciousness! Wonderful! Truly wonderful! I applaud you for your great work!" The voice said, resounding throughout the destroyed room. "Now I can exact my revenge! Against that accursed Red Hat! To dare destroy all my research! All my years of hard work!"

The voice took a more intense tone, anger radiating through the words that he spoke through the speaker. "Cronos! I order you, and the remaining Obelisk Force, to capture the rampart Red Hat!"

He remembered, the voice, the one who spoke through the speaker. An image of a lanky figured man appeared in his hand, along with the return of the headache as memories flooded him.

He remembered confronting the Professor after he figured out the means of how he and Sanders trained the Obelisk Force, the students that he personally recommended, and his loss against the principal of the Academia against his strange deck filled with cards he's never seen before.

And he remembered the Doctor, the disgusting worm of a man who had experimented on him, he remembered the disgusting creature that he brought out, and the things that he did to him with it.

And he remembered not controlling his body, like a puppet controlled by strings pulled by the white haired man, and how he was freed by the same Red Hat that he despised after he was beaten in a duel.

And as he remembered those bitter memories, so too did he remember the reason as to why he even confronted the Professor, the reason as to why he would dare challenge the man all by himself.

What he had done, what he was doing, and what he will do from this point on, was all for the sake of the future of his students. For the sake of making sure that those young duelists under his care will all have a bright future ahead of them.

And so, he stood straight, eyes boring holes towards the speaker, or more correctly the camera on it, knowing that the Doctor was watching him through it.

"I refuse."

He will stand his ground. For his pride as a duelist. His pride as a teacher. And for the pride of his students.

Even if he has to fight to ensure that future.

-

Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates, shocked at the development that had happened, the realization at who exactly it was that she had to do battle against next. She should have known that such a thing like this could have, or rather would have happened, especially considering Edo's own personality.

She dodged again, avoiding the metal chain that was thrown her way, perfectly aimed not at her body, but rather at her left arm, or more precisely her duel disk.

She saw how that chain is connected to Edo's own duel disk, and had made an assumption of how it was a tool, or an attachment to his duel disk, that would force the recipient to a duel, similar to the things that she vaguely remembered being used by the Security of 5Ds.

"I've waited a long time for this!" He shouted aloud, rushing in close towards her and throwing his chain once again, and she jumped back, dodging once again. "I'll have you tell me where you got those cards!"

Their confrontation devolved into a fist fight, Edo trying his damndest to assault and capture her, striking with his fists and throwing that duel chain once every few moves. And she, who was reluctant to fight the furious grey haired boy, kept dodging and evading his attacks without retaliating back against him.

Hearing how furiously he kept shouting at her as he kept attempting to capture and forcefully duel her, she began to regret ever giving him the Destiny HERO support card, even though the card that she gave him was simply one of the older Destiny HERO cards, one that she had not seen being run in his deck.

She had forgotten the boy's whole backstory, of how his father was a card designer who was murdered by the head of an evil organization who then took care of him, but that was the backstory that she knew from the show that she watched in her previous life, his backstory from GX.

But was his backstory, his life in the world of Arc-V where the whole premise of the story and world was wholly different from that of GX, the same? Based on what tidbits that she heard just from him, there were some parallels, but was it all the same?

Because if so, doesn't that mean that there are also other powers at hand? Not only the plot of the Professor's plans and his nefarious schemes with Yuri and Serena, but also of the GX plot, of the Society of Light?

That thought that sent her into a rabbit hole threw her off a loop, made her step falter ever so slightly. 

And Edo took advantage of that.

Only mere inches away from her, he struck his fist towards her way, directed right at her face. And instinctively, she raised her left arm to block his attack, but it still struck. The sound of his fist hitting cold light metal resounded throughout the empty hal;way that they occupied.

She winced at hearing the sound, because no matter how light the duel disk was, it was still quite a sturdy item, and no doubt striking it with full force would hurt a kid like Edo. But instead of seeing pain being reflected on the Destiny HERO duelist's face, she saw him smirk instead.

The both of them jumped back, gaining distance from one another, but the smirk never left Edo's face, instead it got even wider. Worry started to fill her, and as she tried to gain more distance and attempt an escape-

"There's no use!" Edo shouted as he wrenched his left hand back, pulling her along with it and stopping her retreat. Her eyes widened as she saw the chain that he had been throwing being connected to her duel disk, and as Edo manifested his duel disk's blade projection, the chain's links became covered in solid vision hologram, making it virtually unbreakable for someone like her.

He must have hidden the chain's links on his fist at his last attack, and since she instinctively guarded with her duel disk, they were now connected by it.

Escape is no longer an option for her, she can't run away from this confrontation.

"With this you can't escape!" He shouted proudly, the hint of anger being drowned by smugness that she knew more from the Edo of the GX era, he completely acted unlike the calm and collected Edo that she had been friends with for the last semester.

"I've waited…I've been waiting for a long time now!" He started, that smugness that he had projected mere moments before changed back to that of furious anger. "I've been searching for you… For the person who had the card that my father created! "

He tightened his fist as he closed his eyes, continuing his monologue regardless of her keeping silent. "I honestly didn't trust her, Yuuna, when she said that the Red Hat were her source of where she got that card. But I was then called in by the Professor, and it all came to light."

His words of having not trusted her twisted her heart, as if sending a knife to her chest, knowing that he trusted the Professor over her hurts even more. "He told me that the Red Hat has been the source of unknown cards, rare cards that the public haven't ever seen before. Like the infamous Red-Eyes cards or Cyber Dragons which was known from the Cyber-Style of dueling, along with even Amazoness cards."

Though the first of his examples were cards that was sold to Fubuki without her knowing, that being Mei and Sister Claire selling the leftover cards that she personally would have never used herself and thus gave away to the orphanage children to sell, she had given the, permission, though the first time she saw Fubuki actually use those cards were quite a shock.

The latter two, however, were indeed cards that she sold and gifted to Ryo and the Tyler twins, with the excuse of having won them and bought them at a cheaper price after a duel with the Red Hat. 

Which was, of course, half truth. Some of them are after all, cards that she had gotten from packs, but some did drop after she had bested a Red Hat at her own Dueling World.  

"And he told me an important information… just as I had hit a dead end after confronting a Red Hat and getting no further leads…" He continued, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again to glare at her.

"That there was someone, a leader of the group of Red Hats! The actual source of all these new cards!" He shouted aloud, angrily pointing towards her. "And it's you, isn't it! Who else would brazenly waltz in the Academia as if they own the place!"

He… technically was not wrong, though he wasn't correct either. 

If there was anyone who could be said to be the leader to their small rapscallion of a group, then it was undoubtedly Sister Claire, who was more in touch with the group of kids that poses as the infamous Red Hats to sell her leftover cards and get them into circulation, getting some pocket change and lightening up the burden of the orphanage.

She was merely their supplier, though she did occasionally train and duel against them, she wasn't as hands on with the group, not even knowing that they even took the Red Hat's moniker before Fubuki showed up with modern Red-Eyes support.

Silence befell them, with her not replying to any of Edo's claims, and with him keeping his straight posture of angrily accusing her for a few seconds before growling and letting his arm fall down to his sides.

"So you won't even admit it. Fine." He growled out, brandishing up his duel disk. "Then I'll simply have to beat you to get the answer." Because wasn't that how this world strangely works. Instead of brute forcing your problems or solving them with violence, duelists instead solve them with duels.

Which, arguably, are the more peaceful option of the two, if one were to disregard how terrifying it was to duel with full powered solid holograms who possess actual weight and the duel disk's damage indicator which took the form of static electricity that would course through the duel disk.

She herself raised her own duel disk, albeit reluctantly. She didn't want to duel her friend, not in this situation at the very least, and especially not with Edo who was not in the healthiest state of mind.

But she hardened her resolve. She'll apologize to the grey haired boy when it is all over, after her confrontation with the Professor and the Doctor are done and finished, after she has foiled their plans.

And she promised to herself that she would come clean, that she would explain to not only Fubuki, but to Ryo and Fubuki along with the others as well, of her abilities. She'll clear out the whole misunderstanding that the boy had picked up.

Not now of course, not when Serena and Sister Claire are possibly in danger while the Professor is still running around. Perhaps after this all blows over, and she can rest easy, then she'll reveal the truth.

Even if they don't believe her, even if Edo would choose to hate her for having lied to him or hating her for 'creating' those cards, she'll accept them all.

And so, she resolved herself to win the duel. The match was in her favour, especially since she knew that the grey haired boy does not possess the power cards that the Destiny HERO archetype could call their very own Boss Monsters.

He has no Destiny HERO - Plasma, the walking one sided Skill Drain with a Relinquish-like effect. Neither does he have any copies of Destiny HERO - Dominance, who, while not having seen much meta play other than in pure Destiny HERO builds, could fade an opponents Draw Phase while getting information on what they were playing, and can act as a Soul Charge when destroyed. 

Not to mention that he has no copies of Fusion Destiny, arguably the card that made Destiny HEROes splashable in any deck that can make Verta Anaconda, and its best target, Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer, who was quite the house itself.

Instead his Boss Monsters were Destiny HERO - Dogma, a card that was arguably quite bad, even if it is capable of halving the opponent's Life Points, and Destiny HERO - Dystopia, who was the better of the two, capable of having a Spell Speed 2 destruction effect under certain conditions, and burning for 1600 on summon depending on the material used.

Which means, if he hadn't changed his strategy much from the tournament which he faced Mei and Serena with Mamoru as his partner, then that means that he was playing a burn and beatdown strategy, a strategy that was arguably incredibly useful in a format with 4000 Life Points much to her chagrin.

But even so, she was quite sure that she was able to defeat him with her deck. Especially when he runs a pure Destiny HERO variant of the deck, even with the Vision HERO engine. 

Most of her Boss Monsters could easily out Edo's own, be they Mirrorjade, Eldlich and his conga line of traps, El Shaddoll Construct that would easily out them all with her mandatory effect, or even Mechaba being boosted by Aleister.

"W-wait! Edo!" And someone then appeared, emerging from the corner of the hallway. And she saw the form of Mamoru, rushing to stand beside Edo, huffing as he attempted to catch his breath.

"Huff… huff… you…you were too fast Edo! What were you-" And as he looked up, to see her already brandishing her own duel disk just like Edo is, Mamoru's eyes went as wide as dinner plates.

He pointed towards her with his shaky hands, mouth rapidly opening and closing. "T-t-t-that's! The Red Hat! The one that has been beating the Obelisk Force!" He shouted out.

The brown haired boy then hurriedly turned to Edo. "T-this is bad Edo! From what I heard from the defeated Obelisk Force, they have a extremely string deck! With cards that can even be activated in their hands to destroy cards or negate effects! Not to mention that beating that many Obeliks Force-"

"I know already!" The grey haired boy shouted back to Mamoru, earning a yelp from the bowl cut boy as he proceeded to go silent. "But it doesn't matter." He said, his focus never leaving her throughout their interaction.

"Even if this Red Hat was the one who had defeated the whole of Obelisk Blue-" Even through all the warnings that his friend has given him, even through all of the fallen bodies of the Obelisk Blue that he had seen as they ran here.

He would still challenge the enemy standing in front of him, to gain information on his father's cards, his life's work, his legacy, and to regain said cards.

"I will still duel!" He shouted out, brimming with determination, not having the slightest bit of hesitation as he declared so. 

Mamoru fidgeted in the background, standing nervously behind Edo while constantly checking back to the pocket watch in his hand. "Good luck, Edo." He muttered out beneath his breath, wishing luck for his friend, and the match then began.

Seeing how determined Edo was, she knew that there was no way to explain the misunderstanding, especially when the boy was acting this hard headed. He wouldn't even listen to her, or whatever she would say.

And now, she needs to defeat him, to achieve her goal of defeating the Professor, to stop his malicious goals. And not even him, would stop her in her path.

But she would show him her respect, she would duel him with what was currently her strongest deck, to duel him seriously.

Both of them brandished their decks, and opened their mouths to declare the start of their duel-

Only for the world to suddenly grey out. A large notification appeared right in front of her face, covering her entire range of vision.

-

Emergency Mission!

[Heroic Confrontation]

Confront Edo Phoenix and defeat him in a duel using a deck with HERO Monsters (Excluding Destiny HERO and Xtra HERO).

Rewards: Fusion Dimension Quest Line Continuation. 

Failure: Fusion Parasite Brainwash/Carded

-

Notification

You are given 5 minutes to create and modify your HERO deck.

05:00

-

"W-what is this?!" She let out aloud, not even masking her voice to sound effeminate and broke out of character, genuinely shocked at the sudden event that was unfolding.

The whole world was greyed out, the walls, the ceilings, everything was turned to grey. She turned to Edo, snapping to see if he was experiencing the same phenomenon as she was-

Only to see that he too, like everything else, had turned to grey. The boy simply stood there, his left arm stretched out and duel disk at the ready, but he wasn't moving, no-he wasn't even breathing at all.

Everything had stopped, frozen, time itself had stopped.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw that the five minute timer was going down, slowly, like a normal timer would.

She doesn't quite understand what was happening, or rather, she doesn't understand why this was happening in this duel against Edo of all people, instead of the duel that she would no doubt have against the Professor. 

But instead, the ones whom she had to change her deck to duel against was in her match against Edo, and using a HERO deck without Destiny HEROes nor Xtra HEROes, certainly lowering the deck's ability and potential.

She clicked her tongue, opening the System's shop and going to look at the generic Warrior packs, and going more deeper to the deeper pool of HERO cards.

Only to stop as she saw some cards which she had never seen before.

"What…" She let out a low mutter, scrolling through the pool of cards in the HERO packs that she has unlocked thoroughly, looking at some of the new cards that she was quite sure was not there before.

She shook her head, trying to regain her cool. She couldn't lose to Edo, no matter what. Especially with what kind of consequence that losing has in this situation.

She bought up packs, lots of them, enough for her to make the basic barebones of a HERO deck that she could remember from the top of her head. Putting in the three off, two offs, and one offs that she remembered the deck needed.

There was a problem of course, and that being the inexistence of a ban list, which made her wonder for quite a good amount of time on how many copies of A Hero Lives is she going to run in her deck.

She decided to run three of them, having pulled three off of the card, she might as well use them, even at the cost of halving her Life Points, a recourse that she needed to spend carefully in this 4000LP format.

And she of course added some of the generic Warrior support, things like Reinforcement of the Army and a small Warrior good stuff engine, all in order to compensate for the inability to use Destiny HERO and Xtra HERO cards.

And of course, she added Masked HERO cards as well, Darklaw turbo works way better when working in tandem with Destiny HERO cards since they are all Dark, and technically her only target for Mask Change to go into said walking one sided Macro Cosmos was none other than Shadow Mist, but she would make do with what she has.

The only problem for deck building now was whether or not she should use the… new support that she now found existed.

In her last life, the time before, she had passed away at the start of February of 2022, the start of Adventure format, and at the release of the new game that was Master Duel. The cards hadn't been printed yet, only having been released in the OCG where it became the next best engine, and people were also brought in by the new official game.

Though she never did get to play it since she had passed away not long after.

But this, the existence of new cards being added to her System meant that time still continues to progress back in her old world, though why did the System update now, after over a whole decade has already passed for her, she did not know.

But that also brought out the problem of the existence of an updated metagame, of a new format, new meta decks in contention as they received new support and become tiered decks.

And while she would possibly receive those new supports and new cards alongside newer archetypes, she wouldn't have anyone to discuss and test how truly good they were, not to mention that while she was knowledgeable on the game, said knowledge didn't mean that she knew every single card and tech options that would run well with new decks.

Because that was done by the community, of players spending days discussing and arguing with one another as they threw out decklist after decklist, tech cards after tech cards, correct card ratios and what not, all to try and create the most efficient and best way to play a deck in the newest format.

But she was alone. She had no one to argue whether or not was this card playable in her current deck or was she simply coping with the possible end boards when running bricks that would hit her consistency. 

But some of these new supports are just… incredibly good to the point that she simply has to run them. The only problem was simply what was the ratio for her to run them.

But she didn't have the time to contemplate on the specifics of the ratio right now, not with there being less than two minutes left on her timer. She simply decided to do the usual deck building trick of running three off of the spells, ones that she thinks are useful, running the least amount of bricks possible, and only one of the searchable trap.

She wasn't sure if this deck, the HERO deck that she would have to duel against Edo with, could give her a definite win against Edo's own pure version of Destiny HERO. 

But she would do her best to win, anything barring outright cheating of course.

She chose her Boss Monster of her deck, that of course being none other than Neos, to gain the appropriate skill to not draw Neo-Spacians and start with at least one Elemental HERO monster, or a card that lists Elemental HERO specifically in it, in hand.

The five minutes that the System gave her then ended, and after a blink, she was back to her exact position with time resumed, her duel disk raised up at the ready, but with a completely different deck slotted into the deck slot.

And without further ado, the duel began.

""DUEL!!""

Edo Phoenix: 4000LP

Red Hat: 4000LP

"I'll go first!" The grey haired duelist roared out, and that was fine with her. She was quite sure that even with his burn beatdown strategy, he wouldn't be able to completely burn her entire Life Points, something that she would have to note more in this format.

That, and while she could possibly make a competent HERO board going first, it would most possibly only lead to something like Darklaw pass, especially with the build that she was playing. Going second and trying to crack whatever board Edo would build, she assumed, would be much easier with a going second deck like her hastily mashed up HERO deck.

"I will start by activating the effect of Vision HERO - Faris in my hand!" The grey haired boy shouted aloud, revealing that one of the cards in his five card hand was none other than a starter that doesn't eat up his normal summon.

"This card lets me discard one other 'HERO' Monster, to special summon this card from my hand!" He explained the card's effect, and revealed the card that he would use for its discard cost.

"I will discard Destiny HERO - Celestial, and special summon Vision HERO - Faris in attack position!" He pitched the card for cost, and the pinkish vision-based HERO Monster made its way onto the field, large claws and all.

Vision HERO - Faris - Dark/Warrior/Level 5/Effect: 1600/1800

"Now Vision HERO - Faris' effect!" He declared, activating the monster's on summon effect and starting the average HERO combo line. "If this card is normal or special summoned, I can place one 'Vision HERO' Monster from my deck, except 'Vision HERO - Faris', in my spell and trap zone as a face-up continuous trap!"

He took out a card from his deck, the target for Faris' effect, and revealed it to be none other than Increase. "I will place Vision HERO - Increase into my spell and trap zone as a continuous trap!"

He placed the card onto his duel disk, and the ghostly apparition of the upper half of the integral combo piece of the usual HERO line appeared right behind Faris.

"However, if I activate this effect, I cannot special summon monsters from the Extra Deck for the rest of this turn, except 'HERO' Monsters." He explained the caveat of using Faris' effect, xeno locking him to summon only HERO Monsters from his Extra Deck, though that matters not with his pure variant of the deck.

"Now I'll activate the effect of Vision HERO - Increase!" He declared, continuing his combo. "During the Main Phase, if this card is treated as a continuous trap, I can tribute one 'Hero' Monster, to special summon this card!"

He pointed towards Faris, the only legal target to tribute for cost to activate Increase's effect. "I will tribute Vision HERO - Faris!" And he was tributed, the large clawed pinkish Warrior leaving the field to pay for the cost.

And she was proficient enough with piloting a HERO deck to know that the activation of Increase was a choke point that would lead to him getting Vyon, the on summon in archetype Foolish Burial and Polymerization searcher.

"I will activate the effect Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit in my hand." She said, revealing a card in her hand, masking her normal voice to hide her identity. "When a monster on the field activates its effects, or when a spell or trap that is already face-up on the field activates its effects, as a Quick Effect, I can send this card from my hand or field to the graveyard, to destroy that card on the field."

And while she could have possibly held the handtrap until the summon of Vyon, it's effect to send a HERO Monster to the graveyard on summon would still resolve, and considering that most of the Destiny HERO Monsters have graveyard effects, she would rather nip it from the bud and stop the monster from appearing.

"T-there it is! One of the cards that I heard from the Obelisk Force!" Mamoru sounded aloud, pointing towards her. "Those-those handtraps! They have monsters that can activate their effects in the hand during the opponent's turn to disrupt their plays!"

Ah, right, at this point there wasn't many good handtraps released, or more correctly, those cards weren't used by the general public, even when Effect Veiler, Maxx C, and Droll & Lock Bird were technically legal cards, even Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries.

Though technically Ash Blossom was technically legal wasn't it? It was released right at the end of the series if she wasn't wrong, released alongside with other Pendulum supports like the Supreme Kings, the bare bones for Lyrilusc, and of course, True Draco.

But it was simply that the people of the Academia simply did not want to run those cards, that and them being Tuners, something that they avoid like the plague, perhaps it was something that the Professor instilled towards them, the dislike towards Tuner Monsters, though there were handtraps that were run like Swift Scarecrow or Battle Fader.

The short chain of two effects resolved, she sent the card from her hand to the grave, and destroyed the face-up Vision HERO Monster which was treated as a face-up continuous trap. 

And with the card now being destroyed and no longer on the field, the effect of Vision HERO - Increase resolved without effect. Edo clicked his tongue as he saw the result of the chain, and checked the cards that he had on hand for other options of play.

"Che, but if you think that I'm done then you're wrong!" Edo shouted out, taking out a card from his three remaining cards in hand and revealed it. "I'll normal summon Vision HERO - Vyon!"

Another of the vision-based Dark Warrior then appeared on the field, this one being none other than the dark purple HERO that was Vyon that she had attempted to prevent from even making it onto the field.

Vision HERO - Vyon - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1000/1200

Right, he still had his normal summon, and apparently has what was arguably the best normal summon for his deck. She still doesn't regret using Ogre on his Increase, even if he did get Vyon on board, mostly because he wouldn't have that many bodies on field.

"Now I'll activate Vision HERO - Vyon's effect! If this card is normal or special summoned, I can send one 'HERO' Monster from my deck to the graveyard!" He said, explaining the monster's on summon Foolish Burial effect.

He took out a card from his deck, revealing the target that he would mill with Vyon's effect. "I will send Destiny HERO - Malicious from my deck to my graveyard!" He said, sending the monster to the graveyard.

Right, that card was at three. Which means that he would have a lot of bodies for plays, be they fusion fodder or for tribute fodder if he were to have Dogma in hand already.

"I will activate the other effect of Vision HERO - Vyon!" He shouted out, pointing towards his only monster as he activated its effect. "Once per turn, I can banish one 'HERO' Monster from my graveyard, to add one 'Polymerization' from my deck to my hand!"

 He then proceeded to declare the target that he would be banishing for cost. "I will banish Vision HERO - Faris from my graveyard, and add one Polymerization to my hand!" Edo said, adding the fusion spell to his hand.

But he only has three cards in hand, one of which was said added Polymerization. She wondered what he could even make in this situation, if the card in hand was another name, then he could perhaps go into Dystopia, but that in itself wouldn't do much would it? If it doesn't have the attack boost, he wouldn't have any form of interaction with her.

"I will activate the effect of Destiny HERO - Malicious in my graveyard!" Edo declared. "I will banish the copy on Malicious that I had sent with the effect of Vyon, to special summon another Malicious from my deck!"

By banishing a copy of Malicious, one of the best extenders generally for any and all Dark Warrior decks, the winged demon-like Destiny HERO Monster appeared on the field, spreading its wings wide with its two tails swinging behind him.

Destiny HERO - Malicious - Dark/Warrior/Level 6/Effect: 800/800

"Now I'll activate the spell, Polymerization!" And he shot gunned on using the spell that he had added through Vyon, and she braced herself for the Fusion Monster that he would summon.

"I will fuse Destiny HERO - Malicious, with Vision HERO - Vyon!" He declared the two targets that he would use as materials, both of which were monsters that he already had on field.

Both monsters then began to float upwards, being consumed in a vortex of blue and orange as they started to fuse as he raised his hands upwards. "O malicious hero of the night! O purple hero of visions! Combine your strength and show your new power!"

Edo completed the summoning chant as he brought his hands down, the angry look never leaving his face even for a single second. "Fusion Summon! Come on! Destiny HERO - Dangerous!"

The HERO Fusion Monster then appeared onto the field, letting out a loud scream as he appeared, spinning his dark purple cape as he appeared. The Dark HERO had a clawed hand covering his grotesque face with its multiple white horns , though his red eyes glowed ominously as he was summoned in defence position.

Destiny HERO - Dangerous - Dark/Warrior/Fusion/Level 6/Effect: 2000/2600

"And I'll activate Dangerous' effect!" He said, immediately activating the monster's Quick Effect as if it was an ignition effect to start a chain. "As a Quick Effect, I can discard one card to send one 'Destiny HERO' Monster from my hand or deck to the graveyard! And if I do, 'Destiny HERO' Monsters I control gain 200 points of attack for each 'Destiny HERO' Monsters in my graveyard until the end of this turn!"

He chose one of the two cards in his hand that he would discard to perform another in archetype Foolish Burial, though this one technically was one that was a Quick Effect that he could have possibly used on her turn to boost up his monsters.

"I will discard Destiny HERO - Dreamer from my hand, to send Destiny HERO - Drawhand from my deck to the graveyard!" And the Destiny HERO that he sent was none other than Drawhand, one that would revive himself on the next Standby Phase and let both players draw one.

"I will set one card." He said, proceeding to set the final card in his hand card face-down. But as much as she disliked it, it wasn't the end of his turn. "I will activate the effect of Destiny HERO - Celestial in my graveyard! While I have no cards in hand, I can banish it and one 'Destiny HERO' Monster to draw two cards!"

He activated the monster's graveyard effect, one that, unlike in her previous world, was not restricted to activate in the turn after it was sent to the graveyard. "I will banish both Destiny HERO - Celestial and Destiny HERO - Dreamer in my graveyard to draw two cards!"

Edo then replenished his hand, essentially getting a Pot of Greed even after already performing his combo. Edo's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the two cards that he had drawn, and that signaled her that those were two playables.

"I'll activate the effect of Destiny HERO - Malicious' effect again! I will banish the second copy of Destiny HERO - Malicious, to special summon the third and final copy of himself in defence position!"

And Edo banished the second copy from his graveyard, summoning his last copy of Destiny HERO - Malicious straight from his deck, getting Edo another body onto the field. 

Destiny HERO - Malicious - Dark/Warrior/Level 6/Effect: 800/800

"I will set two more cards." And he set two cards, apparently having drawn two backrows in a Destiny HERO deck of all things. "And I will end my turn." He said lowly, almost growling, ending his turn with two monsters, two set backrow, and no cards left in hand.

"Then it's my turn. I'll draw." She said, drawing her card for her turn, replenishing the cards in her hand back to five. Her Draw Phase soon passed, and she then moved on to the Standby Phase.

And it was then that Edo activated his set card. "On the Standby Phase, I'll activate the continuous trap, D - Tactics!" He shouted out, flipping the face-down card face-up,  revealing that one of his backrow was one of the cards that had sent him on a quest to hunt the Red Hats in the first place.

"During the Standby Phase, I can have all 'HERO' Monsters I control gain 400 points of attack!" He explained the rarely used Destiny HERO support card's effect, and her eyes narrowed.

D - Tactics was by no means a bad card, it was simply slow compared to the other Destiny HERO support, especially when it doesn't mesh quite well with the generic HERO deck, even though it does have some funny interactions with DPE.

That being an effect that she was quite sure was going to be subject to, if her inkling on one of those face-down cards of his were correct.

"And I'll also activate the trap, D-Fusion, in the same chain!" And her inkling was indeed correct, as Edo flipped up his other face-down card, revealing that it was his in archetype fusion trap that hadn't seen competitive play.

"And with D-Fusion's effect, I'll fuse both Destiny HERO - Malicious and Destiny HERO - Dangerous on my field!" He said, declaring the two materials that he would be using for the Fusion Summon that he would be doing on her Standby Phase.

Her alarm bells rang as he attempted to fuse a Level 6 HERO monster with a Destiny HERO monster, but thankfully remembered that she wouldn't need to deal with Destroy Phoenix Enforcer.

The chain soon resolved, and the monsters he declared as fusion materials floated upwards towards the blue and orange fortex above. "O malicious hero of the night! O dangerous hero of darkness! Combine and become the ruler in this dark future!" Edo chanted, raising his hands upwards, grasping them together and bringing them down to complete said chant.

"Fusion Summon! Come on! Destiny HERO - Dystopia!" And the Fusion Monster descended onto the field, giving out a hefty roar as he appeared in a fighting pose as he was summoned in attack position, the large red D on his head shining ominously.

Destiny HERO - Dystopia - Dark/Warrior/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 2800/2400

"And with the effect of D - Tactics, his attack is boosted by 400!" Edo shouted as he outstretched his hand forwards towards his monsters, and the Fusion Monster then glowed an ominous purple as he roared with power.

Destiny HERO - Dystopia - Dark/Warrior/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 3200/2400

And now, not only did he have an interruption in the form of Dystopia's Spell Speed 2 destruction, but the plays that he would be doing on her Standby Phase have not ended just yet.

"And now Dystopia's effect! If this card is special summoned, I can target one Level 4 or lower 'Destiny HERO' monster in my graveyard and inflict damage to you equal to the target's attack! ll target Destiny HERO - Drawhand!" He explained the Fusion Monster's on summon burn effect.

"And that's not all! I'll activate the second effect of D - Tactics! If a Level 8 or higher 'Destiny HERO' monster is special summoned to my field, I can banish once card from your hand at random, field, or graveyard!" And seeing as she currently doesn't have any impactful cards on the field, and the only cards on her graveyard was the Ghost Ogre that she had pitched earlier, she already knew that he was going to hit a card in her hand,

"I will randomly banish a card from your hand!" He shouted aloud as he pointed towards her, the face-up holographic projection of the continuous trap shining as it shot a beam of light towards her hand, randomly banishing a card.

And she clicked her tongue as she saw exactly which card was hit. The normal spell Reinforcement of the Army, or RotA for short, was now banished. That was annoying, but it wasn't the worst hit thankfully.

And it still didn't give him an idea of what she was actually playing. There are, after all, a stupendous number of Warrior focused decks circulating. For all he knows she could be playing War Rocks.

But then again, those cards hadn't been released to the public, with only her being the one to even know they exist, and she didn't have any copies of the cards to even make a proper deck.

The chain then continued to resolve, and she prepared herself for the hit that would come from the Fusion Monster. "Now I'll deal 1600 points of damage with Dystopia's effect! Squeeze Palm!"

A faded silhouette of the gun wielding Dark HERO briefly appeared in front of the Fusion Monster, before being absorbed by Dystopia, who then extended his right arm in front of him, and shot a blue ball of energy towards her.

Simply running on instinct, she leapt backwards in hopes of avoiding the attack. And her choice was correct, the moment the ball of energy hit the ground, it exploded, creating a wave of heat that made her hiss in pain.

Red Hat: 2400LP

She skidd backwards as she stopped herself, quickly dusting off some of the dust that got stuck to her thanks to the explosion, and silently glared at the grey haired boy that she was facing.

She looked at the small crater that now stood in front of her, one that was created simply by the burn effect of Dystopia, having fully destroyed the red carpet that once decorated the hallway, a feat of destruction that earnt a yelp from their one and only spectator.

That explosion… it could have hurt her, badly at that, had she not dodged in time. No, had it truly been a direct attack that hit anywhere on her body, then she could possibly lose her life.

She gulped, balling her fist, a hint of fear starting to nest inside her heart alongside the still burning rage. Edo was serious, he was willing to do anything in his power to get those information on where she got those cards, his father's possession, be they feats of extreme violence or destruction of property.

The fact that he too, like both the Doctor and the Professor, was using the solid vision hologram, and the card game for nefarious purposes set her heart ablaze with anger, but another part of her simply felt regret.

For this, Edo's whole mess of hunting the Red Hats and even resorting to violence to do so, was her fault. She was the one who gave him the Destiny HERO support cards, not knowing how the boy would misinterpret her small bount of kindness for and devolve into what she saw today.

"Now I'll activate the effect of Destiny HERO - Drawhand in my graveyard!" He continued on, still continuing to combo on through her Standby Phase. "During the next Standby Phase after this card was sent to the graveyard, I can special summon him, but banish him when he leaves the field!"

And so he appeared on the field, the Destiny HERO monster who paired well with a card that she had on her deck, that of course, being none other than Mask Change, and the best target being none other than the infamous one sided Macro Cosmos on legs that was Darklaw, being summoned in defence position unlike Dystopia.

Destiny HERO - Drawhand - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1600/800

"Now Drawhand's effect! If this card is special summoned by the effect of a 'HERO' monster, I can make each player draw one card." He said, explaining the monster's effect, and they both drew one, replenishing her hand back to five, while Edo now held a single card in hand.

The grey haired duelist glanced and took a look at the card that he had drawn. It was none other than Destiny HERO - Dogma, and his lips couldn't help but twitch upward as he drew his Boss Monster, though its Life Points halving effect wouldn't matter that much considering how much Life points his opponent still has remaining

"A-as expected of Edo! To be able to do so much in his opponent's turn!" Mamoru commented as he watched the whole scene unfold with his own eyes. "Not only is his Dystopia's attack boosted so that it can activate its effects, but since it was summoned with D-Fusion, it can't be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn!"

She saw Edo smirk ever so slightly at Mamoru's praise, only for him to school his features back to neutral, narrowing his blue eyes at her. "Hmph. Hurry up and finish your turn! I'll end it on the next turn, and I'll have you tell me what I want to know!"

She was… honestly quite pissed. At many things right now. Her meeting with the despicable Doctor, an unwanted reunion with the mind controlled Cronos, and now she had to duel against her friend who was blinded by hatred, one who was manipulated by the Professor.

She checked the five cards that she now has in her hand, calming herself down, focusing on the duel to think of ways that she could attempt to end it in a single turn. That was, after all, something that HEROes could do easily, especially in a 4000LP format.

 Her only concerns are thus, Edo's unknown set card, Dystopia's interruption, and most of all, the fact that Dystopia is currently indestructible by battle and card effects. But Edo has sadly, made a huge mistake on his part. And that is none other than summoning the protected monster in attack position.

It was a simple mistake that she can exploit.

"I'll start by playing the spell, A Hero Lives." She said, placing the spell card on her duel disk, and the holographic projection of the card's art appeared on the field. As she had predicted, Edo's eyes went wide, so did Mamoru.

But his shock turned instantly into anger, no, fury. Realizing that she wasn't playing the deck that Mamoru had informed him of, but instead a HERO deck. Edo growled as he began to point towards her angrily. "YOU! Are you mocking me?! You aren't even using your actual deck, but a HERO deck instead?!"

And he stopped, for a full few seconds, eyes widening slightly again as if he had come into a realization. And he grit his teeth, balling his fist in anger as he glared daggers at her. "I see. So that's it. You're testing me aren't you? Mocking me. You think that I'm not worthy of my father's cards!"

He then spread his arm outwards. "Fine then! I'll show you how I can defeat you! Even if you were to use my father's cards!"

"E-Edo!" Mamoru mouthed out the boy's name, amazed at the boy's determination as his eyes shone.

She frowned, Edo had mistaken and was immediately coming to his own conclusions, the same that he had done with the existence of the Destiny HERO cards that she gave him. But this time, she would correct him, to prevent this mistake from going on for too long.

"You're wrong." She told him flatly. "This deck that I play against you, I am not playing even a single Destiny HERO card in them." And it was true, she couldn't even place the cards into her deck due to the mission's restrictions after all.

Her grey haired opponent narrowed his blue eyes at her admittance. "As if I could believe that!" He growled out.

"Then I will simply show it to you." She said with a neutral tone. "A Hero Lives allows me to, if I control no face-up monsters, pay half of my Life Points to special summon one Level 4 or lower 'Elemental HERO' monster from my deck."

She winced slightly as electricity coursed through her duel disk, having paid half of her remaining Life Points to activate the spell, putting her on lethal range where another summon of Dystopia that has its burn effect would end the game.

Red Hat: 1200LP

And she took a card from her deck, raising it high and revealing the monster that she would be special summoning with its effect. "I will chose Elemental HERO Stratos, and special summon him in defence position."

As she placed the card onto her duel disk's blade projection, the monster then appeared onto her field, descending from above as it flew in with its two rotored wings, striking a pose as he floated in front of her.

Elemental HERO Stratos - Wind/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/300

"Mamoru!" Edo shouted out, and the boy behind him fumbled with the tablet that he had in hand.

"Y-yes! Elemental HERO Stratos is a Level 4 Warrior Monster with the effect of-"

"Stratos' effect. When this card is normal or special summoned, I can either destroy spells or traps on the field up to the number of 'HERO' monsters I control other than himself, or add one 'HERO' monster from my deck to my hand." She explained herself, making the bowl cut boy close his mouth.

"I will activate his second effect, and I will add Vision HERO - Faris to my hand." She declared the target that she would add with the card whose name went down as what everyone in the community would call monsters who searched on summon, and added the card that would start her combo to her hand.

"T-that's!" Mamoru exclaimed, wide eyed as he pointed towards her. "That's the same card that Edo uses!"

Edo clicked his tongue as he saw what card it was that she was playing, the exact same Vision HERO engine that he himself used. But having played the cards himself, he knew exactly where he should interact during the combo just like she did in his turn.

"Now I will activate the effect of Faris. I will discard Elemental HERO Shadow Mist to special summon it in defence position." Just like Edo, she discarded the monster as cost, and summoned on board her own Vision HERO - Faris.

Vision HERO - Faris - Dark/Warrior/Level 5/Effect: 1600/1800

"I will trigger the effect of Vision HERO -Faris, and Elemental HERO Shadow Mist in my graveyard." She said chaining the two monster's. Having discarded it for cost, the effect of Shadow Mist would trigger, as it was an if effect that would trigger even if t was sent as cost.

"If Shadow Mist is sent to the graveyard, I can add one 'HERO' monster from my deck to my hand, except a copy of Shadow Mist." She explained the monster's graveyard effect, and took out a card from her deck that she would add to her hand.

"I will add Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier from my deck to my hand." She said, revealing the Water HERO monster that she then added to her now four card hand, not forgetting to shuffle her hand as she added a card. 

"And with Faris' effect, I will set Vision HERO - Increase face-up as a continuous trap." And just like Edo had done the turn before, she did the exact same thing as him, the ghostly apparition of Increase appearing behind Faris.

Edo still kept his set card unused, and held Dystopia's destruction effect on hold as well, waiting for the perfect moment to use them just like she had with her Ghost Ogre, though her own usage of the card wasn't as optimal as she wanted as he still comboed off.

Though with both knowing how the cards work, she could attempt and try to bait the activation just like he had with her. "And I'll activate its effect, I'll tribute Elemental HERO Stratos to special summon Increase in defence position." She said, tributing the Wind Warrior monster to pay the cost of Increase's effect.

"Che, then I'll activate the effect of Destiny HERO - Dystopia! If this card's current attack is different from its original attack, I can target one card on the field and destroy it! If I do, this card's attack becomes equal to its original attack!" He said, explaining the Fusion Monster's form of interaction during her turn.

"I will target your Vision HERO - Increase, which is treated as a continuous trap card! Noble Justice!" The Dark Fusion Monster extended his hand forwards, and a powerful vacuum of wind started to absorb Increase's ghostly apparition, destroying it, and just like the turn before, the effect of Increase resolved without effect, and the attack points of Dystopia returned back to its original.

Destiny HERO - Dystopia - Dark/Warrior/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 2800/2400

And now she had succeeded in baiting one of his interactions, the only problem now however was the unknown face-down that he still has sitting next to his D - Tactics. Knowing Edo, who doesn't run anything other than in archetype cards, not even staples other than Polymerization, it was either Destiny Mirage that would essentially do nothing in this situation, or Destiny Signal which would let his Drawhand float into any Level 4 or lower 'Destiny HERO'.

But still, she'll have to play through whatever set card it was. "I'll normal summon Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier." She placed the card onto her duel disk, and the Water HERO monster then appeared, wielding blades made out of water as he took a fighting pose similar to what Stratos did earlier.

Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier - Water/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1400/1300

"Ah! I'll look up what that card does in just a second!" Mamoru commented, clicking the buttons on his tablet. It only took a few second for him to have beads of sweat pouring down however.

"W-what is this?! That's a rare card! It isn't in the card database?!" He shouted out, not finding any cards in the likes of Liquid Soldier in the normal database that was available, nor in the special database that the Professor gave to him.

It was, after all, technically a card that she had created. A card that was released far in the future, a few years after the Arc-V series itself ended.

But knowing that Edo had an unknown set card, and an interaction that would let him destroy any card on the field with Dystopia's effect, she tributed Stratos for this one reason. "When Liquid Soldier is normal summoned, I can target one Level 4 or lower 'HERO' monster in my graveyard, except a copy of itself, and special summon it."

She then took a card from her graveyard, and of course, it was none other than the Stratos that she had just tributed for the cost of Increase's effect. "I'll special summon Elemental HERO Stratos in attack position."

The winger Wind Warrior monster returned onto the field, striking his pose as he flew to stand beside her other monsters.

Elemental HERO Stratos - Wind/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1800/300

And now here, she has a choice. She could either try to pop whatever the set card that face-down card was, and probably prompt whatever it was early, or get another search out of Stratos.

But in truth, it wasn't much of a choice to think over, after all, she had an extender and a perfect target in her hand already. "This time, I will activate Stratos' other effect! I will destroy spells and traps on the field up to the number of 'HERO' monsters I control except this card!"

And the most interesting part that made Stratos a card that was limited, and was outright banned at a certain point of time, was none other than the fact that every single one of its effects was not a hard once per turn, and that its backrow removal capability was non-targeting.

Edo clicked his tongue, knowing where the activation of the effect would lead to. "Che, fine! I'll activate the trap card, D - Hyper Nova!" He said, flipping his last face-down card face-up, revealing a card that… she had never seen being played before.

And that immediately sent alarm bells in her head. Him activating a card that she doesn't know meant that it was an anime only card, and she wouldn't even have any inkling on what it would do.

"If a monster is special summoned to my opponent's field while they control a special summoned monster and you control a 'Destiny HERO' monster, I can destroy all monsters you control that were special summoned this turn!" He explained the card's effect, the revealed trap card shining brightly.

Her eyes slightly widened under her cap as she heard the trap card's effect and processed what it exactly does. It's-it's an in archetype, one sided, Torrential Reborn?! Well, not quite Torrential Reborn considering the opponent needs to essentially control two special summoned monsters already, that and it only hits the special summoned monsters.

The chain of two cards then resolved, the two special summoned monsters, them being both Faris and the newly summoned Stratos, were cleared from the field, leaving her with only Liquid Soldier as her sole remaining monster.

And the effect of Stratos then activates, and as it doesn't target, she had no choice but to destroy the continuous trap that she knew would float into any 'Destiny HERO' monster.

With a strong gust of wind, the continuous trap was then destroyed. "I'll activate the effect of D - Tactics!" Edo declared upon the card's destruction. "If this card in the spell and trap zone is destroyed by a card's effect, I can add one 'Destiny HERO' monster from my deck to my hand!"

And he did exactly just that, taking a card from his deck and revealed what it was. "I will add Destiny HERO - Decider from my deck to my hand!" He said, revealing the card and shuffling the two cards that he has in hand.

And now, Edo was without any forms of interaction, and she still has the other engine that she had put inside her deck to supplement the fact that she couldn't use the Destiny HERO monsters as extenders.

She took a card from her hand, and revealed another card. "I will activate the equip spell, "Infernoble Arms - Durendal", and equip it to my Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier!" The two blades of water that Liquid Soldier held was then replaced with a decorative red and gold sword, one with wings as handle guards.

""I-Infernoble Arms - Durendal"?! I've never-there's no cards with that name in the Professor's database! It's another rare card!" Mamoru informed Edo hysterically, clearly distuberd by how she had played a card that even the Professor himself knows nothing of.

"Che! That database is useless!" Edo growled out, sending a glare back towards the bowl cut boy, making said boy flinch back in response.

"And I'll activate its effect." She declared simply. "While "Infernoble Arms - Durendal" is equipped to a monster, I can add one Level 5 or lower Fire Warrior monster from my deck to my hand, then destroy this card."

She then revealed the card that she would add with its effect, a card that was arguably one of the best Warrior extenders ever printed. "I will add Fire Flint Lady to my hand." She said, adding the monster to her hand, and destroying the equip spell.

"And now Fire Flint Lady's effect! If I control a Warrior monster, I can special summon her from my hand!" She placed the monster card onto her duel disk, and the masked small flint bearing lady appeared onto the field.

Fire Flint Lady - Fire/Warrior/Level 1/Effect: 100/100

"Now I will activate Fire Flint Lady's effect! I can send this card from the field to the graveyard, and special summon one Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from my hand! And if I do, you cannot target that monster with card effects this turn!" She explained the monster's effect, sending it to the graveyard for its cost.

"The monster that I would special summon with Fire Flint Lady's effect is…" She said slowly, revealing one of the two cards that still remained in her hand. "Vision HERO - Vyon."

And just like Edo who had the same monster and summoned it as his normal summoned, she too, had opened the Vision HERO on her starting hand, but since she had a better normal summon in her situation in the form of Liquid Soldier, alongside an extender in the form of the searchable Fire Flint Lady from the equip spell "Infernoble Arms - Durendal", she had the ease of not using her normal summon on Vyon.

Vision HERO - Vyon - Dark/Warrior/Level 4/Effect: 1000/1200

"Tch! So you even opened Vyon!" He said, clicking his tongue. 

"Now Vyon's effect." She declared, activating the monster's on summon effect, even though honestly she doesn't have much high impact targets unlike Edo. "Since it was special summoned, I can send a 'HERO' monster from my deck to the graveyard. I will send Elemental HERO Neos from my deck to the graveyard."

She then stretched her arms outwards. "Vyon's second effect! I will banish Vision HERO - Faris from my graveyard, to add the spell, Polymerization from my deck to my hand!" And she did just that, banishing the Dark HERO monster from her grave to add the original fusion spell.

"And I'll activate it!" She shouted, placing the card on her duel disk's sword projection. "I will fuse both Vision HERO - Vyon, and Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier!" She raised her right hand up, and the two HERO monsters then floated and fused into a singular Fusion Monster.

She fixed her cap, and completed her fusion chant. "Fusion Summon. Appear. The hero who rises with the sun. Elemental HERO Sunrise." And the Fusion Monster appeared in a flash of blinding light, as bright as the sun itself, his long blue cape swishing behind him as he struck a fighting pose, his red and golden armor shining.

Elemental HERO Sunrise - Light/Warrior/Fusion/Level 7/Effect: 2500/1200

"Elemental HERO Sunrise's and Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier's effect activates!" She declared as she activated the effect of the  monster that she had just summoned, quite glad honestly that the effect of Liquid Soldier is not an 'only one effect per turn and only once that turn' in this world.

"If Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier is sent to the graveyard of banished as material for the Fusion Summon of a 'HERO' monster, I can draw two cards, then discard one card!" She said, explaining the Angel Baton effect that the card had should it be used as Fusion Material.

She placed her hand over her duel disk's deck holder, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath and exhaling. "I'll draw!" She shouted aloud, drawing her two cards in a large arc, and taking a glance at what she had drawn.

And a route opened, a play that could lead her to victory in this very turn.

"I will send Vision HERO - Faris from my deck to the graveyard." She showed to her opponent, one of the two cards that she had drawn, and pitched it to the graveyard, leaving her with two cards in hand.

"Now, if Elemental HERO Sunrise is special summoned, I can add one 'Miracle Fusion' from my deck to my hand!" She shouted out, adding the other fusion spell that she run in the deck to her hand.

"Miracle Fusion?" Edo whispered under his breath, and looked back towards Mamoru. The brown haired boy yelped, hurriedly typing on the tablet that he was given.

And she let him, allowing him to explain exactly what the card does. "M-Miracle Fusion! Yes! It's a card that lets them Fusion Summon one 'Elemental HERO' Fusion Monster from their Extra Deck by banishing fusion materials listed on it from their field or graveyard!" 

"I will activate the spell that I had drawn, E - Emergency Call." She said, playing the other card that she had drawn with the effect of Liquid Soldier. "This card allows me to add one 'Elemental HERO' monster from my deck to my hand."

Without an interruption, she revealed a card from her deck. "I will add a second copy of Elemental HERO Stratos." And she added the second Stratos to her hand, shuffling the three cards that she has on hand as she does so.

"But you've already used your normal summon for the turn!" Edo said waving his arm outwards and making his cloak flow out. "And even if you do summon a monster with that Miracle Fusion, you won't be able to destroy my Dystopia by battle or card effects!"

"I wonder about that." She muttered under her breath, but for Edo who heard her, it almosts seemed like she was mocking him, a notion that made him even angrier than he was before.

In truth, before she had drawn with the effect of Liquid Soldier, she was quite skeptical if she could attempt for lethal like he just said, especially through the indestructible Dystopia who gained such through D-Fusion. 

Her first thought was to exploit his mistake, the fact that he summoned Dystopia in attack position, and summon the card that could possibly OTK in this scenario, that being none other than Vision HERO - Trinity, and perhaps searching for Elemental HERO Honest Neos to hit through Dystopia regardless.

But Edo destroying her Increase closed that opportunity as she wouldn't have enough bodies to even summon the monster, and him having the unknown set card which was D-Hyper Nova foiled her plan of searching for Honest Neos.

That and she doesn't run Trinity in the first place. With the new supports that the deck got when she was given the mission, there was arguably a better target than the three material HERO Fusion Monster, even though it still has the highest ability to OTK.

But her newest draw managed to turn on one of the cards that she had on hand, arguably a newer HERO support card that she hadn't even tried in testing considering that this deck was made a whopping five minutes ago.

"I will activate the spell, EN - Engage Neo Space!" She shouted out aloud, playing the card and having the spell's holographic card art appear on the field, shining as it does so.

"EN - Engage Neo Space, EN - Engage Neo Space!" Mamoru muttered to himself, once more repeatedly clicking the buttons on the tablet in his hand. "There's nothing! It's another card that was outside of the database!"

"Che! So it's another rare card! Just how many of those do you have!" Edo said aloud, gritting his teeth as he warrily kept his eyes on his opponent, glaring at them as he could not find any kinds of tells from his hat wearing opponent.

"En - Engage Neo Space lets me send one 'Neo-Spacian' monster, and one 'Elemental HERO' monster to the graveyard, one from my hand and one from my deck, to special summon one 'Neo-Spacian' monster or one Level 5 or higher 'Elemental HERO' monster from my deck!" She said, explaining the card's effect.

It was a strong card, the downside being that it was a card that needed her to run bricks that are known as Neo-Spacians, who, barring Grand Mole, Aqua Dolphin, and Dark Panther, are incredibly bad cards.

Which was why she was only running those three, one of each of course. Mostly due to the incredibly dumb and gimmicky payoff of summoning Cosmo Neos on her opponent's turn and essentially Azathoting them, it wasn't consistent mind you, but it is funny. And is technically, a form of interaction.

"I will send the Elemental HERO Stratos in my hand, and Neo Spacian Grand Mole from my deck, to special summon from my deck, Elemental HERO Spirit of Neos!" She shouted aloud as she took the card directly from her deck, and placed it onto her duel disk. 

And the monster then gallantly appeared onto the field, flying high above and reaching the hallway's ceiling, before the glossy and transparent Neos floated down beside her monster, floating above the ground as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Elemental HERO Spirit of Neos - Light/Warrior/Level 7/Effect: 2500/2000

"And should I do so, I get to add one 'Polymerization' from my deck or graveyard to my hand. And I'll add the one in my graveyard back to my hand." She said, leaving off the caveat of being locked from the Extra Deck to only summoning Fusion Monsters as she added the fusion spell to her hand.

"Che! And it even adds Polymerization too!" Edo said as he narrowed his eyes at the field. He was.. Honestly starting to get worried, even through him interrupting their combo with Dystopia, and even blowing up what was basically their whole board with D-Hyper Nova, they were still continuing their turn.

It was honestly quite amazing. Much to his displeasure, his opponent was an incredibly skilled duelist. 

"Spirit of Neos' effect activates!" She declared on the monster's summon, activating its on summon effect. "If this card is special summoned, I can add one spell or trap that mentions an 'Elemental HERO' monster's name, or one 'Polymerization' from my deck to my hand!"

Spirit of Neos was quite a card, it would have been better if it had an innate summoning conditions of course, but with the support a card like EN - Engage Neo Space, that has the ability to add Polymerization and act as a Foolish Burial for either Dark Mist as the best target, or just mill any of the Neo-Spacians who are, arguably, bricks, it becomes an instant plus as it neutralizes the cost, and Spirit of Neos gets a card on summon.

That, and the card pool that it searches are incredibly large, being able to basically search almost every single in archetype fusion spell, support spells, and support traps, barring of course, the Destiny HERO cards and, much to her dismay, Masked Changes.

But she already has a card that she would add to her hand, though the chance of the card even being activated is quite low. "I will add the trap, Favorite Contact from my deck to my hand!" 

She added the card to her hand, and played the next card to continue with her combo line. "And now I'll activate the spell, Polymerization!" She declared, activating the normal fusion spell for the second time of the turn.

"I will fuse Elemental HERO Sunrise and Elemental HERO Spirit of Neos!" She declared the two targets, the two monsters that she has. The two monsters then fused with one another, creating a flash of light. 

"Fusion Summon!" She shouted, finishing the summon of the monster. "Appear! The HERO that shines like the light! Elemental HERO The Shining!" And the fourth HERO Fusion Monster was summoned, the white armored HERO shining just like his namesake.

Elemental HERO The Shining - Light/Warrior/Fusion/Level 8/Effect: 2600/2100

But it the HERO monster wasn't staying for long, she had simply summoned him to get the two to the graveyard, and acting as a name after all. "And now I'll activate the spell, Miracle Fusion!"

"That's! They're going to Fusion Summon a monster using the monsters in their graveyard!" Mamoru shouted, informing Edo, who simply frowned as he kept his guard up.

And the bowl cut boy then frowned as he kept looking back and forth from the tablet in his hand and to the field. "But what would they even Fusion Summon? There isn't any Elemental HERO Fusion Monsters in the database that would-"

"So they would summon a monster's that aren't in the database!" Edo shouted back to Mamoru. "We've seen a lot of rare cards that aren't in the database already! Of course they're going to have more of them!"

"You're quite right about that." She said, fixing her hat slightly as she raised her other hand and declared the materials that she would be using for this one Fusion Summon using Miracle Fusion.

Which was, of course, all of them.

"I will fuse two Elemental HERO Stratos, Elemental HERO Liquid Soldier, Elemental HERO Shadow Mist, Elemental HERO Neos, Elemental HERO Spirit of Neos, Elemental HERO Sunrise, Elemental HERO The Shining, Vision HERO - Increase, Vision HERO - Vyon, Vision HERO - Faris, and Fire Flint Lady!"

""WHA-!""

The two boys' eyes went wide as they heard her declare the materials that she was using for her Fusion Summon, using all twelve monsters that she has in her graveyard, barring Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit and Grand Mole.

All of the monsters that she had named then swarmed the field, each and every single one of them striking poses as they arrived, before all of them being absorbed into a vortex of blue and orange, the typical happenings of a Fusion Summon.

"Fusion Summon!" She shouted aloud as she brought her hand down, and a blinding flash of light erupted, making Edo and Mamoru raise their hands to protect their eyes. "Appear! O gallant HEROes! Wake Up Your Elemental HERO!"

And the monster then appeared, or rather the monsters then appeared. From the vortex of blue and orange, came a whole group of Elemental HEROes, those being Elemental HERO Wildedge, Elemental HERO Necroshade, Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman, Elemental HERO Neo Bubbleman, and two Hero Kids, all of them grouping up together and striking poses.

Wake Up Your Elemental HERO - Light/Warrior/Fusion/Level 10/Effect: 2500/2100

"W-what?! A twelve monster Fusion Summon?!" Edo shouted aloud in shock, having only seen something similar done by Ryo and his Cyber Dragons. He would never have thought that something similar could ever be done in a different deck, let alone a HERO deck that was similar but different to his own.

Mamoru too, stood in shock as he saw the group of monsters appear on board. Mouth agape, constantly opening and closing, but no words left his lips. And he then gulped, and pointed towards her monster with a shaky hand. 

"B-but it only has 2500 attack! It won't be able to defeat Edo's Destiny HERO -Dystopia! Not to mention that it can't be destroyed by battle or card effects this turn!" He said, reminding them all of the protection that the Destiny HERO Fusion got from D-Fusion.

"Wake Up Your Elemental HERO's effect." She said, making the boy stop shaking as he turned his attention from her group of monsters and back to her. "For each fusion materials that was used for its Fusion Summon, it gains 300 points of attack!"

And since she had used what was basically her entire graveyard for the monster's summon, it was now stupidly large. All of the HERO monsters on her side of the field shouted their battle cries, their bodies shining with power as their power was boosted.

Wake Up Your Elemental HERO - Light/Warrior/Fusion/Level 10/Effect: 6100/2100

""6-6100?!"" Both Edo and Mamoru shouted together, both of their eyes wide as they saw how big her monster got thanks to the amount of monsters that she had used for its Fusion Summon.

"Battle!" She shouted, motioning her arm forwards. "Go! Wake Up Your Elemental HERO! Attack Destiny HERO Dystopia! HERO Clash!" And her monster then attacked, the group of HEROes rushing to meet their foe.

The Dark HERO Fusion monster met the attacking group of HEROes with his own attack, shooting a dark orb of energy from his palms, aimed at the pair of Hero Kids. said attack was deflected however, by the Shining Flare Wingman who glided down and deflected the attack with his right hand, paving the way for the other HEROes to rush in.

And rush in they did, with Necroshade leading the charge, landing the first hit against the Destiny HERO, continued by Wildedge who brought down his large board sword and slashed at him.

The barrage of attacks didn't end there, as Neo Bubbleman shot his own weapon, attacking with Neo Bubble Shoot, followed by the two Hero Kids throwing their punches. And finally, Shining Flare Wingman struck, firing off his signature Shining Shoot, and finishing the rush of attacks.

"Guaaah!" Edo shouted as he put both of his hands over his head to protect himself from the heft that the solid hologram sent with the attack, receiving what was almost an OTK from a single attack. And as the cloud of dust disappeared, Edo wobbly stood breathing harshly, alongside Dystopia who stood next to him in a weakened state.

Edo Phoenix: 700LP

"E-Edo!" Mamoru called out his name, worriedly looking at the grey haired boy as he started to rush to his side, only for Edo himself to raise a hand in his direction, making the brown haired boy stop in his tracks. 

"Kuh! But! I still have Life Points!" Edo roared out, waving his hand outwards as he did so. He was sweating, while he knew that his opponent was strong, capable of moving down groups of Obelisk Forces with the greatest of ease, using a deck filled with rare unknown cards.

But the same could be said to him, to his friends as well. They all were duelists whose level are quite honestly higher than that of the Obelisk Force, at least individually. And they all too, possessed rare cards, and even whole decks made of them.

Fubuki has his legendary Red-Eyes deck, Ryo with his Cyber Dragon deck which was given by his master, the founder of the cyber-syle, and the others had their rare decks and cards as well, barring Mamoru who uses the general honor student deck that the Academia mandatory gives out.

He had thought himself as someone who was strong enough to even defeat the duelist in front of him, the duelist who he knew had information regarding his father's cards, but he never thought that he would be pushed this far to the point that he could have almost lost.

But he could still turn this all back. Even if his opponent has a monster with over 6000 attack he could simply destroy them with-

"Wake Up Your Elemental HERO's second effect." He heard his opponent say, and his thought process stopped as his eyes snapped towards the red hat wearing individual.

"This card can make a number of attacks on monsters each Battle Phase, up to the number of Fusion Monsters used as Fusion Materials for its Fusion Summon." They said, and dread filled his stomach as his eyes went wide.

"W-Wake Up Your Elemental HERO was summoned with Sunrise and Shining! W-which means-"

"Wake Up Your Elemental HERO can attack once more." She said, straightening her hat and fixing it, finishing the line that Mamoru would have said. "Go once more! Wake Up Your Elemental HERO! HERO Clash!"

The six HEROes who had regrouped then rushed out once more, this time attacking in tandem, chaining their attacks one after another, not giving Dystopia a single moment to counter any of their attacks.

And like before, the combined attack of all five HEROes gave an opening for the closing attack, in which Shining Flare Wingman shot a direct burst of Shining Shoot towards Dystopia, dealing the final blow that closed the game.

"GUAAAAAH!" Edo screamed as he was hit with the shockwave that the attack gave, sending him off of his feet as he fell and met the carpeted floor below harshly.

Edo Phoenix: 0LP

"EDO!" Mamoru called out to his friend, dread and panic filled his voice as he immediately rushed to the Destiny HERO duelist's side. The brown haired boy then stood in front of the downed Edo, looking at her warily, the hint of fear clearly shown by how his hands, along with the rest of his body, were shaking.

She deactivated her duel disk, turning it off. And along with it, the solid holograms that remained then disappeared, leaving only herself and the two boys to be the ones who are in the hallway.

She felt disgusted at herself, for doing this to her friends, for hurting him, for using the same method that the Professor and the Doctor were using to reach their goals. For using dueling as a method of violence. To defile the game that she loved dearly with all of her heart.

But if she doesn't do this, then who will? The protagonist? Yuuya was it? If she remembered correctly that was his name. This might be the world of an anime, it was how she had managed to make it this far in her quest to stop the Professor with simply her dueling ability and pool of modern cards and not be stopped by a group who would simply solve their problems with weapons or violence.

In the end, no matter what happens, she knew that the story of Arc-V would end with the hero's triumph, with them defeating the big bad, which as far as she knew, has to be the Professor, the leader of the invading force that was the Academia.

There might be more to the story than that of course, the existence of the incredibly strange and gimmicky card that was Supreme King Z-ARC who is undoubtedly a card from the series, hinted at that.

But right now, the safety of her friends, of Serena and Sister Claire was paramount to her, more so that whatever the overarching plot is hiding in the shadows.

Right now, the one enemy that she has to face, the one foe that she would have to defeat to assure that her friends and family would be safe and sound for the foreseeable future, was the Professor.

So even if she has to use their dirty disgusting methods of using dueling as a weapon, to use it as another means of violence, she would do so.

So she ignored the pang in her heart as she saw Mamoru standing protectively over Edo, and started to walk past them, knowing that if Edo was stationed here of all places, then the Professor's dwelling was certainly close by.

"N-not yet…" She heard a hoarse voice say behind her, and she glanced back to see Edo attempting to stand straight, supported by Mamoru who was giving him worried glances every few seconds.

"N-not yet! Don't think that I-that I'll just give up after one loss!" He shouted loudly, words still filled with burning passionate determination as he activated his duel disk once more.

Only for him to keel over, his feet failing him as he fell, saved by being caught by the brown haired boy who stood behind him. "Just stop this Edo! You're not in the state to duel anymore!" Mamoru said, begging his friend to stop.

"I-I need to-! For my father-!"

"Just stop." She mumbled out, stopping whatever idiotic thing that Edo would have done in his tracks. "Your friend is right. You're no longer in the state to duel anymore. If you push yourself farther than this, then you might truly get injured."

"Kuh-!" Edo growled at her, knowing that what she had just said was indeed correct. If he pushed himself to duel with the same stakes like before, even a single attack might be good enough to put him out of commission.

"Even… still-!"

"I will give you this, Edo Phoenix." She said, turning her head to face away from the two boys. "The cards that you seek from the Red Hats, none of them are made by your father."

Hearing those words come out from her mouth, shocked to the point of silence, his mouth left agape. "What… what do you mean?!" He said, struggling to stand up, being held down by Mamoru as to not strain himself further.

"It is just that. The Destiny HERO cards that you have received from the Red Hats, those were not the creations of your father. Mr. Phoenix was it?" She answered him, vaguely remembering the name of Edo's father.

"Wha-but-"

"Take my words with a grain of salt if you wish." She said with a self-deprecating tone, knowing that the boy wouldn't trust her words as he trusted the Professor more than her, even if she were to reveal her identity if they haven't deduced it yet.

She knew that no matter what she say, no matter what she do, the two boys would never stop trusting the Professor, especially after getting to the Academia through a selective scholarship like they did.

"But know that the goals of the Professor is something that you should not support. That is, if you don't mind dirtying your hands with the blood of the innocent that is." She said ominously, though she doesn't quite know what the reason was for the Professor to attempt a dimensional invasion and commit mass genocide, and she didn't quite care either way as she was simply opposing him out of principle. 

Not having anything else to say to the two boys, she left, leaving the two boys to help themselves as she left them on the empty hallway. Continuing her march to where the Professor was.

"Wait!" Edo shouted at her once more, trying to stand up again, but failing to do so as he stumbled and fell. "Kh!" He grimaced as he felt pain shot through his body.

"Edo! Didn't I tell you to stop trying to move!?" Mamoru chided him for the nth time, throwing a glance at her retreating figure before turning back to the grey haired boy. "I've already called for backup, there should be some Obelisk Force still running around. So it'll be fine! We won't lose sight of that Red Hat anytime soon!"

And Mamoru kept assuring Edo too. "Not to mention that even if they manage to even duel the Professor, they would most definitely lose! And at the smallest chance that they do win, there's no way that they'll be able to even escape this Academia!"

Hearing the brown haired boy's words that were supposed to be encouragement only made Edo bring his head down in frustration. "Even so…" He grit his teeth as he kept glaring at the red clad figure's retreating form, slowly but surely getting farther and farther away from them.

He stretched his arm forward, as if he was reaching to the retreating form, before balling his fist. "One day… one day I'll defeat you for sure!" He said with frustration, and burning determination burning resolutely in his blue eyes.