"I set three cards and end my turn."
With a flash of golden light, Kira's back row now held three set cards.
"End Phase—because 'D.D. Scout Plane' was banished by 'Allure of Darkness,' I special summon it in Attack Position at the end of this turn."
[D.D. Scout Plane, ATK 800]
"My turn, draw." Luca declared. "I activate the Spell Card 'Pot of Greed,' drawing two cards."
With two more cards in hand, he suddenly brightened as he glanced at one, then couldn't help but throw his head back in laughter.
Kira raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Drew your key card?"
"Heh, I was going to test your skills a bit more, but it looks guy wants to face you too."
Luca lowered his voice, building the atmosphere.
"The duel's just started, but it's about to end. Still, you're lucky—you get to witness my ultimate ace monster. Follow current novᴇls on novᴇlfire.net
I activate the Equip Spell, 'Future Fusion'! (Anime effect)"
He raised the card high, and the spell's image appeared before him, the sky shimmering with a rainbow aurora.
"Future Fusion lets me choose a Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck, send its materials from my Deck to the Graveyard, and perform the Fusion!"
"The anime version of Future Fusion, huh?" Kira narrowed his eyes.
He'd known about this card, but seeing it in person, he still wanted to complain about how broken it was.
The printed card's nerfed version already got banned for being too strong, and even that was nowhere near as absurd as the anime version, which fuses instantly from the deck with no restrictions. Even the infamous pre-errata Future Fusion is tame by comparison.
"Nice card you've got there." Kira smiled mysteriously.
"Don't blink, because what's coming is the ultimate monster."
Luca pulled a huge stack of cards from his deck.
"I send twenty-five different Worm monsters from my deck to the Graveyard for an ultimate twenty-five-fold Fusion! Descend now—the origin and zero point of all things, the strongest Ultimate Worm!"
Twenty-five Worm spirits appeared, gathering toward the swirling vortex in the sky. A terrifying existence was brewing within.
Kira snapped his fingers.
"Before 'Future Fusion' resolves, I chain this card—"
He grinned oddly, looking almost eerie in the pre-dawn light.
"Continuous Trap—Macro Cosmos!
All cards sent to the graveyard are banished instead."
Luca froze for two seconds.
Then his pupils shrank, and horror twisted his face.
He instinctively reached toward his Future Fusion.
"Wait, don't send them! Stop! Yamero!"
But it was too late. Macro Cosmos took effect as Future Fusion attempted to send twenty-five Worms to the Graveyard—they were all banished instead.
Luca's eyes bulged in disbelief.
His Worms. His precious Worms!
Half his deck, banished in an instant—unbelievable!
He was about to lose it.
But he steadied himself. It wasn't over yet.
Even if half his deck was gone, Fusion had still been activated. After resolving the effect, Worm Zero should still be summoned.
The fusion anomaly continued, a massive shadow appearing in the sky—a world-ending sphere about to manifest.
Luca's eyes sparkled.
As long as he could summon his invincible Worm Zero—
"I activate my set card, Trap Card 'Dust Tornado'!" Kira said. "Destroy one Spell or Trap on your field. I'll destroy 'Future Fusion.'"
"Future Fusion is an Equip Spell—it must remain equipped to the monster it summons. If it leaves, the equipped monster is destroyed, right?"
A sandstorm swept across Luca's field, tearing Future Fusion to shreds. Instantly, the fusion anomaly stopped, the giant sphere exploding before it could even fully appear.
He realized Kira could have destroyed Future Fusion right when it was activated, stopping everything. But instead, he let Luca banish half his deck first, then destroyed it at the last moment.
Luca took a deep breath, forcing down the urge to punch something, and drew another card.
"Then I Normal Summon 'Worm Xex.'" He said coldly.
"And the effect of 'Worm Yagan' in the graveyard. If I control only 'Worm Xex,' I can Special Summon 'Worm Yagan' from the graveyard in face-down defense position."
A disgusting Worm flashed onto his field as a set card—the same Yagan destroyed by Granmarg last turn.
Xex and Yagan are a well-known Worm combo: Xex sends Yagan to the graveyard, and Yagan can return in face-down defense to bounce monsters when flipped.
"Now I activate my set card—Spell Card 'Book of Taiyou'!
Flip one face-down monster to face-up attack position."
"Ah, so you're manually flipping to trigger the effect." Kira nodded.
"Exactly! I flip 'Worm Yagan' face-up!"
[Worm Yagan, ATK 1000]
"Worm Yagan's flip effect: return a monster on the field to its owner's hand.
Go—Granmarg, back to your hand!"
Granmarg turned into golden light and returned to Kira's hand.
"Now my formation breaks through! Xex and Yagan, attack!"