Chapter 769 - 769
["Aibo, you said you were innocent and had nothing to fear, but in the end, what was meant to hit you still hit you."]
Because of the flag Hoshino had raised earlier, having the Marriage Fraud Execution Cannon blasted back at her by Yubel was particularly ironic.
"Migu~! I didn't do it on purpose!" Tamamo-no-Mae hurriedly defended herself in panic.
"I know you didn't, but given the situation, our opponent isn't going to care about our feelings anymore," Hoshino said helplessly.
Taking 3,000 damage by itself would have been bad enough. But because of the enhancement effect of Evil HERO Infernal Gainer that Supreme King Jaden had sacrificed, Yubel, as a Fiend monster, could attack twice this turn.
Two attacks meant a total of 6,000 damage. Regardless of whatever "surviving at 1 LP" luck Hoshino might have, taking that much damage right at the beginning would put her in an extremely disadvantageous position.
"The endless despair is still far from over."
Yubel continued the Battle Phase, swinging her claws and launching another attack with excitement.
"Because of Infernal Gainer's effect, I attack Heroic Spirit – Tamamo-no-Mae: Divine Machine with myself for the second time! Take this — Nightmare Pain!"
The recurring nightmare once again demonstrated the oppressive power of a monster with 0 ATK and 0 DEF.
"If Senpai takes the full 6,000 damage from the first round, her situation will be extremely dangerous!" Alexis worried.
"During your attack declaration, I activate my Set Trap Card!"
Hoshino flipped up the card beneath her feet. Clearly, she had no intention of taking another 3,000 damage.
"A Trap Card?" Akasha wondered. "The Trap Cards Hoshino usually uses probably can't stop the damage from a 0-ATK Yubel, right?"
Whether it was Hoshino's usual tactic of Special Summoning Mash to redirect an attack or using effects that reduce the opponent's ATK to break through their defenses, neither could truly stop Yubel's assault.
However, the card slowly revealed beneath Hoshino's feet was a Trap that Akasha had never seen Hoshino use before — and it wasn't even part of the Heroic Spirit Deck.
"— Trap Card, Doble Passe!"
"That's my card!" Alexis exclaimed happily.
"So Senpai has been carrying that card with her all this time…"
Back during the school festival, Alexis had secretly slipped the card into Hoshino's deck. It was a card she had carefully chosen and given to Hoshino as a token of her feelings.
There was a rumor at the school festival:
"If you give someone one of your precious cards during the after-party, you'll receive the blessing of love from a Duel Monster Spirit."
Alexis had no idea how much truth there was to the legend.
But seeing that Hoshino had brought the card she had given her to such an important Duel made Alexis feel that everything had been worth it.
"The effect of Doble Passe — when an opponent's monster attacks your monster, change that attack into a direct attack against you, while inflicting damage to the opponent equal to the attacking monster's ATK!"
The flashy double-edged Trap transformed the battling monsters into dancers performing a duet. Their attacks crossed paths like dancers weaving around one another, and although they couldn't collide at that moment, both sides continued to shine.
Of course, that was the card's intended function.
But when the target was Yubel, whose ATK was 0, the situation became completely different.
"Sniff, sniff… I'm sensing something suspicious here. Fire the Marriage Fraud Execution Cannon!"
Yubel's demonic claws bypassed Tamamo-no-Mae and slashed across Hoshino, while Tamamo's counterattack simultaneously exploded against Yubel.
"Hehe, what a shame…"
Hoshino smiled.
"Neither Yubel's 0-ATK direct attack nor the counterattack dealing damage equal to Yubel's ATK will inflict any actual damage."
The two dancers crossed paths, and Hoshino cleverly exploited the Trap's properties to reduce Yubel's Nightmare Pain to nothing.
"If neither side took any damage, isn't that basically just throwing a bunch of punches at each other and accomplishing absolutely nothing?" Minazuki pointed out.
"No! Doble Passe has another effect!" Alexis excitedly replied.
Hoshino nodded.
"Exactly! The effect of Doble Passe strengthens Heroic Spirit – Tamamo-no-Mae: Divine Machine, allowing it to attack directly during my next turn!"
The energy of the magical formulas surrounding the Divine Machine expanded further.
Tamamo waved her talismans, her fox-like eyes locking onto Yubel and Supreme King Jaden beyond the wall of monsters.
"Tamamo-no-Mae, I've got my eyes on you~"
Akasha puffed out her cheeks and quietly complained:
"Alexis secretly slipped a card like that into Hoshino-nee's deck… if she wanted to give her a Trap Card, I have plenty of useful ones too."
"My Battle Phase isn't over yet!"
Elemental HERO Nova Master continued its attack declaration.
"Elemental HERO Nova Master, attack! Burn that monster Set in face-down Defense Position!"
Nova Master's ATK couldn't overcome Tamamo's 3,000 DEF, so Yubel instead chose the monster Hoshino had Set face-down using Tamamo's effect during the previous turn.
"— Blazing Meteor!"
Flames erupted from Nova Master's hand and surged across the ground, forcibly flipping up Hoshino's face-down monster.
[Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji: Flag of Sincerity DEF 2000]
"Hmph. As expected, it was this monster," Yubel sneered.
Because Jeanne and Saber Lily had been used as Xyz Materials beneath Xyz Tamamo-no-Mae, the only monsters remaining in Hoshino's Graveyard that could have been Set face-down were Hohenheim and the Xyz version of Okita Souji.
"But Elemental HERO Nova Master still has the higher ATK! Burn beneath these flames, you pathetic ace!"
Yubel raised her hand and directed the attack downward.
The Blazing Meteor engulfed Xyz Okita Souji in a raging inferno.
[Okita Souji] destroyed.
Supreme King Jaden immediately activated an effect.
"At the moment a monster is destroyed by battle, Elemental HERO Nova Master's effect activates! I can draw 1 card from my Deck!"
[Supreme King Jaden: 2 Hand Cards]
"It was nothing but a little flame…"
Within the battlefield engulfed by Nova Master's flames, the swordsman's dark-colored scarf fluttered gently in the currents of hot air.
"This is nothing! Compared to Nobu's flames, this isn't hot at all!"
With all her strength, Okita slashed out a wave of sword pressure, breaking through the attack's momentum. Despite the white smoke still rising from the heat left by the flames scorching her haori, Okita returned to the battlefield.
[Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji: Flag of Sincerity ATK 2500]
"She's not destroyed?" Yubel asked in confusion.
"— Trap Card activated: Eternal Roma!"
Hoshino flipped up her final Set card. The Trap's effect immediately brought Xyz Okita back from the Graveyard.
[Eternal Roma — Trap Card Effect: If a "Heroic Spirit" Xyz Monster is destroyed: You can Special Summon that monster. After that, you can choose up to the number of monsters your opponent controls, and attach that many Xyz Monsters from your Graveyard to that monster as Xyz Materials.]
Normally, Eternal Roma could not only revive an Xyz Monster but also replenish its Xyz Materials.
However, because the Xyz Monster Heroic Spirit – Oda Nobunaga: Tenka Fubu had been returned to the Extra Deck by Jeanne's effect, the revived Xyz Okita had to return to the field without any Xyz Materials.
"An Xyz Monster without Xyz Materials isn't worth fearing!"
Yubel placed three cards onto her Duel Disk in succession, lowered her strange-looking Duel Disk, and ended her turn.
"At the moment I end my turn, my own effect activates — Yubel!"
"During my End Phase, I must Tribute 1 monster on the field. Otherwise, this card is destroyed."
Yubel picked up Armageddon Knight from her Monster Zone and offered it as the Tribute required for her to remain on the field.
[Yubel: 1 Hand Card | 3 Set Cards]
"My turn! Draw!"
At the start of her turn, Hoshino ran her finger across the card of Xyz Tamamo-no-Mae and provoked Yubel.
"You said an Xyz Monster without Xyz Materials isn't worth fearing. In other words, Tamamo-no-Mae, which does have Xyz Materials, should be giving you quite a headache! Heroic Spirit – Tamamo-no-Mae: Divine Machine, activate your effect!"
[Once per turn: You can target 1 card on the field; negate its effects, then detach 1 Xyz Material from this card.]
"Seal her effect, Tamamo!" Hoshino pointed toward Yubel.
"Suiten Nikkō Amaterasu Yashino – Sealing Formation! A Yubel without her effects is nothing more than a 0-ATK vanilla monster!"
Yubel flipped up one of her Set cards in response.
"Quick-Play Spell Forbidden Chalice!"
[Forbidden Chalice — Quick-Play Spell Effect: Target 1 face-up monster on the field; it gains 400 ATK, but its effects are negated until the end of this turn.]
"Take it," Yubel said coldly. "The price for the 400 ATK boost granted by this Chalice is the negation of your effects."
[Heroic Spirit – Tamamo-no-Mae: Divine Machine ATK: 2500 → 2900]
"Migu? The Holy Grail… isn't that the thing Musashi used to cook udon in? Nothing good ever seems to happen when that thing is involved, no matter what era we're talking about. I refuse!"
Tamamo herself was clearly very suspicious of anything resembling a Holy Grail.
However, Forbidden Chalice, being a Quick-Play Spell Card, was obviously different from the Holy Grails normally encountered in Chaldea.
[Tamamo-no-Mae — Effects Negated]
Because Forbidden Chalice had been chained, it negated Tamamo's effect before Tamamo could negate Yubel's.
"So you used the Chalice to negate my effect? Fine. But I'll gladly take the 400-point ATK increase!"
Hoshino changed the battle position of the card in the Monster Zone.
The Tamamo-no-Mae that had been Xyz Summoned in Defense Position last turn was switched to Attack Position.
"Don't forget! Thanks to the effect of the Trap Card Doble Passe from last turn, Tamamo-no-Mae can bypass your monsters and attack you directly this turn!"
The moment its battle position changed, six golden ornaments resembling the Buddhist Six Realms of Reincarnation appeared behind the Divine Machine, releasing a tremendous amount of offensive magical energy.
"A direct attack with 2,900 ATK! That should let Headmistress narrow the Life Point gap even further. As expected of the Trap Card Alexis chose for her!" Minazuki agreed.
"But now that Tamamo has finally reached 2,900 ATK, wouldn't it be safer to destroy Elemental HERO Nova Master first?" Akasha countered.
It wasn't jealousy because Hoshino was using a Trap Card given to her by Alexis. Akasha was simply analyzing the battlefield rationally.
After all, the ATK increase from Forbidden Chalice only lasted for one turn. If Hoshino didn't take this opportunity to destroy Nova Master, then next turn, Tamamo and Okita would both have 2,500 ATK, leaving them vulnerable to Nova Master, which had exactly 100 more ATK.
"Elemental HERO Nova Master can be handled by Okita! Tamamo, you can go straight for the enemy's Life Points!"
Hoshino flipped another card and constructed a new Overlay above the Level 4 Xyz Okita Souji.
"I overlay a Rank 5 Xyz Monster on top of Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji: Flag of Sincerity! Evolve! The strongest swordswoman to race across the battlefield of slaughter! Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji: Ikedaya Incident!"
[Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji: Ikedaya Incident ☆☆☆☆☆ (Rank 5)][WIND][Warrior/Xyz/Effect][ATK 2500/DEF 200]
[3 Level 5 monsters]
[This card can also be Xyz Summoned by overlaying it on a Rank 4 "Okita Souji" monster you control.]
Born from Flag of Sincerity, Ikedaya Incident was its upgraded Xyz form.
This was also the reason Hoshino had deliberately used Eternal Roma to retrieve the Xyz Okita from her Graveyard.
Because this was an Xyz Summon by overlaying, the Rank 4 Okita Souji itself became an Xyz Material for the Rank 5 Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji: Ikedaya Incident.
Although she had only this single Xyz Material, it was enough for Okita to unleash a sword wind capable of breaking through the battlefield's defenses.
"Let's go, Master! There is no good or evil on the battlefield. I can only pierce my enemies with my own blade!"
Entering the Battle Phase, Hoshino detached the Xyz Material beneath Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji: Ikedaya Incident and activated its effect.
[When this card declares an attack on a face-up monster: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; change that monster to face-down Defense Position.]
"I choose Elemental HERO Nova Master as my attack target, and change it to face-down Defense Position!"
With Shukuchi, Okita vanished in an instant.
One step crossed the sound barrier.
The second step entered the realm between moments.
By the time everyone realized what had happened, Okita Souji was already standing behind Nova Master.
"Three-Step Absolute Blade! Receive the brilliance of my secret sword!"
"When Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji: Ikedaya Incident attacks a Defense Position monster, its effect activates!"
[At the start of the Damage Step, when this card attacks a Defense Position monster: You can send that monster to the Graveyard, and inflict damage to your opponent equal to that monster's original DEF.]
"— Nameless Three-Stage Thrust!!"
The attack was elevated into the form of a Noble Phantasm.
Three unstoppable piercing blades burst forth, easily penetrating the face-down Defense Position monster and tearing through the burning body of Elemental HERO Nova Master.
[Elemental HERO Nova Master] destroyed.
[Supreme King & Yubel LP 6100 → 4000]