"By making use of Karna's effect, she bypassed the destruction resistance granted by Fallen Paradise and sent all the Sacred Beasts with a combined ATK of 9400 or less straight to the Graveyard, meow!"
Banner stood dumbfounded. He never expected Hoshino to actually fulfill the declaration she made at the start of the turn—defeating all three Sacred Beasts in a single turn.
"9400 ATK versus 9000 total ATK… that was really cutting it close. Just a little less, and Headmistress wouldn't have been able to overpower them at all, ne."
Crowler, who hadn't dared to breathe the entire time, finally let out a long sigh of relief once the flames of Karna Illya's effect completely faded after engulfing the Beasts.
Jaden said admiringly, "That's Sensei's persistence for you. She fought Heracles' Valor all the way down to zero, pushed his ATK to the absolute limit, and then stacked it all onto Illya!"
"To be able to suppress even the Three Sacred Beasts at the limit… has Hoshino become even stronger than before?"
Although the immediate crisis was resolved by defeating all three in one turn, Jonouchi couldn't help but feel a bit dejected.
He had once believed that Hoshino's strength during the KC Finals was her absolute peak.
After she became the academy head and stepped away from the professional dueling scene, Jonouchi had firmly believed that one day he would catch up to her.
But now, it seemed that he wasn't the only one who had grown stronger over the years.
Crack—
In Illya's hands, the spear shattered into pieces. After releasing divine-level magical power beyond its limits, the price paid by Illya's Karna form was the loss of all her attack power.
[Karna Illya ATK 9400 → 0]
Watching the blank card images gradually return to normal, Zane said solemnly,
"So that's the price of defeating the Three Sacred Beasts. Compared to having all Duel Monsters in the world devoured by them, this is already an incredibly cheap trade."
Kagemaru spoke up,
"Raviel, Lord of Phantasms' effect—when your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster, I Special Summon the same number of 'Phantasmal Tokens' to my field. Since you summoned Illya twice just now, I place two 'Phantasmal Tokens' in Defense Position!"
[Phantasmal Token ★ (Level 1)][DARK][Fiend / Token][ATK 1000/DEF 1000]
Even though she really wanted to complain that Kagemaru had missed his timing, thinking back to Illya's ATK earlier made it clear that she had indeed left him enough room to declare the effect.
"Then on my side, since Magical Girl Illya was banished as Fusion Material, I can Special Summon her to the field once again."
When using Phantasm Summon to Fusion Summon a Magical Girl monster with one monster as material, the material on the field must be banished to activate it. Thanks to this, Illya could conveniently be recycled and summoned multiple times.
However, Illya's own effect that searches Phantasm Summon upon being Special Summoned could only be activated once per turn.
[Magical Girl Illya DEF 1000]
"Even if you summon your monsters again, it doesn't change the fact that that attack was your full power, Hoshino."
Despite the Three Sacred Beasts being completely wiped out, Kagemaru wasn't furious like last turn. Instead, he appeared visibly calm.
That was only natural. With a hand full of resources, and Sacred Beasts that could be revived at the cost of just one discarded card, there was no reason for Kagemaru to panic.
"An Illya with 0 ATK, plus the Life Points you have left now—you wouldn't even survive a single attack!"
"Is that really so?"
In Main Phase 2, as Hoshino placed a card onto her Duel Disk, a mysterious smile curled at her lips.
"—I activate the Spell Card Distant Light!"
As the Spell Card activated, the Graveyard zones of both Hoshino's and Kagemaru's Duel Disks emitted an unusual golden glow.
[Distant Light Spell Card Effect:
Can only be activated if there is a "Heroic Spirit" monster in your Graveyard. Send 1 "Heroic Spirit – Valkyrie" monster from your Deck to the Graveyard, then select up to a total of 5 cards from both players' Graveyards and banish them.]
"By Distant Light's effect, I send Heroic Spirit – Valkyrie Thrúd from my Deck to the Graveyard. Then, I can choose a total of five cards from both Graveyards to banish!"
"Impossible! Banishing cards from the Graveyard?!"
Kagemaru's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the Graveyard zone on his Duel Disk, now shining with golden light.
"Don't tell me you're planning to—"
"Of course I am!"
Raising her hand to point at Kagemaru, Hoshino declared the verdict of Distant Light.
"By Distant Light's effect, I banish the Three Sacred Beasts from your Graveyard!"
"She actually banished the Three from the game!"
The sudden turn of events caught everyone completely off guard.
Jaden, Minazuki, and Akasha exchanged glances, speechless.
"Banishing the Three means…"
"Kagemaru can no longer discard cards to revive them from the Graveyard!"
"YA☆DA☆ZE!"
Hoshino continued her plays, pulling two cards from her own Graveyard.
"Distant Light allows me to banish up to five cards. After banishing the Three Phantasmal Demons, I'll also banish Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji and Heroic Spirit – Valkyrie Thrúd from my Graveyard."
Minazuki complained,
"Even now you're making sure to banish Okita specifically—what kind of deep grudge do you have against her, Headmistress?"
Akasha explained,
"That's not it. Since Okita is being banished together with the Valkyrie, Hoshino-nee is planning to chain their effects!"
Just as Akasha predicted, after completing the banishment, Hoshino retrieved Okita's card.
"At the same time, I activate the effect of the banished Heroic Spirit – Valkyrie Thrúd—"
[If this card is banished: You can banish the top 2 cards of your Deck; Special Summon 1 "Heroic Spirit" monster from among the banished monsters.
When a monster Special Summoned by this effect leaves the field, banish it.]
"Come forth! By the Valkyrie's effect, I Special Summon the banished Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji!"
[Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji ★★★★★★★ (Level 7)][WIND][Warrior/Effect][ATK 2500/DEF 2000]
Bathed in the Valkyrie's golden, distant light, Okita returned to the field—but her expression carried a hint of grievance.
"You really scared me there, Master. For a moment when I was banished, Okita-san thought she'd been hated. I never expected you were planning to use a chain of effects."
"Have more confidence, Okita!" Hoshino encouraged her. "Remove the 'thought.' You brick my hand every single day—I've hated you for a long time already."
"Hehe, you really like joking around, Master~"
Okita waved her hand and laughed fearlessly.
"(￣▽￣)~ If Master really hated Okita-san, there's no way you'd bring me along every single time. This is what they call tsundere, right? So cute!"
"I'm not joking," Hoshino replied, narrowing her eyes slightly. "I only bring you because you have value as material."
"(°Д°) Seriously? Okita-san is going to cry, you know~"
Illya scratched her cheek and gave an awkward smile.
"Today was another complete failure, huh… Don't worry about it, Miss Okita."
Continuing her play, Hoshino drew the card she had searched from her Deck.
"—When Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji is Special Summoned, her effect activates. I can choose one Spell or Trap that mentions 'Okita Souji,' or Haori of the Vow, and Set it on my field!"
With Uria, which suppresses Trap Cards, already banished—and unlikely to revive next turn—Hoshino finally had the freedom to boldly set Traps.
"Lastly, I Set one more card. Turn end!"
[Hoshino's: 2 Hand Cards | 2 Set Cards]
"My turn—draw!"
With the Three Sacred Beasts banished from the game, Kagemaru was now stuck with a hand full of cards but no way to truly make use of them.
The various monsters that once existed solely to assist in summoning the Sacred Beasts had lost even their decorative value, their grotesque appearances now meaningless.
"So this is as far as you go! Without the power of the Sacred Beasts supporting you, you're nothing more than a century-old man who just looks a bit younger!"
"Young people who lack respect for their elders tend to suffer greatly."
Perhaps influenced by the life force previously absorbed by the Sacred Beasts, Kagemaru's demeanor had grown increasingly calm. He no longer seemed prone to flying into a rage over Hoshino's provocations.
"Your calculations were flawless, Hoshino. Banishing the Sacred Beasts from the Graveyard to prevent their revival—this situation is indeed extremely favorable for you. But you still overlooked one thing…"
"Overlooked something?" Hoshino frowned slightly.
"You overlooked the fact that there is still a Sacred Beast card in my Graveyard! I activate the special effect of the monster card Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper from the Graveyard!"
[②: If this card is in the Graveyard, you can Tribute 1 monster you control; add this card to your hand.]
"I Tribute my Phantasmal Token and add Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper to my hand!"
For a moment, Hoshino couldn't quite process it.
This card counted as a Sacred Beast too? Wasn't it just a hand effect used to boost Raviel's ATK?
Strictly speaking, Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper wasn't a true Sacred Beast card under the rules. Otherwise, Kagemaru could have simply revived it with the Continuous Trap Hyper Blaze instead of going through the trouble of adding it to his hand.
Even so, the destructive power it could unleash was more than enough to justify recovering it.
"Then I activate my Set Continuous Trap—Call of the Haunted! I revive Dark Summoning Beast from my Graveyard!"
That monster, once used to directly summon Hamon, had lost its original purpose after the Three Sacred Beasts were banished—but Kagemaru still chose to squeeze out its last bit of value.
"Since a monster was Special Summoned from the Graveyard, Card of Safe Return triggers! I draw three cards from my Deck. Then, I Normal Summon a monster from my hand—Sangan!"
[Sangan ★★★ (Level 3)][DARK][Fiend/Effect][ATK 1000/DEF 600]
The three-eyed demon leapt forth from the darkness, and in the blink of an eye, Kagemaru once again had three monsters on his field.
"Now, I Tribute the three monsters on my field and Special Summon the card I just recovered—
Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper!"
[Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper ★★★★★★★★★★ (Level 10)][DARK][Fiend/Effect][ATK 4000/DEF 4000]
[Cannot be Normal Summoned. Must be Special Summoned by Tributing 3 monsters you control.]
A massive fist burst forth from the collapsing ground, followed by the emergence of Raviel's colossal body from beneath the earth. Despite bearing the suffix Shimmering Scraper, its appearance and stats were no different from the true Raviel.
Zane crossed his arms and frowned.
"Tributing three monsters—since it's a Special Summon, it can still be done even after a Normal Summon, huh?"
"Is now really the time to analyze summoning mechanics? The situation looks really bad, ne!"
Crowler gnawed nervously on his handkerchief.
"And since Sangan was sent from the field to the Graveyard, its effect activates! I add one monster with 1500 ATK or less from my Deck to my hand!"
After resolving the search and completing the summon of Shimmering Scraper, Kagemaru raised his arm and moved straight into the Battle Phase.
"Defeating all three Sacred Beasts in one turn is indeed commendable, Hoshino! But in the end, it was all futile. Pathetic humans will inevitably turn to dust beneath the power of the Sacred Beasts!"
[Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper ATK 4000]
[Karna Illya ATK: 0]
[Hoshino Chiyuki LP 3100]
"This farce ends here. At the moment the Battle Phase begins, I activate a Quick-Play Spell—Anti-Magic Arrows!"
[Anti-Magic Arrows Quick-Play Spell Effect:
Can only be activated at the start of your or your opponent's Battle Phase.
After this card resolves, neither player can activate Spell or Trap effects until the end of the turn.]
Using Anti-Magic Arrows, Kagemaru completely shut down the possibility of Hoshino activating the cards she had Set last turn. Countless arrows shot out from the shadows, pinning down the backs of her face-down cards.
"Take this! The attack that pulverizes everything—Crushing Fist!"
As Raviel declared its attack, Kagemaru sent a second copy of Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper from his hand to the Graveyard. While Anti-Magic Arrows sealed Spell and Trap effects, it did nothing to restrict monster effects.
"Another one?!"
Kagemaru's explosive doubling play caught everyone completely by surprise.
Jaden cried out in disbelief,
"Stacking Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper—can you even do that?!"
Akasha shouted furiously,
"(ﾒ｀ﾛ´)/ Whether you can or not, first of all—no nesting dolls allowed, damn it!"
[Raviel, Lord of Phantasms – Shimmering Scraper ATK 4000 → 8000]
"The effect of Shimmering Scraper—discard this card from your hand, double Raviel's ATK, and during the Battle Phase, it can attack all of your opponent's monsters once each!"
Empowered by Kagemaru's thunderous roar, Raviel unleashed a world-shattering punch, living up fully to its name.
"This is bad—it has an AOE attack effect?!"
Jonouchi clenched his teeth. "On Hoshino's field, aside from Karna Illya with 0 ATK, there's still Okita in Attack Position and Illya in her normal state!"
He knew all too well that no matter which monster Raviel struck, the damage to Hoshino would be devastating—let alone the fact that it could wipe out all monsters in one go.
"Kagemaru! You think only you can use hand traps? Since Anti-Magic Arrows has locked down Spell and Trap Cards, I activate the special effect of Magical Girl – Miyu from my hand!"
At the critical moment, Hoshino sent Miyu's card from her hand to the Graveyard. The starlight of Phantasm Summon instantly wrapped around Karna Illya, whose god-slaying spear had already shattered.
"Magical Girl – Miyu's effect—send this card to the Graveyard to activate! Return one 'Heroic Spirit' Fusion Monster on the field to the Extra Deck, then Special Summon from the Extra Deck a Fusion Monster with one or more of the same materials, but a different name!"
Replacing Illya's Phantasm Summon form—
To survive this crisis, what was needed was the resolve to protect everyone.
Hoshino pulled a card from her Extra Deck and slammed it onto the Duel Disk.
Unlike Mash's personal devotion to protecting her Master, this was a holy Spirit Origin—
A shield capable of standing against countless foes, opening a path forward for its contractor.
"Gather beneath the banner and roar! Fusion Summon—
Magical Girl – Jeanne d'Arc Illya!"