Hikaru held the card gingerly between his fingers, feeling the residual warmth radiating off it.
A faint purple glow pulsed across the surface. The monster's illustration flickered, distorted, as if it hadn't fully rendered yet. The card's name shimmered strangely, with a stroke across it, incomplete and unstable.
It had been printed, but not fully materialized.
Not yet.
Super Polymerization. The end of all Fusions. The final word. It was the ultimate Fusion Spell, capable of bypassing effects, defenses, and even the opponent's will.
In terms of power, it might not rival something like Numeron Chaos Ritual from the alternate dimensions, but in the realm of Fusion, this was the Red Dragon Archfiend. A terrifying kingpin.
So the fact that it was starting to create its own monsters was not actually that shocking.
But how?
He stared at the unfinished card again, then glanced toward his fallen opponent.
That was when it clicked.
That strange warmth he had felt after the duel ended had flowed into him just as victory was declared.
It was the duel.
That was it.
In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, anything mysterious or supernatural could be traced to one of two things: monsters or dueling.
It made perfect sense. As long as he kept dueling, Super Polymerization would slowly generate Fusion Monsters for him. Almost like it was feeding off the energy of victory.
'Not bad.'
After the match concluded, Hikaru returned to the stands. The rest of the students who had signed up for the Fusion Club were still waiting for their turn to duel. Once they were finished, they would all head to the clubroom together.
Unfortunately, things were not looking great for the other Ra Yellow and Slifer Red students.
Without strong decks of their own, they were easy prey for the Obelisk Blue students, especially since the Fusion Club had loaned out powerful Ancient Gear decks to their own members for the screening matches.
The duels themselves were dull. Most consisted of normal summons, single-attack turns, and the occasional lackluster Fusion play.
But Hikaru did not mind watching.
Even the simplest duel was worth spectating in this world. These were not cardboard cards and laptop emulators. This was Solid Vision. Every monster materialized in full 3D, projected with weight, scale, and impact. Just seeing the creatures animated was enough to keep him entertained.
He was in the middle of watching another battle when a familiar voice cut through the air.
"Yo! Hikaru!"
He turned and there was Jaden Yuki, grinning ear to ear, bounding up the stairs with his ever-nervous sidekick Syrus Truesdale trailing behind him.
"That duel you had earlier? That was awesome!"
Syrus nearly tripped behind Jaden and squeaked, "Wait! He's... he's joining the Fusion Club!"
He tugged on Jaden's jacket like a panicked little brother warning against the dark side. "Y-You shouldn't talk to him."
The Fusion Mania faction of the Fusion Army did not have a great reputation among the general student body. Rumors constantly swirled about how its members were prone to starting arguments, dueling over petty things, and generally being volatile. Most students considered them dangerous.
And Amagi Hikaru? He was a fusion purist more extreme than even the fanatics. Wasn't that even more terrifying?
"Eh?" Jaden tilted his head, confused.
"Thanks," Hikaru nodded slightly, offering a small smile. "Your entrance exam duel was really cool. I still remember when Flame Wingman defeated Ancient Gear Golem using Skyscraper. That moment stuck with me."
He meant it.
More than a decade had passed since Hikaru had first watched Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and most of the plot had blurred in his memory. But that scene, Flame Wingman diving through the skyscrapers, cleaving through the gear-bound behemoth, remained as vivid as ever. It was one of his earliest and fondest memories of the show.
"Eh, really? Hahaha!" Jaden laughed, scratching the back of his head. He was still the cheerful, optimistic version of himself from GX's early days, not yet the lonely hero of the later arcs. Hearing that kind of praise clearly got to him in the best way.
As a HERO user, Jaden had always loved Fusion, so he quickly dove into an enthusiastic back-and-forth with Hikaru. The two of them talked about Fusion mechanics, HERO archetypes, rare spell cards, and even debated the best uses of Polymerization versus newer support cards. When Hikaru revealed that he liked HERO decks too, their conversation turned even more passionate.
For Hikaru, it was more than just pleasant. He wasn't bored watching the other duels in the background, but getting to chat with the main character of the GX world, and one of his favorite duelists, was something special.
Syrus, who had been hanging back and watching with cautious eyes, gradually started to ease up too. Seeing Jaden talk so openly with Hikaru helped calm his nerves.
Eventually, the dueling exams ended. Hikaru said his goodbyes to Jaden and rose to join the rest of the students heading to the Fusion Club meeting.
As Hikaru walked away, Syrus watched him from the stands and muttered, "That's weird, big bro. Amagi doesn't seem like the kind of crazy person who'd join the Fusion Club. So why would he?"
Jaden stretched his arms behind his head and grinned. "I think Amagi's just got his own reasons."
"Then... how about inviting him to a tag duel?" Syrus asked. "He knows a lot about HERO decks too!"
"Hmm... hey, that's a great idea, Syrus!"
Meanwhile, Amagi Hikaru had already arrived at the Fusion Club activity room with the other selected students.
It was worth mentioning that although it was called an "activity room," the Fusion Club's space was actually its own separate building. The entire structure, from the ground floor to the top, belonged exclusively to the Fusion Club.
This wasn't unusual at Duel Academy. In the original series, Duel Academy had a huge number of student-run clubs, many of which had absurdly large facilities. The Tennis Club, for example, had a practice arena as massive as a full-blown Duel Field. Duels held there would never feel cramped.
Amagi Hikaru received a set of purple clothing. That didn't mean he was suddenly promoted to a new dorm or anything like that. This uniform was merely the Fusion Club's designated outfit, similar to how the Tennis Club wore matching tracksuits. It wasn't part of the school's official dress code.
One of the senior students from the Fusion Club handed Hikaru a deck box. Inside was a complete Ancient Gear deck. Hikaru carefully thumbed through the cards and quickly noticed the deck was… underwhelming.
For starters, there were only seven Ancient Gear monsters. Naturally, cards like Ancient Gear Golem and Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon were absent. Those were classified as rare and definitely not something the club would casually loan out.
Aside from three copies of fusion, the rest of the deck was padded out with generic Machine-Type monsters. The Fusion Deck was just as sad. It only contained a single Fusion Monster, Labyrinth Tank.
But then, Hikaru's eyes landed on something that made him pause.
Cannon Soldier.
The original tribute-launching nightmare.
It was one of the Fusion Materials for Labyrinth Tank, but its reputation far eclipsed the monster it created. Cannon Soldier was infamous, so infamous that in Hikaru's own world, cards like Cannon Soldier, Cyber-Stein, and Toon Cannon Soldier had all been banned for years.
To see it sitting there so casually, nestled in a beginner loaner deck, made Hikaru smirk.
He knew he probably wouldn't get much out of it. Not in this environment, not without combo pieces. But the fact that he could hold a banned card in his hand, even temporarily…
Who wouldn't want to play with forbidden power?
Across the room, several Obelisk Blue students noticed the grin on Hikaru's face and sneered.
"Tch. Ra Yellow is still Ra Yellow," one of them muttered.
"Just because he pulled off one flashy win, he thinks he belongs with us?"
"Seriously. Yellow students never know their place."
Duel Academy had always had a certain degree of "color" discrimination baked into the dorm system. While it wasn't institutionalized oppression, and people like Jaden ignored it entirely, there were plenty of Blue students who clung to the idea of dorm superiority.
Even if everyone in the Fusion Club wore the same purple jacket now, in their minds, they still believed they were inherently more elite.
"I'd love to put that guy in his place."
"Haha, that's easy."
"You mean…"
"Yeah. The old method."