The twin thunderous explosions that carried ten thousand years of hatred tore through the battlefield. Every card on the field except [Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder] vanished within the lightning that ripped apart a god.
Of course, the primary mission of that god-rending thunder was the annihilation of the Chaos God itself.
[Number C1000: Numerounius] sent to the Graveyard
[Number 39: Utopia] sent to the Graveyard
[Number C39: Utopia Ray] sent to the Graveyard
…
[Numeron Network] sent to the Graveyard
After the twin "God-Extinguishing Thunderflames" of the god-slaying weapon dissipated, humanity's greatest and final ultimate strike blasted apart the crimson sky that heralded the coming of world-ending calamity.
The stars once stained red by disaster returned to their rightful place, slowly circling within the night sky.
Beneath the restored heavens, the only difference was that the gigantic Numerounius which had served as the backdrop of the duel had completely vanished from everyone's sight in the furious eruption of AA-ZEUS.
"A weapon that surpasses even the gods… a god-slaying weapon." Staring blankly at the scene beneath the stars, Quaedes's icy blue pupils trembled. "That is the power of AA-ZEUS."
"So Numerounius has been defeated? No… that demon of destruction is no longer my faith." Sylvia shook her head in denial. "If I must believe in something, then I would rather believe in the ultimate weapon that drove away the calamity!"
With a single ultimate strike that swept away disaster entirely, the colossal steel body floating beneath the stars—AA-ZEUS—now appeared even more like a god than any god.
If one insisted on putting it that way, it would not be wrong. The ultimate weapon born from humanity's final hope of resistance was itself humanity's "guardian deity."
"How dare you… how dare you!"
Zepha stared at the place where Numerounius had disappeared in the lightning, along with all the monsters surrounding it and the uprooted Numeron Network.
Even the Trap Card [Fiendish Chain] had failed to stop AA-ZEUS. With no once-per-turn restriction, it could even chain its own field-clearing effect to itself. It was a power that even gods would fear.
"This time we finally made it in time!" Miles raised his arm and pointed forward at Zepha. "The Numeron god that destroys the world! No matter what, AA-ZEUS and I will defeat it!"
Boom!
Another peal of thunder streaked across the starry sky, as if AA-ZEUS itself was reinforcing Miles' declaration.
The regret and bitterness of failing to protect everything ten thousand years ago would finally be unleashed here.
"I set two cards and end my turn!"
The turn passed. Beneath the chaotic sky, only AA-ZEUS remained standing on the battlefield.
Within a duel that had reached the domain of the gods, a god had been slain.
"It can't end here yet!"
Chaos energy stained the black-and-white wings behind Zepha. Even though Numerounius had already been defeated, the "ultimate" power Zepha had gained after overlaying the god had not disappeared.
In fact, as the duel continued into further turns, the feeling Zepha gave Miles and Aisha had completely changed.
Miles frowned. "How is that possible? The expansion of Chaos is still continuing!"
In every previous turn, the power of Numerounius had been eroding Zepha, causing the Chaos within his body to grow stronger while his Deck itself also strengthened.
That swelling Chaos had continued to expand until [Number C1000: Numerounius] finally descended last turn. Miles had originally thought that was the final goal of the god of destruction.
Yet even after Numerounius itself had been destroyed by AA-ZEUS, the expansion of Chaos within Zepha continued as the turn progressed.
"Does Numerounius still have a final backup?"
"—I activate the Spell Card [Resurrection of the Sacrificed]!"
"That card?!"
The moment Zepha spoke, Miles' guess was immediately proven correct.
Miles vaguely remembered this card. Luca had once used it during the battle against the Sacred Beasts. It could Special Summon monsters from the Graveyard that normally could not be revived, ignoring their Summoning conditions.
"I banish 1 card from my Graveyard to activate it. After that, I Special Summon [Number C1000: Numerounius] from the Graveyard, ignoring its Summoning conditions!"
No one expected the calamity that had just been expelled by thunder to return so quickly.
Its massive body spread those black-and-white wings of Chaos once again, covering the night sky as Numerounius reappeared on the field, facing AA-ZEUS once more.
Although an Xyz Monster Special Summoned directly from the Graveyard would not have any Xyz Materials beneath it,
Even without materials, [Number C1000: Numerounius] was still a god with a massive 10000 Attack.
Losing its Xyz Materials merely meant losing the Quick Effect destruction ability of "Chaos Substitution" at most.
However, the most crucial problem at the moment was that AA-ZEUS also had no Xyz Materials left.
The two chained "God-Extinguishing Thunderflames" from the previous turn had already consumed all four Xyz Materials stacked beneath [Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder].
On the surface, it looked like the ultimate confrontation between the God of Destruction and the god-slaying weapon. In reality, both sides had already exhausted all resources. The final battle had entered the purest stage of brute-force combat.
Two Rank 12 Xyz Monsters that were essentially nothing more than vanilla monsters were about to collide. The only difference was that Miles' monster had 3000 Attack, while Zepha's had 10000 Attack.
"Ten-thousand-year grudges? Humanity's final counterattack weapon? Even the legendary god-slaying weapon is no match for the strongest god of destruction! The outcome of this battle will be no different from ten thousand years ago!"
With that final roar, Zepha commanded [Number C1000: Numerounius] and entered the Battle Phase.
"Artificial steel that protects nothing—before the Chaos roar of the strongest god, you and your anger will both be reduced to ashes! Chaos World-Annihilation: Numeron Catastrophe!!"
With its 10000 Attack, Numerounius unleashed an ultimate strike beneath the chaotic starry sky, a calamity-level attack. A beam of destructive crimson light tore through the sky and blasted straight toward AA-ZEUS.
Miles stared directly at the crimson light rapidly approaching. "We will create… a different ending from ten thousand years ago! I activate my set card!"
Raising his hand with all his strength, Miles flipped one of the two face-down cards in his back row.
"—Trap Card [Graverobber], activate!"
The core card of the Carlos-style tactics. Now that the bodies and souls of Miles and Aisha had already overlapped and fused, how could this card possibly be absent?
[Target 1 Spell/Trap Card in your opponent's Graveyard; this card's effect becomes the same as that card's.]
Grinning mischievously, the tiny grave-robbing goblin burrowed into Zepha's Graveyard and stole a sleeping card.
"Oh! Right!" Irena suddenly became excited. "That card is in Zepha's Graveyard!"
"Which one?" Nova asked in confusion. The situation of the duel was so tense that she had no mental capacity left to think.
"That Trap Card—[Dimension Wall]!" Irena pointed out.
A Trap that could be activated when the opponent declared an attack, causing the battle damage from that battle to be inflicted to the opponent instead.
If Miles and Aisha used [Graverobber] to steal that card, then the 7000 points of battle damage from the clash between Numerounius and AA-ZEUS would all be inflicted to Zepha himself.
With only 2000 Life Points remaining, Zepha would be destroyed by his own attack.
"Heh… heh. I've already seen through your plan, Miles, Aisha." Zepha sneered. "The card you're looking for is this one, right?"
The Trap Card Zepha waved in his hand was exactly the game-changing [Dimension Wall].
However, he had not taken it from the Graveyard. Somehow, that [Dimension Wall] had ended up in the banished zone.
"The Spell Card [Resurrection of the Sacrificed] requires me to banish one card from my Graveyard as its cost. And the card I chose to banish was this Trap Card—[Dimension Wall]!"
During the battle against Emperor Quaedes, Miles and Aisha had fully demonstrated the power of the Carlos-style card-stealing tactics. Because of that, Zepha had prepared against it at the last moment.
"You have no more chances!"
The attack continued. Numerounius's beam of destructive light blasted straight toward AA-ZEUS without deviation.
"I said we will create a different ending from ten thousand years ago. Precisely because it is hope forged by human hands—the ultimate weapon of steel can break through its limits!"
In Miles' hand was the card he had just taken from Zepha's Graveyard.
If he couldn't steal [Dimension Wall], then he could simply steal a different card instead. The Carlos-style tactics were never so inflexible.
"The counterattack weapon AA-ZEUS that defies the destiny of destruction—this is the final combat order! AA-ZEUS! Limit release—now!"
The card Miles had taken from Zepha's Graveyard was the Quick-Play Spell [Limiter Removal].
[Double the Attack of all Machine monsters you control until the end of the turn. Monsters affected by this effect are destroyed during the End Phase.]
The same Quick-Play Spell that once doubled the Attack of the four Machine-type Numeron Gates could now also be applied to the Machine monster [Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder].
"Precisely because it is hope forged by human hands. The ultimate weapon of steel can break through its limits!"
….
TL: "Resurrection of the Sacrificed" doesn't exist, apparently… hmmm yk what dat means
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