Yu-Gi-Oh: Fusion Is the Noblest Summoning Method!

Extremely rare.

After the duel between Hikaru and the Polymerization Club, there was no tense atmosphere, no quarrels, and not even a scuffle.

Though they lost the duel, this time the students of the Polymerization Club came to understand that their new "President" was a completely different person from last year's Kaname Kanbayashi. And Hikaru, in this duel, didn't act the same as before either.

He didn't say things like, "You don't fuse nor care about clubs," "Don't insult Fusion," or "I can't be bothered explaining to people like you."

Instead, he seemed to be in a very good mood.

Though it was still a duel against the Polymerization Club, Hikaru was genuinely happy this time.

After all, this was what he had hoped for when he first joined the Fusion Club last year and began promoting "Fusion Duels."

Even if he only changed one person's mind, that person not only rejected Leo Akaba's ideals but was also the President of the rival club. Wasn't that the best news?

After the duel, both clubs continued recruiting new members, however, the atmosphere was much improved. There was no hostility, and the Polymerization Club didn't slink away in defeat.

Mizuo Fukasui handed over the Curse of Dragon card to Hikaru, who accepted it. The two chatted briefly, and Hikaru could feel his passion for Fusion.

Meanwhile, Tierra waved her fingers in midair with a hint of irritation. Dozens of purple threads manipulated by her power weaved together cards and projected model simulations in the air, reenacting battles.

She was "reviewing."

With her abilities, she could easily reconstruct an entire duel using her puppet strings, but she wasn't in the mood.

She was thinking about the mistakes she made during the previous duel.

Although it was only three turns, she had been too focused on watching the Frightfurs and listening to Hikaru's effect explanations, so when the direct attack came, her mind blanked, and she didn't know what to do.

That's when Hikaru had to "take over" the duel, swiftly summoning Vampire Fraulein.

She had never seen that card before and didn't think to use it at first.

In this world, there was no concept of "timing" in duels, that is, in real-time dueling, if a monster's attack hits you, it's too late to activate effects.

Miss your window, and that's it. No second chances.

So, activating the right card at the right time is critically important.

When Hikaru first enrolled, he didn't have that skill. After all, he wasn't a native of this world and wasn't used to it. But with his knowledge of card effects and duel flow, he could prepare and avoid missing those moments.

And now;

He had already mastered the essential skills of "My turn, draw!" and "Your turn's over, my turn, draw!"

Just like in the earlier duel with Mizuo, Hikaru had skillfully ended Mizuo's turn himself.

Even though Mizuo couldn't do anything else anyway, he technically could have taken more time to think. As long as he didn't say "End Turn," Hikaru wasn't supposed to take over.

Time limit? What time limit?

But for practical reasons, Hikaru had already mastered these essential dueling instincts.

The Polymerization Club's recruitment wasn't very successful. On the one hand, the Fusion Club was a better option. Freshmen wouldn't be thinking about post-graduation job placements, so the Fusion Army's guaranteed positions didn't appeal much.

On the other hand, while Mizuo Fukasui was bold in dueling, the idea of receiving plush toys stuffed with blades and scissors was enough to deter many.

Of course, the main reason was that school hadn't started yet. Most students hadn't decided on anything.

That said, not everyone was afraid of creepy plushies.

Even though Mizuo repeatedly explained that their stuffed animals were just that, harmless stuffed animals, some students with a taste for darker aesthetics wanted "Frightfurs with scissors."

In fact, Tierra was one of them.

After reviewing Hikaru's previous hand cards for a while, she yawned, folded her arms behind her back, and showed clear impatience toward the recruitment event. She waved her puppet strings and formed an image of a creature split by scissors, with darkness and blood-red eyes lurking in its maw.

It was the same Frightfur Wolf from earlier.

"Hey, Hikaru, that demon that guy used earlier was kind of interesting," Tierra said, snapping her fingers to dismiss the projection, then turned to him. "An angel modified with blades into a demon, while keeping its cuteness and sharpness, a very cool design."

"Mmm, once I revive, I'll create a whole species of these in my world. They're pretty good-looking."

"Did you get anything out of that human? Did he say where he got them? Were they from booster packs?"

Demons, machines, blades, all of Tierra's favorite things.

Hikaru had just finished chatting with a crowd of freshmen wanting to see the legendary Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl, and even a few surprisingly asking for his autograph. Hearing Tierra's question, he gulped down some water and lowered his voice.

"Didn't you say you liked Predaplants too? I've only ever crafted two of them, and one got fused into another."

By "fused into one," he meant the Predaplant Chlamydosundew and the Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio he had crafted earlier. They hadn't seen use due to the lack of a proper Fusion Monster until they became the base materials for Starving Venom Fusion Dragon back in the S-Dimension.

They were fused using Super Polymerization.

Which actually turned out to be a good thing. Hikaru hadn't made more Predaplants mainly because he had no Fusion Monster to use them with. Now that one existed, he could finally study how to craft more efficiently and effectively.

"Cards like Frightfurs can be crafted too, even so, they're not that easy to make."

Materials weren't a problem anymore, but time was. Even with all his effort, Hikaru couldn't alchemically craft every card he needed.

Especially with archetypes like this that weren't even circulating on the market. You couldn't even buy them.

Then he added, "Senpai said Frightfurs are a Fusion Army secret. If I rejoin the Fusion Army, maybe Leo Akaba will tell me."

"As if!" Tierra scoffed.

How could that be?

Hikaru joining an organization led by the least Fusion-minded person? Not happening.

"It's not nonsense," Hikaru said with a smile. "If you flip what he said, it means the Fusion Army has access to a dimension related to Frightfurs."

'Oh!' 

Tierra suddenly understood.

So the idea is to mess with the Fusion Army while tracking down the source dimension of those cards?

Going straight to the original is the best move!

Just like with the Union Hangar. Ever since establishing contact with Hikaru, they had been regularly exchanging intel, and even started dispatching support spirits to help A-Assault Core.

According to the comms officer, the Grand Universe Workshop was so vast that they were planning to set up a "temporary outpost" with Hikaru as their diplomatic envoy.

In fact, Hikaru had already received many VW-series cards from them. Though they were all old and lacked the ABC series or associated spirits, they were still rare cards.

It was just like how the school had linked up with the Ancient Gear Factory, giving Hikaru a steady stream of Ancient Gear cards. These cards could be used in trades or handed out as temporary club decks for Fusion Club members.

Which also helped distinguish them from the Polymerization Club's "Gladiator Beasts."

...

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