"My turn! I draw!"
Aster Phoenix drew a card.
Normally, he would never have exposed his past in front of so many people, he had no interest in letting the world know his lineage.
That said, this ti was different.
He had, to so extent, already "given up."
"How could you possibly understand what I'm feeling?" he growled, voice trembling. "Would telling soone make them understand?
'Or am I supposed to broadcast my tragedy and beg for pity like a clown?'
'Don't make laugh!"'
His teeth clenched so tightly they audibly cracked. "I don't need any of that!"
"..." Hikaru hesitated briefly, then raised his voice. "Aster Phoenix.
"I am Amaki Hikaru, head of the Fusion Club, top Duelist of Glorious Duel Academy.
"I was the one in charge on the day you joined the club.
"I knew your story from the very beginning."
Holding his cards and locking eyes with Aster, Hikaru spoke calmly as Aster stared back, stunned. "I heard it all. When you were a child, your father was murdered in an incident, and his cards were stolen."
"Ever since then, you've been chasing his killer. I know. And I understand."
"Understand? How could you understand?"
"Aster, I don't have parents either," Hikaru replied, flat and honest.
Aster was struck speechless. Around them, the students exchanged stunned glances, none had expected the Duel to unfold like this.
Despite that…
It was exactly the kind of answer that resonated most with soone trapped in emotional chaos.
Aster closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself.
"I found the man who killed my father," he said quietly, staring at his trembling right hand. "He was soone deeply important to , after my father died, he raised , trained to beco a Pro Duelist."
'Whoa…'
The spectators couldn't help but feel that this Duel was absolutely worth watching.
"I found out he took my father's card not for justice, not for preservation, just for power. That was it!" He raised his fist, his voice and body trembling violently. "He used that card's power to absorb my father's soul. To get revenge, to defeat him, I destroyed that monster with my own hands.
"I personally destroyed my father's soul...
"I couldn't even hear his final words. He just faded away. I didn't even get one last sentence... not one."
Hikaru's pupils shrank sharply.
'So that was it.'
'That was the key!'
He finally understood.
In the original, when Aster dueled D.D., his father's soul appeared from Destiny HERO - Plasma mid-Duel. Despite being tornted, he called out to Aster, encouraging him to destroy Plasma and move forward.
However, in this version of the world, though Aster saw his father's soul within Plasma, the soul couldn't speak.
Was it a butterfly effect caused by the stronger influence of the Light of Destruction?
If so, this was serious.
After all… who besides his father could lead Aster out of this darkness?
Hikaru sighed deeply.
No wonder even soone like Aster, who should be immune to the Light of Destruction, ended up infected.
The dark aura surrounding Aster spread, staining even his pristine white suit.
He was lost, spiraling deeper into despair.
Destroying Plasma had been cathartic, revenge served. But afterward?
"What am I even doing?" Aster murmured, his voice trembling, while gradually becoming eerily calm.
That calm wasn't peace. It was deathlike.
Everyone could feel the suicidal undercurrent in Aster's tone.
"Maybe Fate really is unchangeable," Aster said quietly. "Fate killed my father, led to use Destiny HEROes, and disguised as a Phoenix to hunt criminals around the world. But it never told , my true enemy was my foster father. The man I respected most was the one who deserved to die most."
"Fate always made victory easy for when I wanted it.
And now, Fate has brought to this Duel..."
"Amaki, only now do I envy you. Your pure pursuit of Fusion, your disdain for brute strength. You are truly blessed by Fate."
He picked up Dangerous's card and said, "? I just pretended to be a Hero, believed I was punishing evil, thought I was doing good, but really, I was just a fool.
Maybe D.D. was right. I never wanted to be a Hero. I just relied on Destiny HEROes and strong cards to vent my own destructive urges!"
He wasn't a Hero.
He was a prisoner of Fate.
"No, you're wrong, Aster!" Hikaru cut through his self-loathing. "You've got it all wrong."
"Wrong about what?"
"There's no such thing as 'destiny.' There are only 'choices.'" Hikaru said firmly. "When you chose to use Destiny HEROes, when you chose to act as a vigilante, when you chose to chase down thieves and robbers, you already beca a Hero. Your origin doesn't matter!"
"Your 'Fate' is your own choice. Your use of Destiny HEROes, that, too, was your choice."
"What nonsense."
"It's simple."
"I didn't believe in Fusion from the very beginning, either. I didn't pursue Fusion from day one!"
"What?!" Aster was stunned.
"Huh!?"
"Wait, WHAT???"
Now, even the onlookers gasped in disbelief.
What do you an?
Amaki Hikaru didn't always believe in Fusion?
This completely shattered their worldview.
Everyone knew about Hikaru's unconditional devotion to Fusion!
"Everything started with a choice." Hikaru held up the card around his neck, gazing at it.
When he ca to this world, his Deck had been entirely replaced with Fusion cards… but that didn't an he couldn't use other kinds.
If all he wanted was victory, he could've ditched Super Polyrization and built a stable trap-heavy deck. Even so, he kept running a pure Fusion Deck not because he had to, but because over ti, he ca to believe in Fusion!
Not just because of its power, but because he genuinely ca to love it!
"Aster, tell : when you were acting as a Hero, using your HERO Deck… were you never once happy? When you helped people, saved others, did your heart always feel dead?"
Hikaru's words reached sothing in Aster, reigniting a small spark in his suicidal gloom.
"Before I joined Duel Academy, I didn't use a Fusion Deck either." Whether it was this world's original Hikaru or the soul that ca later, he had never focused on Fusion until he ca here. "But after arriving, I t Jaden, t Fla Swordsman, Dark Flare Knight, Captain Crystal, Fulltal Alkahest... t every friend in the Fusion Club, including you, and her. These people beca precious to !"
He glanced at Tierra out of the corner of his eye. She stood with arms crossed, head held high with pride.
"By using Fusion, I got better with Fusion. And I ca to trust it more. That didn't happen overnight. It was gradual, step by step, growing firr.
That's how Fusion and I walk together!"
"And you! You must've t all sorts of companions too, didn't you?! So why...why are you like this now?! Look at yourself!"
Hikaru swept his arm wide, as though a purple vortex swallowed the entire Duel Field.
He declared:
"Aster Phoenix!!
"There's only one difference between us:
"I'm more steadfast on the path of Fusion. I believe in it more. No matter what happens around , I won't waver!
"But you…
"You faced hardship. And because it was too much, too painful, you couldn't bear it. So you gave up!
"Being a Hero isn't child's play. To truly be a Hero, you have to endure setbacks, hardship, sorrow, grief, anything!
"You retreated just because the world wasn't as easy as you imagined!"
"Weakness isn't the mistake. The mistake is giving up, not trying to change!"
Upon hearing those words, the dark aura around Aster flared wildly.
"Hey, Hikaru, what are you doing? Aren't you trying to save your junior? Isn't this even more dangerous?!" Tierra cried out in shock, speaking up for the first ti during the Duel.
Because with Aster's shift in state, she could see it, a terrifying power, perhaps even stronger than the Sacred Beasts, was reviving inside him!
Hikaru didn't answer.
At this point, talking softly would do nothing.
Only sharper words, riskier ones, had any aning now!
"Amaki," Aster said hoarsely, "I can't guarantee what happens next."
"Bring it on," Hikaru said unhesitantly. "I'll snap you out of it, with my Fusion!"
"Then, MY TURN!!" Aster roared. His aura shifted dramatically, and behind him, a crimson figure cloaked in light began to twist and writhe!
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