The finale of the interstellar war-
After Dystopia was sent to the Graveyard, Stardust Dragon and Mokey Mokey inherited the supreme Level 12, overlaying to complete the Xyz Summon.
Aisha: "Dystopia can actually be used like this?!"
Before, its overwhelmingly oppressive stat line of 5000 Attack had been used as the optimal cost to pair with Spells and Traps.
And now, Miles didn't even let Dystopia's Level 12 go to waste.
Draining every last bit of value from a single card… aside from putting it on the field, there were countless other ways to use it.
It was truly despair-inducing.
Even Dystopia itself might have wanted to say to Miles—you're the real god of despair here.
"A Rank 12 Xyz!"
Within the vast expanse of the cosmos, an ultimate collision of souls of steel erupted.
For everyone present who had never experienced the Obelisk Tower journey, this was also their first time witnessing such an exaggerated Xyz Summon.
God-slaying thunder and flame burst forth from the extreme Xyz light, sweeping across the space surrounding the colossal steel battleship.
"That thunder effect!"
Although Ren had not experienced the Obelisk Tower, she had personally witnessed the moment Divine Arsenal descended from outside the tower.
"It's a god-slaying weapon!"
"Huh? A god-slaying weapon... what's that?!"
Hearing an entirely new term, Krista was even more confused.
She'd only been gone for a week, yet poor Shooting Star girl already felt like she'd fallen behind the meta.
A god-slaying weapon. Its thunder is enough to scorch the sky, shatter planets, and slay gods.
"Overlaying Mokey Mokey and Stardust Dragon—humanity's ultimate final strike to eliminate calamity! Extreme Xyz Summon, the god-slaying spear—Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder!"
The Level 12 tofu block and the Level 12 Stardust Dragon—their converging wills formed an infinitely extending spiral tunnel within the cosmic vista.
[Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder] Rank 12│LIGHT│Machine│3000 ATK
[Level 12 monsters ×2]
At the end of the spiral tunnel, amid thunder exploding through space, the radiant colossal mech [Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder] descended upon the battlefield as a pinnacle Rank 12 Xyz Monster.
"Another mech?!" Krista exclaimed. "Miles finally summoned a super-giant robot too!"
As the finale of this star-tier cosmic war, Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder crashed onto the battlefield wreathed in blazing thunder—and at the very least, amidst a battlefield filled with battleships, armored constructs, and radiant mechanical dragons, it felt completely natural.
If anything, it was exceptionally fitting.
"A Rank 12 Xyz Monster—Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder!"
Young Miles frowned deeply, his expression more serious than ever before.
After all, that was the highest-ranking Xyz Monster—and one summoned using Mokey Mokey, no less.
Curse it, overlaying Mokey Mokey into a Rank 12 monster... how could something this absurd even exist?
And because the Xyz weapon [Ursarctic Septentrion] had already been destroyed by Starving Venom Fusion Dragon earlier, the Xyz Monster on Miles's field was now free to activate its effects.
"I won't let you have your way!"
Facing the descent of the super-colossal thunderous god-slaying weapon, the experimental young Miles immediately activated the effect of the steel cosmic battleship beneath his feet.
The light formed by the linked Big Dipper clashed head-on against the thunderous radiance.
"When there are 7 or more counters and a monster is Special Summoned, the effect of the Field Spell [Ursarctic Big Dipper] activates! Remove all counters, and take control of 1 monster on your opponent's field!"
"So it really couldn't be avoided." This was exactly what the bratty loli Viel had been worried about.
The counters on the battleship Big Dipper had already stacked to seven. The moment Miles's Special Summon posed a threat to the experimental young Miles, the merciless card-playing machine would inevitably activate the battleship's effect at once and seize control.
And if we're talking about threats, what could possibly be greater than a Rank 12 Xyz god-slaying weapon like Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder?
Atop the battleship, young Miles swung his arm upward with all his strength. "Release the light of the Big Dipper and change control of Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS!"
"It's already too late! I was one step faster!"
Miles also thrust his arm toward the sky, counter-activating Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS's decisive effect.
"Standing at the endpoint of Xyz—blow everything away! Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS, effect activate!"
[Detach 2 Xyz Materials from this card; send all other cards on the field to the Graveyard. You can activate this effect during your opponent's turn.]
A Speed 2 field-clearing effect that can be activated by detaching two Xyz Materials. And this wipe isn't destruction—it sends every other card except itself to the Graveyard.
With cards simply being sent to the Graveyard, neither the farewell effect of [Starving Venom Fusion Dragon] when destroyed, nor the effect of [Drytron Meteonis Quadrantid] that revives Drytron monsters when destroyed, could be triggered.
And most importantly—this effect is Speed 2.
"I detach the Xyz Materials Mokey Mokey and Stardust Dragon, and chain the effect of the Field Spell [Ursarctic Big Dipper]!"
Using the effect of [Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS] to chain onto [Ursarctic Big Dipper]'s control-change effect—under Chain resolution rules, the later activation resolves first.
Ren exclaimed excitedly: "The opponent's battleship will get blown up by Zeus first!"
The light of the Big Dipper and the light of thunder instantly filled the cosmos, yet the radiance that truly suppressed everything and reigned over this space until the very end was still that god-slaying light.
"—God-Destroying Thunderfire!"
Thunderfire brilliance capable of erasing everything pierced straight through the steel battleship that served as everyone's footing, detonating it from within.
Along with the black bear mech, the radiant mechanical dragon, and Starving Venom Fusion Dragon—all of them were annihilated in the blaze of glory.
And of course, most importantly—the [Swords of Revealing Light] sealing off Miles's attack declarations also retreated before this ultimate Xyz radiance.
"Impossible... the Big Dipper was chained and sent to the Graveyard!"
His pupils trembling violently like an earthquake, the card-playing machine, young Miles, understood better than anyone what this meant as he watched the steel battleship beneath his feet collapse under the thunderfire.
For cards like Field Spells, whose effects persist on the field—once activated, if the card itself is chained and leaves the field before the effect formally applies, then the effect itself will not resolve.
After calculating everything, the experimental young Miles was still one step slower than Miles.
"I have to be the one to defeat myself!"
With the steel battleship destroyed, everyone felt as if they were drifting weightlessly through the cosmos that had yet to dissipate.
Controlling Aisha's body and floating in zero gravity, Miles clenched his fist and hurled it forward—striking toward his own body.
"A dueling persona alone can never be called a true Duelist! Only by carrying everything you've experienced with your will can each card truly respond to a Duelist's bond!"
Young Miles's deck—the interstellar-war Ursarctic and Drytron—was unquestionably stronger than Aisha's janky deck in terms of raw power.
Both were Miles, with the same dueling skill—yet in the end, it was the weaker, junk deck that claimed victory.
That was the difference in the bond between cards and deck.
Every single card in Aisha's deck had been gathered step by step through hard-fought battles—by Miles and Aisha together.
Even if its power couldn't compare to a fully assembled high-tier deck, it was precisely this kind of deck, grown one card at a time, that could truly engrave a Duelist's life.
"Even if you're just a merciless card-playing machine, for making me recognize this once again—I'm truly grateful to you."
Clearing away his confusion—after regaining his body, where exactly should his new life and his new duels head toward?
Now, standing at the center of the radiant galactic cosmos, Miles's heart had never been clearer.
"My own path as a Duelist has to be carved out with my own hands! This is the final strike—Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS!"
The thunder of the god-slaying weapon, after wiping the field clean, once again answered Miles.
Condensing thunder into a colossal blade of light gripped in steel hands, this single strike from Zeus was enough to cleave the cosmos apart.
"The finishing direct attack!"
"Radiate the Galaxy!"
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
[Prototype Miles, LP: 400 → 0]
The experimental Miles's Life Points were emptied. At the same time, the radiant greatsword cleaved the cosmic space in two, and with that single strike, the surrounding scenery reverted back to the room of the abandoned factory.
"Farewell, merciless card-playing machine. And farewell to my confusion!"
...
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