CHAPTER 416: CHAPTER 415: THE ULTIMATE DRAGON

"I activate the Spell Card ’The Melody of Awakening Dragon’!"

Kaiba played a card.

"Discard a card to add two monsters with ATK 3000 or more and DEF 2500 or less from my deck to my hand."

Blue data streams flowed into his deck, and two cards popped out.

"From my deck, I add these two cards: ’Blue-Eyes White Dragon’ and ’Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon’!"

"With ’Parallel World Fusion’, all three White Dragons were shuffled back into the deck," Kira commented.

"Alternative White Dragon can be Special Summoned by revealing ’Blue-Eyes White Dragon’ in hand."

Kaiba slapped a card onto his duel disk.

"By revealing Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my hand, I summon—now appear!

—Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon!"

A variant of the White Dragon, its transformed, holy body hovered above Kaiba’s field, flapping its bony wings and roaring.

[Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, ATK 3000]

"Alternative White Dragon’s effect: once per turn, destroy a monster on the field!" Kaiba yelled. "Destroy Breaker the Magical Warrior!"

Alternative White opened its jaws, gathering brilliant white light, and blasted it out like a shattering storm.

"President Kaiba really doesn’t give a single moment to breathe—he’s always attacking at full force," Kira muttered.

"If you don’t move forward, you’re left behind—a weakling who gets eliminated," Kaiba said coldly. "Can you keep up and reach the top, or will you stand still?

Fujiki Kira, prove your worth as a duelist!"

"Alright, if that’s how it is..."

Kira slowly raised an arm.

"...I activate my set card.

Continuous Trap: ’Light-Imprisoning Mirror’!

As long as this card is on the field, all effects of LIGHT monsters activated on the field or in the graveyard are negated!"

Zane’s eyelid twitched.

It appeared!

"Ah, that trap again!" Mokuba exclaimed.

Also known as the LIGHT-slayer, this trap is deadly against Kaiba’s LIGHT-heavy deck. Whether it’s VWXZ or the White Dragons, Kaiba’s deck, like Yami’s, mixes multiple series, but most of his monsters are LIGHT.

The mirror reflected Alternative White Dragon’s image; the white light in its jaws faded and disappeared.

"With this, most of Kaiba’s monster effects should be sealed. And since its effect has been activated, it can’t attack this turn either."

Zane glanced at Kaiba.

Once again, the situation seemed to have reversed...

"So, effect negation, huh? For Blue-Eyes, that’s a powerful lockdown. You must think so, right?"

Kaiba’s eyes flashed with the spirit of a lion.

"But over the years, Blue-Eyes has evolved beyond that!

I activate the Quick-Play Spell—Ultimate Fusion!"

A cyclone of light and wind swirled above the field, as if tearing the space apart.

"Ultimate Fusion is a Blue-Eyes exclusive fusion spell, usable only in the Main Phase," Kaiba declared. "By shuffling fusion materials from my hand, field, or graveyard back into the deck, I Fusion Summon a Blue-Eyes Fusion Monster!"

A card left Kaiba’s graveyard, joined by another in his hand and the Alternative White Dragon on his field.

"The Blue-Eyes I discarded, another in my hand, and Alternative White Dragon (counted as Blue-Eyes White Dragon)—these three Blue-Eyes fuse into one!"

"Light-Imprisoning Mirror only negates activated LIGHT effects; Alternative White Dragon is treated as Blue-Eyes White Dragon by a continuous effect, so the mirror can’t stop that," Zane muttered.

Jaden, more fired up than anyone, shouted, "Oh, it’s coming! Something amazing is about to appear!"

A triple fusion of the White Dragons—the original and legendary strongest dragon, shining like the brightest star in the sky.

Its body was covered in white scales, blazing with an incandescent glow. Its wings commanded the wind and clouds, radiating pure majesty and power.

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon descends!

[Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, ATK 4500]

"Take the field in your ultimate form!" Kaiba roared. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, as long as ’Neo Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon’ is in the graveyard, cannot be affected by any of the opponent’s effects!" (Anime effect.)

"Whoa, isn’t that invincible!?" Jaden exclaimed.

Even Zane was moved: "This is the so-called strongest dragon in Duel Monsters—Kaiba Seto’s Ultimate Dragon."

Kira raised his arm, blocking the radiant dragon, eyes narrowed.

He could feel it—the dragon’s power was enough to rival the gods.

To face such a monster and duelist...

He couldn’t help but smile.

Was it his imagination, or did the Millennium Puzzle seem to tremble as the Ultimate Dragon appeared, its godlike pressure descending?

Even the Eye of Horus engraved on the artifact seemed to flash with golden light.

"Even in front of the Ultimate Dragon’s strongest form, you’re still calm, huh?"

Kaiba smirked, raising his hand.

"Then take this destructive power! Ultimate Fusion also has a follow-up effect—depending on how many Blue-Eyes White Dragons used as material were on the field, I destroy that many cards on the field.

That mirror card can’t affect Ultimate Dragon now, but it’s still an eyesore.

Destroy ’Light-Imprisoning Mirror’!"

A blazing light bomb dropped, shattering Kira’s mirror.

"Now, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon’s direct attack!"

All three heads opened, unleashing a sky-splitting blast!

A pillar of white light, hot as the sun’s core, divided the sky.

"Kira!" Jaden couldn’t help but worry.

An Ultimate Dragon immune to all effects—could Kira handle it?

"I activate the trap ’Half Counter’," Kira said. "When one of my monsters is attacked, its ATK and DEF increase by half the attacking monster’s original ATK during damage calculation.

So Breaker’s ATK increases by half of Ultimate Dragon’s ATK, that’s 2250."

[Breaker the Magical Warrior, ATK 1600 → 3850]

Breaker was powered up, but still couldn’t withstand the dragon’s might. His sword and shield shattered, and he was vaporized by the blast.

[Kira, LP 2500 → LP 1850]

"Hah, Half Counter, a powerful trap. It could’ve taken out Ultimate Dragon if your monster’s original ATK was above 2250, but you had to use it now. Too bad."

Kaiba smirked.

Kira was silent.

True. If his monster’s original ATK was over 2250, Half Counter could have turned the tables on Ultimate Dragon.

"This is the strongest power I have now with Blue-Eyes. If you can defeat it, bring it on!"