Here we see Hiro summon one of the Planets Series from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga. They were kinda like the God Cards of that manga, and my reasoning for using them here, aside from them being cool, is that the GX manga clearly takes place in a different continuity from the main Yu-Gi-Oh! narrative continuity, so they were fair game.
We also have confirmation that the Planet Series is a known thing in this universe, as John mentions it in relation to Hiro's monster, and Shannon's "Splendid Venus". I hadn't decided yet at this point if they would ever be important to the story, and I guess I still haven't
"Big Saturn" is framed here as being Hiro's most powerful monster, despite the sheer number of ridiculously powerful cards that he has at his disposal. Is this true in terms of the card game? Probably not. But rule of drama makes it true here.
Final Round!
Hiro’s Last Stand, The Big Saturn!
“It’s my turn now,” said Hiro, “and if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a page from your book. I pay two thousand of my Life Points (4000-2000=2000), to activate the Spell card ‘Dimension Fusion’!”
Oh no!
The sky opened up above our heads.
“Return to me,” Hiro commanded, “Majestic Mech – Goryu’ and ‘Voltanis the Adjudicator’!”
The lengthy and large synthetic dragon descended from the hole in space alongside the heavenly judge (ATK: 2900/ATK: 2800).
I steeled myself up. I wouldn’t let Hiro get the best of me so easily.
“I can return monsters to the field as well,” I declared. “I return ‘The Fiend Megacyber’, ‘Diskblade Rider’, and ‘Gemini Elf’.” The yellow-armored warrior emerged as well, alongside the motorcycle riding, disk wielding fiend and the beautiful elf twins (ATK: 2200/ATK: 1700/ATK: 1900).
“Thanks to your ‘Swords of Revealing Light’,” Hiro explained, “I can’t attack with my monsters yet, so I end my turn.”
I drew, trying not to sweat, and I was relieved when I got one of my most powerful cards. Of course, using it now would be very risky. I smiled, I guess I’ll just have to take that risk!
“I’ll use what time I have,” I said, “to increase my presence on the field. I place a monster in defense mode, and attack ‘Layard the Liberator’ with Megacyber Impact!”
My yellow warrior charged forward and punched the six-armed angel in the chest. It shattered and disappeared.
“Draw,” said Hiro, “and I place one card face-down. End turn.”
He’s confident, I thought. He thinks that he’s safe because it’s impossible for my monsters to break through his front line. I smiled, But there’s more than one way to destroy a monster.
I closed my eyes and drew. No Soul, no magic, just me, This is it!
I opened my eyes, looked at my hand, and smiled.
“Activate,” I declared, “the Spell card ‘Fusion Sword Murasame Blade’!”
The armor on ‘The Fiend Megacyber’’s right forearm stretched over his hand and lengthened into a thin, sharp longsword. His attack points rose (ATK: 2200+800 =3000).
“Now go,” I commanded, “and attack the ‘Majestic Mech – Goryu’, Megacyber Slash!”
Energy poured into ‘Megacyber’’s blade. He jumped up and raised his sword, and slammed into an invisible wall. He was thrown back to the ground, where he landed at my side.
“You fell prey to my ‘Negate Attack’ for a second time,” said Hiro.
“I figured that something like that would happen,” I replied, “but I also figured that it would be better to get the Traps out of the way. The fact that my attack was blocked doesn’t change the fact that I have the edge now. You only have one card left on hand, and none of your monsters can match my monster’s strength.
“True,” said Hiro, “but if I play this right, they won’t have to.”
He drew a card, “I activate ‘Heavy Storm’!” Wind tore through the holograms of every Spell and Trap in play, destroying the ‘Swords of Revealing Light’, but leaving my ‘Fiend Megacyber’’s blade intact, thanks to its second effect.
“Sorry, Hiro,” I said, “but my ‘Fusion Sword’ becomes part of my monster’s armor. It can’t be destroyed.”
“I don’t care about your ‘Fusion Sword’,” Hiro countered, the massive monsters that towered above him flexing their arms to loosen their joints which had long since been held still by my ‘Swords’ Spell. “‘Goryu’, destroy ‘Diskblade Rider’!”
‘Goryu’ breathed light down on my motorcyclist, reducing him to dust (3900 +1700-2900=2700).
“‘Van’Dalgyon’,” Hiro continued, “destroy the ‘Gemini Elf’ with Erasing Darkness.”
Dark light poured from the massive dragon’s mouth, flowing over the elves. When the attack ended and the darkness faded, the elves were gone (2700+1900-2800=1800).
“And finally,” Hiro declared, “‘Tualatin’ attacks your face-down ‘Cyber Jar’.”
I smiled, “So, you did know that it was ‘Cyber Jar’.”
“Of course,” said Hiro. “I know all of your strategies. What other monster have you ever placed face-down? I am a little bit surprised that you chose to play it now.”
“I figured that, even if I could raise the attack of one of my monsters to surpass yours, the only way I’d actually win would be to clean the slate. For something like that, no monster is better than ‘Cyber Jar’.”
As we were talking, ‘Tualatin’ summoned his Erasing Light, directing it at my monster. It was revealed as a mechanical jar with a lens where an opening should have been. It was covered in circuits and other mechanical parts.
“‘Cyber Jar’,” I said, “activate your Special Effect.” My monster’s lens began to glow, and from it swept a beam that passed over the entire field. Every single monster in play exploded.
“As I’m sure you know,” I explained, “when ‘Cyber Jar’ flipped face-up, after our monsters have been destroyed, we each pick up five cards, summon any Level Four or lower monsters among those cards, and then add the remaining cards to our hands.”
Hiro and I picked up our cards.
“I summon,” I announced, “‘W – Winged Catapult’ and ‘Y – Dragon Head’ in defense mode.” ‘W’, a boxy, blue, winged machine monster with missile pods attached to its dorsal side appeared alongside ‘Y’, a metallic red dragon (DEF: 1500/DEF: 1600).
“I summon,” said Hiro, “‘Herald of Purple Light’, ‘Herald of Green Light’, and ‘The Dark Effigy’.” The two spheroid synthetic angels (DEF: 300 (each)) appeared alongside a large black cube (ATK: 1500). Of course it was too much to ask for that to be all. Hiro still had more up his sleeve.
“During my Main Phase Two,” Hiro continued, “I tribute ‘The Dark Effigy’ to summon a monster like no other. This monster is my last stand, and it will ensure my victory. Arise, ‘The Big Saturn’!”
The cube-shaped ‘Dark Effigy’ split into several smaller cubes, which then reformed into two cubes that were each half the size of the original. The two cubes disappeared, and a massive metal sphere appeared in their place. It was black with silver trim and a smaller red sphere embedded in the center. There was a disk-like apparatus attached to the bottom, two domes on its back, and two cylinders attached to its sides. The domes angled down, becoming hover jets, and the cylinders detached, hands emerging from the lower ends, becoming free-floating arms. A head slid up out of the top, and a glowing halo appeared, circling its body (ATK 2800).
“Impressive,” I said, “but I’m not finished yet either. I summon ‘X – Head Cannon’!” A blue and yellow floating robotic torso with cannons on its shoulders appeared (ATK: 1800).
“Next I play ‘Double Summon’,” I continued, “to summon a second monster. I summon ‘Z – Metal Tank’.” A yellow robotic tank with a stalk eye and a cannon above each tread appeared as well (ATK: 1500).
“‘X’, ‘Y’, and ‘Z’,” I declared, “combine into ‘XYZ – Dragon Cannon’!”
The monsters stacked one atop the other, forming my deadly magnet monster, one of my strongest monsters (ATK: 2800).
“The Attack power of our monsters may be equal,” I explained, “but my monster has an effect. I can discard one card to destroy one card on my opponent’s side of the field!”
“I wouldn’t,” said Hiro. “My monster has an effect too. The attacks that I made against your other monsters before attacking ‘Cyber Jar’ served an important purpose. They reduced your Life Points to less than twenty-eight hundred. See, when ‘Big Saturn’ is destroyed by my opponent’s card effect, we both take damage equal to ‘Saturn’’s Attack. Without ‘Soul Absorption’ to restore your Life Points, If you use your ‘Dragon Cannon’’s ability to destroy my monster, you’ll lose. It all comes down to who has the stronger monster, and right now, we’re even.”
I scowled, looking up at 'The Big Saturn', a legendary card from the same limited series as my mom's 'The Splendid Venus', and I wondered where Hiro had gotten it in so short a time. I know about your monster's effect, I thought, Otherwise it would already be dead.
“I can still destroy your other monsters,” I decided. “I discard two cards to destroy the ‘Heralds’.”
‘XYZ’ fired his cannons twice, and the two tiny angels were destroyed.
“I set a card,” I concluded, “and I end my turn.”
“If that’s all you have,” said Hiro, “then this duel is already over. I activate ‘Pot of Greed’. Then I’ll activate ‘Megamorph’, equipping it to my monster.”
“What good will that do?” I asked. “My Life Points are lower than yours.”
“For now,” said Hiro, “but my monster has another ability. I discard a card and pay one thousand Life Points (2000-1000=1000) to increase the attack of ‘Big Saturn’ by one thousand (ATK: 2800+1000=3800), but destroying him at the end of the turn. This also brings my Life Points down below yours, activating ‘Megamorph’’s effect.”
A glowing magic circle appeared below Hiro’s monster, and it doubled in size and strength (3800+2800=6600). Its fists began to glow.
“‘Big Saturn’,” Hiro commanded, “attack! The End of Cosmos!”
‘Saturn’ raised his fist, ready to strike my monster down and take me with it. I couldn’t help but smile. The monster started to throw its fist, but it stopped at the same moment that a mysterious black cord connected to its chest. A giant game controller appeared, attached to the cord, floating in the air ahead me.
“I press Up, Down, Up, B, and C,” I declared, “to activate my ‘Enemy Controller’, changing your monster to defense mode!” ‘Saturn’ pulled back his fist and crossed his arms across his chest (DEF: 2200).
“I won’t let you get rid of ‘Saturn’ that easily,” said Hiro. “I set a card and activate ‘Dimensionhole’, removing my monster from play until my next turn.”
‘Saturn’ was pulled through a hole in space.
“Then I draw,” I said, “and I attack directly with ‘XYZ’, Cannon Firestorm!”
“Reveal,” Hiro countered, “the Spell card ‘Celestial Transformation’, summoning ‘Royal Knight’ to the field in defense mode.”
The mech angel knight appeared, absorbing my monster’s attack.
I was breathing heavily. Hiro was as well. We had both been pouring everything we had into this duel, and we were both worn out. The duel was reaching a turning point. There would be a winner soon.
“I draw,” said Hiro, “and my ‘Saturn’ returns.” The hole in space reopened, and the mighty mech returned (ATK: 2800).
“Next I activate ‘Offerings to the Doomed’ to destroy your ‘Cannon’…”
No!
“…and I attack your ‘W – Winged Catapult’!”
Bandages reached out for my ‘Dragon Cannon’, crushing it, and ‘W – Winged Catapult’ was crushed under the weight of ‘Saturn’’s fist.
It all comes down to this, I realized. With no monsters left his next attack will finish me, and the only card left in my hand won’t do anything in a situation like this. I could use my powers to save myself, but I won’t. No Soul. No magic. Just me. Win or lose, I fought this entire duel under my own power, with my own strength, pushing it forward with my own will. Even if I lose, I’ve still won.
I took a deep breath. “This is it,” I said. “The deciding moment. One of us is going down!”
I closed my eyes, and I drew my last card.
Card of the Day:
The Big Saturn
Played by: Hiro
Of course this card was going to win this slot. Its mere presence on the field gives John trouble. Also it's magic.
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