Shining Wing Hero: Isn’t it perfectly normal for fusion materials to gain bonuses from their bonds? (・_・)ゞ?

"Go! One Hundred Thousand Volts! Flamethrower!"

With one hand, he gathered lightning so dazzling it could blind, and with the other, flames so intense they felt like a steam chamber. Under their master’s command, the two monsters seemed ready to obliterate this dueling arena in the next moment.

"Not so fast! Even if you destroy the Ghoul, you’ll never break the Maze Field! Remember, the defense of the Maze Field rivals the Millennium Shield!"

As the two monsters prepared their nuclear-level sweep attack, the Maze Brothers hurried to argue, changing their earlier claims—from a fusion monster to two separate monsters for damage calculation now that they were under assault.

Yugi easily guessed their thoughts:

At this moment, the Ghoul was in attack position, its 1800 attack points hopelessly insufficient against the combined might of the two monsters. While the fused “Shadow of the Wall” had the same defense as the Millennium Shield—3000 points—unless influenced by external forces or its own effect, it couldn’t change battle positions during the opponent’s turn.

If the two monsters’ attack landed now, both the Ghoul and the Maze Wall would be sent to the graveyard!

Thus, the Maze Brothers were desperate to detach the Ghoul from the Maze Wall. Compared to the Ghoul, the Maze Wall was their real advantage; they could lose anything, but not the Maze Wall!

"I forgot to mention, the fusion monster Flame Wingman and the normal monster Sparkman share a bond bonus!"

Maze Brothers: ???

Bond bonus? What is that? Does Duel Monsters even have such a special effect?

"When these two monsters are on the field together, their power increases by the number of 'Elemental Hero' monsters in my graveyard!"

As he spoke, Yugi pulled the fusion materials for Flame Wingman from his graveyard, displaying them as he explained:

"There are two 'Elemental Hero' monsters in my graveyard, so Sparkman and Flame Wingman each gain 2 × 150 = 300 points to their attack!"

It may sound improvised, but in truth, Yugi was indeed making it up on the spot.

Yet, even his improvisation had a source this time!

That source was the next level of fusion between Flame Wingman and Sparkman—the Trinity Shining Flame Wingman!

One of Shining Flame Wingman’s effects is to increase its own attack by 300 times the number of “Elemental Hero” cards in your graveyard.

Although Yugi didn’t actually have Shining Flame Wingman in his extra deck, it didn’t stop him from halving the effect and applying it to his fusion materials, Flame Wingman and Sparkman.

After all, this was the Kingdom arc of Duel Monsters—no extra decks, no rule that monsters can only use effects written on their card text—thus, Yugi could improvise such a boost without consequence.

It’s completely fabricated, but for anyone unfamiliar with Duel Monsters, it might seem like an invisible, intangible, yet real “bond bonus” exists between the two!

(Elemental Hero Sparkman, ATK: 2780 → 3080)
(Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, ATK: 2100 → 2400)

"Go!"

Seeing his attack now rivaling Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and even surpassing it by 80 points, Sparkman was thrilled, casting a smug look at the faceless Maze Wall.

Maze Wall: "..."

Flame Wingman, meanwhile, glanced indifferently at the Ghoul now separated from Maze Wall. Raising his hand, he unleashed a burst of flames, easily destroying the opponent, and sent scattered sparks drifting onto the elder brother “Maze,” inflicting half the Ghoul’s original attack—800 points of damage.

(Maze Brother: 2000 LP → 1200 LP)

‘Must I move through the maze squares to escape? Why should I follow the rules? I’ll tear it down and see what you can do about it!’

With such thoughts, Yugi launched a nuclear-level sweep, destroying the advantage the Maze Brothers had built!

"My turn. Draw!"

With the turn passing, it was once again the younger brother “Chamber’s” round.

"Heh heh!"

Seeing the artwork on his drawn card, Chamber Brother smiled.

‘Water Guardian—Sanga… One of the three great elemental guardians: Thunder, Wind, and Water! The other two are Thunder Guardian—Sanga in my brother’s deck, and the third, Wind Guardian—Huga, still sleeping in mine.’

‘When all three Guardian cards are on the field, they can combine! Fusing into the Ultimate Guardian—the Gatekeeper!’

‘As long as Gatekeeper is summoned, destroying a mere bond bonus will be child’s play!’

With this in mind, Chamber Brother set the “Water Guardian” face-down in defense position in the monster zone, then set another card in the spell/trap zone, passing the turn to Yugi.

"My turn. Draw!"

‘A dark red long box with a blue water symbol on the lid... Is that Water Guardian, one of the three great guardians?’

The moment Chamber Brother set Water Guardian, a long box appeared on the field. At first glance, Yugi’s memory recalled exactly what it was.

‘The fusion of the three great guardians—the Gatekeeper! This isn’t the useless vanilla Gatekeeper from the OCG; in the anime, Gatekeeper is a powerful fusion monster, able to use each guardian's effects independently!’

In short, he must prevent them from gathering all three guardians!

"Attack! Target that box!"

Receiving the command, the two monsters, one soaring, one charging, focused their power to send the big box straight to hell!

"Spell card activate! Attack Nullification! Your monsters’ attacks are negated, and your battle phase is forcibly ended!"

At this point, Attack Nullification is a spell card, but its effect is similar to the OCG’s counter trap “Attack Nullification,” though the anime version also blocks “card effect destruction.”

"Turn end."

Reluctantly ending his turn, Yugi watched as the turn passed back to Maze Brother, who drew exactly what Chamber Brother had hoped for.

"I set a card, then set another card face-down. Turn end!"

Mirroring Chamber Brother’s actions, another dark red box appeared on the field, this time with a yellow “Thunder” symbol.

"My turn. Draw!"

Don’t tell me that sole back row is another “Attack Nullification!”

"Direct attack!"

Hearing Yugi’s attack declaration, Maze Brother smiled—he’d been waiting for this!

"Second ‘Attack Nullification’ activate! Your attack is negated, and your battle phase is skipped!"

Yugi, Sparkman, Flame Wingman: @#%￥*%... (swearing profusely)