Chapter 1285: Ancient Fairy

"Here I go!" Fake Leo declared. "Normal Summon 'Gekko, Mystical Medium of the Forest'!"

It was another monster from the Forest series—this time, a small frog. The frog had an adorably goofy appearance, draped in a black robe resembling that of an ancient curse caster. It muttered incantations under its breath, occasionally letting out a "ribbit, ribbit."

[Gekko, Mystical Medium of the Forest, ATK 800]

"Gekko, Mystical Medium of the Forest's effect: When it is successfully Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 'Forest' monster from your Graveyard!" Fake Leo announced. "Using this effect, revive the Tuner monster 'Bat, the Forest Ninja' from the Graveyard!"

The little bat that had left the field as Synchro Material in the first turn flapped its wings and flew back onto the field.

[Bat, the Forest Ninja, ATK 800]

"Level 3 Tuner monster, Bat, the Forest Ninja! Level 4 'Gekko, Mystical Medium of the Forest', tune the stars!"

[3 + 4 = 7]

This time, a smile appeared on Fake Luna's usually cold and gloomy face. She began chanting softly: "Spirits dwelling in the ancient Forest of Suppression, manifest in your dreamlike form and descend upon this land! Synchro Summon—"

"—Duel Dragon, Ancient Fairy Dragon!!!"

From the Synchro light pillar emerged first a dragon claw entwined with vines; the dewdrops dripping from its claw tips bloomed into crystal flowers mid-air. When the emerald dragon wings fully unfurled, thousands of glowing spores scattered with the wind. The moment the slender body of Ancient Fairy Dragon fully appeared, it was as if every flower in the fairy-tale forest turned toward its lowered dragon head. The vertical pupils, condensed from stardust, reflected a flowing starry sky.

[Ancient Fairy Dragon, ATK 2100]

"Hoh, so both of your aces have appeared," Kira narrowed his eyes. "Mecha Dragon and Ancient Fairy—a pair of Duel Dragons that support each other, huh?"

"Exactly! This is the symbol of the unity between me and Luna!" Fake Leo declared. "When siblings stand together, no enemy can defeat us, and no difficulty is insurmountable!"

Even on Fake Luna's icy, gloomy face, a faint smile appeared. "Yeah. With the power of the broken Scarecrow, we can defeat the evil Black Magician."

Kira tilted his head. "Evil Black Magician? Are you talking about me? That actually hurts a bit. There's no Duelist more loving than me, you know."

From the side, the Marshmallon spoke lazily: "Well… I think the title 'Evil Black Magician' suits you pretty well."

Kira shot it a glare. The Marshmallon stuck out its tongue and retreated back into the Deck, staying silent.

"Ancient Fairy Dragon's effect activates!" Fake Luna ordered. "Once per turn, if there is a Field Spell on the field, you can destroy 1 card on the field."

She raised her eyes and looked sinisterly at the Magician Girl on Kira's field. "Gekko, Mystical Medium of the Forest must be hiding some special ability. But no matter what it is, it doesn't matter—be destroyed! Holy Burial Spirit Field!!!"

Ancient Fairy Dragon raised its slender dragon neck. Its dragon pupils suddenly burst with dazzling divine light. The emerald scales across its body began to resonate, each one refracting a prismatic rainbow halo. As its dragon wings fully spread, thousands of blades of light erupted from within.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that won't work," Kira chuckled lightly.

Fake Luna: "Nani?"

"While Kiwi Magician Girl is on the field, none of my Spellcaster-Type monsters can be targeted by card effects, nor can they be destroyed by card effects," Kira said calmly. "So not only Kiwi, but even Lemon Magician Girl cannot be targeted."

"Tch."

Fake Luna clicked her tongue. "Then destroy the Set card in the back row!"

That was her only remaining option.

Ancient Fairy's swarm of light blades traced meteor-shower-like trajectories through the air. All the blades suddenly split and multiplied mid-flight, turning in an instant into a holy light downpour that blotted out the sky. They precisely locked onto the target Set card. Upon impact, they did not crudely tear it apart; instead, like dawn light dissolving darkness, the card began turning into countless glowing data particles from the edges.

Trap Card, Sacred Protection - Mirror Force.

"Mirror Force, huh? You hit a pretty good Trap," Fake Luna said, her mood seeming slightly improved after seeing the destroyed Trap. "Then, battle phase. Scarecrow."

Fake Leo muttered: "I told you I'm not a Scarecrow… Battle phase! Go, Ancient Fairy Dragon, attack 'Kiwi Magician Girl'!"

This time, even Luna didn't call him reckless. Kira's back-row Set card had been destroyed, and Kiwi's effect had been probed. Even she didn't think there would be any problem with Leo's attack this time.

But Kira smiled again and revealed the other "Kiwi Magician Girl" he had searched last turn. "Discard 'Kiwi Magician Girl' from the hand to activate its other effect," Kira said. "By discarding this card from the hand, increase the ATK and DEF of all 'Magician Girl' monsters on your field by the number of different 'Magician Girl' monsters on your field and in your Graveyard × 300."

Fake Luna was startled. "This Magician Girl has another ability?"

"Seems so," Kira laughed. "Right now, on my field and in my Graveyard, I have Lemon Magician Girl, Apple Magician Girl, Berry Magician Girl, and Kiwi Magician Girl—four different kinds in total. Therefore, all Magician Girls gain 1200 ATK!"

[Kiwi Magician Girl, ATK 1800 → ATK 3000]

[Lemon Magician Girl, ATK 1200 → ATK 2400]

Instant reversal!

Kira declared: "Kiwi Magician Girl, strike back!"

Kiwi stepped onto a transparent magic circle and soared into the air, her figure light as a butterfly as she spun in mid-air, nimbly dodging the light beams fired by Ancient Fairy. The tip of the girl's staff suddenly burst with dazzling blue light. A spiral magic shockwave howled forth. The blue energy continuously absorbed magic particles from the air during flight, ultimately turning into a roaring magic torrent that slammed heavily into the Fairy Dragon. At the moment of explosion, blue light and sparks intertwined into a ten-meter-wide fireball. The shockwave pulverized the gravel on the ground into dust.

However, when the smoke cleared, Ancient Fairy Dragon still stood tall. Its body was scorched red-hot and looked battered, yet it had endured.

"Oh?" Kira raised an eyebrow.

Fake Leo panted: "At the last moment, I activated this Trap Card, 'Superficial Peace'! This turn, no monsters are destroyed by battle, and when you inflict battle damage to your opponent, you can then destroy 1 Spell/Trap Card."

Kira understood: "So that's why it wasn't destroyed."

"Correct. Moreover, the Trap 'Synchro Barrier' I activated last turn remains in effect until the end of this turn. Therefore, I will take no damage this turn, and battle damage is also negated!" Fake Leo showed a triumphant expression. "How about that!? Even your insidious, hard-to-defend tricks have been blocked by me!"

…