Because of [Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts]'s effect, Professor Crowler lifted his hand of cards.
[Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts] let out a roar, and one card from Crowler's hand was blown away and sent to the Graveyard.
"Because of [Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts]'s effect, I randomly discard 1 card. Then it's my turn, nō?"
Turn 2
"My turn, draw."
Crowler's Duel Disk automatically pushed the top card of his Deck into his hand.
"I activate the Normal Spell [Terraforming], y'know. I add 1 Field Spell from my Deck to my hand—my choice is [Geartown]! I activate it immediately!"
As the ancient city of gears rose across the field, it was promptly destroyed. "Then I activate [Ancient Gear Catapult], destroy [Geartown], and Special Summon [Ancient Gear Golem] from my Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions! And because [Geartown] was destroyed, I Special Summon [Ancient Gear Wyvern] as well."
After executing the standard opening of an Ancient Gear OTK line, Crowler now controlled two monsters, and he declared he was using [Ancient Gear Wyvern]'s effect to search. If he fetched [Ancient Gear Fusion], then attacked [Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts] (2100 Attack) with a 4500-Attack [Chaos Ancient Gear Giant] followed by a direct attack from the 1700-Attack [Ancient Gear Wyvern], the Duel would end instantly.
"I chain to your [Ancient Gear Wyvern]'s effect by banishing [Mirror Swordknight] from my Graveyard. This effect can only be activated when your opponent's monster effect activates and I control [Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast]—I banish this card from my field or Graveyard, and that effect is negated."
"A monster effect from the Graveyard?! Then I activate [Ancient Gear Fusion] from my hand, y'know! I send Fusion Materials listed on an [Ancient Gear] Fusion Monster from my hand or field to the Graveyard and Fusion Summon it.
"If I use [Ancient Gear Golem] or [Ancient Gear Golem - Ultimate Pound] on my field as Fusion Material, I can also use monsters from my Deck. I use two [Ancient Gear Golem] from my Deck and the [Ancient Gear Golem] on my field as Fusion Materials—Fusion Summon!"
A swirling yellow-green vortex filled with rusty gears and broken components swallowed the three monsters, recombining them into a far more terrifying existence.
"I don't want to use this kind of monster against a student… Fusion Summon—[Ancient Gear Megaton Golem]! When this card is Fusion Summoned using at least two [Ancient Gear Golem] or [Ancient Gear Golem - Ultimate Pound], it can attack that many times during each Battle Phase! This Duel ends now—enter Battle Phase! [Ancient Gear Megaton Golem], attack—"
Before Crowler could finish declaring his attack, Youmi flipped his set card [Chimera Fusion]. "Before you enter the Battle Phase, Professor, I activate my set [Chimera Fusion]! I fuse the [Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts] on my field with the [Cornfield Coatl] in my hand. Inheriting the power of imaginary monsters, [Chimera] evolves once more—this is the forbidden second fusion—[Chimera the Illusion Beast]!"
Originally formed only from [Gazelle the King of Mythical Claws] and [Big-Winged Berfomet], [Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts] now gained the twin blades of [Mirror Swordknight], armor along its wings, and scales on its tail inherited from [Cornfield Coatl]. As a composite chimera of many beasts, its Attack rose to 3100.
Stunned, Crowler gasped, "[Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts]… can evolve again?!"
"Well, [Chimera] is a chimeric beast formed from everything it absorbs. But… upon the Fusion Summon of [Chimera the Illusion Beast], at an open timing, I activate [Judgment of the Branded]. I target 1 Level 8 or higher Fusion Monster I control—any opponent's monsters with Attack equal to or higher than that monster are destroyed.
"[Chimera the Illusion Beast] is Level 8 with 3100 Attack. Your [Ancient Gear Megaton Golem] has 3300 Attack, so it's destroyed!"
Behind [Chimera the Illusion Beast], a woman's silhouette appeared, raising her sword high. A bolt of lightning fell from the heavens, piercing Crowler's [Ancient Gear Megaton Golem].
"But [Ancient Gear Megaton Golem] has an effect! If this face-up Fusion Summoned card leaves the field because of your effect, I can Special Summon [Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem] from my Extra Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions! Come forth—[Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem]!"
From the wreckage of the destroyed Megaton Golem emerged another massive Ancient Gear Fusion Monster, gears grinding loudly as it activated.
"With 4400 Attack, [Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem] attacks [Chimera the Illusion Beast]! This time you don't have any more Traps, right?"
"Indeed, I don't."
The shockwave from [Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem]'s punch tore through [Chimera the Illusion Beast], whipping up Youmi's cloak and hair.
He pulled his cloak back into place. "I take 1300 damage. However… [Chimera] has corrosive power. When [Chimera the Illusion Beast] battles, neither monster is destroyed by that battle. And at the end of the Damage Step, that opposing monster's Attack becomes 0 and its effects are negated."
[Youmi, LP: 4000 → 2700]
[Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, ATK: 4400 → 0]
Smoke began to rise from the Ancient Gear titan as if it had been rotted through by [Chimera the Illusion Beast]'s corruption, rendering it totally unable to fight.
"You even crippled my [Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem]… Then, next turn, as long as you attack with [Chimera the Illusion Beast] first, and then with [Springans Kitt], my LP will hit 0. A brilliant strategy, y'know~"
Though surprised, Crowler still nodded in satisfaction. He was not the kind of teacher who envied a student's strength—he was delighted such a Duelist would soon enter Duel Academy.
"However, if I have [Ancient Gear Wyvern] and [Springans Kitt] crash into each other here, you'll need to draw a monster with over 900 Attack to win, right? I attack [Springans Kitt] with [Ancient Gear Wyvern], and both 1700-Attack monsters are destroyed.
"Because of [Ancient Gear Wyvern]'s effect, I can't Set cards, and I have no way to deal with [Chimera the Illusion Beast] this turn. I end my turn and entrust the Duel to fate, Desu."
"Professor, with all due respect—fate is indeed an inseparable part of Dueling, an essential element of chance. But the chance I need isn't a monster with over 900 Attack. What I need is the [Branded in High Spirits] that searched [Springans Kitt] last turn… or the [Mirror Swordknight] that let me create [Chimera the Illusion Beast] in the first place~"
Youmi slowly shook his head, then flipped his set card.
"I activate [Screams of the Branded], which I searched with [Kitt]. This card can be activated during the same turn a Fusion Monster was sent to my Graveyard. I Special Summon 1 Fusion Monster from my Graveyard or my banished monsters.
"I sent [Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts] to the Graveyard as Fusion Material last turn—so I Special Summon it now. And by the way, [Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts] also has an effect: during your turn, I can banish it from my Graveyard to Special Summon 1 Beast, Fiend, or Illusion monster from my Graveyard."
He smiled gently.
"So I'm sorry, Professor… but this Duel is mine~"
·····
"So cool! [Chimera the Illusion Beast] and [Judgment of the Branded]! They're super cool… well, not as cool as my [Elemental HERO] Deck, but still really cool, Youmi!"
Leaving the Duel Field, Youmi returned to the examinee seats to await his exam results and received Jaden's enthusiastic praise.
Bastion also nodded, flipping open his notebook. "To think you managed to turn the Duel around against Professor Crowler while only taking 1300 damage.
"And [Chimera the Illusion Beast]—Illusion monsters like that… If my memory serves, that type of monster was used by a legendary Duelist—Duel King Yugi Muto—during KaibaCorp's KC Grand Prix. I never expected Youmi to have one…"
"Hm? Oh…"
Youmi hadn't expected that the [Illusion] Deck Ten Thousand Dragon gave him as compensation had already made an appearance in this era.
He was a bit surprised, though he didn't show it. "I guess [Chimera the Illusion Beast] counts as the ace of my Deck~ After all, neither you nor Jaden used your ace monsters, so I didn't need to go all out, right?"
In truth, [Chimera the Illusion Beast] was simply too strong. Youmi realized how overpowered it was only after actually using it. This Deck had only been released shortly before he transmigrated, and he'd never played it before today—this was its first real battle. Looks like he'd need to tone down its strength in the future.
It had been years since that Deck released… so why was it still this absurdly strong?
Or maybe it wasn't the Deck being weird—maybe it was just that a pure-Fusion "Ancient Gear" build had no way to keep up.
Bastion nodded, admitting that he hadn't used his full strength during the practical exam. "As for me, I had already calculated the exact turn for lethal, so I didn't need to. Jaden… so your ace wasn't [Winged Kuriboh LV10]?"
Scratching his cheek in embarrassment, Jaden said, "Ah, my aces are [Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman] and [Elemental HERO Terra Firma]. [Winged Kuriboh LV10] is a card I just added to my Deck today."
"You managed to use a card you added on the very first day to that level? Impressive."
"Haha… haha…"
...
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