Ancient Gear Ultimate Giant! / G... God-Draw Dog?!

"Since you want to lose quickly, I'll grant your request, examinee 111, no-ne!"

With so many examinees and Duel Academy students present, Crowler spoke while struggling to suppress a teeth-gritting feeling of agony.

He reached for the deck on his Duel Disk.

"I'll go first. Draw!"

As his words fell, a card sprang from the top of his deck through the special device on the Duel Disk he wore.

It landed neatly in Crowler's waiting hand.

"It seems your luck is truly terrible, examinee 111. I've already drawn the ace I wanted."

After seeing the card he'd drawn, Crowler immediately began to chuckle.

Then he showed the card directly to Jiang He!

The name written on it was [Polymerization]!

[Normal Spell. Effect: Send a certain number of monsters from your hand and field to the graveyard to Special Summon 1 Fusion Monster!]

"It's the Spell Card Polymerization! But are there any monsters in Professor Crowler's Ancient Gear deck that can be fused?" several Duel Academy students around the arena exclaimed.

Crowler's Ancient Gear deck contained cards that were extremely rare in this world.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were worth ten million in gold.

Most people had barely seen them, and didn't even know the monsters' effects.

All they knew was that the ace monster of this legendary deck was the Ancient Gear Golem, with a whopping 3,000 attack points!

But Jiang He, having watched the anime, naturally knew better.

The Ancient Gear deck did indeed contain several Fusion Monsters with extremely high attack power and powerful effects.

Some could even OTK an opponent in a single turn!

But after glancing at the five cards in his hand, he wasn't worried in the slightest. Instead, he continued watching Crowler's "performance" with interest!

I'll just sit here quietly and watch you show off.jpg

Jiang He had always held to one belief: the more you showed off now, the more miserable you'd be when things went wrong later!

Chapter 4: Ancient Gear Ultimate Giant!

"I choose the three Ancient Gear Golems in my hand as Fusion Materials to perform a Fusion Summon!"

Crowler smugly revealed three cards from his hand, the ace cards in his deck that he'd used once during his duel with Jaden Yuki.

Ancient Gear Golem!

"Rumble!!"

With a rumble, three towering, somewhat corroded gray-brown mechanical giants with gears appeared on the dueling field.

Then, beneath the yellow, blue and green vortex of the Spell Card Polymerization, the three Ancient Gear Golems turned into beams of light and fell into it.

In the blink of an eye, they transformed into a colossal mechanical monster resembling a centaur, with a gray-brown, four-legged mechanical body and the upper body of a geared mechanical giant!

It let out a corroded roar!

"Fusion Summon, Ancient Gear Ultimate Giant!"

[Ancient Gear Ultimate Giant]

[Level: 10]

[Attribute: Earth]

[Attack: 4400]

[Defense: 3400]

"Ancient Gear... Ultimate Giant! A monster with 4,400 attack points!" Around the arena, Syrus Truesdale, Jaden Yuki, Bastion Misawa and the others were instantly shocked.

They stared in disbelief at the towering Ancient Gear Ultimate Giant Professor Crowler had summoned onto the dueling field!

Even Duel Academy's top student, who had only come to the far end of the arena to see if there were any capable newcomers,

Kaiser Zane Truesdale, widened his eyes in surprise.

"A terrifying monster that can only be summoned by using three monsters like Ancient Gear Golem as Fusion Materials?!"

"It's only an entrance duel test, and Professor Crowler has actually brought out even this legendary ace card from his deck?"

Nearby, Alexis Rhodes, the top female student who had also come to see what was happening, spoke in surprise.

That was a rare card even Professor Crowler himself seldom used!

"I'm afraid examinee 111's fate is already sealed." Alexis glanced regretfully at Jiang He on the dueling field below and in the distance.

Professor Crowler had set his sights on him.

He had immediately brought out one hundred percent of his strength.

"Yes. In the current situation, I'm afraid even Jaden Yuki, the examinee who just defeated Professor Crowler, couldn't possibly handle it."

Zane nodded in agreement.

When Ancient Gear Ultimate Giant attacked, the opponent couldn't activate Spell or Trap Cards.

And when it attacked a monster in Defense Position, it had the powerful effect of dealing piercing damage for the amount by which its attack exceeded the monster's defense.

Those Spell and Trap lockdown and piercing effects, combined with Ancient Gear Ultimate Giant's terrifying 4,400 attack points!

They shut down almost every possible means of resistance available to examinee 111, Jiang He!

Even if he wanted to summon a monster in Defense Position to stall for time,

or counterattack as Jaden Yuki had just done, combining Flame Wingman's 2,100 attack points with a Field Spell that added another 1,000, neither was possible!

"Since I went first, I can't attack directly this turn. Be thankful you can last one more turn, examinee 111, Jiang He boy!"

Crowler spoke smugly as he took one of his two remaining cards and set it face down in the Spell and Trap zone on his Duel Disk.

"I set one more card and end my turn!"

"He even set a Trap Card as a precaution. Professor Crowler has no intention of holding back at all."

Seeing this, Syrus spoke pessimistically.

"I think I suddenly understand why examinee 111 arrogantly let Professor Crowler go first!"

At that moment, laughter rang out from several Duel Academy students in blue uniforms seated on the other side of the arena.

"He must have known he was no match for the professor, so he figured he could last one more turn this way!"

"Hahaha...!"

As soon as he said it, the people beside him burst out laughing.

"Those guys!" Jaden Yuki, Bastion Misawa and the others frowned.

But they couldn't refute them, so they could only look toward Jiang He on the dueling field with somewhat grave expressions!

They wanted to see how he would respond!

Chapter 5: G... God-Draw Dog?!

"Since your performance is over, Professor Blond Mushroom Head, it's my turn." Jiang He smiled calmly and raised his hand over the deck on the Duel Disk worn on his left wrist.

"My turn, draw!"

At that instant, surprise flickered across the faces of Jaden Yuki and Duel Academy's top student, Zane Truesdale, at the far end of the arena!

They vaguely sensed it!

An exceptionally unusual aura seemed to have flashed from Jiang He as he drew his card!

What... was that?!

Jaden Yuki and Zane Truesdale both murmured inwardly.

"It seems this duel has already been decided, Professor Blond Mushroom Head."

After drawing, Jiang He merely glanced at the card out of the corner of his eye before looking lazily across at Professor Crowler with a smile.

"I'm not Blond Mushroom Head! I'm Professor Crowler, Duel Academy's head of practical dueling!" Crowler immediately grabbed his hair as though bristling and corrected Jiang He.

Then he quickly recovered and spoke with a hint of smugness. "But it seems you've realized you've lost, Jiang He boy."

"You should go back and work hard for another year, then come back to take Duel Academy's exam...!"

Before he could finish, he suddenly stared in bewilderment as the value showing his [4000 LP] began beeping down, dropping straight to zero!

"Mamma mia, wh-what's going on?!" Crowler froze.

"What happened?" The others were also stunned.

"Could it be a machine malfunction? Hey, what is the maintenance department doing?!" The blue-uniformed students who had mocked Jiang He moments ago hurriedly called out to several maintenance workers.

"No, it wasn't a mechanical failure. Examinee 111 appears to have met a special victory condition after drawing on his first turn!"

The Duel Academy maintenance staff quickly checked the equipment and found no malfunction whatsoever.

"A special victory condition, met the moment he drew on his first turn..."

Bastion murmured thoughtfully.

Then he, Zane Truesdale, Alexis Rhodes and the others suddenly looked shocked, as though they had all thought of something.

"Masaka! Could it be...?!"

Crowler, equally bewildered, also thought of something and looked at Jiang He.

"That's exactly what it is: The Sealed Exodia the Forbidden One, Exodia!" Jiang He said with a faint smile, raising the six cards in his hand for all to see.

From left to right, there were four cards with "no apparent meaning": [Left Arm of the Forbidden One], [Right Arm of the Forbidden One], and the Left Leg and Right Leg of the Forbidden One.

Clearly, he had drawn all four in his opening hand!

And then there was the final card, the one Jiang He had just drawn at the start of his turn.

[Exodia the Forbidden One]!

[Level: 3]

[Attribute: Dark]

[ATK/DEF: 1000/1000]

[Effect: When this card, the Right Leg of the Forbidden One, the Left Leg of the Forbidden One, the Right Arm of the Sealed One, and the Left Arm of the Sealed One are all gathered in your hand, you immediately win this duel! This effect cannot be negated!]

As light shone in succession from the five cards in Jiang He's hand, the enormous golden figure of Exodia the Forbidden One appeared, bound in golden chains!

It roared and broke free of the chains, then slammed a fist into the Ancient Gear Ultimate Golem across from it!

A single punch instantly blasted the opposing monster apart in a huge cloud of flame and smoke!

"Boom!!"

Amid the explosion, a huge gear flew out and landed squarely on Professor Crowler's head, knocking him helplessly to his knees.

Then Exodia the Forbidden One turned into a virtual image and faded away, just like the Ancient Gear fragments across from it...