Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Camilla took a card from her deck and placed it face down on the Duel Disk, saying, "I Special Summon 'Vampire Witch' from my deck in Defense Position!"

The abrupt shadow beneath the feet of the [Shadow Vampire] split off and gradually transformed into a churning, boiling pool of blood. From within it, a white-haired, red-eyed girl stood up.

Her upper body attire was extremely revealing, with clothes barely covering her sides. Even with all the effort, most of her "heart" was still exposed. If it weren't for the shawl that held her back, she would likely have appeared far too revealing to be suitable for children. Her lower body was also clad in the same black stockings as the "Red Reaper" vampire, paired with high boots, prompting one to ponder the profound question—do vampires' feet smell?

However, judging from the fact that after the [Vampire Fairy] appeared, she made the [Shadow Vampire] kneel down and lie on the ground as a chair, and then sat on the latter without any politeness, she probably doesn't exercise much, and even if she wears high boots, her feet probably don't smell.

[Vampire Sorceress] [7☆/Dark]

[Undead/Effect]

[2000/2000]

Of all the undead monsters Camilla has used so far, the [Vampire Witch] is the highest level and has the highest defense, making her the most unique among these vampire monsters whose attack and defense stats are severely unbalanced.

The fact that the Shadow Vampire, who possessed the same attack power, treated her with such respect shows that, compared to servants like familiars and retinues, the Vampire Sorceress was no longer a subordinate but a member of the ruling class.

"The Continuous Spell Card [Vampire's Domain] is activated. As long as this card is in the Spell & Trap Zone, when my [Vampire] monsters deal battle damage to you, they absorb that life force into my body and convert it into my Life Points of the same value."

Instead of using the first effect of "Vampire's Domain"—"Summon a Vampire monster once per turn by paying 500 Life Points during the Main Phase in addition to a Normal Summon"—Camilla inserted a Spell Card into the back row.

"Next, I'll place three cards face down, and my turn ends here for now."

Camilla: 3000 LP, 2 cards in hand

【Vampire - Red Reaper】【ATK2000】

【Shadow Vampire】【ATK2000】

[Vampire Witch] [DEF2000]

[Survival Amulet] [Vampire's Domain] [Face Card] x3

Camilla looked at the battlefield she had set up at the end of her turn with great pride and confidence. Although her monsters seemed to be nothing special, all of them having only 2000 attack or defense points, she had actually created a very powerful synergy between her monsters, back row, graveyard, and hand.

When destruction occurs due to battle or effect, [Vampire Red Death] can pay Life Points by effect instead of destruction. The three face-down cards in the back row are [Altar of Sacrifice], which releases monsters to recover Life Points; [Vampire Relocator], which searches for and activates the Field Spell Card [Vampire Empire] and revives [Vampire] monsters from the Graveyard; and [Vampire Domination], which can negate the effects of Spells, Trap Cards, and Monsters.

Among the cards I sent to the graveyard with "Angel's Charity" was one that could link with "Vampire Witch" on the field using the cards I currently had. Although I was somewhat annoyed and resentful about having "angels" in my deck, the thought of the angels who protect humanity being forced to serve me actually made me a little happy.

Furthermore, the monster card "Vampire Heiress" in her hand has the ability to be Special Summoned from her hand when an opponent's monster attacks, and can also increase the ATK of other "Vampire" monsters in battle by paying Life Points to counterattack.

I am invincible!

Chapter 1121 Mutual Tauren Man Displays of Friendship

Looking at the monsters on Camilla's field, Professor Chronos, who had somewhat recovered from his fear of monsters, frowned slightly in disappointment: "Seriously, I was looking forward to seeing what kind of deck you were talking about, the 'Dark Middle Ages,' but it turns out to be some fictional entity like 'vampires'?"

"A fictional existence, is that what you think?" Camilla said angrily upon hearing Chronos's words. "Have insignificant humans forgotten the might of our vampire race so quickly after only a few hundred years? The thought that the vampire race was destroyed because of the greed of you ants makes me grit my teeth in anger."

As he spoke, Camilla bared his sharp fangs, his expression fierce and menacing.

"The Dark Middle Ages, by right, refers to the dark ages in which our dark races reigned supreme over you humans, a time of absolute dominance. This is the true essence of the so-called 'Dark Middle Ages,' a dark game that reminds you of the horrors and despair of the vampires!"

Despite his initial fear of Camilla, Professor Chronos gradually mustered his courage upon hearing her words and retorted, "No, it's not like that at all! The so-called 'Dark Ages' was never an era shrouded in those fabricated fears!"

"Even shrouded in unknown darkness, they still forged ahead in that chaos to pave the way for future generations. The spirit of those scientists and pioneers in the Middle Ages is the true essence of the 'Dark Ages.' This is my understanding as a former history enthusiast, Chronos de' Medici, after examining many historical relics from the Middle Ages!"

Chronos looked at Camilla and said, "Courage is about forging a path through the dark wilderness. From now on, your tricks and charades are completely useless against me, because I absolutely do not approve of your 'dark games.' Duels should be fought in the light!"

Annoyed by Professor Chronos's words, Camilla said impatiently, "Who understands what you're saying? You ignorant humans. Only the victors and the strong have the right to speak. Judging from your appearance, you're just a nobody. Stop spouting nonsense. If you're so capable, try breaking through my invincible night monsters on the field!"

“I don’t need you to tell me, I’ve already decided to do it!” Professor Chronos raised his hand and drew a card from his deck. “My turn, draw!”

Professor Chronos glanced at the card he had drawn, but instead of adding it to his hand, he immediately played it, saying, "I activate the Field Spell Card [Gear Street]. As long as this card is in the Field Zone, both players can reduce the number of Tributes required to Summon [Ancient Gear] monsters by one."

The [Gear Street] skill activates immediately after a single draw, which means that Professor Chronos will no longer need tributes if he wants to Normal Summon those 5 or 6-star [Ancient Gear] monsters.

Upon hearing Professor Chronos's explanation, Camilla decisively declared, "I've already said that the Middle Ages should have been shrouded in the darkness we've brought down, and that human creations should stay out of the way!"

"Counter Trap Card [Vampire's Domination] activated! This card can be activated when I control a [Vampire] monster, or when a monster's effect, Spell Card, or Trap Card is activated. Negate that activation and destroy it!"

Professor Chronos's [Gear Street] had just been placed in the field area, and the street made of gears and mechanisms was just about to rise from the ground, but before the rumbling sound could even begin, a shadow suddenly expanded out from under the feet of Camilla's three-body [Vampire] monster, turning into a crimson sea of ​​blood.

From that sea of ​​blood, one after another, vampire familiars and kamikazes rose up and began to wreak havoc on the still unfinished Gear Street!

Amidst the astonished expressions of Professor Chronos and the others outside the arena, Camilla used this powerful three-speed, three-color counter to destroy Professor Chronos's [Gear Street].

"Heh, this ruined state is exactly the most suitable state for human creations." Camilla said arrogantly with a smug look on his face. "Your field spell card, which you went through so much trouble to activate, was completely useless and was easily destroyed by me. How do you feel about that, you ugly human?"

Professor Chronos looked at Camilla strangely upon hearing this and said, "I was a little skeptical before when you said you were a vampire or something, but now I think I might believe you, huh?"

After a pause, Chronos glanced at the [Gear Street], which was now a ruin but hadn't disappeared from his field, and explained, "It should have been used to destroy key cards at crucial moments, but instead it's being used to destroy [Gear Street]. Even if you didn't know [Gear Street]'s second effect, you shouldn't have made such a choice, right?"

"Your cards are modern, but your thinking is quite old-fashioned. It feels like you're dueling with a hundred-year-old woman who's decades out of touch with the times."

"Second effect?" Camilla was taken aback by Professor Chronos's words, because she really didn't know what the effect of [Gear Street] was. She only knew that she had a card in her back row that she could activate, so she used it. But she was quickly distracted again. "No, who is a hundred-year-old woman! I'm clearly eighteen years old!"

"Born in the Middle Ages and still only eighteen years and a few thousand months old in modern times?"

"Shut up, you little brat over there!" Camilla said irritably to Asuka outside the field. Then, looking back at Chronos on the field, she said disdainfully, "So what if there's a second effect? ​​I've already destroyed that field spell. It's nothing special. The second effect is nothing to worry about!"

Seeing Camilla's attitude, Asuka knew her tactics had been quite successful. Although her dislike and aversion to Camilla were genuine, her calm personality meant she wouldn't normally argue with someone so much. The reason she deliberately started arguing with Camilla was mainly because it was part of their planned strategy.

Having never fought any of the "Seven Stars" before, they had no way of knowing how strong the "Seven Stars" were. However, this did not stop them from trying to think of the "Seven Stars" as strong. Since they had taken on the responsibility of guarding the key, it would be perfectly fine for them to use some harmless tricks or special tactics outside of the duel.

—In Hayato's "Spirits Coexistence Class," since most people don't have the potential to be "Spirits," Hayato occasionally talks about tactical knowledge beyond the basics of Duel Monsters. Although there's no "forbidden knowledge" like hiding cards in sleeves, hiding dragons in crotches, or sending cards into the opponent's deck during a duel, which can be classified as cheating, he occasionally teaches students techniques like activating effects silently. And verbal attacks outside of duels, or "trash talk," are naturally also mentioned.

Although many people initially enroll in the course because they are interested in the teaching of the principal who is a Duel King, the vast majority of them leave the course after less than three days because they can't see any Pokémon at all. After all, how can they get along with Pokémon if they can't even see them? Nevertheless, they can still learn some "tactical knowledge" as a gain.

Both Ryo Marufuji and Asuka Tenjouin had taken Hayato's course, but like most people, they ultimately had no choice but to withdraw from it, only learning a little "tactical knowledge," which proved somewhat useful in their duel with the "Seven Stars."

Professor Chronos, who took the initiative to accept the duel, was responsible for using his appearance to make others look down on him, while Asuka was responsible for verbally attacking the opponent to affect their emotions and distract them, and Ryo Marufuji was responsible for mediating in the middle to prevent the opponent from being completely provoked and going into overdrive.

The result was obvious: because of her initial bickering with Asuka, which left her with a lingering sense of anger, her differing understanding of the "Dark Middle Ages" from Professor Chronos, and her disdain for the unassuming Professor Chronos due to Ryo Marufuji's presence, Camilla made her first terrible move in this duel.

However, one bad performance is enough to change a lot of things!

"Although [Gear Street] was negated and destroyed, it is precisely the fact that it was 'destroyed' that fulfills the condition for activating its second effect, no way!" Professor Chronos took a card from his deck and played it onto the Duel Disk. "This card can only be activated when it is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard. I Special Summon one [Ancient Gear] monster from my hand, deck, or Graveyard!"

"O dragon, radiating profound light, unleash the fiery energy surging within your breasts before me!"

This was completely different from his duel with Jaden, where he traded four cards for one, resulting in a disastrous loss of cards, specifically Ancient Gear Giant. Despite Camilla's bafflingly poor card play, Professor Chronos successfully used Gear Street to summon his highest-level, highest-attack ace monster from his main deck—the one with the highest attack power.

"【Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon】, Special Summon Nanonne!"

The discarded metal gears on the destroyed Gear Street reassembled, forming a massive synthetic dragon. The combination of the gear set and the nuclear reactor caused its power to surge, increase dramatically, and surge with power, driving the steel dragon to suddenly unleash its wide wings. The storm it created instantly dispelled the faint mist that had enveloped the field since Camilla's Vampire Domain was activated!

[Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon] [9☆/Land]

[Mechanical Race/Effect]

[3000/3000]

"A monster with 3000 attack power? How could it be so easy?!" Camilla stared wide-eyed in astonishment at Professor Chronos's Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon on the field.

Although people like Hayato and Jonouchi often jokingly refer to a monster as having "the attack power of the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon," making it seem as if the Blue-Eyes White Dragon is the standard unit for comparing attack power, in reality, most decks are already very powerful if they have even one monster with an attack power of 3000. For example, Jaden's E-Hero deck doesn't have a single monster with an attack power of 3000 without using its effects.

Camilla's "Vampire" deck contains only one monster with 3000 ATK, and that monster is a Special Summon monster that cannot be Normal Summoned, making its summoning conditions somewhat troublesome. Theoretically, it would require at least three cards or more to summon it.

And then this guy who looks like the Pot of Greed summoned a monster with the same ATK level with just one card!?

Camilla's eyes instantly turned fierce. Her previous contempt for Chronos vanished in an instant, and she immediately said, "Then at the moment your monster is Special Summoned, I will also activate the effects of the monsters in my Graveyard!"

"During the main phase for both players, I banish 'Phantom of the Vampire' from my Graveyard and pay 500 Life Points to activate this ability, Summoning a single 'Vampire' monster!" By banishing a card from his Graveyard, Camilla paid his Life Points for the third time in this duel.

[Camula: 3000→2500LP]

"When was that monster sent to the graveyard along with [Vampire's Familiar] by [Angel's Charity] back then?" Chronos paused, recalling Camilla's actions in the previous round, "Nano-ne?"

“That’s right, it was at that time, and [Vampire’s Spectre] is the strongest countermeasure I left in the graveyard. We noble vampires are an immortal race of the night, only you fragile humans fear death.” Camilla said smugly, “What I’m going to summon is this [Vampire Red Baron] in my hand. At level 6, he requires one tribute. I will Tribute Summon [Shadow Vampire] from my field!”

The Shadow Vampire, which was being sat on by the Vampire Fairy, disappeared from Camilla's field, causing the former to accidentally sit on the ground. Then, in the card area where the Shadow Vampire disappeared, a vampire with a similar style of soldier attire appeared, but clearly of a higher level and with more elaborate equipment. He was also riding a heavily armored warhorse that had also been assimilated into a vampire, with bloodshot eyes and teeth stained with blood.

The vampire witch rubbed her buttocks, got up from the ground unhappily, and glared at the newly appeared vampire baron. Although the latter's attack power was higher than hers, he still respectfully bowed to the vampire witch, clearly indicating that the latter was of a higher social class.

Having lost her "seat," the [Vampire Sorceress] naturally needed to find another place to sit. This time, she set her sights on the [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon], who had also just entered the field. With a wave of her hand, she released a ball of pink magic that transformed into an arrow and struck the [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon].

Immediately afterward, Chronos saw that the [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon], which should have been mindless mechanical creation, was being forcibly interfered with under the influence of that very adult magic, and was gradually being dragged to the opposite field? The [Vampire Sorceress] knocked the [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon] to the ground, determined to take it and use it as a chair!

"When [Vampire Witch] is successfully summoned, or when I have a [Vampire] monster summoned on my field, you can target one of your opponent's monsters with a higher ATK than her," Camilla paused, then pointed triumphantly to [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon], which was about to break free from Chronos's control, and said, "Equip it to [Vampire Witch] as an Equip Card!"

"This ability is called 'Capture Arrow,' which increases the attack power of [Vampire Witch] by the original attack power of the monster equipped with this effect. Although it is limited to once per turn, it doesn't matter, because after equipping [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon], the attack power of [Vampire Witch] will increase to a full 5000 points!"

"What can stop me? What can possibly stop me?"

"Wail, scream, and die! This is the terrifying power of the vampires! Heh heh, hahahahaha!"

Amid Camilla's smug laughter, Professor Chronos decisively ordered, "In that case, we have no choice but to self-destruct!"

"Hahaha—huh?"

Camilla's laughter abruptly stopped, and then she saw Chronos draw a card from his hand and place it in the Spell & Trap Zone of the Duel Disk, saying, "Quick-Play Spell Card [Enemy Controller], chaining the effect of [Vampire Witch] to activate, Tribute [Ancient Gear Thermonuclear Dragon] on my field, and gain control of one monster on my opponent's field—[Vampire Red Baron], the monster with the highest ATK—until the End Phase!"

"If you want to take my monster, then I'll take yours in the same way. In Principal Hayato's words, it's 'tit for tat,' right?"

Chapter 1122 I got up and killed him with one punch. What's there to say?

"When the chain [Vampire Witch] is successfully summoned, I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card [Enemy Controller], which Tributes [Ancient Gear Thermonuclear Dragon] on my field, and gains control of one monster on my opponent's field until the End Phase of this turn!"

A long, complex sentence came from Professor Chronos's mouth as he played his second card, pointing to Camilla's [Red Baron Vampire] on the field, "I choose that monster, Nanone!"

Among Camilla's monsters on the field, both "Vampire Queen" and "Vampire Red Death" have an attack power of 2000. Unfortunately, "Vampire Queen" is in defense position, otherwise Chronos would have chosen to control "Vampire Red Death" and then used it to take down "Vampire Queen" together.

While controlling [Vampire Witch] to attack position isn't out of the question, Chronos feels somewhat disadvantaged if he controls [Vampire Witch] whose effect has already been used. Besides, Camilla's other two monsters on the field haven't had their effects used yet, so it's natural to prioritize [Vampire Red Reaper] or [Vampire Red Baron]. Judging from the format of their names, they seem to be somewhat related, so it's best to separate them.

Professor Chronos's guess was indeed correct. Whether it's "Vampire Red Reaper" or "Vampire Red Baron," although their first effects are different, they have the exact same second effect: during the End Phase of a monster destroyed in battle, Special Summon as many destroyed monsters as possible from the Graveyard to your field.

In other words, if Professor Chronos controls [Vampire Red Baron] and then destroys any monster on Camilla's field with [Vampire Red Baron] which has an attack power of 2400, he can gain an additional monster at the end of the Battle Phase. This effect is even better than [Enemy Controller] which has no time limit.

At that point, the card advantage between the two sides will widen again! Furthermore, the first effect of [Vampire Red Baron] requires paying Life Points to exchange control of the opponent's monster for control of another [Vampire] monster that is essentially one of your own. If Chronos succeeds, even Camilla himself might not be able to tell who the real [Vampire] deck user is!

Although her previous poor performance was quite laughable, that was mainly because Camilla completely disregarded Chronos and was unfamiliar with the effects of his cards. However, she knew exactly what her own cards were and knew she couldn't let Chronos take her [Vampire Red Baron] away. So, she decisively pressed the button to activate the face-down card and said, "Want to take my monster? There's a limit to greed, human!"

"Chain with [Enemy Controller] to activate Trap Cards, [Sacrifice Altar]!"

Just as the Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon was about to be completely controlled by the Vampire Sorceress, it was suddenly drained of all its power due to the Enemy Controller, which was then used to power the Enemy Controller. However, just as the data cable connected to the Enemy Controller's handle was about to touch Camilla's Red Baron on the field, an altar suddenly rose beneath Camilla's feet, enveloping the Red Baron!?

Within the altar, the [Red Baron] and his warhorse floated up together. Catalyzed by the magic within the altar, their bodies suddenly exploded into a cloud of blood mist, which was then absorbed into Camilla's body through the altar's transformation.

[Camula: 2500→4900LP]

"The effect of [Altar of Sacrifice] is to send one of my monsters to the Graveyard, and I will gain Life Points equal to the original ATK of that monster." Camilla's lips curled up as he felt the life force surging within him as his Life Points increased. "Rather than have you take it from me, I'd rather turn [Vampire Baron] into my power."

That statement, which was exactly the same as Hayato's classic line, "I'd rather fry him and eat him than let you destroy him," made Professor Chronos remark, "Ah, that sounds a bit like a modern duelist, doesn't it?"