Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Accompanied by Professor Chronos's Italian-sounding attack name, the attack of the [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon], which sealed all of Camilla's magical traps and monster effects, successfully struck the [Vampire Red Death].

Under the attack, which was as intense as the blazing sun and filled with thermonuclear radiation, the [Vampire Red Reaper] in the darkness had no chance to resist and was instantly vaporized!

"Ugh!"

[Camula: 2900→2400LP]

Professor Chronos looked puzzled as Camilla's Life Points dropped, while the panicked Camilla took a long time to recover, saying with a gloomy face, "Although the effects of monsters and the activation of Spell/Trap Cards are blocked, the cards that have already been activated can still be used normally. The continuous effect of the Field Spell Card [Vampire Empire], which does not require activation, increases the ATK of Zombie monsters on the field by 500 points only during damage calculation."

[Vampire - Red Reaper] [ATK 2000 → 2500]

Camilla had originally planned to use the combined effect of [Vampire Heiress] and [Vampire Empire] to boost [Vampire Red Reaper]'s attack to 5300 points. That way, she could not only deal a full 2300 points of battle damage to Chronos who was attacking and recover 2300 points of her own life points, but she could also use the effect of [Vampire Red Reaper] to Special Summon [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon] that was destroying her counterattack to her side.

The defensive penetration effect is one thing, but how come there's also a triple seal effect when attacking? That's too unfair! If it weren't for the fact that the [Vampire Empire] effect doesn't require activation, I'm afraid I would have lost 1000 basic points in one go and spat out the life force I just absorbed from Chronos.

Although [Vampire Red Reaper] can avoid being destroyed by battle or effects by paying 1000 Life Points, Camilla felt that she needed to save up a little more Life Points. Otherwise, even with [Vampire's Domain] which could continuously restore Life Points by dealing battle damage and [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon] which had a triple-locking ability when attacking, it would still be a bit insufficient.

Just as Camilla was thinking this, she heard Chronos say, "[Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon] activates at the end of the damage step of its attack. Destroy one Spell/Trap Card on the field. I chose [Vampire's Domain] on my opponent's back field."

Camilla's Vampire Domain in the backfield was covered and shattered by the flames spreading around her. Camilla's face grew increasingly gloomy as she glared angrily at Chronos, who was retaliating.

"My Battle Phase is over, and then during Main Phase Two, I will set two cards face-down on the back row." Ignoring Camilla's unpleasant expression, Chronos drew two cards from his hand, set them face-down on the back row, and then summoned a monster, saying, "I haven't performed a Normal Summon this turn. I will Normal Summon 'Ancient Gear Dragon' from my hand in Defense Position."

A bronze-colored dragon appeared beside Chronos. Although it looked quite fierce, it paled in comparison to its two larger counterparts, the Ancient Mechanical Titan - Ultimate Strike and the Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon.

[Ancient Mechanical Dragon] [4 stars/land]

[Mechanical Race/Effect]

[1700/1200]

Although the Vampire's Domain has been destroyed, Professor Chronos still carefully sets the Ancient Gear Dragon to Defense Position to prevent its "only" 1700 ATK from becoming the opponent's weak point. While 1700 ATK is not bad for a regular monster, there seem to be too many monsters with ATK higher than 1700 in the heavily specialized Vampire deck.

However, Chronos's purpose in summoning [Ancient Gear Dragon] at this moment is not for the card itself, but for its effect: "If [Ancient Gear Dragon] is successfully Normal or Special Summoned, I can activate this effect. I add one [Ancient Gear] card other than [Ancient Gear Dragon] from my Deck to my hand. I choose [Ancient Gear Box]."

Camilla watched Chronos's actions and raised an eyebrow: "Why didn't you Normal Summon a monster you could have Normal Summoned during the main phase? Hmph, it must have been a mistake, didn't it? What a foolish human."

However, Chronos only glanced at her and couldn't help but explain, out of his teacher's instinct, "That's because after the effect of [Ancient Gear Dragon] is activated, I can't set the card until the end of the turn. Also, at that time, there were no cards on your field that could be destroyed by battle with [Ancient Gear Dragon]. It would be better to keep it in your hand to activate the effect of [Ancient Gear Giant - Ultimate Smash], no way."

After a pause, Chronos revealed the card in his hand and said, "This effect of 'Ancient Mechanical Box,' which was added to my hand by 'Ancient Mechanical Dragon,' can only be activated if this card is added to my hand from the Deck or Graveyard by a method other than drawing a card."

"I'm adding one EARTH Machine-Type monster with 500 ATK or DEF, other than 'Ancient Machine Box,' from my deck to my hand." Professor Chronos said, drawing a card and showing it off.

"I choose the Earth-attribute Machine-type monster with 500 defense points, [Ancient Machine Body], and then end my turn, Nanonie."

【Kronos: 3000LP, 2 cards in hand】

[Ancient Mechanical Flying Dragon] [DEF1200]

【Ancient Mechanical Titan - Ultimate Strike】【ATK3000】

[Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon] [ATK3000]

[GaiK] X2

Chapter 1124 The Fusion of Ancient Machinery

【Kronos: 3000LP, 2 cards in hand】

[Ancient Mechanical Flying Dragon] [DEF1200]

【Ancient Mechanical Titan - Ultimate Strike】【ATK3000】

[Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon] [ATK3000]

[GaiK] X2

Despite one going first and the other going second, and even experiencing some disruptions, Professor Chronos's lineup at the end of his turn was far superior to Camilla's, even though both had three monsters.

However, Professor Chronos did not lower his guard and become careless like Camilla had before. Instead, he stared at the card in Camilla's hand with a wary expression.

Previously, the Special Summoning of [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon] and [Vampire Red Baron] from the Graveyard allowed Camilla to draw a total of six cards with the help of [Survival Treasure Card]. Even though she played two cards in the previous turn, she still has six cards in her hand. In addition, she can draw a card to replenish her hand during the draw phase, so she has too many hand resources to use.

With a full seven cards, nobody knows what kind of terrifying combo the opponent might unleash!

What Chronos didn't know was that Camilla, whom he was wary of, was practically grinding her teeth to dust as she looked at the card in her hand.

[Vampire Move] can search for a field, but is useless if you already have a field; [Vampire Empire] is the second field spell card; [Blood Thirst] is used to Special Summon a lower-level [Vampire] in your deck when a monster is destroyed; [Creator Crisis] is used in conjunction with [Vampire Creator]; and [Vampire Creator] cannot be Normal Summoned and can only be summoned if certain conditions are met.

With the addition of the spell card [Tornado], Camilla couldn't imagine what kind of hand chaos would occur if she didn't have [Survival Treasure Card] to draw all these cards from her deck. Was she really going to use this completely useless [Creator Crisis] to deal with the cards on her opponent's field?!

I can only hope that I can draw some usable cards this turn, at least a [Vampire] monster that I can normally summon to trigger the effect of [Vampire Witch].

Camilla said with a grim face, "My turn, draw a card!"

Camilla flipped the card over and looked at the green-bordered magic card in her hand. At first, she was surprised, but then she was secretly pleased and proud.

"Hey, you human over there, you specifically searched for those cards in your hand, they must have some special use for them, right? But unfortunately, I won't give you the chance to use them. I'll use the card I drew!"

Without mentioning his own hand mishap, Camilla, as if by magic, mastered the ability to distort the truth, just like several versions of "Big Sweet Potato" from before, and played a card from his hand, "I activate the magic card [Hand Elimination], both players discard all their hands, and then draw the same number of discarded cards from their decks!"

“You need to discard both cards in your hand and then draw two cards, while I can draw six more cards after discarding six cards!” As he spoke, Camilla eagerly discarded six cards in his hand and then drew the same number of cards.

Chronos saw right through her plan, but he didn't care much. Instead, he nonchalantly sent the two cards in his hand to the graveyard. Cards in hand are useful, but they don't become useless once they're in the graveyard—in fact, for most Machine-Type monsters, going to the graveyard is like going home.

In this respect, Professor Chronos's Ancient Machine deck and Camilla's Vampire deck are somewhat similar.

Professor Chronos was quite satisfied with the card he had drawn; it was a pretty good one. However, Camilla didn't have time to pay attention to Professor Chronos; she was already overjoyed just looking at the card she had drawn.

However, before using his hand, looking at the monsters on Chronos's field, Camilla declared: "Before unleashing even more terrifying darkness and despair, I want to take some interest from you first."

"After changing the Defense Position [Vampire Queen] to Attack Position, I pay 1000 Life Points to activate the effect of [Vampire Baron], exchanging control of one of my [Vampire] monsters and one of my opponent's monsters."

[Camula: 2400→1400LP]

The base score plummeted, turning into a blood-red mist that was absorbed by Camilla's [Vampire Baron] to activate its effect. Camilla's chosen targets were none other than his own [Vampire Witch] and Professor Chronos' [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon].

"My chosen targets are my [Vampire Spellcaster] and the opponent's [Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon]!"

Although she changed her hand, Camilla's hand at this moment only had one decent card; the quality of the other cards was just so-so and not worth mentioning. The quality of her hand had improved, but not completely, especially since she still didn't have any monsters that could be Normal Summoned.

If you can't Normal Summon a Vampire monster, then Vampire Queen is just a decoration that can't activate her effect. Although there's a saying that "strength is temporary, but beauty is forever," isn't Vampire Heiress stronger than Vampire Queen? She can even activate her effect to support other Vampire monsters.

The reason she chose not to use the "Ancient Gear Giant - Ultimate Strike" which has defense penetration capabilities is simple: Camilla doesn't have any Machine-Type monster cards that can fully utilize its effect. Moreover, she doesn't really need the defense penetration effect. On the contrary, the "Ancient Gear Thermonuclear Dragon" with triple lockout during attack declaration is much more useful to her.

Although the card in his hand could grant him invincible power, Camilla didn't really want to use it unless absolutely necessary. He could simply take Chronos's monster and have both of them, with an attack power of 3000, perish together, and then win the duel using only the remaining two monsters.

After all, the effect of [Vampire Heiress] is not limited to once per turn. With her own effect and the blessing of [Vampire Empire], she can destroy the [Ancient Mechanical Dragon] in defense position with one hit. If she pays another 100 life points, the attack power of [Vampire Red Baron] will be increased to 3000 points, and one hit can wipe out Chronos's remaining life points!

However, although Camilla's idea was good, the actual situation was completely different from her expectations. Although Professor Chronos's back row didn't have a card like "Divine Punishment" that could negate the activation of monster effects, if he couldn't prevent the effect from being used, wouldn't it have been better to just make the target of the effect disappear beforehand?

Camilla watched helplessly as Chronos pressed the button on his Duel Disk to activate a face-down card, instantly activating a green-bordered Quick-Play Spell Card on his field. His own "Vampire Baron" had just absorbed the Life Points he had paid and was casting spells to envelop "Vampire Witch" and "Ancient Gear Dragon," but the next moment, "Ancient Gear Dragon" suddenly disintegrated!?

Did Chronos's two monsters, "Ancient Gear Dragon" and "Ancient Gear Thermonuclear Dragon," completely disintegrate into their parts and merge into the vortex released by the Quick-Play Spell Card that Chronos opened in his back row?!

"I activate the Quick-Play Spell Card [Instant Fusion]! Send the two monsters on my field, [Ancient Gear Dragon] and [Ancient Gear Thermonuclear Dragon], to the Graveyard as Fusion Materials. I then Fusion Summon Nanone from my Fusion Deck."

As Chronos spoke, he took out a Fusion Monster card with a purple border.

"A Fusion Monster!?" The surprised female voice didn't come from Camilla, but from Asuka outside the field. It was the first time she had seen Professor Chronos use a Fusion Monster. "The Ancient Gear deck actually has a Fusion Monster in addition to the monsters summoned by the Triple Summon?"

"'Fusion Summoning is the noblest summoning method.' Although Principal Kobayashi said this casually, and he also said strange things like 'It is our duty to rebuild the glory of the ritual,' it must be said that Fusion Summoning possesses extremely powerful strength and is a summoning method with infinite possibilities."

Beside Asuka, Caesar explained, "Professor Chronos's Ancient Machine deck naturally also has fusion methods."

"However, he has only ever dueled with students and other teachers, and rarely used fusion monsters. I didn't expect him to use them again in his duel with 'Seven Stars'."

After a pause, Caesar did not tell Asuka that the fusion monster he had seen before, Professor Chronos's, was the Ancient Machine Ultimate Titan. It was an ultimate monster that could be fused by combining Professor Chronos's ace monster, the Ancient Machine Titan, with two other Ancient Machine monsters as materials, and possessed extremely terrifying power.

However, Professor Chronos only used two monsters to fuse at this moment. What kind of monster would be summoned by that?

"Creatures that inherit the soul of ancient technological machinery, now form ranks, intertwine and merge, and be reborn together with new power!"

The vortex of fusion disappeared, and the disassembled and reassembled gear parts reconstructed into a strange monster that retained the dragon-shaped winged skeleton but stood on the ground with its curved legs. Long cables were tied into a tail that dragged on the ground behind it, and several cannons of considerable caliber were mounted on its arms. Its torso was faintly glowing, obviously powered by nuclear power derived from the [ancient mechanical thermonuclear dragon].

Professor Chronos placed the Fusion Monster card in his hand onto the Duel Disk and waved his hand, "Fusion Summon Nanone!"

"Descend, [Ancient Mechanical Demon God]!"

[Ancient Mechanical Demon God] [8☆/Land]

[Mechanical Race/Fusion/Effect]

[1000/1800]

Chronos's two monsters on the field were fused into a new form, and the target of the effect disappeared, so the exchange of control was out of the question. Unfortunately, the Life Points paid were the cost of activating the effect of [Vampire Red Baron], and were not refunded even if the effect failed to activate. Camilla's 1000 Life Points were essentially wasted.

If you don't pay the base points, you can't defeat the monster on the other side. If you pay the base points but still fail to defeat the monster on the other side, then you've wasted your base points.

Camilla was in a bad mood, but after seeing the attack and defense stats of the [Ancient Mechanical Demon], she paused, then carefully examined its level and attack/defense stats before saying disdainfully, "Although you dodged the effect of [Vampire Red Baron] to avoid having your monster controlled, in the end you only fused together that one monster?"

"Even though it's a level 8☆, let's not even talk about the attack power of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, it should at least have a value of 2000 points, right? If the attack power is only 1000 points, not even 1500 points, then isn't it just a weak monster?"

Camilla's words clearly showed her disdain for the Ancient Mechanical Demon God. She added, "Besides, monsters summoned by Instant Fusion just destroy themselves at the end of the turn, right? They're such useless and boring monsters. Since they're going to be destroyed anyway, I might as well crush them myself, with my invincible Vampires!"

Camilla paused, noticing another card in Chronos's back row, and frowned hesitantly. She had ways to disrupt the back row, but using them would come at a high price. She regretted not using [Tornado] first, but instead using [Hand Elimination].

However, it wouldn't work if Chronos's back row wasn't disrupted. Since he hadn't managed to seize control of the Ancient Mechanical Thermonuclear Dragon, if he were to be interrupted by a face-down card during the kill, all his efforts would be wasted, just like when the effect of the Vampire Red Baron was dodged earlier. One such embarrassing incident is enough.

Although it was a bit of a shame to lose the cards on the field, a card is meaningless if you don't use it when you need to. With that thought, Camilla drew a card from her hand and activated it: "Annoying face-down cards appearing once is enough to annoy me. Spell Card [Great Storm] activated! I'm going to destroy all the cards on the field!"

The howling hurricane instantly engulfed the entire field, first and foremost hitting Camilla's Field Spell Card [Vampire Empire] and Continuous Spell Card [Survival Card]. Both cards were torn apart by the storm in an instant, and the advancing storm shattered Chronos's face-down cards in the back row the next moment.

Camilla, who thought she had everything under control, heard Chronos's voice: "Although you are not my student, let me teach you a little. The Ancient Machine deck I use is a deck that frequently uses self-destruction tactics to trigger various card effects. Nanone."

Upon hearing this, Camilla recalled the [Gear Street] card that she had deliberately destroyed, yet which helped Chronos Special Summon [Ancient Gear Dragon], and raised an eyebrow, saying, "What are you trying to say? Are you suggesting that the card you set up was also an [Ancient Gear] card that could activate its effect when destroyed?"

"That's not it."

Hearing Chronos's words, Camilla subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. She had actually been a little flustered just now, fearing that she had destroyed some dangerous card. Knowing that it wasn't, she was relieved.

However, the next moment, Chronos, whose face-down card was destroyed, drew a card from the back row and revealed it, saying, "However, what I deny is that this destroyed face-down card is not the 'Ancient Machine' card. When this face-down card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, your opponent can activate one of the two effects of 'Cursed Coffin'!"

"One of your monsters is destroyed, or one card from your hand is randomly discarded!"

"Oh, oh dear!" Hearing Chronos's words, Camilla felt she had been mocked, mocked by a small and weak human she looked down upon. She was furious and pointed at Chronos, saying, "You bastard, you said you were using an 'Ancient Machine' deck, but how come you have cards that are clearly in the style of ancient Egypt!"

"Doesn't this just prove that I'm using a 'pure Ancient Gear' deck?" Professor Chronos retorted. He'd been putting cards in his deck that were different from the Ancient Gear style for a long time. If he hadn't had a bad start this time, he would have definitely pulled off a four-for-one trade with Great Storm and Golden Statue of Evil to summon an invincible Ancient Gear Giant. That was his favorite combo, and all the students who had been beaten by it said it was great.

Having lost her cards on the field and now suffering the effects of [Cursed Coffin], Camilla was practically grinding her signature vampire fangs to dust. Reluctant to part with the cards in her hand, she reluctantly chose to destroy her own cards, saying, "I choose to destroy my [Vampire Witch]."

As the curse from the destroyed "Cursed Coffin" ensnared Camilla's "Vampire Witch" on the field, the latter was bound and unable to move, dragged into the graveyard as if to film some inappropriate movies. This also meant that due to her own series of actions, Camilla's field was now left with only two monsters: "Vampire Heiress" and "Vampire Red Baron".

If Camilla is willing to use her Life Points, she can destroy both of Chronos's monsters, Ancient Gear Giant - Ultimate Strike and Ancient Gear Demon. However, without Vampire Domain, her Life Points will dwindle with each use. After this turn, she will probably only have a sliver of Life Points left, and she may be defeated by Chronos's Ancient Gear monster in the next turn.

No way! Being defeated by the very people you despise and hate the most? At least the guy should be someone with decent looks!