Chapter 35: Feeling It Coming!

Although this man in purple seemed less evil than he sounded, Wan Wan Zhangmu had not forgotten that this man was the one who had defeated "You Cheng Shi Dai," the very person he must overthrow.

So, after focusing his attention on the duel and no longer being distracted by external factors, he immediately covered two cards on his spell and trap zone: "Cover two cards, end turn."

"Then, my turn—" Tiancheng Guang swiftly drew a card and immediately revealed a spell card from his hand: "Activate Normal Spell, Simple Fusion!"

Fusion already this fast!?

Wan Wan Zhangmu's heart jolted.

"Pay 1000 Life Points. I can Special Summon one Fusion Monster of Level 5 or lower from my Extra Deck as a Fusion Summon. Monsters Special Summoned by this effect cannot attack, and are destroyed at the End Phase."

Tiancheng Guang LP: 4000 → 3000

"Fusion Summon—come forth, Thousand-Eyed Sacrificial God!"

A demonic god covered entirely in eyes flew out from the card; merely glancing at it caused discomfort and nausea.

"Thousand-Eyed Sacrificial God?" Wan Wan Zhangmu stared at the card for a moment, then without hesitation, swiftly activated his face-down card: "Wait—I activate a trap card when you Special Summon—"

"Explosive Dragon Breath!"

Under the gaze of all examinees and teachers, the wind-attributed armored dragon took a deep breath, then unleashed a furious torrent of flame.

"This card's effect: Tribute one Dragon-type monster on the field. Destroy all monsters on the field with Defense lower than the Tribute's Attack."

"Armored Dragon's Attack is 1900; Thousand-Eyed Sacrificial God's Defense is naturally 0—so destroy it!"

The emerald dragon's breath tore through violently, reducing the demon god to dust, and as if spent, it slowly dissolved into glowing particles and vanished from the field.

"Huh? Why did Wan Wan Zhangmu use this trap card?" Wang Teng Xiang, watching the duel from the crowd—his rank so low he had nothing else to do—asked aloud, "The Thousand-Eyed Sacrificial God can't attack anyway; let it get devoured, why not?"

"No. That won't do." Someone interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh!? San Ze, you're here?"

"I've been here the whole time!" San Ze Sanze Dadi's temple veins bulged, "A Guang claims he's fighting me for top of the grade—I have to watch."

"Then why did you say that just now? Couldn't you have saved a card by not using Explosive Dragon Breath?"

"No, you're thinking too simply." San Ze Sanze Dadi shook his head, "You know this, and A Guang knows it too. Simple Fusion is a powerful card with drawbacks—he, as a Fusion Duelist, understands it far better than you or I."

"So naturally, he'd find a way to avoid this situation."

"Hah, like Flame Sword Domain!" Shi Dai interjected, "I've seen him use this combo before."

"Oh—" Xiang finally understood.

"But Wan Wan Zhangmu doesn't even know who Tiancheng is…" San Ze Sanze Dadi crossed his arms, thinking aloud, "Does he even know what cards are in A Guang's deck? To make this decision now? No wonder he's Hai Ma's disciple."

"It's instinct, pure instinct!" Shi Dai laughed, "Duelist instinct! No wonder it's Wan Wan Zhangmu!"

Yes.

Wan Wan Zhangmu's move just now came entirely from "instinct." He recognized Thousand-Eyed Sacrificial God and knew its effect, but purely logically, there was no need to do this—he still chose to destroy it because his instinct told him, if he didn't, it would be even more dangerous!

Tiancheng looked at his hand and sighed.

"Then, I activate Continuous Spell, Future Fusion." Tiancheng Guang tapped his chin and covered another card: "Cover one more card, and that ends it."

"Then, I activate my face-down card at the end of your turn—Quick-Play Spell, Armed Dragon's Thunderbolt! Special Summon one 【Armed Dragon LV3】 from my deck!"

"Go, Armed Dragon!"

"Gah!" At Wan Wan Zhangmu's call, a small flying dragon emerged from deep within his deck.

"Next, my turn—draw. At this moment, activate Armed Dragon LV3's effect: During my Preparation Phase, I can send this card to the graveyard to Special Summon one Armed Dragon LV5 from my hand or deck!"

"Evolve, my great dragon!"

"Aaaoo!!!" The cute little dragon clenched its fists and roared at Tiancheng, its voice growing from childish to mature, its body swelling stronger.

Armed Dragon LV5, Level 5, Wind Attribute, Dragon Type, Attack 2400.

"Normal Summon, Masked Dragon!"

Masked Dragon, Level 3, Fire Attribute, Dragon Type, Attack 1400.

"That ends it—Armed Dragon attacks directly—"

Tiancheng Guang LP: 3000 → 600

"Next, Masked Dragon attacks directly!" Wan Wan Zhangmu felt a surge of excitement—if this attack landed, he would win—

"Too naive. I activate my face-down card—Quick-Play Spell, Scapegoat!"

"!!"

The classic quartet of red, blue, yellow, and pink lonely rock goats—seeing these four sheep, Wan Wan Zhangmu's mind, just filled with triumph and the thought of having beaten Shi Dai, snapped back to reality, then cooled like ice water poured over him.

Each sheep equals a shield with 0 Attack and 0 Defense!

"Scapegoat…?" Wan Wan Zhangmu grew even tenser seeing the four Youyou standing on the field: "You could've used Scapegoat from the start to reduce damage—but you didn't."

"You knew about Armed Dragon's effect—you didn't want it to evolve, right?"

Tiancheng Guang nodded, looked upward, and bluffed: "Earlier, a student from Northern Academy used Armed Dragon. Though he didn't perform well, I looked up Armed Dragon's effect afterward. So I know—Armed Dragon LV5 can evolve into LV7 after destroying a monster in battle, right?"

"Hmm…"

"No wonder it's A Guang." San Ze Sanze Dadi couldn't help but exclaim, "Even I didn't know about Armed Dragon LV5 before…"

"Knowing your enemy is part of Fusion!"

"Big bro, you just said that so coolly." Wang Teng Xiang was surprised, turning to admire Shi Dai—he never expected Shi Dai to say something so cool and seemingly logical.

"Hahaha~" Shi Dai scratched the back of his head and laughed, "A Guang said that back in the Dimensional World!"

"... Yeah, I guess so." Wang Teng Xiang awkwardly turned back to the duel.

In short, since he couldn't instantly kill Tiancheng Guang, Wan Wan Zhangmu could only use Masked Dragon to destroy one pink sheep.

"Just in case—I cover one card, end turn!"

No wonder he defeated Shi Dai—this duelist was not to be underestimated.

Knowing your enemy, huh?

He had heard Shi Dai and the others talking, but he had no interest in conversing during a duel, nor in accepting outside advice mid-battle.

Yet…

He recalled his previous "training" and felt sweat break out.

He trained with the company's AI for a month—but that AI only used Hero decks—

"My turn." Tiancheng Guang drew a card. "I activate this effect during my Preparation Phase. According to Future Fusion's effect, during the first of my Preparation Phases after this card's activation, I show both players one Fusion Monster; the materials for that monster are sent from my deck to the graveyard."

Tiancheng Guang revealed "Elemental Hero Flame Wingman."

The next moment, Wan Wan Zhangmu stiffened!

Eh? Eh? Yeah, yeah, it's coming! It's coming!

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(End of Chapter)