Chapter 1438

"Ancient Gear, is this your deck... No, that's not right."

Reiji Akaba frowned, as if he quickly realized something.

This guy, he probably isn't using a real deck to fight me at all.

Could it be that he thinks I'm not worthy?

The President felt slighted, and a slight dissatisfaction began to grow in his heart. Fujiki You Xuan actually guessed a bit about his psychological change, but he was used to it.

After all, Fujiki You Xuan was someone whose decks were ever-changing; many times, even he couldn't say for sure what deck he was going to play next. The number of times opponents felt he had "just grabbed a random deck" or "looked down on them" was countless; it had already become the norm for him.

It would be perfect if the opponent thought that way, as it could disrupt their mindset a little; if it could affect the opponent's performance, that would be even better.

Of course, Reiji Akaba didn't look like the kind of opponent who would be affected by this level of provocation.

"Next, I activate the Spell Card 'Ancient Gear Catapult' from my hand," Fujiki You Xuan said calmly. "This card can only be activated if there are no monsters on my field, by destroying one face-up card I control."

He pointed to the street that had just appeared, filled with steam and the sound of mechanical gears grinding against each other.

"I destroy 'Geartown'."

The massive steam-filled street had clearly just appeared, but it immediately shattered amidst a rumbling explosion. Buildings collapsed, and metal parts fell along with billowing white smoke, smashing into pieces on the ground.

"After that, I can then Special Summon any 'Ancient Gear' monster from my deck to the field, ignoring its summoning conditions."

Fujiki You Xuan snapped his fingers.

"Special Summon 'Ancient Gear Hunting Hound' from the deck!"

A reptile constructed from metal gears flew onto the field, deep green in color, with a pair of sharp canine teeth, looking ferocious and savage.

【Ancient Gear Hunting Hound, ATK 1000】

"Next is the effect of the 'Geartown' that was just destroyed," Fujiki You Xuan said. "When 'Geartown' is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon one 'Ancient Gear' monster from my hand, Graveyard, or deck."

A golden scanning beam swept across Fujiki You Xuan's deck from top to bottom, quickly locking onto one of the cards, which automatically popped out from the deck with a click.

"Professor Chronos, I'll borrow your power for a moment," Fujiki You Xuan said with a smile, as if talking to himself, and then slapped the monster card down. "Based on this effect, I Special Summon 'Ancient Gear Golem' from the deck!"

The collapsed Geartown let out a roar; the ruins of steel everywhere began to tremble, gears and parts were pushed aside, and a giant hand reached out from the ruins, slapping the ground. It seemed as if the field itself sank a few inches under the weight of that heavy palm.

The steel giant emerged from the ruins, rising with a clatter, standing as if it could prop up the sky and earth.

【Ancient Gear Golem, ATK 3000】

"Oh, Ancient Gear Golem, what a nostalgic monster," Judai said, watching the battle with his hands on his hips, as relaxed as if he were watching a movie. "Seeing it feels just like seeing Professor Chronos."

"And I haven't performed my Normal Summon this turn yet. Let me see..."

Fujiki You Xuan struck a thoughtful pose, seemingly hesitating as he slid his finger back and forth over his remaining hand cards.

"Then first, I'll Set one card to the backrow."

He raised his hand and Set a card.

"Next, I'll summon this. Normal Summon 'Ancient Gear Wyvern'!"

More gears and parts seemed to fly into mid-air out of thin air, aggregating to grow dragon bones and wings, turning into a steel wyvern flapping its wings.

【Ancient Gear Wyvern, ATK 1700】

"When 'Ancient Gear Wyvern' is successfully summoned, I can add one 'Ancient Gear' card from my deck to my hand, other than 'Ancient Gear Wyvern'."

The wyvern let out a roar mixed with metallic sounds; the deck performed a search, and another card emerged from the deck, which Fujiki You Xuan drew into his hand.

"Add 'Ancient Gear Fortress' from the deck to my hand," Fujiki You Xuan tilted his head. "By the way, after the effect of 'Ancient Gear Wyvern' is activated, I cannot Set any cards on the field until the end of the turn."

Reiji Akaba understood, glancing at the Set card in Fujiki You Xuan's backrow: "Is that why you Set a card to the field before summoning?"

"That's exactly it," Fujiki You Xuan said, shaking the Spell he had just searched, and inserted it into his Duel Disk. "Next, I'll activate this card too."

"Continuous Spell Card, 'Ancient Gear Fortress'!"

Fujiki You Xuan directly inserted the Spell Card he had just searched into the backrow slot of his Duel Disk. The Spell card was sucked in, electricity overflowed, and a dark, imposing castle rose from the ground, surrounded by pitch-black clouds and mist.

"While 'Ancient Gear Fortress' is on the field, my 'Ancient Gear' monsters cannot be targeted by the opponent's card effects during the turn they are summoned or Special Summoned, nor can they be destroyed by the opponent's card effects."

Fujiki You Xuan said easily.

"Additionally, the opponent cannot activate any Spell, Trap, or monster effects in response to the activation of any card effects that include 'Ancient Gear' in their name."

Reiji Akaba pushed up his glasses: "So you're making it so that none of your Ancient Gear cards can be countered?"

This meant that the activation of any of Fujiki You Xuan's effects could not be negated, and the opponent couldn't even follow up with a chain.

"Next, I activate the effect of 'Ancient Gear Hunting Hound'," Fujiki You Xuan said. "Once per turn, during my Main Phase, I can use monsters from my hand or field as Fusion Materials to perform a Fusion Summon for an 'Ancient Gear' Fusion Monster."

Fujiki You Xuan picked up the two Ancient Gear monsters from his Duel Disk and sent them both to the Graveyard.

"I use 'Ancient Gear Wyvern' and 'Ancient Gear Hunting Hound' on my field as Fusion Materials, Fusion Summon!"

"So you're going to use Fusion to attack immediately, as expected," Reiji Akaba said faintly.

After all, Ancient Gear was the most common mass-produced deck in the Academy Army, and Reiji Akaba had fought it countless times. He knew that Fusion Summoning was the core combat style of this deck.

Reiji Akaba narrowed his eyes.

To actually choose to fight with a deck he was familiar with—no matter how strong the opponent was, he would probably have to pay the price for this arrogance...

"The Fusion condition is two 'Ancient Gear' monsters," Fujiki You Xuan said. "Fusion Summon! 'Ancient Gear Howitzer'!!!"

Reiji Akaba:

"?"

What on earth did he just fuse?

The President's composure vanished instantly. He had to admit, despite having fought Ancient Gear so many times, this was the first time he had seen this Fusion Monster.

【Ancient Gear Howitzer, DEF 1800】

And looking at this strange-looking, eerie mechanical Howitzer, with three cannon barrels mounted on each hand like fingers, he suddenly had a very bad feeling.

A premonition that the Ancient Gear of today... might be different from any he had fought in the past.