The Legendary Dragon and the Dark Magician both vanished into the air, with a pillar of light crashing down like a waterfall from the sky. A massive black steed emerged, its dark mane flowing with dark magic power.
A cavalryman clad in black armor mounted the horse, his armor heavy and swirling with dark energy. He held a crimson spiral lance, the tip sweeping out a transparent black whirlwind.
The steed's four legs were strong and muscular, with silver glinting from the metal horseshoes affixed to its hooves. It carried the majestic cavalryman out of the magic array, the black array like a portal dividing worlds; the unrivaled cavalryman came from another dimension and broke through the boundary with his lance.
Dark Cavalry, summon!
[Dark Cavalry, Attack Power 2800]
"The attack power of the Dark Cavalry increases by 100 points for each Magic Trap Card present on both sides' fields and graveyards."
Golden flashes flickered from both Youyu and Cronos's graveyards, each Magic Card briefly streaked past, adding strength to the cavalryman. Invisible energy rippled over the crimson spiral lance as if it had acquired an energy field.
The total count of Magic Trap Cards on both fields and in the graveyards was 16, so the Dark Cavalry's attack power increased by 1600.
[Dark Cavalry, Attack Power 2800 → Attack Power 4400]
"Activate the Magic Card 'Diffusion Wave-Motion' from my hand!" Youyu continued, "Pay 1000 Life Points; one level seven or higher Spellcaster-Type Monster on my side must attack all of the opponent's monsters on the field once this turn!"
[Youyu, LP 2900 → LP 1900]
"Mama mia!" Cronos lost his composure again, "Doesn't that mean all of my Ancient Gear Golems have to..."
"And with the increase in Magic Card quantity, the cavalryman's attack power continues to rise."
[Dark Cavalry, Attack Power 4500]
"Oh." Principal Samejima stroked his chin, "Attack power of 4500; attacking all three Ancient Gear Golems... it seems the outcome is decided."
"Battle!" Youyu raised his hand, "Dark Cavalry, attack the Ancient Gear Golem! Triple strike!"
The sound of hooves shook the earth as the black steed galloped forward. The cavalryman's spiral lance thrust forth, an attack imbued with surging Black Magic!
A ferocious thrust, like black lightning. The iron shell of the Mechanical Golem was pierced through like paper, and the dragon-like lance shattered its internal mechanisms into pieces. Black magic exploded repeatedly within the massive machine, causing its towering form to collapse shakily.
"Activate the set card! Trap 'Impenetrable Attack' Norne!" Cronos hurriedly flipped open the set card, his most formidable defense before him.
"This turn, all battle damage my side receives becomes 0!"
The Giant crumbled into a chaotic heap of gears and parts, collapsing toward Cronos, but all impact was blocked by the protective shield released by the trap.
"However, according to 'Diffusion Wave-Motion's effect, the cavalryman still has two more attacks," said Youyu.
Continuous thrusts, the spiral lance pierced relentlessly. All three Ancient Gear Golems were successively penetrated by the domineering lance energy, each exploding into fragments, their steam engines blowing apart under the pressure.
Of course, due to the protection of 'Impenetrable Attack,' substantial damage wasn't inflicted.
"Then the turn ends."
Cronos let out a breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
"It was a close call, Norne... "
"Summoning three Ancient Gear Golems in one turn, and then having them all wiped out in a single turn," Principal Samejima nodded slightly, "What an extraordinary duel.
However, can Teacher Cronos still find a way to counterattack under these circumstances?"
The attack power of Dark Cavalry is now 4500, and it keeps increasing with the usage of both sides' Magic Traps.
Additionally, it possesses the effect of piercing defense and has strong resistance against Magic, Trap, and Monster Effects.
This level of Monster is already a Big Brother in the current Duel World's environment; most Duelists facing such a Monster would almost immediately surrender.
But Cronos did not.
"My turn, draw a card!"
The card drawn didn't seem to particularly satisfy Cronos. The teacher looked at a card set at his feet and bit his lip.
"I'll have to bet on this, Norne... I'll open the set card! Trap Card 'Sixth Sense'!"
Youyu raised an eyebrow.
"Sixth Sense is a card where you declare two numbers between 1 and 6, then the opponent rolls a die," Cronos explained. "If the number rolled matches any of the declared numbers, you draw that many cards.
If neither number is guessed, then according to the die roll, send the corresponding number of cards from the top of your deck to the graveyard!"
"Oh, leaving it to luck?" Principal Samejima looked expectant.
"My declared numbers... will be 2 and 5."
As Cronos spoke, a die rolled over to Youyu's feet.
Youyu: "..."
For some reason, just seeing the die made his head hurt...
Youyu silently rolled the die.
The small cube tumbled on the ground for several turns before settling down... the number facing up was a big "5."
"Hit!" Cronos was thrilled, almost jumping in place, "So according to 'Sixth Sense,' I can draw five cards, Norne!"
Youyu thought to himself, don't get too excited; you actually lost out. You should have boldly guessed 6; I guarantee I would have rolled a 6...
An invigorated Cronos, with cards to play, perked up: "Magic Card - Pot of Greed, draw two more cards from the deck. Next, activate the Magic Card 'Ancient Gear Scrap Fusion' from the hand! When all Fusion Materials for 'Ancient Gear' Fusion Monster exist in the graveyard, it can be activated!
You can negate the effect of that Fusion Monster and Special Summon it!" (Anime Card)
Somewhat like a miracle fusion version for Ancient Gear, but the fusion monster's effect is negated, and it only requires fusion materials to exist in the graveyard instead of being removed from play.
"Currently, three 'Ancient Gear Golems' exist in my graveyard!" Cronos raised his arm, "So I'll fuse all three and summon!
Appear, the strongest overlord of the dark medieval era — Ancient Gear Ultimate Golem!!!"
The earth roared, as a gigantic new entity emerged from the shattered ruins. Gears adorned its entire body, tightly interlocked and meshed together. Countless parts assembled, the steel giant was laden with ancient gun bullets and heavy cannons, resembling a mobile arsenal fortress.
Ancient Gear Ultimate Golem, summon!
[Ancient Gear Ultimate Golem, Attack Power 4400]