"Special Summon—VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!"
As Manjōme burst into laughter, Yuya Sakaki remained calm, while the surrounding students stared in shock. The Fusion Monster "VW-Tiger Catapult" and the fully transformed "Commander Cannon," treated as "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" by the effect of "Fusion Tag," flew into the air and disassembled midair!
V-Tiger Jet: I'll form the head and shoulders!
W-Wing Catapult: I'll form the torso and legs!
X—Commander Cannon: I—I'll make up the main firepower weapons!
Y-Dragon Head: I won't be like that dumb big guy next door who can't fly after combining! (It also forms the hip!)
Z-Metal Tank: I'll provide the final arms!
Thus emerged a union monster inspired by transformable mecha like those in Gundam and Transformers—VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!
(VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon, Level 8, ATK: 3000, DEF: 2800)
"Dragon Catapult Cannon's effect activates! Once per turn, I can banish a card on your field from the game!"
As he spoke, Manjōme pointed to the set card near Yuya's right foot. The Dragon Catapult Cannon flapped its red mechanical wings, generating a powerful gust like a beast's wings, blowing away Yuya's set card.
"Trap Card Clay Charge… Hah, that's a pretty good card!"
The moment Clay Charge was banished, Manjōme's sharp eyes caught its identity. Having watched Yuya's entrance duel before, he immediately realized the purpose behind Yuya's earlier moves and burst out laughing.
"Clay Charge—a trap card exclusive to Clayman! When Clayman is targeted for an attack, it destroys both itself and the attacking monster and deals 800 damage to the opponent…"
"No wonder this guy first set Clayman and then used Destiny Journey to protect it afterward! He was setting a trap for when Manjōme brought out this hard-to-summon, high-ATK boss monster, hoping to take it down with minimal cost!"
The data analyst, Daichi Misawa, crossed his arms and explained the situation to the nearby students, clearly outlining Yuya's two-turn strategy.
'This guy's luck is pretty damn good, managing to choose Clay Charge, a card that's extremely unfriendly to hard-to-summon boss monsters.'
Thinking that, Yuya glanced at the other set card near his left foot—Dimensional Gate, a Continuous Trap.
During his last turn, he had flip-summoned Clayman to meet the activation condition of Dimensional Gate—having a face-up monster on his field.
Now that Clay Charge had been banished, Clayman no longer needed to sacrifice himself.
"Entering the Battle Phase!"
As Manjōme declared his move into the Battle Phase, Yuya raised his hand and triggered his second plan:
"I activate the Continuous Trap Dimensional Gate, targeting my Clayman! Banish it from the field!"
A dimensional rift opened. Before the Dragon Catapult Cannon could aim its weapons, Clayman leaped into the portal and vanished from the field in an instant.
"You banished your monster?! Then eat this direct hit from the Dragon Catapult Cannon's 3000 ATK—equal to that of Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Take this!"
"Dragon Catapult Cannon—direct attack! Final Siege Cannon!"
The double black cannons on its chest (transformed from Commander Cannon) fired up, and the red mechanical dragon head at its hip raised and opened its jaws. Red and blue twin beams shot out from the three cannons, blasting straight toward Yuya!
BOOM!
The deafening explosion rocked the entire gymnasium. As the smoke cleared, Yuya stood tall and firm in place—completely unscathed in posture.
(Yuya Sakaki: 4000 LP → 1000 LP)
"You didn't think that was the end of my attack, did you?"
Seeing that Yuya appeared completely unfazed, Manjōme briefly frowned—but quickly relaxed, the corners of his mouth curling into a smug grin.
"The attack isn't over?... VWXYZ series… masaka!"
Among the students watching, a few immediately realized what Manjōme meant. If their guess was right, the card he had set during his last turn could help him achieve an OTK—a One Turn Kill!
"I activate the Trap Card 'Return from the Different Dimension'! By paying half of my Life Points, I can Special Summon as many of my banished monsters as possible!"
(Manjōme: 4000 LP → 2000 LP)
He instantly sacrificed 2000 LP, but to Manjōme, it was well worth it! The VWXYZ series had a unique trait—summoning their powerful fusion form required banishing the specific fusion materials from the field. In turn, this allowed him to maximize the power of the limited-use Trap Card Return from the Different Dimension!
"Sore wa… dō kana?"
("But are you so sure about that?")
"Nani?!"
("What?!")
That sudden phrase cut through Manjōme's joy of setting up an OTK and caught the attention of all the surrounding students. Their faces lit up with anticipation, eager to see whether this mysterious Yuya had some way to turn the tide.
"By also paying half of my Life Points, I activate the Counter Trap from my hand—Red Reboot!"
(Yuya: 1000 LP → 500 LP)
As the card projection appeared before Yuya—its magenta border and arrow icon in the top right corner marking it as a Counter Trap—the entire crowd went wild.
"A Trap Card activated from the hand without being set on the field first?!"
"Not just that—it's one of the strongest types of effect cards in Duel Monsters—Counter Traps!"
"Who the heck is this guy?! Owning such a god-tier card?! At this point, I'd believe it if someone said he was dueling with cheat codes!"
"..."
Amid the crowd's shocked reactions, a faint smirk crept across Yuya's lips from beneath the brim of his cap. This was one of the privileges—one of the advantages—that came with his identity.
"The opponent's Trap Card is negated and returned face-down to their Spell & Trap Zone! After that, they may choose one Trap Card from their Deck to Set, but until the end of this turn, they cannot activate any Trap Cards!"
Unlike most Counter Traps, this one didn't destroy or send the card to the Graveyard after negation—it flipped it back face-down instead. Its only downside was that it allowed the opponent to Set a Trap Card of their choice from their Deck.
Even so, that slight drawback didn't outweigh the sheer power of this card—and its greatest strength: it could be activated straight from the hand by paying half your Life Points, without needing to set it first!
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