"Abyss Soldier, bounce 'Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes' back to the hand again!"
The trident in Abyss Soldier's hand spun as currents surged forth like a high-pressure water jet, lancing toward the Snake King!
Viper's eyes sharpened.
As expected!
"This time I won't let you succeed!" Viper roared. "Activate the set card, the Trap Card 'Offering to the Snake Deity'!"
His facedown flipped up. Flames erupted beneath the Snake King, as if the entire creature had burst into flames!
"Offering to the Snake Deity destroys one Reptile on your field and two cards on the opponent's field!" Viper barked. "Destroy your 'Abyss Soldier' and the Continuous Trap 'Gravity Bind'!"
A powerful Reptile-only trap. The Snake King let out a piercing scream as it burned. Its body seemed to turn into a fireball, split in two, and exploded.
Abyss Soldier and the backrow trap were both struck, turning into fireballs and crumbling to ash in the blaze.
"Heh, a clean solution to that annoying formation," Adrian nodded. "This Viper isn't bad."
He paused, then added:
"But he sacrificed his ace, the Snake King, and now his field is empty. Hard to say he came out ahead."
For Viper, though, this was only the beginning.
"Hehehehe…"
The professor let out a few sinister chuckles.
Then he slowly raised his head.
"It's over."
Adrian: "?"
"This duel ended the moment Offering to the Snake Deity resolved and Vennominon went down. Why? Because at that instant, the preparations for the strongest, most terrifying monster's birth were complete!"
Viper's pupils shrank. His eyes flew wide open as he raised his arm high and let out a thunderous roar.
"Activate! The Trap Card 'Rise of the Sacred Deity'!!"
His last backrow flipped up, and an endless darkness seemed to erupt from it! The Snake King that should have left the field reappeared like a ghost, then was consumed by the darkness, as if something in the abyss was chewing it, digesting it, evolving it into a new form.
"Rise of the Sacred Deity can only be activated when 'Vennominon the King of Poisonous Snakes' on my field is destroyed! Special Summon from hand or Deck its evolution, the final and strongest: the Snake Deity!"
Viper shouted with manic fervor.
At first glance, this card looks the same in the anime and in the TCG/OCG, but if you read carefully, there's a big difference.
In the anime it's "when Vennominon is destroyed," but the real card was changed to "when Vennominon is destroyed by a card effect, not by battle."
In other words, to summon the Snake Deity in the real game, you not only have to summon Vennominon first, you also have to draw this unsearchable Trap, and you must ensure Vennominon is destroyed by a card effect. So even though it has the anime aura and is stylish as hell, in terms of pure consistency you might as well go collect all five pieces of the old Exodia—much simpler and more straightforward…
"The terminus of all venom, the ultimate deity of the end times, who will annihilate all with despair and a curse! Descend—
—Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes!!!"
This was his true ace, his ultimate trump card. Since the day he started dueling—no, since the day this monster descended into the world—it had never suffered a single defeat: the strongest monster!
If Vennominaga has a weakness, it's that its summoning prerequisites are too difficult.
Beyond that, it is invincible.
Just as Viper thought that, the unhurried voice of the Duel King came from across the field.
"Counter Trap: 'Solemn Warning.'
By paying 2000 Life Points, negate the Summon of a monster, or negate and destroy a card whose effect includes a Summon."
Viper: "…"
[Kira, LP 4000 → LP 2000]
"I pay 2000 Life Points to negate and destroy the activation of 'Rise of the Sacred Deity.'"
The Trap's activation seemed to be accompanied by holy light. Within that sacred radiance appeared an old man with white hair and beard, exuding awe-inspiring majesty that one dared not meet directly, as if bathed in sanctity.
He narrowed his eyes, swept his sleeve, and slowly raised his arm, extending his palm to give a silent command.
Do not!
Though silent, it brooked no defiance. The overwhelming pressure shattered even the barrier of Rise of the Sacred Deity in one blow. The Snake King's ghost let out a sharp cry, but was still suppressed by the holy light, twisting like a shadow under the sun until it was gone.
"You wanted to summon 'Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes,' right?" Kira smiled. "The strongest monster of the Venom deck. If we ignore the summon difficulty and look at pure effect, it's top-tier across the entire dueling world—a true god-tier monster.
Well, it would be a problem if it hit the field, so I had to be ready. No offense, Professor."
Viper's facial muscles twitched.
Damn it, he knew all along.
Indeed, Vennominaga was Viper's ultimate ace, worthy of the name.
First, it can't be targeted by card effects, and it's unaffected by any card effects. It's said this was the first monster in the TCG/OCG with such absolute immunity. That alone is enough to be historic.
It also inherits Vennominon's effect: its ATK becomes 500 times the number of Reptiles in your GY. And even if it's destroyed by battle, it can revive by banishing Reptiles from your GY.
Absolute immunity, endless revival, and massive ATK via easy GY stacking—more than enough for Vennominaga to steamroll and stand undefeated.
And even that isn't the end. Its most iconic power is nobler than a god's: it can change the win condition of the duel.
In the real card text, each time Vennominaga inflicts battle damage, you place a Hyper-Venom Counter. When it has three, you win the duel regardless of the normal rules.
It's the same Automatic Win concept as Exodia the Forbidden One.
The anime version is even more oppressive. In the TCG/OCG, you need to inflict battle damage three times to get three counters. In the anime, you don't: you only need to inflict damage once to trigger the effect, and from then on, after three turns pass, the controller wins automatically.
Absolute immunity, undying body, sky-high ATK, and an Automatic Win.
That's why, even with the harsh summoning condition, countless combo junkies keep trying to make it happen. It's a true god-tier behemoth: in its era's real card environment, if it lands, it's basically game over—a nuclear option.
Of course… that's assuming you can actually summon it.
And the process will send your blood pressure through the roof.
Just like Professor Viper right now.