"Alien Insect?"
The two professors looked at each other, and saw confusion in each other's eyes.
Chronos: Are you familiar with this thing?
Napoleon: I don't know, what happened to the professor's basic knowledge you just mentioned?
It's not entirely their fault for lacking knowledge, but the Alien Insect card deck is overall quite rare. Although occasionally a few Alien Insect cards might appear in the meta, generally, they are only used by duelists for their individual card quality, and it's rare to see a complete deck assembled.
Not to mention "Alien Insect Zero," the card with the highest rarity. Yugen wouldn't have seen it if not for obtaining it from a friend in New Doma.
But no matter what, a twenty-five fusion at the start is a bit intimidating. Even if they don't recognize Alien Insect Zero, they know anything fused from twenty-five monsters must be formidable.
"Well, but in battle royale mode, no one can attack in the first round," Yugen said, "So I'll set two cards face-down, end my turn."
Chronos and Napoleon exchanged a glance and nodded.
"Now it's my turn, Nonne!"
Chronos declared loudly.
"Draw!"
Napoleon reminded from the side, "Focus, Professor Chronos! Today isn't the day for our internal strife, we need to work together, that's the only way out!"
"Annoying, I know!"
Chronos glanced at Yugen's magic in the backfield.
Anyway, the thing summoned by Future Fusion needs to appear two rounds later. And now in battle royale mode, their side has two rounds for Yugen's side to pass one round.
In other words, by two rounds later, Yugen's preparation phase is already a long time away.
Probably not a concern for now.
First, focus on breaking through the opponent's defense, strive to end the battle before that terrifying thing from twenty-five fusions arrives.
"Battle, Nonne!" Chronos shouted, "Ancient Mechanical Giant, attack 'Zex Alien Insect'!"
Yugen: "Activate face-down card..."
"Not yet, Nonne!" Chronos gloated, "When Ancient Mechanical Giant attacks, the opponent cannot activate any magic or trap cards!"
"Of course I know that."
Yugen smiled.
"But professor, I never said I'm going to activate a trap against Ancient Mechanical Giant's attack. I'm triggering the trap at the point you declared 'battle,' entering the battle phase."
Chronos: "!"
Indeed, although Ancient Mechanical Giant cannot activate traps during the attack, this is only limited to after the attack declaration and before the damage calculation step ends. During the declaration to enter the battle phase, there's no restriction on free-point traps.
"Therefore, I activate face-down card, Trap Card 'W Nebula Meteorite'!"
As Yugen's trap flipped, everyone felt as if dark clouds suddenly gathered in the clear sky. The pitch-black clouds loomed over the earth, with lightning and thunder swirling within.
Then within the vortex, a large dark object appeared, like a harbinger of the apocalypse, dragging a long blazing tail, and ruptured the dark clouds.
The moment the meteorite hit the ground, it exploded, the terrifying shock wave raising layers of air waves, dust, and rubble shooting into the sky, forming an exaggerated mushroom cloud.
"Mamma Mia!" Chronos shouted, "Dinosaur extinction, Nonne!"
"Hahaha, not that dramatic." Yugen laughed, "But the landing impact of the W Nebula Meteorite forces all face-down covered monsters on the field to flip to face-up defense position."
And at present, we have only one monster in face-down covered position on the field..."
He pointed to the covered Alien Insect on the field.
"Then let's flip 'Sub-Akang Alien Insect' over."
[Sub-Akang Alien Insect, Defense Power 1800]
"Sub-Akang Alien Insect's effect, when this card is flipped, choose one face-up monster on the opponent's side of the field to return to the owner's hand."
Yugen smiled.
"Return 'Ancient Mechanical Giant' to the hand.
Traps activated before the attack declaration, even Ancient Mechanical Giant is powerless.
Indeed, even the mighty Ancient Mechanical is powerless against such free-point traps from the Underworld. The giant let out a reluctant growl, then transformed into golden light, shooting back into Chronos' hand.
"How could you mess this up, Chronos!" Napoleon expressed dissatisfaction with his teammate's failure, "Didn't you always brag about Ancient Mechanical being specialized against traps?"
Chronos blushed, angrily replied, "Shut up!"
He gritted his teeth, muttering softly.
"Damn Instructor Napoleon only knows how to say sarcastic remarks..."
But luckily, he hasn't performed a normal summon this turn.
"Then I'll defense position summon 'Ancient Mechanical Soldiers,' end my turn."
An ancient soldier assembled from mechanical parts appeared on the field, its left hand with metal fingers, while its right hand transformed into a machine gun, crouching in a defensive stance on the field.
[Ancient Mechanical Soldiers, Defense Power 1300]
Avoided a complete miss. After all, the duel doesn't allow sharing fields with teammates.
Moreover, Chronos and Instructor Napoleon have been fighting openly and secretly for so long, knowing this person cannot be seen as a complete teammate. The duel seems like a test match for both of them, their interests seemingly aligned, but Chronos is not naive enough to trust the other entirely.
If one of them loses during the duel, and the other wins, what would the assessment result be? Does the one with leftover Life Points get through?
If he exhausts resources for Instructor Napoleon to win, isn't that making clothes for the enemy?
Rather than letting the other succeed while he stays behind, Chronos prefers them both failing together. He believed Napoleon thought the same.
So the two appeared as teammates but actually had their own calculations.
"Then the end phase." Yugen said, "Following the effect of W Nebula Meteorite."
Both instructors felt tense.
There's a follow-up effect?
"W Nebula Meteorite, during the end phase, turn all face-up Light Attribute, Reptile Race monsters on the field back to face-down defense position, and you can draw cards from the deck equal to that number."
Yugen pointed to the two Alien Insects on his field.
"Turn 'Sub-Akang Alien Insect' and 'Zex Alien Insect' back to face-down defense position." Yugen said, "And I draw two cards from my deck."
Chronos and Napoleon exchanged glances, seeing concern in each other's eyes.
Sub-Akang Alien Insect can bounce any monster back to the hand when flipped, making it a cunning monster with a devious effect. Flipping it back over felt like setting a ticking time bomb for them.
But that's not all.
"In addition, I can also special summon from the deck a seven-star or higher Light Attribute, Reptile Race monster."
Yugen continued calmly, revealing a card in his hand.
"Special summon this card from the deck—
—Victory Alien Insect, descent!"