"Battle Phase!" The examiner swung his hand, giving Raku no time to breathe. "Chaos Ancient Gear Giant, attack Eldlich the Golden Lord directly!"
4500 against 3500.
The massive mechanical fist, carrying overwhelming destructive force, smashed toward Eldlich the Golden Lord. The golden king hadn't even finished raising his scepter to block before being shattered under the violent impact. The aftershock slammed heavily into the gothic-clad body.
The Duel Disk emitted a warning buzz.
[Phila, LP: 3000 → 2000]
"Main Phase 2. End turn."
The examiner looked at the girl across from him, who had only taken half a step back, his expression growing more solemn.
It was as if a different soul now inhabited that body… even the usual fragility when taking damage had disappeared.
Raku steadied himself, his slender fingers brushing across the back row of the Duel Disk.
"At the end of your turn, I activate Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine."
A projection of a crimson vial appeared on the field and shattered.
"From my Deck, Special Summon—Eldlich the Golden Lord!"
Golden light gathered once more. The proud Zombie king, like an undying phantom, stood once again in the Monster Zone completely unharmed.
The examiner's pupils contracted.
"You still have follow-up plays?"
This level of oppressive field maintenance made him feel a deep sense of difficulty. As long as he couldn't finish it in a single turn, this opponent would regenerate like weeds.
"After that, my turn. Draw!"
Raku coldly drew a card.
The moment he saw it, the corner of his mouth lifted uncontrollably. Allure of Darkness. Aside from Eldlich, this Deck was filled with DARK Zombie monsters; this card was simply perfect.
"I activate the Spell Card Allure of Darkness: Draw 2 cards. Then, if you have a DARK monster in your hand, banish 1 of them; otherwise, send your entire hand to the Graveyard."
He smoothly drew two cards from the top of the Deck and, without even looking, directly placed one card already in his hand into the banished zone.
"I banish Skull Servant from my hand."
Floating in midair, Phila saw that "family member" being sent to a place even farther than the Graveyard, the other dimension, and subconsciously covered her mouth, a trace of heartache flashing in her eyes.
But this time, she didn't cry out.
Raku's plays continued.
"Next, I activate the second effect of Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine in the Graveyard: Banish this card; Set 1 'Golden Land' Spell/Trap from the Deck."
He drew a card from the automatically shuffled Deck.
"I Set Guardian of the Golden Land."
The examiner stared at the face-down card.
"Afterward, I activate the second effect of Eldlich the Golden Lord in the Graveyard! I send Guardian of the Golden Land on my field to the Graveyard, then return this card to my hand. After that, I can Special Summon a Zombie monster from my hand."
The Trap Card that had just been set instantly turned into light and flew into the Graveyard, while another Eldlich in the Graveyard returned to Raku's hand.
The examiner gritted his teeth as he watched this utterly unreasonable resource cycling.
"You're summoning Eldlich again?!"
"No. The one I'm summoning is this!"
Raku slammed the card he had just drawn with Allure of Darkness onto the Monster Zone.
"Vampire Fraulein!"
A swarm of dark red bats spiraled and gathered on the field. A blonde, red-eyed girl dressed in an elegant outfit, holding a black parasol, descended gracefully.
Floating in midair, Phila nearly spun in excitement at the sight.
Vampire Fraulein! This was the soul card of her Deck! Her favorite "big sister"! This was her card!
On the field, Vampire Fraulein lightly twirled the parasol in her hand, her ruby-like eyes casually sweeping over "her" master.
The spirit's gaze pierced through the body and fixed onto Raku's unfamiliar soul. She tilted her head slightly, clearly noticing something off, but when she sensed the overwhelming, radiant presence of Eldlich beside him, she wisely chose silence, lowering her gaze and standing obediently in her place.
Because she had been summoned through Eldlich's effect, Vampire Fraulein's stats began to rise.
[Vampire Fraulein, ATK: 600 → 1600]
"Next, I activate the first effect of Eldlich the Golden Lord from my hand: Send this card and 1 Spell/Trap from my hand to the Graveyard; target 1 card on the field and send it to the Graveyard."
Raku sent two cards to the Graveyard without hesitation.
"I send Eldlich the Golden Lord and Eldlixir of White Destiny from my hand to the Graveyard. Then I target your Chaos Ancient Gear Giant—send it to the Graveyard! The suppression of its monster effects doesn't apply during the Main Phase."
Golden light wrapped around the towering black giant like chains.
"So you found a way to deal with it?" The examiner watched his prized high-resistance boss monster begin to collapse under non-targeting send-to-Graveyard removal.
Yet his tone didn't quite break. "Nonetheless, this turn, your total damage isn't enough! The Eldlich on your field without its boost is 2500, plus Vampire Fraulein's 1600; that's only 4100 total Attack! You can't finish me! Next turn, you've already lost!"
As long as he survived this turn, he still had cards in hand!
"We'll see about that."
He suddenly looked up. Within Phila's eyes shone absolute confidence.
"Battle Phase! Eldlich the Golden Lord and Vampire Fraulein attack! Total: 4100!"
Golden spikes and dark crimson bats surged forward at the same time.
Boom!!!
A violent shockwave exploded across the arena.
The examiner was forced back several steps by the impact. His red cap fell to the ground as the numbers on his Duel Disk plummeted.
[Examiner, LP: 4500 → 400]
Just a little more! The examiner panted heavily, staring at his opponent.
"Then, Main Phase 2."
Raku's voice was like a tolling death knell, showing no sign of mercy.
"I activate Eldlixir of White Destiny in the Graveyard—banish it to Set Golden Land Forever!"
The first face-down card appeared.
"And I activate the effect of Guardian of the Golden Land in the Graveyard—banish it to Set Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine."
The second face-down card appeared.
Raku looked at the examiner, who was left with only 400 Life Points.
"My turn ends. Come on, examiner."
The examiner picked up his hat from the ground, brushed off the dust, and looked at the two monsters and the two openly threatening face-down cards on the opponent's field. He fell silent.
The air in the arena seemed to freeze. The examiner stared at his remaining 400 Life Points, then at the gothic girl whose gaze was unnervingly sharp.
"My turn—Draw!"
He forcefully drew the card at the top of his Deck… the card that would decide everything.
"I activate the first effect of Ancient Gear Statue from my hand!"
The examiner's movements were still crisp and efficient as the small verdigris statue once again landed on the field. "If your opponent controls more monsters than you do, Special Summon this card from the hand!"
The familiar sequence played out again.
"Next, I Tribute it to activate its second effect! Ignoring its Summoning conditions, I Special Summon the last Ancient Gear Dark Golem from my Deck!"
The heavy mechanical beast descended with a harsh metallic grind. But this was already a desperate final struggle.
"I activate Dark Golem's effect—"
Raku had no intention of letting him finish.
The pale hand, borrowed from Phila's body, suddenly swept forward, pointing straight at the face-down card in the back row.
"Now! I chain my set card—Golden Land Forever!"
A pillar of golden light shot skyward from the Trap Card, and the entire arena was enveloped in a sacred, untouchable authority.
Raku raised his head.
"First effect: If you control 'Eldlich the Golden Lord', when your opponent activates a monster effect or a Spell/Trap, you can Tribute 1 Zombie monster; negate that activation, and if you do, destroy it."
He looked toward the blonde vampire girl holding a parasol on the field. No matter how desperately Phila gestured in midair, Raku's command showed not the slightest hesitation.
"I Tribute Vampire Fraulein. Negate the activation of your Dark Golem's effect—and destroy it!"
Vampire Fraulein dispersed into a swarm of dark red bats, becoming the force that suppressed everything. That power precisely shattered the core indicator that had just lit up on the Dark Golem. The massive gear monster collapsed into fragments with a piercing mechanical crash.
"That was your last Dark Golem, wasn't it?" Raku stated calmly.
The examiner stared at the empty field, his hand frozen midair.
This was an absolute lockdown; no way out.
A three-layered negate like this, a trap suppression that required specific resources, was being used by a rookie who didn't even understand timing earlier as if it were instinct engraved in their very bones.
"Haa…"
The examiner let out a long breath. The tension and seriousness characteristic of a Kaiba Corporation employee finally loosened at this moment. He removed his red cap.
"So it was a three-layered negate… Your Soul Power is the real deal. Even this kind of extreme comeback calculation was flawless."
He gently placed his hand over the Deck on his Duel Disk, covering the back of the cards.
This was the standard surrender gesture in Duel Monsters.
"Duel Academy welcomes you."
Ding.
The electronic sound signaling the end of the duel echoed through the vast arena.
At once, as a powder keg ignited, the spectator stands erupted into cheers that seemed to lift the roof.
"Did I see that right?! Red actually lost!"
"This is huge! Doesn't that Red have the nickname 'Rookie Executioner'?!"
"It's the first time a freshman has beaten Red! And they did it with that acrobatic Zombie deck to take down Chaos Ancient Gear Giant!"
The audience exploded with excitement.
Meanwhile, standing at the center of the field, Raku looked at the "WIN" text appearing before him, his brows slightly furrowing.
Wait…?
Listening to the key phrases in the cheering, Raku realized something.
If this examiner, known as "Red," had never been defeated by a freshman before, then was the nature of this exam fundamentally unwinnable?
Was this not an exam meant to determine victory or defeat, but rather a test of a student's ability to withstand pressure and their will?
In other words, there was no need to win… just showing enough courage or lasting a certain number of turns would be enough to pass?
Raku looked at Phila. This girl had no idea how absurd what they had just accomplished was.
It was the kind of feat that would instantly make them the center of attention in the entire academy.
Raku felt like it might be time for him to step back.
Meanwhile, Phila, floating in midair, was still happily circling her own body.
"We won! I won!"
Seeing that this naive soul no longer carried the fear of escaping reality, the pulling force from the replica Millennium Puzzle on her chest suddenly loosened.
Raku felt the dizziness of his misaligned soul return.
The next moment, Phila felt everything go dark.
When she opened her eyes again, her vision had returned behind the familiar Duel Disk. Before she could even savor the joy of regaining control of her body, she was startled into taking a step back by the crowd surging toward her.
The upperclassmen who had been sitting in the front rows of the audience, wearing uniforms of various colors, were now like sharks smelling blood, vaulting over the railings and rushing forward.
"Miss Phila!" A boy in a purple uniform rushed up to her first, smiling broadly. "A student like you, with such a deep understanding of Fusion and the ability to trade resources to remove boss monsters, belongs in our Fusion Academy!"
"Cut the crap!" A girl in a black uniform shoved him aside. "Didn't you see that Special Summon chain? That's a perfect Xyz setup! No, she belongs in our Xyz Academy! She used Vampires, right? Vampires are a classic Xyz archetype!"
"Hey, don't listen to them! Come to ours, we guarantee you a private dorm room!"
Phila was surrounded by those overly enthusiastic, almost aggressive faces crowding her vision.
The confident aura that Raku had just barely forced out of her body deflated like a punctured balloon.
She clutched the corner of her skirt, her red eyes once again filling with tears.
"I… I…"
...
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