After lunch came the afternoon entrance placement exam duel.
"Hey~, did you guys hear?"
"Huh? Hear what?"
"This morning's written test—there was a male candidate who finished his exam in just half an hour! And that's not all, I also heard that right after finishing, he immediately handed his test to the proctor."
"?!"
Upon hearing that, everyone was shocked. Although finishing early was surprising in itself, the way it was described made it even more unbelievable—the male candidate had not only completed the test early but had also successfully handed it in and walked out of the exam room without any issue.
In previous exams, no one had ever heard of a student being allowed to turn in their test early and leave the room. Not even that third-year student from the Obelisk Blue Dorm—the top duelist of this Duel Academy—had ever done something like that!
"Who... who are you talking about?"
"You see him over there? The one using a 'HERO' Deck? The guy with the dark red hair."
Following the direction of the finger-pointing, they saw a boy in casual clothes, with smooth dark red hair mostly hidden under a crimson baseball cap. He was currently dueling a teacher using his "HERO" deck.
"Student Number 0— Judai Yuki, beginning the entrance placement test duel!"
"?!"
Hearing the boy announce his name, the surrounding students who had come to watch the duel were all visibly shocked. "Judai Yuki…" That name—other than that man, there shouldn't be a second person in the world with it!
If the characters in his name were the same as the ones they all knew… then what kind of relationship could this boy have with that man? It was truly something to be curious about.
"Duel!"
Judai Yuki: 4000 LP
Opponent Teacher: 4000 LP
"I go first? Draw!"
Seeing the duel disk grant him the first turn, Yuki drew a card from his deck. After glancing at the six cards in his starting hand, he instantly had a plan.
"I set one monster face-down in Defense Position, then set one Spell or Trap. Turn end."
One card face-down horizontally, one card face-down vertically—two set cards in front and back. It was a very standard opening move for going first.
Although it looked ordinary, it was still highly intimidating—after all, with two set cards and none revealed, you had no idea what kind of deck your opponent was using or what strategy they were planning!
"My turn, draw!"
It was now the teacher's turn. After drawing a card, he glanced at it before beginning to implement the strategy he had already conceived in his mind:
"I Normal Summon 'Marauding Captain' in Attack Position from my hand! Then, using the Captain's effect, I Special Summon another 'Marauding Captain' from my hand!"
One wielded a sword three fingers wide, and the other held a blade as broad as a whole palm. These two silver swords were brandished by a leader who commanded human soldiers in the frontline wars against goblins and other races—this was the "Marauding Captain"!
'Two Captains to create an attack lock, huh…'
As a captain, not only could he call forth an ally from your hand upon being summoned, but he also had the fearless ability to attract all enemy aggression to himself! The opponent could not attack any of your other Warrior-type monsters unless they first defeated him.
And when two identical Captains are face-up on the field at the same time, they form a "perpetual lock combo" that prevents the opponent from launching attacks!
"Next, I activate the Continuous Spell Card 'United We Stand'! The more Warrior or Spellcaster-type monsters I have on the field, the more power my Warrior-type monsters will gain permanently!"
With two Captains on the field, United We Stand boosts their power by 2 × 200 = 400 ATK. A decent boost, though unfortunately, the base ATK of the Captains wasn't particularly high.
(Marauding Captain ×2, Level 3, ATK: 1200 → 1600, DEF: 400)
"Battle! Marauding Captain, attack Yuki's face-down monster!"
Even though the face-down monster's stats were unknown, with the Captain's 1600 ATK, at most, it would cost him a few hundred Life Points—not something a teacher would be concerned about.
As the Captain charged forward under the teacher's command, the face-down monster on Yuki's field finally flipped over and revealed its true form—
Standing over two meters tall, its body was mainly made of dark gray stone, with beige feet and shoulders. Just standing there, it looked like a wall! But oddly enough, this massive figure had a small, round redhead that seemed comically out of proportion.
One of the "Fantastic Four" of the Elemental HERO series, boasting a solid 2000 defense—Elemental HERO Clayman.
Clayman now flipped face-up, took one look at the oncoming Captain and did nothing but cross his arms and crouch slightly, waiting for the enemy's blade to strike and bounce back.
(Teacher: 4000 LP → 3600 LP)
"Using an Elemental HERO deck, huh…"
Elemental HERO—nothing particularly rare about that deck. And Clayman, one of the so-called "Fantastic Four," or more bluntly put, "Four Useless Heroes," only had his 2000 DEF as a useful trait.
Although he took 400 points of damage from the counter attack, it didn't matter—now that he knew what kind of deck his opponent was using, he could adjust his strategy accordingly.
"The other Captain, attack Clayman!"
"Nani?!"
The surrounding students watching the duel were all stunned by the teacher's second attack declaration. Sure, Clayman might be one of the so-called "Four Useless Heroes," but that solid 2000 DEF wasn't something you could just break through easily. The teacher had just taken 400 points of counter damage—and now he was doing it again?!
Unless… did the teacher have some kind of countermeasure in his hand?
As a proper warrior, a Captain would only follow his master's orders. So without hesitation, the second Marauding Captain charged forward toward Clayman, sword in hand.
"At this moment, I activate the Quick-Play Spell 'Enemy Controller' from my hand! I switch Clayman from Defense Position to Attack Position!"
A giant game controller materialized on the teacher's field. Gray and black data cables extended toward Yuki's side, and without waiting for consent, one of the plugs forcibly connected to Clayman's body. After inputting the correct command—"←→AB"—Clayman was forced to shift from defense to attack.
The nearly impenetrable 2000 DEF was now replaced with a measly 800 ATK that would shatter on contact! As long as this attack is resolved, Yu Ye would take damage equal to Clayman's full ATK.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Yuki looked as if he were frozen—he didn't react at all, simply watching in silence as his Clayman collided with the charging Captain.
"BOOM!"
A huge explosion echoed through the entire arena. The projection's smoke completely obscured that section of the duel field.
Even though it wasn't visible for the moment, everyone could guess what had happened—Clayman had been destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, and that boy named Judai Yuki had just taken 800 points of damage.
As time passed, the smoke gradually cleared, and as visibility improved bit by bit, the expressions of the onlookers also shifted—from calm to astonished.
The teacher's Marauding Captain, and Yuki's Clayman—both had vanished from the field! And that wasn't all—even Yuki's only face-down back-row card had disappeared as well.
"That's not all! Look at the teacher's Life Point projection—it's dropped from 3600 to 2800!"
A voice rang out from somewhere in the crowd. Instantly, all eyes turned toward the teacher's side of the Life Point display, and sure enough, just as the voice had said—not only had the monsters disappeared, but the teacher had lost another 800 Life Points!
"Heroes are not some so-called 'useless cards'!"
At that moment, Yuki's voice rang out, drawing everyone's attention back to him. He reached toward the Spell/Trap Card zone of his Duel Disk, retrieving the only set card he had placed, and flipped it face-up for everyone to see as he declared:
"Clayman's exclusive Trap Card— Clay Charge !"