Chapter 37
"Go! VW-Tiger Catapult -- crush that worthless monster with its pitiful 800 ATK!"
Chazz thrust his Duel Disk arm forward, finger leveled straight at the clay figure standing on Jaden's field.
Missiles screamed from the Tiger Catapult's mechanical frame, trailing coils of smoke as they tore across the field and slammed directly into the gray humanoid shape.
"Aagh!" Elemental HERO Clayman let out a dull cry and erupted into a burst of flame, gone in an instant.
The shockwave and smoke rolled over Jaden, who winced and threw an arm up against the blast.
His LP ticked steadily downward, from a full 4000 all the way to 2800.
"I set one card. Turn end."
Chazz smirked.
"Not exactly a great spot to be in," Jaden muttered, his expression hardening as he placed his hand over his deck.
"But I'm still planning on dueling Rowan after this. There's no way I'm losing here."
"My turn -- draw!"
He glanced at the card, then called out, "I Summon Elemental HERO Burstinatrix in Defense Position!"
A soft glow washed across the field, and a crimson-haired female monster appeared in a low, guarded crouch, arms crossed in front of her chest.
Elemental HERO Burstinatrix Level 3 / FIRE ATK 1200 / DEF 800
"A female monster spirit, huh..." Rowan muttered under his breath, clicking his tongue faintly.
Honestly, it stung a little.
The two decks he had borrowed from the system on a temporary basis were brutal in every sense of the word, and that brutality apparently extended to the roster.
Forget someone like Dark Magician Girl or the maiden tied to the White Dragon -- between both decks combined, he couldn't find a single female creature to his name.
It was all corpse parts, lava golems, and Evocator Chevalier types.
Rowan stared blankly at his hand.
This was the one true downside of running cursed decks. They were just... too cursed.
Alexis Rhodes, standing nearby, caught the faint sound of Rowan mumbling something. She turned her head with a curious look.
All she saw was Rowan shaking his head with a quietly exasperated expression.
She assumed he was reacting to how badly Jaden's situation looked down on the field.
"He beat Professor Crowler in a straight fight," Alexis said calmly. "I don't think Jaden's only capable of this much."
"Well..." Rowan paused, then nodded in genuine agreement. "His LP management really is solid."
"LP management?"
Alexis stared at him, completely lost.
"I set one more card. Turn end!"
Down on the field below, Jaden wrapped up his turn after placing Burstinatrix in defense, and passed it back to Chazz.
Chazz drew.
He didn't even glance at the card before a smug grin spread across his face.
"I Summon X-Head Cannon in Attack Position."
A yellow and blue mechanical monster with twin cannon barrels materialized with a flash.
"And thanks to Frontline Base, the Continuous Spell I activated last turn, I can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower monster from my hand each turn. My choice -- Z-Metal Tank!"
Another burst of light, and a gold-plated mechanical beast with twin claws and heavy tank treads rolled into position beside it.
"Those are the X and Z pieces -- the rare ones. Don't tell me that means...!"
Syrus' expression went wide with alarm.
The two girls flanking Alexis looked equally stunned.
"No way...!"
Jaden breathed, like he'd already seen where this was going.
"Exactly! Activate face-down -- Continuous Trap, Call of the Haunted!"
Chazz raised his hand and his set card flipped up, revealing the trap's image of rising tombstones and billowing smoke.
"This trap lets me Special Summon one monster from my Graveyard in Attack Position."
"And earlier, when I activated VW-Tiger Catapult's effect to change Clayman's battle position, I happened to send a very important monster to the Graveyard in the process."
"Rise -- Y-Dragon Head!"
Light flared, and a red mechanical dragon surged back from the Graveyard, rearing its head and releasing a mechanical roar as it returned to the field.
"Every piece is finally on the board. Here it comes, Jaden!"
"The three XYZ components combine with VW-Tiger Catapult to form something far beyond any of them alone!"
Chazz's expression was pure, undisguised triumph.
"Appear now -- VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!"
The monsters on his field shattered apart in the same instant, pulled together by crackling arcs of magnetic force and reassembled at blinding speed.
Within moments they merged into a towering, bipedal war machine -- twin cannon barrels mounted on its chest, a pair of broad crimson mechanical wings spread at its back.
The pressure radiating off it was immense.
VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon Level 8 / LIGHT ATK 3000 / DEF 2800
Rowan stared at the position of the red dragon component within the fusion's frame -- Y-Dragon Head, now locked into its designated slot in the machine's body.
He had only one thought.
I form... the torso.
"Heh heh heh. Jaden, standing before my ace monster, you won't have a next turn."
Chazz let out a slow, satisfied laugh.
"Activating VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon's special effect -- once per turn, I can banish one card on your field. And it doesn't have to be a monster. Spells and Traps are fair game too."